There are a good few examples of the humble beat-'em-up on PS4, but more are always welcome in our book. Until DotEmu finishes up work on Streets of Rage 4, we can whet our appetites for 2D brawling with I Am the Hero, which lands on PS4 and Vita today in North America and tomorrow in Europe.
This indie effort looks like it could be pretty fun in the above launch trailer. With stylised pixel art visuals and what looks like some satisfying combat, we're interested to learn more. You'll be able to play it solo or with a buddy, locally or online. There are also various characters to swap between, which should provide some variety to each scrap.
What do you think of I Am the Hero? Will you be giving this a fighting chance on PS4 or Vita? Don't start a fight in the comments below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 20
Looks fun, though I'm not fun of the pixels. Don't understand the trend. It's like making black and white movies when we no longer have such restrictions.
Im keen to pick this up on vita - provided the reviews are positive
@naruball That's not a good comparison. B&W movies are made as an artistic expression rather than a restriction. In fact, so are a lot of pixel games I imagine. A lot more are made that way because of cost as well though I'd think. I think pixel games have a charm to them but then I grew up with SNES etc so they appeal to me on a nostalgic level. To be fair, these pixel graphics have aged well in comparison to the 3D blocks of Gamecube and PS1 etc.
Against my better judgement, I will wait and see of a physical release will somehow come along someday.
@tomassi Ιt's a perfect comparison, actually. Black and white movies can be made, but are not. Not for nostalgia or for any other reason. Some have been made, but are by no means common, like pixelated games have become. There could be a trend in movies at some point where many low budget movies are black and white and without sound. I will skip those too, no matter how much charm some have found in them. Why do you think people didn't find "charm" in pixelated games during the ps1 + ps2 era?
I firmly believe it's because of how much we're influenced by others. Fighting games used to be all the rage. Now most don't care about them and focus on mp games instead. Even flappy bird became successful because everyone else was playing it. People could play nes games already, but as soon as nes mini came out and a lot of people started talking about it, everyone wanted one.
Also, there is a massive difference between 3d blocks of Gamecube and ps1 and 16 bit games. Games can have cartoony graphics without being pixelated and they will cost pretty much the same. They don't have to be realistic looking and thus expensive to be made.
@naruball
Not to be impolite - but that's rather nonsensical post.
Eye of the beholder etc.
Actual 16bit games generally have aged much better visually than huge swathes of earlier 3D home console games.
If you'd like to see how good a film can be made in black and white - find the Black & Chrome edition of Mad Max: Fury Road. A pretty terrible, boring film made far more compelling by altering the visual style.
@tomassi @naruball
I'm the same... can't be bothered with games in this visual style. I started gaming in the 70s, and while that obviously gives me a lot of fond memories of many games in this style, I've no wish to play them today.
Even the nostalgia angle doesn't work for me. I've played many of my childhood favourites on C64 emulators and it's just spoiled the memories. I can't even be bothered with the more recent PS1/PS2 games for the same reason; they were great at the time, but they just look a mess to me now.
And don't even get me started on crappy black and white movies... 🤣
@naruball this movie would like to say hello to you : https://youtu.be/6BS27ngZtxg
Whether it's for budgetary or artistic reasons, we're in a day and age where pixels and polygons are both valid.
@naruball you clearly like video games more than movies as there are hundreds of movies shot in B&W either because of artistic choice or budget constraints. There are some very B&W famous movies made since colour became the norm, Ed Wood, Sin City, Schindlers List, Clerks, La Haine, The Artist, Nebraska, the new Oscar tipped film 'Roma'.
The rest of your post went into a ramble so no comment on that.
This style is now an artistic choice rather than a technological necessity. It may sometimes be chosen as a 'cheap' approach, but can work really well, for example with Sonic Mania (which is an approach I would have personally preferred for SoR4).
Anyway, I saw a review of this was not really fond of the single 2D plane (which I guess calls back more to Data East stuff like Bad Dudes), I like to move up and down the screen a bit, even in a 2D fighter.
@Paranoimia I agree mostly, although the SNES games and their 'look' have never got old for me. In comparison with PS1 era they have aged much better. I do agree that sometimes games are better left as memories though.
@KALofKRYPTON I loved Max Max! Not seen the B&W version but heard it's really good. I thought it might lack some of the vibrant colours of the original?
@tomassi I found Fury Road to be a relatively boring, one-note chase movie very loosely tied to the franchise. It has a worthy visual appeal - but the B&W version genuinely enhanced the experience for me.
Looks great like a cross between Viewtiful Joe & Guacamelee.
I'm not so sure about the visual style, too. But I'm all in for beat-'em-ups!! One of my favorite genres since I started gaming in the 90's.
Speaking of which, can anyone suggest some good beat-'em-ups on the PS4?
@KALofKRYPTON
Ah here, don't be knocking the Fury...
@Steel76
99 vidas, Bud Spencer & Terence Hill: Slaps And Beans, A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV, Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe, are the ones I like. Try those. Im sure theres lots more.
Too all else,
Pixels rock. It's its own artform. Complaining is like going to the art museum and saying you dont know why people still paint with an impressionist style because you want all of todays modern paintings to be photo-realistic or computer aided.
It's just kind of a stupid complaint really.
@Steel76 same here. If they were better games I wouldn’t care. Pixelation didn’t sway me from games back then and it doesn’t pull me toward games now. They use this art style for nostalgia and apply it to crappy games. They can do better but I don’t think they’re trying to.
@blah01 it's cack! 😂
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