HeroSiege is a surprisingly good, simple to play, yet deep wave based game along the lines of Zelda meets Gauntlet and Smash TV wrapped up in a gorgeous old school shell. You start by selecting from 4+ classes. For the most part they play the same, some are melee, some are ranged classes. Then you get dumped into a randomly generated area and forced to fight 6 or so waves of enemies. Very simple controls that are basically dual stick, only 4 direction shooting instead of 8 direction or true aiming. There is a button to use an item you have, but you can only carry 1 at a time. The item is generally potions that you pick up or buy. Then the other 2 buttons are to call the store and view the character screen where you spend your level up points on strength, speed, defense and health. You also spend points on special skills, such as 1% extra critical chance. The upgrades system is pretty nice, but really, devote everything into strength.
After 6 or so waves, you face a giant bullet sponge of a random boss. It is a lot of fun and there are a lot of bosses, but some will insta kill you if you’re in the wrong place. After that, you get a random item, and go on your way to the next area. The areas look different and there are even side areas you can unlock that will take you to randomly generated dungeons that seem to have simple puzzles. Its a very nice touch that most games would have ignored.
From all of the enemies you kill, boxes you destroy and treasure chests you open, you will get gold. Lots of gold. The problem is gold feels worthless. You can buy potions and temporary power ups. All of which just seems inconsequential. There is another kind of shop too. One that you can buy visual items such as top hats and so on. Those items require crystals to buy and crystals seem like they’ll be the micro transaction to the game, especially since this was a game made for mobile gaming. But for now you get crystals by getting achievements, which seem simple enough to get. Nothing really costs all that many crystals either.
The game looks very super Nintendo or 90s arcade and I mean that as a huge compliment. Other games try for the 90s Nintendo feel and just end up looking crappy, but this looks awesome. The only real downside to the game is that I feel this is belongs in an arcade. Its oddly fun, but without an actual quest, it feels right at home popping quarters in. Sure you can progress your character, level them up where when you die, you keep the level you had (unless the game glitches and loses your save file). When you’ve played 10 minutes of this game, you’ve played hours of it. The game does try to switch it up with different colored and different sized monsters, but its the same all the way through, just with different environments. The game even adds random death ‘bombs’ too that will spray you with poison, blue lasers or something creative.
In all, its a lot of fun, probably even worth $10, but with it feeling like such an arcade game, I say wait for a sale. Especially since it looks like the game has micro transactions.
Games That I Play 