An Outstanding Delight – Heroki Review

Heroki is one gaming app that has raised the bar for quality among its peers. I have not given 5 stars to any app I have downloaded so far and I have downloaded a lot! Picomy and Sega, well done; you have earned my only 5 star rating with this wonderful game. Heroki is a cute, clever, original action adventure game that everyone who can should download. It's graphics are visually delightful, attention to detail being a particularly notable achievement, it's gameplay is original and fun, it's soundtrack is unique and catchy, it's characters are cute and memorable, and while it's story is nothing we haven't seen before it doesn't take away from the joy of playing this game. First we cover Heroki's greatest achievement. The graphics in this game are gorgeous. While they are not revolutionary, the amount of attention paid to nearly every detail will take your breath away. Not only have the developers created an incredibly colorful world to explore in Heroki, but they took painstaking effort to make every aspect of this world jump out at you in its vibrancy and given players a ton of variety to experience. Each world and level is different in its makeup and challenges offering an unexpected diversity. Every level is crafted beautifully with waterfalls, trees, mountains, lakes, cactuses, sandfalls, and crystals. Everything you see in this game is vivid with aesthetically pleasing detail. It is a daunting task to take the side-scrolling style and make it into something new and different and rarely, if at all, seen on the app platform. Heroki does this wonderfully. It takes the fun, exploration style of games like The New Super Mario Bros, removes the reliance of land movement, and throws in fun puzzles and complex maps loaded with baddies. The gameplay emphasis is primarily on exploration to locate multiple adventure items. But puzzle solving and combat skills gained as the game progresses break up the exploration satisfyingly. Level maps are complicated, forcing the player to take their time to find each level's secrets. Baddies are cleverly designed and diverse and get more tricky to outwit and defeat as the player conquers more lands. The use of power-ups like shields and health feel less tacked on than in other games. These items often prove useful to have at your behest in the more dangerous levels. None of the mechanics feel especially borrowed from other gameplay formulas and this makes it a novel experience. This gamer has listened to many soundtracks over the years and I take particular note on how a game's musical soundtrack adds to or takes away from the experience. Heroki's soundtrack is not spectacular and not original enough to stand out significantly. But it is unique in its own way. The tunes in each level are fun and catchy. And they do manage to immerse the player in Heroki's world by being well matched to their respective levels. Every song and sound just feel well suited. Every character design from Heroki himself down to the last level baddie is beautifully crafted. Like the attention to detail put into the games level design and background, character design was not overlooked either. Heroki is cute and expressive, supporting characters are dynamic and interesting, and every baddie gets more clever and fun the more you encounter. Not a character nor baddie are wasted in this game. Heroki's story is one we've seen in multiple manifestations throughout the years and therefor it doesn't lend much originality to the game as a whole. But with the glorious execution of all other areas of this game, it's hard to give the developers any flack for it. Heroki has so much in balance; it creates an amazing gaming experience. And Picomy and Sega did one thing right that few other top selling buy-to-play apps have done; they set this awesome game up for a much desired sequel. Not only is what they created an absolute gem of a game, but they send us off with the prospect of more to come. I hope Heroki 2 is already in development and I can't wait to play it! Thank you, Picomy & Sega!
Review by JMDedpool on Heroki.