Heroes Rise should be appealing to most people since most people enjoy the whole superhero thing. Written by Zachary Sergi, Heroes Rise puts you in the shoes or spandex of your own superhero who must rise his/her way up to the upper echelons of Millennia City by whatever means you see fit.
Now that would be fine if that was actually the case. The game itself is well written as all interactive-fiction titles should be. Unfortunately it falls much too short of making the player feel as though they actually have a say in what is going on in a broader sense.
Like a good novel, Heroes Rise begins with you getting the feel of the settings. The description is pretty well thought out as a whole and the scenes transition nicely making things as epic as they should be when talking super-powered beings. In this game the protagonists (and some antagonists) are referred to as Powered heroes or just Powered’s which may or may not resonate but it does work as being a personal touch to an otherwise tired term. The stat screen was quite extensive leading players to believe that there was plenty to come yet somehow the stat screen becomes largely unimportant outside of checking how much “Power” and health you have left to squander.
One of the biggest flaws in Heroes Rise is the fact that you cannot choose what abilities you inherit. For some reason the author decided to bestow powers similar to Michael Pointer minus the “bad-ass” factor. If you have ever seen some pretty tragic hero movies then the storyline might seem familiar. Powered boy loses parents, the said boy grows up and wants to live up to his/her parents legacy etc. Naturally you do see similarities to other forms of media regarding the subject matter but that is easily just part of the creative process.
The author wrote a pretty good story. It is just obvious that he doesn’t usually dive into this territory outside of playing the games in his spare time perhaps. The game as a whole makes you feel as though you are simply along for the ride as opposed to putting you in the positions to make your own relevant choices. Regardless of the negatives there is enough here to make for an enjoyable adventure. The good thing about this genre is that it is possible for either the gameplay or story to take on the dominant role. In this case, the story itself is enough to drive the game. In conclusion, Heroes Rise offers solid replay value and it is a pretty worthwhile time killer if you can get past its flaws as an interactive-fiction game. Heroes Rise is available at the Google Play store, Amazon Kindle and Chrome Web Store for $2.99 which may or may not be worth it. I suggest playing the demo first before buying the game. At the end of the day, if you are really looking for some heavy 3D customization turn around and go download City of Heroes instead.
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