Shooting Spree

In Not a Hero, you work for Bunnylord – a suit wearing time travelling purple rabbit that’s running for the next election. As a part of his street team, you’re tasked to campaign for Bunnylord and clean up the streets, and when I say clean up the streets, I mean shooting countless criminals in the face. The premise of Not a Hero doesn’t really make any sense and it’s pretty obvious OlliOlli developer Roll7 was really pulling the piss with the story but the fast style cover shooter gameplay is what really hooks you in.

Before starting a level, you can choose from a selection of characters from the team that has significant traits. New characters are unlocked as you progress and often allow you to change up the pace. The game works fast and on two different levels: cover and shoot. The concept is quite similar with their previous game OlliOlli. It starts off simple with basic levels so you can get accustomed to the mechanics of the game before taking it up a notch as you progress. It felt quite too easy in the initial stages and I was wondering where the challenge was but as I progressed further the game started throwing insane levels and enemies out, and that’s where the game really starts to show it’s true form.

You will more than likely die a lot in Not a Hero, as mentioned previously with its similarities to OlliOlli – you will die and try again until you finish the level. The game is all about rhythm of controls and movements as each stage has it’s own momentum to it. Find the right path and location of enemies – you’ll progress to the next level.

The 8-bit insane mind inducing soundtrack to Not a Hero’s theme really compliments its pixel design and often puts you in this trance mode as you clean house. There’s quite a lot of variation and style which really made it one of the highlights of the game apart from it’s gameplay. Touching on the design and graphics – the visuals also run at a nice and solid 60fps according to my screen cap tool which again accompanies the fast, slick movement of the game so you don’t make that one false move.

Overall

Not a Hero is one of those easy-to-play but difficult-to-master experiences. While starting off quite simplistic (and somewhat boring), the game really spikes in difficulty as you become familiar with the style and controls. It offers enough content and challenge for what you’re paying for even though the story is just completely ridiculous. Roll7 has so far impressed with their titles, offering some of the most addictive, fine-tuned games to date. If you enjoyed the struggle in OlliOlli and want another challenge in platform shooter form, get to work for Bunnylord in Not a Hero.

Developer: Roll7
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platform: PC (Reviewed)

A review copy was provided by the publisher.