ZHEROS

While millions let their enemies in on kebabs in God of War, thousands quietly bask in the lamp beams of modest arcade runners like the Lego series. There, too, there is more than enough violence, and the number of plastic corpses would make Kratos turn pale even more. Only there is no blood, that’s the whole difference.

ZEROS, rather, resembles the mentioned Lego series, if the construction of objects could be cut out of it. You run from point A to point B and knock out their pixel excrement from enemies, and pixel pieces out of furniture. Here, too, there is a cooperative for two people, which is also devoid of online and operates purely in local mode. Unfortunately.

The main plot of the game is dedicated to two heroes who go to clean the face of another genius. Evil, of course – if he were good, he would not collect an army of mutants, aliens, clones, and robots for the sake of enslaving the world. True, no inhabitants were noticed in this world, therefore it is not entirely clear who exactly the evil genius is going to enslave, however, real heroes are not distracted by such trifles and clearly go to the goal. Their walk, however, is short-lived: eighteen levels about twelve minutes long each, and even faster in co-op.

The protagonists are not only mindlessly punching and kicking. Along the way, they earn points, level up, and unlock more combos that provide even more opportunities to earn points for this leveling. Plus, everyone has a shield that replaces the block, and a ranged weapon, but the latter can only pleasantly scratch the belly of the enemies.

The difficulty of the game is the only one – checkpoints. There are only two or three of them at the level, and there can be quite a few events between them. It is especially insulting when you die not in battle, but during the passage of another trap or because of an unsuccessful jump between platforms. It’s somehow sad because of such trifles to replay huge chunks of the level, or even start all over again so as not to spoil the statistics.

In general, missions often have to be replayed, especially if there is a goal for the final to pump as much as possible. In fact, those who like to call enemies with one button have nothing to do in the ZHEROS society, because with this method of killing the hero receives a ridiculous amount of points. The game after each level looks at who fought how, how many points he earned with the help of combo attacks and special tricks, and if the result does not reach the norm, then the fighter does not receive any pumping points and goes to the next level the same as he was.

The most fun way to earn points is through rare episodes where players are allowed to steer an indestructible robot. He scatters enemies in an instant, points barely have time to accrue. The only annoying thing is that usually there is only one robot, which means that the second player is forced to run at the iron in his legs and finish off the few remaining lucky ones.

The enemy army, by the way, is not only vast, but also diverse. Each species has its own attacks or evasion methods, but the monotony of the gameplay does not mask this for long. It is worth going through a couple of levels – and you can safely assume that you know almost everything about the game. There are only three bosses ahead, levels sharpened for platforming and opponents are a little more severe than before, but in general, nothing more than what you have already seen. There are only a few forks along the way, offering to replace routes with enemies for, for example, routes with traps. However, there are few of them, and they do not change anything special.

Therefore, if you live alone and you have no one to put next to you in order to fight against evil together, then it is better not to touch ZHEROS. The game is not suitable for passing solo, so it can tire you even before you realize that there is almost no plot or variety. But if there is someone to whom you can pass the second gamepad and entrust to cover your back, then enjoy – a couple of evenings will be much more fun than planned.