Unruly heroes on the PS4 Weighs in at a respectable 2.9gb file size, which in honesty is light for such a visually appealing title. The game is based on the “Journey to the west” the classic tale of 4 unruly heroes searching for scroll fragments. If you didn’t know the story I am almost certain you would recognize the monkey.
On loading in (and various loading screens), you are greeted with a 4 Musicians who play music corresponding to each button you press which was an epic little touch and I can’t believe I am going to say this but the game loads just a little too quick for this to be of any fun.
You come into the very basic main menu and under the extras menu was an introduction video which I thought BRILLIANT! I watched it – good graphics, strong storytelling and visually sound and then started the game only to watch the same video again almost as though there was not enough in the main menu this was added as filler. We had the controls and sound options and that’s pretty much it.
After a bit of research, I found there was some original Rayman staff here…and it shows. The character models are drawn very well. The animations are certainly more than I expected smooth and crisp to the point of surprising. The environments are deep and very pretty in my eyes everything up to the start of play was great, I was expecting to be knocked off my seat and then we started playing…
Unruly Heroes is not very innovative, a 2D sidescroller, you play as 4 interchangeable characters. With different move sets (2 can glide in the air and 2 can double jump) You can attack in the air and on the ground, you throw your weapon, and you can grab and throw.
You encounter statues and this is the fucking puzzle aspect. You walk up to these statues and can sometimes move them. Each character can interact with a specific statue and activate a special move such as float, shoot special orbs, create a long platform Etc.
When I downloaded Untruly Heroes I was hoping for a sidescrolling combo martial art story. Think Dust: Elysian Tale (a game that easily would get a 9/10 from me)big combos, loads of baddies. What it could have been…
Unruly Heroes was simply a let down based on martial arts but for some inexplicable reason, they tried to break up the gameplay when it didn’t need it with pointless piss poor puzzles. It’s a jack of all trades approach and as such is now a master of none.
Combo building was amazing till you ran out of enemies to be confronted by a puzzle you didn’t need or really want. Also, the jump wall mechanic is broken if I am going to be picky but I am sure it will be fixed out. The storyline is weak and the voice acting is laughable at best. The graphic designers, animators who did a seriously sterling job because there is no denying how good this game looks, must be crying when they saw the voice acting and puzzles.
Pointless puzzles breaking up gameplay…which it didn’t need.
THE RATING 6/10
I don’t pull punches this game is gorgeous and I am sure Journey to the west fans will love the trip down memory lane but that’s all it has going for it. It’s average. You will boot this title up play it twice before its deleted to make room for something else.
Visually incredible and animated, the mechanics are ok, but the story is weak and the voice acting was like a fork scraping down a plate seriously did no one at any point say this voice acting is fucking dreadful? Does it need changing?
That all being said, My 6-year-old son games a little maybe 3-4 hours a week and he asked for a go normally wanting lego/fortnite etc. He tried this and it has made its way to his own special folder. Unlike these other games which end up as solo playing with rage, this title we had great fun doing it together.
I couldn’t work without the cries of “Dad…Help” Dad can you do this Boss” “Dad, Can I just try 5 more minutes”. I found he interacted with this game unlike other games and I sat on the arm smiling when he tried before he gave me the deepest grin and said can you just do this bit.
It’s cliché I know but this made a father and son gaming moment with no rage, a rare occurrence nowadays. We laughed so hard inflating the pig, turning into grumpy blue daddy that the better story came from us. I’d love to see a sequel, but the puzzles need to go.
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