Hero Core

By: Derek Yu

On: May 5th, 2010

[This is a guest review by Melly. If you’re interested in writing an article for TIGSource, please go here.]

Hero Core is the latest game from Daniel Remar, creator of the original Hero, Iji, and Garden Gnome Carnage, among others. Hero Core is a direct sequel to Hero, though you shouldn’t expect much in terms of story. There is a story here though, and while very simple, Daniel delivers it in a satisfying way.

The name of the game here is exploring the inner caves of an asteroid taken over by the war machines of Cruiser Tetron, who you must find and destroy once more, hopefully for good. The game manages to nail a Metroid-like feel with its open world and areas that can only be reached with certain upgrades (unless you know a few dirty tricks ;) ), and is surprisingly atmospheric for a game with such a low resolution and only black and white as colors. As well as the well-crafted graphics there’s also the great soundtrack by Brother Android that further nails the feeling of playing one of the old classics.

Controls here are very simple. You move with the arrows keys, fire left with Z and right with X (both keys configurable), and new to the Hero games is an autofire toggle on the spacebar, which is certainly appreciated. While you’ll only start seeing bullet-hell-level difficulty if you play on Hard mode, Normal still offers a decent challenge and should kill the average gamer at least a couple of times. The game’s open nature and the ability to easily warp to any savepoints on the map encourages trying new paths if a certain room or boss is giving you too much trouble, hopefully to return with more upgrades.

There are very few criticisms I could give this game. The difficulty of some bosses and areas seems a little unbalanced compared to what you find after and before them, in higher dificulties not dying to certain rooms seems to be partially a matter of luck (though generous ammounts of skill certainly help even the odds), and the two-color palette lets you sometimes lose your Hero in the middle of all the madness enemies can unleash.

Thankfully none of those issues felt game-breaking and the game is perfectly beatable in all difficulties. Harder difficulties actually give you new maps to explore and differed enemy bullet patterns, which makes replaying the game a fair bit more enjoyable than it would normally be.

All in all, Hero Core costs the sexy price of 0 dollars and comes jam-packed of retro action, nice music, awesome boss fights, unlockables and a good few secrets. There’s no reason not to try this game.

TIGdb: Entry for Hero Core

Posted in Action, Freeware, Highly Recommended, Windows

farik

this game erased my hangover saturday morning. it's really good.
Zaratus

The game is really quite good. I loved it, finished all three main difficulty modes, though I'm pretty sure the hidden fourth mode is impossible and is some sort of inside joke.

I loved the idea behind the third difficulty mode, pretty nifty.

I'd highly recommend this game.
Dodger

This is pretty good game. I still feel that iji is by far one of the best freeware action/adventure/platformers out, but Hero Core is definitely another solid offering by Daniel Remar. I agree with everything Derek had to say about the game, and while the graphics might not appeal to everyone, if you can stick with the gameplay for a while the graphics will begin to slowly grow on you.

Daniels site is so simple (which is refreshing) and yet bland, which isn't so refreshing but does make browsing his game library extremely simple and not taxing by any means.

I've only tried 3 (maybe 4) of Daniels games and I've enjoyed each of them (for free at that!). Perhaps it's time for him to spruce up his site just a little bit and offer a complete package of his games with some nice wallpapers and perhaps OST's bundled for anyone who might care to make a donation. I think it'd be worth it – for iji alone it's worth it would be worth it to do something like this (especially if you're into the deeper side scrolling action/adventure games). His games aren't perfect, but they're fun and the ones I have played each had memorable moments, and I'd even say that some of the design choices (some of the rarer gameplay elements, not seen in a lot of freeware games) are a little unique and they even vivify classic game elements found in those great games on the older consoles (SNES and Sega Genesis specifically).

Hero Core is yet another fun way to pass or waste some time without feeling guilty about it. This is another great opportunity to enjoy a fun, and free, little game.
rinkuhero

you mean melly
Dodger

Yes actually, I just re-read the entire post and realized it wasn't Derek's review. Thanks Paul.

Still stick by what I said though! :-)
zaphos

Just played through on normal — this is really great work!

Seeing the full map drawn out on the bonus menu after was a fun touch, too :)
ortoslon

playthrough on normal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbX6vMf7Hs

i'll record boss rush unless someone else does before me, not sure about hard and annihilation (i die too much on those)

one thing i dislike: tapping buttons can be faster than autofire
gaycocks

This game is really great and anyone who likes Metroid should play it
Bob

The hell is that little icon on the top right of the screenshot supposed to be communicating?

“Hold one penises”?
player2

Yep
Jim

I'm not entirely sure why this game is getting so much buzz. I felt it was mediocre at best and that there are far better indie games out there that never got mention on TIGSource.
Bob

Make a freaking suggestion.

Jeeeesus.

Most of the people writing articles are volunteers. They write about the games they find out about. There's a thread in the forums for people to contribute ideas for tigsource coverage, and there's another thread in the forums for posting articles.

Stop being a goddamned cunt and write an article, or make a suggestion.

Gaaawwwd.
InfestedRabite

Just beat it on normal difficulty. Really fun, has some nice difficult boss fights and a nice sense of atmosphere – my favourite parts of the game are the less-populated areas where you're just exploring in solitude, as opposed to blasting your way through the Annihilator Factory. Going to give it a try on Hard later.
alexitron

“This is another great opportunity to enjoy a fun, and free, little game.”

“I'm not entirely sure why this game is getting so much buzz. I felt it was mediocre at best and that there are far better indie games out there that never got mention on TIGSource.”

If I where the creator of this game the first quote will make me madder than the last .

Anyways , this game was awesome to play trough . I have yet to try the harder modes . Looking forward to it .
Dzzkt

Boring.
I played for about 10 minutes. 2 minutes in, I realised that there was no reason to attack anything other than the sheild generators, bosses, and robots that were guarding doors. On the bright side, it was possible to ignore the filler aspects of the game by flying past them to the exit. On the downside, nothing engaging happened during those 10 minutes.
I don't know what to say…here is a game with ultra simplistic mechanics and graphics which does nothing interesting. I guess it's no suprise that it left me uninterested?
Dzzkt

Actually, I take that back. It's just the filler rooms that are boring. The bosses are pretty fun, as are the rooms where you're forced to kill all the enemies to open the doors.
I guess the filler rooms are just there to make exploration more interesting.
http://www.enntess.org Onky

Awesome game, loving it to bits.
UltimateWalrus

This game was pretty good, I especially liked the bosses you have to go inside of.
RT55J

Absolutely phenomenal. Definitely a Game of the Year contender in my books.
meepmeep13

I really like this game. I think it's good that this has a relatively easy 'normal' mode, as I'm normally pretty useless at shooters so never make it very far into indie shooters.

This is just the right length, perfect atmosphere, great controls, minimalist but actually quite polished bosses.

If this had come out at the same time as the retro platforms it is inspired by, I reckon we'd still be talking about it today.

Well done.
Thomas

Downloaded this while I'm here at work. Played it a bit, but I can't wait to get home and really dive into this one. So much fun! I'm of course getting the Metroid vibe, but I'm also feeling some Solar Jetman (one of my favorite NES games). Love it!
DustySpur

you discovered why reviewing a game you played for 10 minutes is fucking stupid, good for you!!!
Kidd Gregory

Just complete it on “easy” mode. It’s great fun, there are some challenging boss battles, and the game has a great sense of atmosphere; nonetheless, my favorite portions of the krunker game are the more sparsely inhabited places where you can simply explore in peace. Will test it out on Hard when I get a chance.
Larry Martin

Exciting to see Daniel Remar’s latest creation in Hero Core, a true gaming visionary!
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jane clara

Excellent article! Always anticipate what this publication will highlight!!
capybara clicker
papa’s games

this game is very reminiscent of games in 8 bit or 16 bit graphics. Even Papa’s games looks better now.