Ground Zero Heroes is one of the many survivor clones released this week and follows an identical gameplay formula – you are a one-man army tasked with surviving as long as you can while picking up dropped XP from defeated enemies to constantly upgrade abilities.
While the gameplay is basically the same as the other dozen survivor titles released this month, at least the visual style stands out with its Simpsons and Rick and Morty Saturday morning cartoon inspiration.
The problem with this been-there-done-that gameplay loop is the balance. Permanent unlocks are revealed at a trickle pace since gold is so rare. The goal of each biome is to defeat 10,000 enemies but most runs only last a few minutes or maybe 1,000 kills as the player is almost always under powered. For example, one of the early unlocks is an auto-shooting fireball but it shoots in random directions, not towards the closest enemy. Combine this with the slow default moving speed and surviving even the earliest segment becomes frustrating. This randomness and weak upgrades make each attempt an unfair challenge. Then, if you manage to actually grind your way to the next biome, which can easily take several hours, the entire process of unlocking permanent buffs repeat. The grind is real and slowly paced, sharply testing patience. There is just isn’t much payoff for the amount of time spent.
It seems like the game tries to circumvent these difficulty spikes with the inclusion of the sewer sleep system. As the sun goes down, more powerful creatures emerge. If you choose to fight, the rewards can be greater but at the cost of higher challenge. However, if you manage to make it to sewer cap, the player can choose to sleep there for the night, wake in the morning so the stronger enemies retreat, restore a small amount of health, but any items on the field will disappear. On top of this, the player needs to manage the candy meter, which is essentially the stamina gauge. If it depletes, health starts to drop. You know, as if this game wasn’t hard enough.
Unfortunately, the biggest gimmick of Ground Zero Heroes, the Simpson’s visual style, isn’t enough to carry its weight or separate the gameplay from this horribly over crowded genre. It might look a little different, but it plays exactly the same as the half dozen survivor titles you played last week.
SCORE: 5/10
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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