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Second Chance Heroes
It would appear that the undead, evil robots and malevolent
alien monsters have all been waiting for humanity to grow soft from watching kitten
videos and reality television before making their move. Fortunately, one high
school science teacher had the foresight to clone legendary heroes from the
past in his garage, which is why we have a chainsaw wielding Abraham Lincoln
and mini-gun totting Queen Elizabeth I stepping up to save humanity.
Abraham and Elizabeth are joined by a crew that includes the like of Napoleon, Joan of Arc, Nikola Tesla, Montezuma, Cleopatra and many more as they take on the creatures. If you ever wanted to experience a game where Marie Curie fends off sentient fast food and Julius Caesar battles werewolves then look no further than Second Chance Heroes. It is a cooperative arcade game which throws you into the middle of a monster apocalypse and challenges you to make it out alive. The "Heroes" (and I use the term lightly as the cast includes the likes of Blackbeard the pirate) are split into ranged and melee fighters and you can control two of them in battle. Each has their own special moves and you can switch between them at the touch of a button. Not all characters are available from the start though, and are unlocked as you progress through the game. The game supports up to four players, each controlling two characters, in the online co-op mode, but sadly there is no local co-op mode. The action in Second Chance Heroes is viewed from an overhead perspective and the fixed camera angle does a good job in keeping everything visible. The backgrounds are very detailed with tons of things going on and plenty of destructible objects, which coupled with the hordes of zombies results in plenty of visual chaos. The levels which take place in a shopping mall, underground "hobo kingdom" and secret military base are fairly linear, but big enough to hide a couple of secrets. You are regularly boxed in and challenged to survive with hordes of monsters pouring in from all over, but there are some switches to flip and keys to find as well between all the monster waves. To prevent all the monster slaying from becoming repetitive there are also some secondary objectives for each level, which include finding and killing zombie chickens, locating hidden chests and avoiding certain traps. The game also features some epic boss battles against very large and very memorable foes. As you have two characters to switch between the game isn't too hard, but your characters revive at the nearest checkpoint if both succumb to the monsters. There is a large and colorful cast of enemies and heroes, but some more variety in regards to the levels would have been nice. With only three different environment types I found myself yearning for a change of scenery after a couple of levels. Collecting purple orbs and completing secondary objectives during levels earns you experience points which can be used to upgrade your characters between levels. I would have liked to see some skill trees with unique moves to unlock, but unfortunately you are restricted to improving the health or damage of each character. You can however earn relics which bestow all kinds of powers, but only three of these can be equipped per level. Relics have to recharge so you can't spam their effects such as healing from the spilled blood of enemies, setting everyone on fire with your attacks or stunning all monsters for a few seconds, but they do help when you are overwhelmed. Once off power-ups such as mimes, health boosts, missile strikes and even a disco ball for making enemies dance are also found in the game. Overall it is a very humorous take on the genre and really shines when it comes to the detail and animations. The audio is quite good with some nice tunes and plenty of sound effects. Each of the dozen heroes has their own voice and quotes, some of which had me laughing out loud. It's hard not to chuckle when you hear Queen Elizabeth I parodying Duke Nukem while spraying the monsters with hot lead. Some of the quips can become a bit repetitive after a while though. The controls are pretty spot on and the game was easy to play using either a tradition keyboard and mouse setup or a dual analog stick controller. It took me about six hours to complete the game (and bag 90% of the achievements,) but I can see myself returning to the game to attempt some of the secondary challenges or for a quick co-op game. Completing the game on "Normal" also unlocks the "Hardcore" mode which should satisfy those looking or a real challenge. The inclusion of zombies and the fact that the game was out first on mobile devices might leave some people rolling their eyes, but I genuinely had fun with Second Chance Heroes. What it lacks in depth it makes up for with sheer over the top action and let's face it, how often do you get to play a game which is basically a history version of "The Expendables?"
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System Requirements
TAGS: Second Chance Heroes, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joan of Arc, Nikola Tesla, Julius Caesar, Blackbeard, Marie Curie, Montezuma, Cleopatra, Leonardo da Vinci, Genghis Khan, Queen Elizabeth I,
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