Hero Project Review: An Engrossing Super Hero RPG

Hero Project is another recent game by the people over at Glu games. Similar to Eternity Warriors, Hero Project is a free iphone game that that does have additional costs to purchase certain items and powers in the game. This game is a mix of different types of free-to-play iPhone games that actually pulls everything together with a cohesive and offbeat story.

In Hero Project the player is a new recruit at an X-men-esque super hero academy. Through various missions the veteran super heroes at the academy will show the player the ropes but before the player’s new hero can save the world he or she must first under go lots of training.

Saving the World One Mission at a Time

Upon wondering around the 3-level academy players will run into a few NPC heroes and some terminals that all have missions ready for the undertaking. One of the NPC heroes even offers Co-Op missions that the player can take with their friends computer-controlled avatar.

Missions are handled in a few different ways. There are combat missions that are actually turn-based fights Final Fantasy style and then there are missions that are time-based that don’t require any direct action from the player other than waiting out a time limit similar to other popular MMO games on the iPhone like iMobsters.

Missions themselves are broken down into two different categories: story and side quests. Story missions will have an orange-red background and can only be completed once. Side quests will have a blue background and can be repeated as necessary to advance to the next level and unlock the next set of story missions.

If you take the time to read the flavor text you will notice that this game actually has a story that progresses as the story missions are completed. This makes Hero Project stand out from other free iPhone games. The story helps to give the player purpose and a feeling of progression through the super hero academy.

Similar to other games of this nature Hero Project gives the player 100 energy and each mission that is accepted costs a small amount of that energy. Energy does recharge over time but in the later levels it doesn’t recharge quick enough to do all the missions available. This forces players to purchase an energy pack through an In-App purchase or just wait out the recharge time. Energy can also be won in the daily lottery when the player logs in to play the game.

Laying the Smack Down

Combat in Hero’s Project was a pleasant surprise. Although the other missions require the player to wait out a set amount of time, combat missions allow the player to directly fight a group of thugs or clowns. The player will have a set of powers at the bottom of the screen and each has its own recharge time and stamina cost; stamina being the magic points of the game.

The fights are turn based in the sense that each attack has a cool down timer. Once the attack is charged the player can select it and then select their target. Sometimes you can get off 2 attacks before the enemy can take their turn with creative manipulation of the cool down timer. The player can also manipulate how quickly their powers recharge by pumping experience points into the Speed category on the stats menu.

Other stats the player can put experience points in are Melee, Power, Stamina, Health, and Luck. Each of these stats has a direct affect on combat and how you want to develop your character will determine which of these gets the boost. Each “level up” gives the player 10 points to distribute. Any type of hero can be created whether the player wants to be super fast, super strong, or just plain super lucky.

In the beginning of the game there are just a few powers to choose from which makes customizing your hero seem limited. Once the player gets a few levels under their belt they can acquire new powers and even pay to level up their current powers.

Hero Project does limit how many powers the player can have active during combat making it a little more strategic and fun to pick the powers you want to use and trying out different combos. Other factors to remember with selecting which powers to take is that the stronger the power the longer the recharge time and the more stamina it is going to consume.

Picking Out the Tights

One thing this game did a better job with than Eternity Warriors is that it does have more options for customizing your character. The first few options the player gets is just to pick whether they want to be a male or female, and the skin and hair color. The good news is that although the starting options are pretty sparse there is at least a nice selection of costume pieces to buy from capes to belts in a wide variety of colors. This game covers all the super hero outfit staples.

One major difference that players will notice is that all of the equipment that offers any kind of bonus is strictly purchased with Hero Credits–the game’s freemium currency. All other equipment that can be purchased with coins are just for cosmetic changes. Hero Project relies more on its stat leveling and power selection to handle combat and allows players to buy pretty much whatever they want while still being effective. The downside is that players like myself will stick with the stat enhancing gear they can buy with the few Hero Credits the game gives new players. You don’t have to match to kick butt, right?

Even Heroes Need to Get Paid Too

The player is awarded coins after completing each mission and can use those coins to purchase or upgrade powers, buy new costume pieces, or items such as health or stamina vials from the store.

Another way to earn coins is by growing crystals in the lab. This is where the game takes a farming approach. In the research lab the player can purchase tubes that they can incubate the crystals. The tubes are just holding cells and are unlocked with the player’s level.

There are different types of crystals that can be grown and they each have different growth cycles along with higher yields based on the longer it takes the crystal to grow. This is a system that seems to fit in the game and can earn the player a lot of coins.

The Freemium Hook

As with any freemium game there is a currency that can only be obtained from purchasing them with real money through In-App purchases or downloading certain Apps. That currency for this game is Hero Credits. Hero Credits allow the player to buy costume pieces that offer stat bonuses, certain powers and the ability to fully upgrade the powers. This is the hook as powers can only be upgraded to a certain point with coins and then after that it requires the freemium currency.

Wrap Up

Hero Project is a decent game on its own and a pretty good free iPhone game. The ability to create a generic super hero is fun and the actual story is refreshing. Hero Project oozes character from its script writing to the colorful characters.

I did have a problem with how restricted the game is for those of us that don’t want to purchase additional Hero Credits. This limitation will more than likely put a lot of gamers off but I am guessing that Glu will keep enough around to make the game profitable.

Another issue that bugged me was the fact that a lot of the times the buttons wouldn’t read my touch. This happens almost every time when I am trying to select a mission and accept it. Again, not a game breaker just an annoying quark to overlook.

As far as super hero rpg games go this is one of the better ones. Will it get boring after a while, probably but it really depends on how much you are into the source material. I personally found Eternity Warriors held my attention longer but that was because of how much fun I had slaying hordes of monsters. Hero Project is a bit slower, but it does offer more content and some wit for those that can appreciate it.

• Title: Hero Project
• By: Glue Games Inc
• Age: 9+
• Device: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
• iOS: 4.1 or later