Not a Hero is like a 2D, pixelated Gears of War

The bloody follow-up to OlliOlli

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It’s a good thing Not a Hero turns out to be as inventive as it is derivative. At first glance this game barely stands out from the flood of indie titles over the past few years, with its standard-issue pixel art and conspicuous combination of neon palette, aggressive electro, and low-res ultraviolence all straight out of Hotline Miami. But pick up the controller and you’ll find Not a Hero has more than enough of its own to say. It’s a raucous shower of joyful gore and pitch-perfect combat design.

Despite its simple 2D exterior, Not a Hero is an action game centered around shooting from cover, like Gears of War, Uncharted, and dozens of other elaborate 3D games from the last console generation. What this means is that instead of blindly rushing into combat, you push a button to hide behind parts of scenery and only shoot when the time is right. Taking cover makes you impervious to bullet fire, even if you’re being shot at from behind, which doesn’t make a lot of sense but did make the game quite a bit easier once I figured it out.

So, how does all this work in 2D? Really well, as it turns out. The controls are tight as a drum and all pinned together by a single inspired move: the slide. It’s the same button used as the one to take cover, but when you slide into an enemy, it knocks them over and lets you take them out in a single shot. It reminded me most of underrated Platinum Games shooter Vanquish; both games have a similar flow where you’re hopping between barriers, taking out bad guys along the way. Not a Hero is at its best when your thumbs dance across the buttons and you get out of a tight spot without a second thought.

It’s no surprise that Not a Hero’s controls are so on point; the game comes from Roll7, the developer behind last year’s excellent skateboarding platformer OlliOlli and its recent sequel. The series showed the studio had a knack for nailing unconventional yet immediate 2D game design, and it’s a trait that’s carried onto its latest title. Aside from the controls, Not a Hero shares OlliOlli’s goal-based structure and one-more-try quick restarts, which is a good thing, because you will die a lot.

If you’re in the UK and still reeling from last week’s general election, Not a Hero is here to remind you that things could be more controversial. The plot revolves around a murderous rabbit named Bunnylord who will stop at nothing to get elected and rule the country. Bunnylord tasks a wide variety of playable characters with things as benign as putting up posters and as bloody as assassinating gang leaders. The game takes place over three weeks of Bunnylord’s election campaign, with one mission for each day; how well you perform in each contributes to Bunnylord’s approval rating, which unlocks new characters as it rises.

This structure works well, because until the last third of the game, it’s normally not too hard to finish a level — it’s completing the optional goals that provide the challenge. And you’ll want to unlock as many characters as you can, since they all play so differently; there’s the slow redneck with a shotgun, the generic East London thug, and the speedy ponytailed guy somewhat reminiscent of Jesus from The Big Lebowski.

I can’t say I warmed to any of these characters, or Not a Hero’s tone in general. Too often it relies on obvious jokes, clichéd stereotypes, or self-conscious wackiness, which is a shame because Roll7 clearly put thought into the game’s presentation. The pixelated graphics have an attractive isometric depth, and I did appreciate occasional bright moments of British irreverence — think bored-sounding SWAT team taunts of "you're going to prison!" before they viciously kill you — but the overall style just wasn't my thing.

As far as the underlying game goes, though, Not a Hero is pretty accessible. The obvious comparison is the unforgiving Hotline Miami, but the regenerating health bar and cover system help make Not a Hero a lot easier to get into at first. That’s not to say it isn’t punishing — when you do inevitably die, you have to start each stage over from the beginning. I should also call out the level design, which sometimes requires "leaps of faith" onto platforms you can’t yet see, and made me feel like I was playing a particularly cruel Sega Genesis game.

But these are minor complaints. If you like your brutal bunny action rendered in cute graphics and played with near-perfect controls, Not a Hero is more than worth a shot.

Not a Hero is out today on PC, with PlayStation 4 and PS Vita versions in the works.

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