Chrome web store says to me:
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I really, really do not like the way your character continually gets railroaded in this story. There are countless choices that have no real effect on the game, but when I want to make a choice that matters to me I don’t have the option. Yelling at a character for acting like an idiot just because the writer thinks it will set the story up in some great way gets old, especially in a game where you’re supposed to be able to have a choice. So I for one am highly disappointed in this game. Aside from that there were a lot of things I liked about this game, but they weren’t enough in my eyes to make up for the game’s big flaw.
Doesn’t work on kindle fire :-((
RAGE IT’S NOT ON I-TUNES.
is there any way to romance Jenny or any other Characters except Black Magic, went through 3 times & couldnt get with anyone but BM
@idontlikeusernames I totally agree, that would have been much better.
@Ramidel, I agree that the excessive amount of exposition for the main antagonist is fitting for the genre, but that didn’t make it any easier for me to read through without feeling like the story was dragging. On the second read-through, though, I skipped it all, and then it felt like it was missing something, even though I knew pretty much what it would have said if I had read it.
So on the third read-through, I skimmed it all, and since I’d already read most of it before (there was little different from the first read-through), it went quickly enough. I’m wishing I’d done the same thing for the second read-through.
On the second read-through I had hoped to see more of a change to the overall storyline if I made a drastically different set of choices, but as has been said, it seemed to only make a change in the immediately following paragraph or two, and then you were right back on the same path as if you’d made any other choice. There were only a relatively few set of choices that seemed to have any significant effect on the ending.
Some sets of choices had no noticeable effect at all on how the story read. I can’t say for sure that those choices had absolutely no effect on how the story read, but if there were differences, they were so minute as to easily escape notice, or perhaps their effects did not show up until sometime much later in the story. Some of these choices may have been only for modifying your character’s stats, but the Kindle version doesn’t support the Show Stats button, so I couldn’t tell if there was a change to stats after any given choice made.
Overall, I enjoyed the story the first read-through, because I made the types of choices that meshed with the author’s idea of a superhero. I reached a higher Legend in the first read-through than I did with either of the two later ones. I was also under the impression during the first read-through that I was making choices that shaped the storyline to more of a degree than I actually was, as was evidenced by the second and third read-through. So while I really liked the first read-through, I don’t see this game as one with a high degree of replayability.
Only thing I can complain about is that we only had one romance option and had no opinion in it…
One of the things I really enjoyed about Heroes Rise was its length. Many of the other CoG offerings ended early and abruptly for my tastes (e.g. Choice of Zombies was fun, but sent me immediately back to Zombie Exodus for a main course; Choice of the Dragon could have been twice as long and still kept me entertained). By contrast, Heroes Rise took its time, with the plot arc, cast, and detail of a good-sized novella. On my first read-through, based on my sense of the CoG “average,” I kept expecting the story to end. But it kept going, and took the time it needed to unfold the world and the story. I found that very satisfying.
To have a game of HR’s length that also has lots of significant plot variation based on your choices would be enormously time-consuming for the author (and lest we forget, nobody’s writing these as their day job). I’m impressed by the writing time that Zachary must have put into giving significantly different storylines based on your choice of sidekick.
Now, those stories do all feed back into the conclusion in similar-though-not-identical ways… and I can see the case that (having already invested as much time as he did) he could have written significantly different endings for the sidekick plots as well. And his extensive use of fake_choices will bug some people more than others.
But as someone who enjoys long stories significantly more than short ones, I’m willing to accept that for CoG games this will usually involve a significant trade-off in plot variation.
I can’t buy it from chrome store for my pc
@Havenstone I recognize your overall point. The story is very lengthy. As long as people recognize that this is basically a novella with an illusion of choice, they’re less likely to get annoyed when they aren’t given one. Some non-choices that ticked me:
Warning: Some spoilers follow…
Why was I forced to knock out Jury when I already knew that the Gravitas was being stored in a doorless room to which he didn’t have a key? Why did I have to throw a tantrum at Grandma, and act too self-centered and inconsiderate to recognize how my parents were suffering? Why couldn’t I have simply thanked my grandmother for doing what I should have to keep the spirits of my parents up in that terrible prison?
It was annoying being forced to ignore Black Magic after the big revelation, especially after I had decided that I was going to play it that my character was too in love with her to care. I got to say the words, but my character still totally ignored her, and still didn’t bother to read her emails. Heck my character wanted to invite her to be his date to the award ceremony which of course he wasn’t given an option to do.
It was also annoying being railroaded into choosing who was going to live and who was going to die. Why couldn’t I refuse to choose? Why was the one I chose forced on me? And why did I have to vomit immediately afterwards and then forget to put my mask back on? That was very heavy-handed of the author.
etc…
@Havenstone, the length of Heroes Rise definitely contributed to the enjoyment of reading it the first time through. But I felt it worked against it on second and subsequent reads. In Choice of Zombies, I could pick different options and read a substantially different story. I felt my choices mattered. In Heroes Rise, I feel that my choices don’t matter much, and liberal use of fake_choices just makes that feeling worse. Heroes Rise is still an entertaining story, but I feel like the reading experience was not much different than if I had read a non-interactive novella and been offered a couple of alternative endings. In general I don’t like reading most non-interactive stories multiple times, and I have that same feeling with Heroes Choice whereas I didn’t with Choice of Zombies.
I tried playing Zombie Apocalypse, but it failed on the Kindle’s web browser. I will try it sometime on the PC, but when I’m on the PC, I’m too easily distracted by other things. Not so on the Kindle, which is why I like playing the CoG games on it, although the Kindle web browser UI for the online games leaves much to be desired. So I’m quite happy that some of the CoG games are available as native Kindle apps.
Do I feel that Heroes Rise was worth three bucks? Not really, since for me it doesn’t have much replay value, and length-wise it doesn’t compare to what I get in one issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction for two-thirds the price of Heroes Rise (considering that I get F&SF at a subscription rate of $0.99 per month, which amounts to $1.98 per issue).
@eposic Agreed.
Fair enough, all round – tastes vary, and I agree with you on some of the story’s weaknesses. @P_Tigras, I was also surprised at first by the lack of choice we’re given around e.g. the tantrum. But on reflection, in real life we don’t actually get to choose our maturity level. (We also don’t always get to choose who we’re lovesick for, or – to some extent – what stupid things we do as a result).
Of course, in real life, we also don’t get to choose our gender and sexual orientation. 
Interactive fiction treads a line between treating its readers as co-authors (deciding broad parameters for the character and even the world) and treating them as characters (with limitations on choice specific to that character’s history). I enjoy… wait for it… both.
So I decided I wasn’t bothered that the main character was emotionally immature whatever I chose… especially as it became clear that this was, fundamentally, a coming-of-age story. That didn’t cover all the bad decisions that my character was forced into – I was annoyed by parts of the Black Magic plot as well – but enough not to ruin the game for me.
On another topic: anyone else choose a non-standard lyric for the wedding ring? My first time through, I went with “You and me baby ain’t nothing but mammals,” and found it a surprising thematic fit when it popped up again at the end of the story.
Loved it. The characters, the plot, the length especially. That said, I’d drop another buck or two on a patch or expansion that fleshed out some side paths, but even if things didn’t change dramatically I felt like I was changing or influencing the main characters actions, if not controlling my own character.
@Havenstone
While I can accept the need for the main character to behave in a somewhat immature fashion in what is essentially a coming of age story what bothers me most is that we’re basicall forced to play the idiot hero since at no point are we ever given an opportunity to escape our ongoing humiliation conga because constantly being handed the idiot ball. At no point in the game are we ever given the opportunity to use our heroes skills and resources to foil even part of the villains plan(s), maybe because the villain in this case has no plan b.
Just because the plot of this game is villain driven doesn’t mean we should be denied the opportunity to have our choices matter. For this I would like to draw the comparison with Apex Patrol (also on this site) as a game that also relies on a plot that is entirely driven by the plans of our nemesis yet in that game we are actually given opportunities based on our characters background, skills and stats to foil significant parts of it and hence feel like our choices matter.
Now I do agree with you that this game is far longer than most other choice of games offerings and since it has a well thought out background and is quite well written I suppose we can allow for some concessions when it comes to size versus variation.
Even with that said however there’s still to few choices even cosmetic ones or those with limited impact. For example these are the choices I would have liked to have been able to make that would have had just minimal impact on the overall plot, (spoilers below)
a) When awarded the $100k at the very end after having found out our career is basically one giant set-up and that our title should have gone to someone else who was deliberately killed or handicapped by the villain as part of her plans, I would have liked the option to donate this unearned money to the victim or his/her family either publicly or anonymously. Effects in game significantly less money at the end and a possible minor increase in legend/fame levels.
b) When being offered the Millenial group membership at the very end of the game after having been passed over for someone obviously far less capable and the son of the main antagonist to boot earlier, I would have liked the option to turn that possibility down in far, far harsher terms, especially given the previously displayed required emotional immaturity of the main character, and basically read that smug snake, Rebellion the riot act since being given what amounts to basically a reserve, reserve spot as jury’s butt monkey sidekick at that point in the game after almost single-handedly saving the entire city felt very much like a calculated insult to my character. It is ironic that the one time in the game where I really wanted my character to be able to throw a tantrum I wasn’t given that opportunity. Again effects on game would be minimal, since the opportunity to turn this down, though without the harsh words is already in the game, only additional work required would be significant downward hit in relations with the Millenial group in the stat screen.
c) And finally and this is the big one: romances, unless they’re the whole point of the game should be optional even if it is with someone the author has established to be a big teenage crush of the main character. Therefore I would have liked an option to skip the romance path entirely. As before the effects on the game would be a lower relationship with the LI character and a somewhat shorter game.
All that said I did enjoy the first read through quite a lot and given that the price is still less than an overpriced restaurant beverage I did not find it too objectionable.
If the author does decide to make a sequel, which I hope he will all I can say is that I hope we will be given both more and more significant choices, if that has to come at the expense of the overall length of the story then I would, personally, be fine with that since that would probably still leave the length on the high end for a CoG game.
Pfew that turned into such an unexpected wall of text I can honestly say that I regret not having been able to be a part of the Beta tests
“It is ironic that the one time in the game where I really wanted my character to be able to throw a tantrum I wasn’t given that opportunity” – well said. And I do enjoy a good textwall.
I’m guessing we’ll get a sequel – there’s a colon in the title! – so hopefully some of this feedback will make its way back to Zachary Sergi and affect the next Heroes game. (Of course, he may already be lurking here under some clever secret identity. @Zach? @Zed? We’re on to you, Sergi…)
@idonotlikeusernames I’m with you on wanting that one immature riot act moment badly. By the time the game ended my interest in joining the Millenials had evaporated and I really, really wanted to tell Rebellion exactly where he could shove his Millenial group membership… That was one moment of immaturity I’d have found highly cathartic.
I also agree with you on continually being handed the stupid ball. It got old, and contributed to the feeling I had that I never was quite in control of my character.
@Havenstone Yeah, as long as I kept in mind that my character wasn’t me, but some self-centered young & immature putz, I could continue. Even still, after I was -forced- to ignore Black Magic and unable to invite her to the award ceremony, -forced- to pick the reporter to live at the ceremony because of my character’s high fame score, and -forced- to listen to my side-kick saying I betrayed her because the game -forced- me to pick the reporter over her, I was already angry at the game. Then being -forced- to vomit and -forced- to “forget” to put my mask back on afterward, followed by being -forced- to listen as Prodigal used all those game-forced- actions to humiliate my character, that was just too much. I couldn’t take it any more. I had to put the game down and do something else for awhile.
@Ramidel It’s interesting how you tried to play out the exact opposite reaction to Black Magic’s revelation as I did and ended up feeling that your choice was just as disrespected. It probably works out best for players who didn’t overtly reject her, but were avoiding her because theyneeded time to think things through before talking to her again, or those who were ignoring her because they were planning on dumping her. For those who entirely accepted or entirely rejected her, the story just didn’t work so well.
One thing I really liked in the game was that Black Magic looked like Jessica Alba…
@eposic she looked like Christina Ricci