88 Heroes has a gimmick. The plot sets it up – it’s 8:08 AM on August 8, 1988, and the evil Dr. H8 has brought the world to the brink of total annihilation. His demands are simple: pay $88 octillion within 88 minutes, or Dr. H8’s 88 thermo-nuclear warheads will wipe out the Earth. This game is about eights and it sticks to it through thick and thin.

• 88 Heroes 1 Mr. Right
• 88 Heroes Ps4 Review
• 88 Heroes Switch

Mar 21, 2017  Hey everyone for this review I take on 88 Heroes on the Playstation 4 its also on Steam and Xbox One. This is a action platformer with not 1 but 88 different characters to play as that range from. Oct 10, 2017  88 Heroes: 98 Heroes Edition for Switch game reviews & Metacritic score: 88 Heroes is a chaotic 2D platformer that is as fun to watch as it is to play, where each level completed or untimely death brings a new uniquely skilled hero i. 88 different heroes! Discover their unique powers and use them to conquer each stage - if they die though, they're lost forever (well, sort of)! 88 different levels! H8's lair across four worlds, avoiding all manner of deadly obstacles and evil hero-crushing enemies. 88 seconds per level!

Essentially a platform game with some combat, the game tasks you with getting through 88 levels with 88 heroes. The levels are relatively short and the heroes are assigned to you randomly, if you complete a level you get to keep hold of the hero you beat it with for use later on but if you die, that hero is lost and you’ve effectively lost one of your 88 lives.

What makes the game interesting is that each hero is different. From their size, speed and inertia to their abilities or lack of. Some characters have useful abilities such as double jumps or weapons while others have no abilites or, worse, aren’t really useful at all. For example, one hero is just a bouncing ball that you rotate. It’s not set up for this kind of platforming at all but you’ll lose them pretty quickly and will be onto the next one.

So while the gameplay most closely resembles that of Mercenary Kings on the PS4, it also evokes memories of Wario Ware as you really have to grasp the new gameplay mechanics quickly and execute that level without any real preparation.

On the plus side, this is all tremendous fun. Getting a new hero every time is fun (and their bios are amusing to read too) and the short levels provide a lot of challenge without too much tedious exploring. Add to that the game’s sense of humour and retro stylings and at first it’s all very enjoyable.

The thing is, those 88 heroes will carry you a long way and after a while it all starts to drag a bit. Although the heroes can vary quite a lot, there are also lots of similar characters in there too and what should be a bit more of a bite-sized hit of action is suddenly dragging out for the best part of an hour.

Also, as expected, some of the levels can be absolute pigs with death sometimes being a little too sudden. You can scroll the camera around but you generally won’t because time (88 seconds) is a factor on each screen. So, deaths can be pretty cheap sometime. This can lead to frustration for sure and further takes the shine off of the game.

That said, the game does save your progress so it’s not like you have to do it all in one sitting. Also, the game does let you retry when you lose your final character so getting through the game is possible without needing silly levels of skill (the rarest trophies are a fair bit harder to obtain though).

While the game employs a retro aesthetic, it’s not the typical 8-bit sort of look that we’re so used to. There’s more detail and the animation is better so it’s more retro-flavoured but better than what you may have been able to produce on a SNES or Megadrive.

What’s interesting is that you are viewing the action on a big screen from Dr. H8’s perspective. Occasionally things are happening in the foreground which can be a little distracting (that’s the joke though) but we appreciate the attempts to liven things up.

Humour is definitely the game’s strong suit and while the frustration of the cheap deaths and the fact that the 88 levels drag out a bit (especially as they only really have four overall themes), there’s a freshness to the game and a sheer sense of fun that carries it a long way and balances out some of the good will that would have been lost along the way.

Anyway, aren’t all platformers a bit frustrating these days?

88 Heroes Review

When you think of 80’s gaming you probably think of platforming, pixels, and superheroes. Video games were cashing in on colorful heroes to star in their games, and here we are, almost 40 years later with a new title that gives us everything we remember from the arcade days in a crisp, challenging, and humor-filled package. With the eye of nostalgia shining in every pixel, 88 Heroes sets out to deliver swift digital justice, but does it save the day?

Developed by Bitmap Bureau, 88 Heroes is unique in that it is built entirely around a gimmick of the number 88, and yet it works incredibly well. Dr. H8 is ready to bring about the end of the world, with 88 minutes left on the clock before total destruction. With the planet at stake, the greatest heroes the world has ever known have been called… but they were busy. Instead, 88 B-list heroes have come to take on Dr. H8 and save the world.

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“The number of wacky characters is impressive”

The game is a simple side-scrolling platformer with short yet simple stages; in fact, you can often complete a level in moments without using a single attack. The key, however, is surviving. The game has 88 stages, each one with an 88-second clock. The level will begin with a random hero from the roster of 88 and each one is some sort of pun, spoof, or generally delicious joke worth groaning over. Each hero can be felled with a single attack or misstep, restarting the levels clock and assigning you a new hero to take over.

Stages can be frustrating as you get to the higher levels, with slight missteps or awkwardly shaped characters spelling disaster, but the overall experience is whimsical and charming. Some characters, like Mr. Average, don’t have much in the way of an attack – if any at all – while others will feature unique means of fighting and traversing the level which can make or break a stage quite literally. Characters like PIR8 the pirate are able to blast holes in walls to create shortcuts, while one of my favorites, Ladder Lola, has a limited jump and no attack, but can instead set up a giant ladder to climb up or down and completely skip over solid walls. The number of wacky characters is impressive, especially considering each one feels completely unique from the other: Laser Kittie can fire a laser clear across the screen, Rick Roll throws exploding hearts while dancing and Wang Wei has reversed controls. The creativity in this game is lighthearted and a joy to experience.

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“Despite its unique concept and quirky humor, it feels like a game best used to pass the time.”

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88 Heroes offers four modes of play: 88 Mode, The Magnificent 8, Solo, and H8 Mode. 88 mode is your standard gameplay, attempting to get through all 88 stages with 88 heroes. This is the best mode for unlocking the roster – viewable from the Training option – as those that randomly appear are automatically unlocked. Collecting 88 coins will let you resurrect one of three fallen heroes, which will be essential as you get further into the game. The Magnificent 8 lets you select a team of 8 specific heroes you wish to take into battle in the same 88 stages from the original mode, of course limiting you to the 8 you choose. I found I did much better with my handpicked team than with access to all the heroes the game has to offer.

Solo Mode is just as grueling as it sounds, attempting to complete the game with a single character. H8 Mode is an interesting feature in which the player has access to 88 heroes and must try to overcome 8 extra difficult stages. It provides an interesting challenge and helps hone your skills. Despite its unique concept and quirky humor, it feels like a game best used to pass the time. With the intentionally short length of stages and the simplistic nature, it’s excellent for the on-the-go gaming the Switch offers, but it didn’t strike me as the kind of game to sink hours into attempting to unlock all of the achievements.

As mentioned before, death can result from a number of obstacles and – while I understand the increasing difficult as you progress through the game – it sometimes didn’t feel justified. Melee enemies sometimes have an oddly greater range than expected, ranged enemies might shoot faster, etc. I admit to the deaths that were my own fault, but some of them felt undeserved. I also feel like at least a few of the heroes ought to be able to defeat an enemy by jumping on them, as opposed to simply dying as soon as they meet.

88 Heroes is an amusing and challenging platformer with a big heart, yet beyond its pop culture references, humor, and numerical gimmick, there isn’t a whole lot to offer gamers looking for a lengthier experience. The game is short by design and still greatly enjoyable, but despite its constant bombardment of the number 88 it still feels like its coming up short. As a game to have a laugh and pass the time, it’s a blast, being able to fire out a few missions or using it as an arcade experience to cleanse the gaming palette between games.

88 Heroes 1 Mr. Right

**Nintendo Switch code provided by the publisher**

The Good

88 Heroes Ps4 Review

• Hilarious Characters
• Challenging Stages
• Unique Roster
• Fun Gimmick

The Bad

88 Heroes Switch

• Undeserved Death
• Repetitive