Review: Heroki

In a matter of weeks, SEGA released two games that sit on opposite ends of the mobile gaming spectrum. On one hand, you have Sonic Runners, a free-to-play game in which ads and paywalls get in the way of the fun. On the other hand, you have Heroki, a “premium” mobile game that asks for money up-front and more closely resembles something you’d expect to see on consoles. In an age where consumers are reluctant to spend even 99 cents on a game, any pay-once-and-play-forever app is therefore a riskier bet, let alone one that costs $7.99. A mobile game at that price point needs to justify its existence convincingly, so does Heroki do that? Let’s find out.

HEROKI
Available on: iOS 8+
Reviewed on: iPhone 6

As you might expect, the game’s story revolves around Heroki himself, a young boy with a propeller on his head who lives in the floating village of Levantia. One day, the village’s cherished Emerix, a magical object with immense power, gets stolen by ne’er-do-wells, and Heroki quickly sets off on a quest to recover it, save his home, and prove himself. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but thanks to some light and breezy cutscenes, the story provides you with enough to get you immersed in the world – and what a world it is. If nothing else, Heroki greatly benefits from a strong sense of personality and absolutely gorgeous graphics. The soft presentation, vibrant color, and upbeat music give the game a very distinct style wherein everything is very expressive. New IPs occasionally struggle to carve out their own identity, but Heroki doesn’t have this problem – its world is unique and very well-realized.

Of course, all the pretty trappings take a backseat to the gameplay, and it’s here where things get interesting. By default, you control Heroki by “pulling” him around the level as he stays locked around the center of the screen: dragging your finger right moves him right, dragging up moves him up, and so on. This sounds great on paper, but in practice you’ll find that your finger often obscures the screen to the point where it impedes your ability to play. Thankfully, you’re given two other control options; you can push Heroki from the back, which I found even clumsier, or you can conjure up a virtual D-pad whenever you press on the screen and control him from there. I found that to be the most reasonable option of the three, but no matter which one you choose, basic movement still feels a bit imprecise. The levels compensate for this to some degree by widening pathways and clearly telegraphing where enemies will show up, but you’ll still do your fair share of slamming into things.
You’ll do more than just fly through the game’s four worlds, though. You’ll pick up environmental objects and throw them at enemies. You’ll bust through clouds via a fast-moving free-fall mechanic. Most importantly, though, you’ll scour every nook and cranny for the six letters of Heroki’s name, orbs that function as in-game currency, and some special shield icons, the latter of which are occasionally required in certain quantities in order to progress. For those that simply want to plow through the game, this may frustrate as some of these objects linger in hidden and occasionally unintuitive locations. However, if you’re a fan of the collectible-heavy games of yore, you’ll feel right at home here. The structure and gameplay actually heavily reminded me of the Donkey Kong Country series, which I’ll choose to take as a positive.

The levels themselves encourage you to think creatively and explore thoroughly in order to uncover everything, though their winding and snaking designs can occasionally confuse or disorient. They also introduce new gimmicks fairly and competently, giving you some time to learn and adjust before you hit the tough stuff. This is a testament to the game’s solid difficulty curve, which starts out relatively accommodating before ultimately becoming pretty challenging. Unfortunately, some of this challenge stems from the game’s always-looming feeling of imprecision; accidentally bumping into walls and enemies gets annoying quickly, as does repeatedly trying to hit specific targets with the free-fall move. It wasn’t until well into the game that I got a feel for precision free-falling, but even then, I felt as if I hit some targets and cleared some challenges by sheer luck.

At any rate, once you leave the levels behind, a full complement of shops and additional features help flesh out the experience. Item stores scattered throughout the game let you buy shields, extra lives, additional powers, and more with the orbs you amass over time. Other vendors in Levantia sell cosmetic upgrades and more fun visual add-ons. No matter where you go in town, there’s not a single in-app purchase in sight, though we should expect that from this kind of mobile game. There’s also a full set of forty Game Center achievements and ranked leaderboards for each world, so there should be enough content and unlockables here to satisfy casual players and hardcore completionists alike.

Despite packing in all of this content with a respectable amount of polish, the game’s not free of bugs and oddities. I encountered one or two areas where I could fly through edges of the map that were clearly meant to be blocked off, allowing me to explore glitchy paradises to my heart’s content. If you can believe it, though, I actually had the most trouble getting past the lengthy tutorial. For whatever reason, the game didn’t save my progress the first time through, which meant I had to start from the very beginning when I re-launched the app. On top of that, the game crashed halfway through my second attempt; ultimately, I had to play the tutorial three times over before the game began in earnest. Aside from these issues, the game runs and plays very smoothly, with my iPhone having no trouble rendering everything flawlessly. It was also surprisingly nice to my battery, which is a big plus considering that I often played for over an hour at a time.

Though some control issues and rough edges weigh it down, there’s no doubt that Heroki is a gorgeous, lovingly-crafted mobile title with the substance to match its style. Whether or not it’ll be worth the $8 to you depends on how thoroughly you’re willing to explore it. If you’re the type that jumps from game to game on your phone without digging in too deeply, then it’ll be tough to justify this purchase. That said, if you do see it through to the end, you might be pleasantly surprised at what this game has to offer.

Disclaimer: TSSZ downloaded and reviewed Heroki via a promotional code provided by SEGA. More information about our disclosure and endorsement policy can be found on our Policies page.