After waiting since 5am for the release on the Choice of Game website for HeroFall, I have to say, it lived up to the hype. The author, Zachary Sergi pumped out a better game each time, taking the criticisms of the first game (railroading chief among them) to create a much more diverse Hero Project. And then HeroFall, which I’m still tingling from. I just finished two playthroughs of the game (Black Magic and Lucky saves :D) and I am just blown away at the quality.
The biggest complaint I really have about the game is that it is too easy to achieve perfect everything, but if the problem with a story based game is the gameplay is too easy… That’s a great note for the story.
My first playthrough, I thought I was being a cheeky little asshole when I just scoffed at Jury pulling the depower gun on Jenny. I actually legitimately cried when I realized what I did, and was genuinely freaking out when I subsequently replayed the scene about 5 different times on my Lucky run (never being patient enough to figure out it is possible for her to live and just seeing her get shot. :P)
The final scenes were absolutely amazing, and it was great to see all of the redemption stories. Jury showing that there was something in this world that would make him reconsider his path in life, Prodigal’s redemption story and becoming a martyr and icon for the downtrodden, Black Magic coming back from his/her scandal and re-evaluating life in general and deciding to make a true and positive difference in the world both in the final confrontation and afterwards, and of course GG showing the world that heroism isn’t determined by whether or not you have powers. Wintry, Fistfull, and Rebellion all deserve mention here as well. Animosity and past differences aside, they came through in the end. I wish I could learn more of Fistfull’s in particular. So many unanswered questions. How long had Rebellion been offering other heroes the Pump? Was he always corrupt and the icon image just that - an image that my MC and many other children idolized? When did things start turning illicit? How did the Processor not find out?
People complained about how flat the characters were in some of the previous games, but I honestly was enthralled with the character development they got to close it all out. GG blamed himself (in my opinion) entirely too much for his negligible role in the Hero Project fiasco, and was so worried about ‘making it up’ to the MC that I legitimately felt bad for the poor guy. Really the only quibble I have is that some characters (Mach Girl and the other Hero Project contestants, namely) seem to only be mentioned once in the final fight. I’d’ve liked to know how the heroes who so gallantly helped my main character in his time of need turned out in the aftermath - similar to how the Hero Project did it. But I’m guessing I’ll have to wait until The Hero Project 2 for those questions to be answered - which is all well and good because it means I get to see them again!
Zachary Sergi, thank you so much for creating my favorite Choose Your Own Adventure series on the net. The little things that show your attention to detail really made me the happiest to read (the note about Lucky being the most selfless hero the MC has met comes to mind immediately, and the mention of the most unwelcome place for the Hero Project housing the teleport device had me jumping out of my seat in joy that I could go back to the Millennial Tower.) I look forward to reading your next series here on Choice of Games, and I’m beyond ecstatic that at some point the Heroes Rise universe will receive another entry! I truly hope other Risers enjoyed the ride as much as I did so far - I’m just grateful I was lucky enough to be along for the ride!
