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IGN Review of PowerUp Heroes
Here's the thing about video games: Our means of interaction in their fictional worlds is restricted by the specific set of controls we're given, so that input has to work flawlessly. The controller is our best means of touching stuff -- we pull the trigger and we shoot, we press a button and we jump -- because it responds to our reactions in real time. For Kinect to work long-term, we need it to cooperate with what we're playing. To get there, we need fewer games like PowerUp Heroes.
As an over-the-shoulder brawler starring my super-powered Xbox Live Avatar, PowerUp Heroes is a fun concept. When it worked, I could see why this could have been a good time. I'm not ashamed to have dug its fast-paced fist-fighting for kids. It takes an accessible, uncomplicated approach to combat, and this winds up working in the game's favor and against it.
My hero walked into each street fight with two suits I could swap between on the fly. Each brought three distinctly powerful attacks to the table in addition to my ranged blasts and unmatched face-punching skill. If my on-screen Mitch followed through when I told him what to do, the sensation of raising the dead with an arm lift made me feel like a godly puppet master. I was awesome, no denying it, when blocking a barrage of melee attacks. I felt cool lashing out with lightning whips and letting loose with anime-esque energy balls, too.
Problem is, Mitch has a bit of a listening problem. Sometimes I'd tell him to scorch someone with a meteor shower and he'd stand there like a dope. Early in the campaign, which tasked me with eradicating an evil army of suited-up super-villains one by one, this isn't an issue. PowerUp Heroes is easy enough that it'll give you time to dodge when it doesn't register your first attempt -- for a time, anyway. Halfway through the game, when I'd pummelled the final boss with chained elemental powers and counter-kicks to the chest, I had to do it again.
I'd knocked out enemies, absorbed their suits and skills -- a fine incentive to beat up everyone. (The added bonus of Ezio Auditore and Prince of Persia duds kept me kicking ass, too.) I'd exhausted the opposing force, yet here they were, back for more. They came back stronger and faster. They slaughtered me.
I reached that 50% mark after an hour or so. An hour after that, I'd struggled to win two more matches. By this point the repetition of unchanging fights was already wearing on me, and fighting foes who take twice as long to KO, if I could win at all, was half as exciting. Closing the gap to clean clocks close up or unleashing rockets at a range became a frustrating mess of flailing and failing.
The gestural input for each attack is largely the same from one distinctly powered outfit to the next, so the actual output of what I was doing rarely differed. PowerUp Heroes wasn't flexible about reading my moves, and any imperfect movement meant I was about to take a psychic blast to the throat. I only ever enjoyed this dumb-fun because it, seemingly aware of its inability to understand what I wanted, afforded me second chances. When the lenience vanished, so did any hope of enjoying PowerUp Heroes.
For a game so reliant on Kinect controls -- using a game pad would eliminate the best bits of beating up opponents -- Ubisoft's Xbox exclusive sure misses the point. Before it falls off the edge, there's plenty to enjoy, especially for young'uns. It's a shame, because PowerUp Heroes was almost there.
©2011-10-25, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
As an over-the-shoulder brawler starring my super-powered Xbox Live Avatar, PowerUp Heroes is a fun concept. When it worked, I could see why this could have been a good time. I'm not ashamed to have dug its fast-paced fist-fighting for kids. It takes an accessible, uncomplicated approach to combat, and this winds up working in the game's favor and against it.
My hero walked into each street fight with two suits I could swap between on the fly. Each brought three distinctly powerful attacks to the table in addition to my ranged blasts and unmatched face-punching skill. If my on-screen Mitch followed through when I told him what to do, the sensation of raising the dead with an arm lift made me feel like a godly puppet master. I was awesome, no denying it, when blocking a barrage of melee attacks. I felt cool lashing out with lightning whips and letting loose with anime-esque energy balls, too.
Problem is, Mitch has a bit of a listening problem. Sometimes I'd tell him to scorch someone with a meteor shower and he'd stand there like a dope. Early in the campaign, which tasked me with eradicating an evil army of suited-up super-villains one by one, this isn't an issue. PowerUp Heroes is easy enough that it'll give you time to dodge when it doesn't register your first attempt -- for a time, anyway. Halfway through the game, when I'd pummelled the final boss with chained elemental powers and counter-kicks to the chest, I had to do it again.
I'd knocked out enemies, absorbed their suits and skills -- a fine incentive to beat up everyone. (The added bonus of Ezio Auditore and Prince of Persia duds kept me kicking ass, too.) I'd exhausted the opposing force, yet here they were, back for more. They came back stronger and faster. They slaughtered me.
I reached that 50% mark after an hour or so. An hour after that, I'd struggled to win two more matches. By this point the repetition of unchanging fights was already wearing on me, and fighting foes who take twice as long to KO, if I could win at all, was half as exciting. Closing the gap to clean clocks close up or unleashing rockets at a range became a frustrating mess of flailing and failing.
The gestural input for each attack is largely the same from one distinctly powered outfit to the next, so the actual output of what I was doing rarely differed. PowerUp Heroes wasn't flexible about reading my moves, and any imperfect movement meant I was about to take a psychic blast to the throat. I only ever enjoyed this dumb-fun because it, seemingly aware of its inability to understand what I wanted, afforded me second chances. When the lenience vanished, so did any hope of enjoying PowerUp Heroes.
For a game so reliant on Kinect controls -- using a game pad would eliminate the best bits of beating up opponents -- Ubisoft's Xbox exclusive sure misses the point. Before it falls off the edge, there's plenty to enjoy, especially for young'uns. It's a shame, because PowerUp Heroes was almost there.
©2011-10-25, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved