ZHEROS

It doesn’t do enough to make itself stand out among a crowd of side-scrolling beat ’em ups, playing like a multitude of games that have come before it. I can’t emphasise enough that I did enjoy playing ZHEROS, but I did find my attention being drawn to other games waiting to be started that lay on my shelf, as I think this is the main problem ZHEROS has, in that it has released at a time when there are literally stacks of games vying for our hard-earned cash.

A good debut for this young software house. Even with their limited budget, they were able to create a fun beat em up, with a convincing combat system. A bland level design and a repetitive structure are the problems that keep this game on the ground.

A classic beat'em up bestowed with a very modern and sleek style. It has an average lasting appeal, and, despite the need for some more balancing, will please fans of the genre.

ZHEROS is a good game if you just want a beat 'em up without nothing surprising or particularly original. If you're ok with a simple concept, this will work.

Simplistic by design, Zheros is a genuine tribute to the old school tradition of the beat'em up. Some flaws in balance, gameplay and variety mines its success on the long run.

Zheros is without a doubt a good beat 'em up, as its core is a pure '90s beat 'em up experience. It has great 3D environments as well. Unfortunately, it suffers from a few issues. The story is all told in cinematics without a single dialogue. Apart from that, the story is kind of predictable even without dialogues.

A good italian indie game, so focused on being “old school” that it tuns out to be outdated, but still fun to play.

ZHEROS is fun to play for a while. Its combo system is entertaining to use, and its graphics look good. However, flaws in its design include frustrating difficulty spikes, some punishing later levels, and occasionally awkward controls, which results in a game that falls short of its potential.

I don’t really care about technical problems like tearing or aliasing. What I care about, is that this could have potentially been a modern Streets of Rage in space. Unfortunately the abysmal balancing and sometimes clumsy evasion controls impede lift-off.

For a more exciting game, try playing Scrabble. Alone. [March 2016, p.87]

Arguments could be made that the inception of this title was well intentioned with some great plans, but the execution is where everything falls apart like a Formula One racer held together with Silly Putty.