Unlike Radiant Silvergun, Treasure's Guardian Heroes was at least released in the English-speaking world. It was always expensive, but never that expensive. Nevertheless, it's $10 on Xbox Live Arcade.
I'm partial to fighting games, of course, so this was a real treat for me. As with SIlvergun (via pirated copy) I had played this on the Saturn, but only in passing. This release really has me putting some time into the game.
The beat-em-up ala Final Fight and its successors is a really hard genre to get right. Due to the extreme repetition that's par for the course in games like this, even major classics like Streets of Rage 2 simply wear out their welcome after 20 minutes or so of sustained beatings. But beating up hundreds of guys is a fundamentally exciting activity! What to do? Guardian Heroes is a perfectly paced beat-em-up that liberally borrows systems from RPGs and one-on-one fighting games, with a few tricks of its own, to keep things interesting.
First off, this is a multiplayer game designed for huge melees. The game supports up to four players, and there are typically at least five or so enemies on the screen at any given time. Controls are fighting game style-- press up to jump, tons of special moves-- and the screen is divided up into three distinct "lines" ala Fatal Fury to control the chaos.
Even when you're playing alone, there will be a computer-controlled character (changes based on situation) running around the screen and beating guys up. You could theoretically leave your helper to kill everything for you (he gladly will, if commanded), but you'll actually be cheating yourself out of leveling up.
Unlike an RPG, the party doesn't gain group experience when an enemy is killed: instead, experience points are gained every time a character causes damage. In other words, you have to go out and get experience for yourself. This simple mechanic keeps you playing aggressively: you won't level up if you don't throw yourself into the fight.
With every level gained, characters can level up individual stats as they see fit. Character types are RPG-standard: a heavy knight, a mage, a ninja, and a cleric. As you progress through the brief stages, constant forks in the story mean that every playthrough is a little different and you spend a lot of time rerunning through the game in search of every stage and ending.
On top of a very meaty main mode, the game also opens the sandbox for you in the Versus and Arcade modes, where every single character, enemy, and boss that appears in the game (including, say, Civilian Child who passes through during one stage) is available for a battle royale. It's by no means a competitive or balanced fighting game, but it's a lot of fun to screw around with. Online it's kind of a mess, because everybody just picks the final bosses. Custom rule options allow for Smash Brothers-level "house rules" customization. And of course, like Smash, nobody really expects you to play this game seriously.
If you like Castle Crashers, this beats the living hell out of Castle Crashers and it's 15 years old. This is an essential game, one of the very finest in its genre, and at $10 you'll get so much more than you paid for. Here's hoping we see Spikeout on XBL again soon.
"The game supports up to four players, and there are typically at least five or so enemies on the screen at any given time."
Oops? I think you confused VS mode and Story Mode? It certainly implies the wrong thing!
Four player co-op not being included in the new 360 version is a huge shame, that's something other brawlers like Castle Crashers will always have over it, even if GH kicks them up and down the street in other categories.
Posted by: rvr67michael | November 03, 2011 at 12:35 PM