Not a Hero Reviews
A fun, funny, and wonderfully gory 2D shooter, but it's not quite as tightly designed as OlliOlli and certainly lacks the same longevity.
All in all, Not a Hero has some fantastic humour, brutal death animations (an achievement when done via pixels) and is pretty fun. You can easily spend a couple of hours trying to perfect a level, or you can kill a bit of time while you wait for your dinner to cook. It's not going to set the world on fire (As much as Bunny Lord would like to!), but it's not a regrettable purchase either.
Not A Hero is a thumping good shooter experience made all the more exiting through an intriguing art style; unrelenting gore and a relatively non-linear composition to pleasantly fleshed out levels. The humor, while likely to grind on you after a while, is rib tickling for most part. Its overall tenure is brief, never staying long enough for you to think too deeply about aiding a burrow-digging politician in murdering party opposers to gain power, and rightly so. While it won't have you mercilessly addicted to knocking out kickflips, it'll likely be one of the best 2 and a quarter shooters you play this year.
I hate to describe Not a Hero as a smarmy British take on Broforce, but the similarities are undeniable. The quality is the same too. Relentless action, strong gameplay variety and a killer wit make Not a Hero one of the best indie games of 2015.
Levels have an engaging sense of momentum that is aided by a great soundtrack that is fun, entertaining and helps to keep the player absorbed in the world even after multiple deaths
Solid gameplay but no variety or replayability
Overall, between the outrageous story and visuals that ooze 8-bit charm, this is a great game to scratch that retro itch - if a little steep price wise. If you like indie pixel-art games, you'll probably enjoy this.
Not a Hero is silly bloodbath whose gameplay and humor are best enjoyed in small doses. Sliding from floor to floor is a ton of fun, but, unfortunately, the entire game can be played through in a fairly short time.
Not A Hero is a well made game that skewers the political elements it takes aim at with some excellent game play to top it off.
The best way to describe the look of the game is if the classic arcade game Elevator Action and new indie title BroForce got together and had a child.
Not a Hero's ultimate statement is a brutally cynical one, but its political nihilism is always portrayed with such glee and good cheer that the unease is hard to feel until the game is shut down.
Not a Hero does a lot right - the cover-based shooting in 2D environment works incredibly well and the comical setting and writing do a lot to set the mood. However, it's more in what it doesn't do that holds it back from being as memorable as some of its contemporaries.
Not A Hero is a game that rarely slows down, offers a ton of variety to both primary and secondary missions, and is seeping with beautiful nostalgia. While it's sometimes wearisome trying to get through a single mission that keeps getting you down, when you finally get past that hurdle, there's always something new waiting.
Roll7 has proven that it's not a one-trick pony with the release of Not a Hero. The team is clearly dedicated to crafting games that are fun and inviting yet require some patience to master. In a medium dominated by shooters of the first-person and third-person variety, it's refreshing to get a 2D take on the cover-based format. The difficulty can be a bit much at times, but when all is said and done, there's no getting around the fact that the BunnyLord's team is one you want to be on.
Not A Hero is an unforgiving and relentless dive into the world of politics, bullets and ballots. Silly, violent and nostalgic in all the right ways, it's strangely weird and gleeful attempt at winning votes with swift deaths and top notch level design.
It's one idea done well, consistent and compact. As Bunnylord might say – Not A Hero might not be cooking with floppin' sexy gas on all cylinders but it's a facemurdering good time nonetheless.
Combining with frantic combat and an utterly barmy sense of humour, the side-scrolling action of NOT A HERO can be just as unforgiving as it can be enjoyable. Providing you have the patience to overcome its challenging later levels, BunnyLord's flawed yet commendable political campaign is certainly worth your vote.
This is Not A Hero in a moment: a dark parody where every problem can be solved with bullets, and even Aunt Ruby is eager to get in on the action. Get to it, you sexy murder machines. Re-election time is just around the corner, and we've still got to deal with that scrotobiker gang BunnyLord keeps talking about.
'Not A Hero' is a tough, repetitive, and older-looking game, and it is also quite a bit of fun. The levels can get grating after attempting them for the dozenth or more try, especially because defeat can happen at any time (including right before a victory). But, the push to complete it perfectly, with a shorter time, or by completing more objectives, brings its own appeal. The campaign can be completed in just a few hours, but it's a worthwhile experience for fans of brutal, energetic indies.
Not a Hero shows us that Roll7 didn't just hit on a lucky concept with OlliOlli but rather seems to have found a niche for themselves making funny, colorful, and precise action games.