PLATFORM: PC, SWITCH, XBOX ONE (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
What happens when a metal band, playing their first show after quarantine following some sort of apocalyptic event, plays their, ends up being pursued by hordes of mutants and zombies? They load their gear into their souped-up Cadillac (or “Gundillac”) and blast the hell out of everything in sight, of course!
Double Kick Heroes is a metal-fuelled rhythm game where your job is to play the right notes at the right time to slay waves of oncoming monsters. Your car is equipped with two guns – one that aims high, the other low – and you also have access to grenades and a laser rifle. As notes fly along the bottom of the screen, hit whichever attack button that corresponds to the enemy you want to target and they’ll be blown away almost instantly – many go down straight away but some take multiple shots to defeat, although decent timing enhances your firepower which makes things a little easier.
It sounds like good, simple fun, but there’s one fairly major issue – even on lower difficulties, notes fly along the bottom of the screen so quickly that you need to keep your eyes glued to that area pretty much the whole time. Having to also keep track of the enemies in order to assess which guns to fire means you’re constantly forced to look away from the notes bar, dropping shots (and being penalised for doing so) that you otherwise would have hit.
The metal theme is really well done, the soundtrack is incredible, there are some nice enemy designs (if you’re lucky enough to be able to look at them long enough to notice) and there are plenty of laughs to be had along the way (some “just different enough to avoid a copyright claim” characters and the sweary shoot ’em up-style boss warning are high points), but Double Kick Heroes‘ gameplay ideas don’t quite gel together effectively enough to make the overall game feel like the rewarding experience that it could have been.
