Hero X Review

Hero X doesn't capture the spirit of the comics or the fun of the games that inspired it.

In theory, Infogrames' Hero X has almost everything that made Freedom Force such an excellent game: The variety of powers, the artwork, the interactive environments, and the parody of comics' most unselfconsciously earnest period. But what were strengths in Freedom Force are weaknesses in Hero X. The game misfires at almost every turn, featuring repetitive and overly simple gameplay, as well as dated graphics and an almost complete lack of sound effects.

Some of the in-game comic art looks fairly good.
Some of the in-game comic art looks fairly good.

Hero X is set in a small town called SmallTown. You play the eponymous hero, a fledgling crime fighter who gets to choose three powers and a costume. Many of the powers are typical: You can have super strength, super speed, shoot fireballs, or dodge bullets. But you can't fly, and at first it seems like a serious omission for a superhero game. However, this absence makes more sense once you get into the game, since Hero X is basically a punching simulator.

Your missions are repetitive to a fault. You walk through buildings, punching thugs and frat boys and henchmen. If you have an alternate means of attacking (such as fireballs) you can shoot them. Once all of the bad guys are unconscious, you go back to your base, talk to the Professor (who mentors you through your aspiring hero career) and find out where to go next. Then you click on the map, go to the new place, and punch more thugs, frat boys, and henchmen.

This repetitive structure has worked for other games. The Diablo games, essentially, followed the same format. As did the Crusader games, to which Hero X seems graphically akin. But what makes Hero X so bland is that there is no variety. Regardless of which powers you choose, you will mostly be punching. There are alternate means of attacking (a strong punch and a kick) but these are risky. Accidentally punch an opponent too hard, and he'll be instantly knocked out. While this sounds like a bonus, it isn't. A K.O.'d opponent simply lies there, invulnerable to your attacks, until he gets up again. So you must stand there and wait for him to get back up, so he doesn't come after you once you've moved on to punching other opponents.

As in Freedom Force, you can pick up objects in the environment and use them as weapons. It doesn't work as well. Enter a warehouse full of crates, and maybe one or two can be used. Occasionally a mailbox or a large pipe can be employed, but it's often easier just to ignore them and keep punching.

Once in a while, Hero X lets you choose a new power. You must choose carefully, because some of the powers are downright useless. One power, for instance, lets you see which items you can interact with. Another lets you read other characters' minds, but it either doesn't work or none of the characters in Hero X have much on their minds. To activate a power, you must manually select it. Super strength, for instance, isn't a constant. When a power is active, your power meter can't regenerate, and when it's empty you can't use your powers. So you need to turn them off and stand around until your power meter is full. You'll do the same with your health: When you're badly wounded, all you need to do is stand in a corner and wait. You'll be at full health and ready to start punching again in no time.

Hero X uses comic-style panels to show the story progression. Occasionally these will happen during a mission, and these panels generally look good. But the intermission comic pages are fairly ugly, with hard-to-read text and art that isn't comparable, or even similar to, authentic comic books. However, the graphics are successful at alluding to games of the past. Hero X looks like Fallout or Crusader. Not just because it uses the same isometric perspective, but also because it looks a few years old. The power effects are occasionally decent, but the animations are simple.

The music is even more dated. It's all MIDI rock music, and it doesn't allude to much, except maybe the opening drum break of Rush's Tom Sawyer. Other than this music, Hero X doesn't have many sound effects at all. You'll hear the soft thud when your punches land, but not much else.

K.O.'d opponents are more trouble than they're worth.
K.O.'d opponents are more trouble than they're worth.

The game also tries to employ humor to allude to comics of the past, but it doesn't work very well. While some of the villains are interesting, the dialogue and stories aren't, the jokes aren't very funny, and there's no trace of appreciation for the source material. What's worse is that this humor is both called, and represented by, cheese. When "cheese mode" is on, you have a fat wedge of yellow Swiss inexplicably sitting in the top-right corner of the screen.

Hero X attempts to meld Freedom Force with more straight-forward action games, but it doesn't capture the spirit of the comics or the fun of the games that inspired it. In Freedom Force, the patriotic Minuteman would shout "For Freedom!" in a resounding voice. In Hero X, the eponymous hero says "For Justice!" with black, hard-to-read text on a yellow background. Like most everything in Hero X, it's just a pale imitation.

The Good

  • N/A

The Bad

About the Author