I tried my best to find things I liked about Hero Zero keeping in mind I’m likely not the target audience, but damn was it hard. My thinking has always been that if you’ve played one Facebook integrated social game, you’ve played them all. Hero Zero rings true to this save a couple of things that I can see why people might enjoy this game.
The premise is this, you’re a budding hero or heroine, in the same vein as a ‘Kickass’ type nerdy boy or girl who wants to be a superhero. If you love this premise, this game might be for you. So you start from the bottom as a guy or gal in his or her underpants and work your way up to, well, still be in underpants, but more powerful and with household crap taped to you for attribute bonuses.
If you don’t like upgrading character stats through items and buying points, that’s pretty much all there is to do. You gain levels by completing missions. Time missions are just that, you get a text scenario, you do it, you wait a while and it completes giving you XP and money. You can also fight against NPCs for a reward as well. You have to wait for both, but the longer timed once are usually the most lucrative when it comes to rewards. You have the ability to instantly complete timed missions using the obligatory paid currency of ‘donuts’. You can get 20 donuts for two pounds or R36.96. Since most only use one or two donuts, this is a pretty decent deal I suppose. But at the same time you could just wait for the same outcome, unless you want to level quickly for whatever reason.
You only have 100 energy for the day. Once that’s used up, you have to wait for it recharge. Or for 2 donuts you can fill it back up halfway or full a maximum of 3 times before they make you wait again. You’ll do a lot of waiting with this game, so I suggest you connect with friends and duel, because you can always do that, save for a minute wait before each fight to fill up your ”courage” meter.
The most interesting and slightly fun part of the game is the duelling system. You can battle any other hero or heroine you like for XP and money. It reminds me of My Brute, but less impressive and varied. Attacks and blocks are automatic, you simply wait until one of you has no hp. The few actual animations in the game are used in the duelling scenes and it is super lazy. It’s literally the stock pose moving forward to launch an attack, which is when it struck me.
Like most Facebook games, Hero Zero is a game of numbers. It could just be a text adventure and it would be the exact same game. Unless these flash based graphics really appeal to you, it’s simply a game of whose numbers are higher. That’s why they have an option to skip the fight because who honestly wants to see anything other than the result? I don’t know exactly what’s supposed to appeal here, but ten million players can’t be wrong.
So there you have it. It’s another social operant conditioning game like all the rest, albeit with a different theme. If this appeals to you like it apparently appeals to the ten million people playing it, then have at it. If you like the theme behind the numbers, this could be a fantastic waste of your time during work.
Last Updated: February 1, 2014
Hero Zero | |
It’s another social operant conditioning game like all the rest, albeit with a different theme. If this appeals to you like it apparently appeals to the ten million people playing it, then have at it. If you like the theme behind the numbers, this could be a fantastic waste of your time during work.
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Hero Zero was reviewed on PC |
Jason Ashman
February 2, 2014 at 06:15
Just so you dont feel too lonely… hii
Stephen Snook
February 2, 2014 at 13:17
I worked hard on this review too xD
Weanerdog
February 3, 2014 at 08:28
OK lets debate about how you got the score of 5, through the whole review I was expecting a 2 or 3 maybe and then a 5. I am actually just interested how you came up with the number not criticizing, is there some redeeming quality or does it actually become an obsession?
Stephen Snook
February 3, 2014 at 10:32
I put it as 5 because it’s just plain old average. Personally, for me, it’s a well deserved 1, but I considered that biased since it does all the other things Facebook games do.
It doesn’t do anything different, making it an average social Facebook game.
I appreciate the criticism, thank you.
Weanerdog
February 3, 2014 at 10:49
I was just wondering not criticizing. I think you guys have a difficult job because a review is a personal thing yet you need to be seen as subjective. I just feel that all games should be rated on 1 scale regardless of its origin, but that’s just me. But then I also think that review scores are skewed anyway.
Stephen Snook
February 3, 2014 at 10:58
Of course. Normally I would agree with you, but my hatred of these kinds of games would’ve skewed the review either way.
At the end of the day, it’s an opinion, the score is adjusted for those who actually enjoy these types of games.
Anon A Mouse
February 3, 2014 at 08:37
You lost me at Facebook…
Stephen Snook
February 3, 2014 at 10:33
It lost ME at Facebook. I had to play it and I don’t feel nice.
RinceThis2014
February 3, 2014 at 09:28
Stephen, you must have done some seriously bad things in a past life to have Geoff make you review this. Shame bro.
Stephen Snook
February 3, 2014 at 10:30
It was Gavin ._.