It's never cool to be blamed for something you didn't do... even if you were planning on doing it yourself, but someone got to it before you did and decided to leave you holding the bag. That's what happens to Josh, hero of IriySoft's shooter-RPG Band of Heroes, when his plan to steal a legendary gem from the king goes awry when someone else thrashes him and takes the gem before he can. Now he's on the run, both to evade the king's forces and get back that sweet shiny jewel, but as you might expect, he's going to wind up gathering a motley band of heroes where he likes it or not and save the world in the process. Which is, you know, legally required for an RPG, even one that's half vertical shooter too.
Each stage, your party will advance up the screen as enemies swarm down at you. The game is controlled entirely with the mouse, and during levels your heroes will attack automatically and follow your mouse's path. It's your job to guide them through and around hazards, and grab dropped gold and gems to spend on upgrading your party's abilities between stages. Each hero in your group can sustain damage from the enemies that come your way from the top of the screen and any other environmental hazards, so make sure you stay on your toes and nab any green healing potions you see, since once their health runs out you'll have to complete the stage without them. (Unless one of your party has a special ability, of course.) Luckily, enemies, chests, and crates also drop temporary weapon upgrades that persist 'til the end of the stage, so nab the orbs when you see them. If you're having trouble with a level, remember that on the world map you can not only swap out your party members, but also choose the leader... important since the leader grants different passive bonuses and has a different special attack depending on who's in charge.
Band of Heroes is one of those great simple ideas that takes two genres that work surprisingly well together and bundles them up in a good looking package. The story here is definitely on the cheesy side, but the clever mix of concepts and simple addictive gameplay more than makes up for it. What it doesn't make up for, however, is how sluggishly your party seems to respond at times, and when coupled with each character's large hitbox, the game just doesn't often feel quite as responsive as a classic shooter really should. Whether this is a killer for you largely depends on how much grinding you're willing to do to pump your party full of levels and coin-fueled upgrades, especially Selene's Resurrection ability, which is practically a necessity when it comes to boss battles. Which are, speaking of which, actually surprisingly cool and full of neat surprises. Band of Heroes isn't a perfect game, but it is a really neat idea and is pulled off surprisingly well with a lot of action to be had if you've got the patience.
I have 2 main criticisms
1. As mentioned in the review, moving is really sluggish. couple this with your cursor being invisible, and you cna easily lose track of where you are telling them to go, so moving your cursor back the other direction may not actually mean they change direction. Plus, the large collective hitbox of the group, and the dodging component of the game is not fun.
2. Those lasers should not appear on the battlefield without warning.Most scroll in from the top properly, but several appear such that they already are hitting a swath of the screen - sometimes killing me without warning.
It is a sad day when I think I am playing a game, but then realize that I can defeat 100% of the enemies on a level without moving the mouse or clicking. What does it say about me that I enjoy watching countless foes be crushed before me in overpowered tower defense or shooter games?
Dear Game Developers: it is a new century. You can do better than these female characters. At first I thought it would at least go down the satire route, but as the game, narrative, and character design went on (yeah, uh, about that ending scene....), it became clear that somebody actually thought this was funny and entertaining and possibly even sexy. Yeah, it's not. And one can't even opt for the Skip button, because hey, there's a tiny sprite's butt with unnecessary animated movement. She didn't even get the courtesy of having her storyline explained at the end. It is simply amazing to me that a whole team of people spent all that time on the art and gameplay, and not one, of any gender, raised their hand and said: this might not be a good idea.
And it's too bad because the gameplay is really smooth. The controls are intuitive, and neither too sensitive nor too clunky; eventually the sluggishness can be upgraded out. Nice levels, nice art, otherwise satisfying casual gaming. I would have otherwise have recommended this for older kids, but now-- no way. If this is satire, well, it's badly done to be an object of satire itself. The Bechdel test is not one that gives out A's for effort. Hint: no extra points for b*-fights. Extra hint: yes, you can do sexy and powerful without being demeaning. Ask a real woman sometime.
P.S. For your stereotype needs, watch The Breakfast Club instead.
I like this game. The game is kinda easy until the last few levels, but the gameplay is enjoyable. The lasers are fine, but I do agree that dodging is really tough at certain points.
It would be nice to get a little more backstory about the characters, but if you make a sequel that can be done then.
The mouse controlled movement is too floaty. You should be able to rotate your party and use different special abilities and the passives should be on regardless.
This just seems to be a shooter game where the spaceship has been replaced by fantasy characters. As such it's pretty dull.
Whoa!
I have even created an account here to comment %)
Shudog: sorry, but in our country men enjoy watching good looking women and they like boobs and whatnot. I believe it's a worldwide tradition %P By the way, the boss of IriySoft is a real woman an she likes the game.
A quick quote from game comments on Kongregate:
"Now don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of boobies and everything, but don't you think we're going just a little bit overboard when even the snake eater's statues are sporting tremendous funbags?...Wait, what the hell am I saying? That's a total and complete lie; I fully support gratuitous boobage, wherever it may be. After all, breasts are like a breath of fresh air, a small glimmer of light in this world filled with darkness and misery. They're like...Oh, uh...right, the game. All I can say is that I'm glad Erica's passive no longer increases fire rate by 300% as it did in the version on Armorgames. That was just a tad overpowered."
P.S. Downloading "The Breakfast Club". Never watched it. Seems like it's fun %D
P.P.S. Checked out what "The Bechdel test" is. Band Of Heroes passes it - surprisingly!
Hi devs. While it may be true men enjoy looking, I would hope you would realise and respect that women, who are both part of your audience and the part you are choosing to objectify are well within their rights to feel as they do, regardless of what another woman may think on the subject. :)
Hey, Dora!
We do respect our audience regardless of gender.
And sure, anybody can feel as he/she does. But if someone expresses his/her feelings in public I believe I can do the same ;)
I don't feel that our game is over the top or something like that - many famous RPG games use tempting female characters.
There is no nudity or anything that could insult women. Some dialogs are male-ish, yah, but again I don't believe it is something extra.
All I was saying is that what you feel about something may not be what someone else feels about that matter, and while you may not agree with them, I believe you can agree to disagree in a respectful manner. :) You may have fans at Kongregate who love boobs, but Shudog felt it was a bit overmuch, and for some people, that may be.
Dora, you are absolutely right! But this polite rule should apply to the initial comment as well.
I personally do not share this boobs obsession and I tried to show that some people feel different in my reply post.
Please believe me, I am polite and I respect the feelings of other people. But why should I _respectfully disagree_ if I see a post which I feel is not _respectful_?
"Ask a real woman sometime" (by Shudog)
"By the way, the boss of IriySoft is a real woman an she likes the game" (by IriySoft)
"...regardless of what another woman may think on the subject" (by Dora)
that somehow means that my opinion doesn't count as I think diffirently. That's definitely respectful.
I kind of feel like this is spiraling out of control. I never said that your opinion doesn't count because you feel differently, Olga. I said that a developer should be willing to accept another opinion on the matter as valid regardless of what someone else in that demographic may feel, because while that other opinion IS of course valid, one doesn't speak for all. :) Just because we both share differing opinions on a topic doesn't make one of us right over the other, and both views should be taken into consideration.
Further, it is entirely your decision to decide how you respond to your players, regardless of how you feel they voiced their thoughts. I'm just advocating extending the olive branch even if you feel the other party did not. After all, two wrongs don't make a right, and certainly don't lead to better discussion and understanding. :) We love when developers take the time to respond to players and address concerns... we just hope both sides are open to exploring the issue.
Hey, Dora! Don't worry, we're good and peaceful people here in IriySoft %) I read all the comments to our games and they are not always positive and I do accept the opinions of other people. If someone would say "The dialogs and jokes are stupid and it looks like the game art was created by a 17-year-old boy who is obsessed with tits" it would be ok. Actually we have several negative comments like this regarding the dialogs on Kong and I'm pretty cool about that. But claiming the game is sexist is a bit over the top. I just couldn't leave it without a reply.
I LOVE THIS GAME, IM ACTUALLY AT THE LAST DUNGEON.
Im using Selene, Ray, and Josh. They owns. =)
@Shudog "It is simply amazing to me that a whole team of people spent all that time on the art and gameplay, and not one, of any gender, raised their hand and said: this might not be a good idea."
Because, you know, US is not the world and your perspective is not like, you know, the standard for what is a good idea and what not. Crazy, huh? Thought so.
Erysal, while you are more than welcome to have an opposing point of view, I would thank you to express it in a way that does not attack other readers in a disrespectful fashion.
Right, right, this is a "safe space", I forgot. Because it is not "disrespectful" when it's attacking something as a mod you dislike too.
From Shudog:
"it is a new century" ? implying other countries or viewpoints are somehow backward. THAT is disrespectful.
"Ask a real woman sometime" ? implying sex positive women are not *real* women. THAT is disrespectful.
I generally don't like to comment on things outside game-play but paranoid donglegating requires a reply. With the obvious results of censorship. Very fair.
Your "censoship" consisted of getting a comment that compared someone who said she found something offensive and demeaning to a group of people responsible for mass genocide and atrocities against humanity deleted. How, exactly, is personally attacking another commenter for having different viewpoints of your own and extrapolating statements into what you think she meant to further do so "fair"? If you believe someone else should have the right to make what they want, as I do, why does someone else not have the right to express their opinion about it?
Shudog didn't say "sex positive" women weren't "real women"... she assumed that the development team, based on early comments, was entirely male. She didn't imply other countries were "backwards". She said many women do have a problem with this content because attitudes to what they feel is demeaning are changing as time continues. My entire stance on this matter is that people should be making an effort to see both sides of an argument. You, on the other hand, have come in with insults blazing in a deliberately hostile fashion instead of taking issue with someone's comments in a way that actually encourages thoughtful, mature discussion. Saying you find something sexist and demeaning should not equate with being openly mocked in a derogatory fashion and compared to a group of mass-murderers. That's all.
I just read the whole thread/flame war, and both Shudog's original accusation and the developer's defense are very baffling to me.
It essentially boils down to "This game is sexist!", "So what? Men love boobs".
Like, really, IriySoft? That's your defense against a criticism that was just not really thought through to begin with? If that's all you have to say, then it makes me feel like Shudog was right by mere luck!
Because, actually, I don't see Band of Heroes all that sexist. Shudog says, "you can do sexy and powerful without being demeaning". And how is that NOT what the game does? How is Selena demeaning? She's clearly one of the most powerful members of the team (possibly the most powerful) and she's portrayed as totally in control, whereas Josh is portrayed as an idiot. She certainly no damsel in distress or passive. She dresses outrageously sexy, but she's never portrayed as doing so to be actively slutty or anything. It feels just like a reference to a particular kind of fantasy character (more on that in a bit).
And more importantly, we have Erica, who doesn't wear sexy at all, confirming that in this universe, fantasy women aren't required to be objectified. Her presence feels deliberate. (Plus, yeah, they talk to each other about anything but men, so they easily pass the Bechdel test - I don't even know why that was brought up to begin with).
But at the end of the day, this IS ironic, simply because they're caricatures of fantasy anime characters. They're just funny little puppets, not meant to be taken seriously. Josh is the typical horny anime hero. The evil witch dresses so outrageously is obviously comical, and it's a reference to characters such as Yatterman's Doronjo. It is derivative, therefore ironically referencing the typical objectification of this genre yet correcting it just enough not to be annoying.
aicardigianluca: wow, thanks! Actually I couldn't say better, thank you a lot. Why I couldn't answer with the same deep thought and analysis is because a) I'm a bit too emotional and I answered with exaggeration, which probably was not very smart, b) this game is a product of cooperation of many people who put their thoughts and knowledge into this game so I just couldn't summarize it alone and gathering the whole team to answer would be stupid %)
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