Hero Rescue Review

My Red Headed Hero is Hording my Treasure.  

Join your nameless, fiery red-headed hero in Hero Rescue, the pull-the-pin puzzle game. He has only three goals: gain riches, murder goblins and rescue a helpless princess who can’t seem to keep from getting abducted. It is up to you to help him. Even more so, the high pitched “Yay!” that comes after each win just makes our hero more endearing. Not to mention that mysterious and edgy scar over his eye. I wonder what tragic backstory led to that injury.

While Hero Rescue’s mechanics revolve around a compelling concept coupled with an easy-to-use interface, the current levels are too simple to be enjoyable. In addition, there are various elements that seem to have zero purpose. The forever increasing IQ score is indicative of this. As you complete each level you receive IQ points that add to your total IQ score. While these points appear at the top of your screen in-between levels, their purpose remains a mystery.

You receive no badges nor do you have any goals to aim for. However, yours truly worked their way up to an IQ score higher than Einstein’s, which imparted a small sense of pride. Though, I did have an advantage over Mr. Einstein as I received three lives (with an additional one rewarded every 25 minutes as needed) to build up my intelligence instead of just the one.

How High Can You Go?

Hero Rescue consists of the main gameplay (270 levels) along with four modes of puzzle-based side quests (40 levels each). Players unlock side quests as they conquer main levels with additional levels coming out each week. The main gameplay requires the player to test their problem-solving skills in order to reach one or more of the three goals (obtain treasure, kill goblins and/or save the princess). The player passes each level by carefully choosing which pins to pull. These pins act as a catalyst for a cause and effect reaction.

For example, our brave hero needs to get from the top of the dungeon, where he is positioned on top of a pin, to the opposite side in order to secure his treasure, all the while avoiding the boiling lava directly below him. The player notices another pull-away-pin that has trapped water inside a corner wall. The player needs to release the water to neutralize the lava before pulling out the pin that is suspending our hero in the air; this allows the hero to saunter over chilled molten rocks to claim his prize. The four side modes are all variations of this cause and effect reaction including a Jenga type mode and jewel collection mode.

I Want My Coins Back

The player receives the sum of the treasure retrieved after each completed level. Cha-ching! Unfortunately, the player has no way to spend their hard-earned cash. There is no premium model in which “purchasing power” would be unlocked or any indication whatsoever of how to spend the coins earned. In the end I had over 10,000 coins. Instead of giving me a feeling of accomplishment, they mocked me. Consumed by lava or beaten by a goblin, my coins couldn’t even buy me an extra life. What good was my money if I couldn’t spend it on immortality (or at least a new outfit for my hero)? Maybe the hero is saving the coins to bribe the princess to stop being so carelessly captured all the time?

Zero to Hero

Hero Rescue has the potential to become something great. Its simple design is user friendly and easy to navigate. The levels are enjoyable, but I don’t feel as though I earned my higher-than-Einstein IQ because of the ease in which I completed them. It wasn’t until I reached level 150 that I started to sweat.

Thank goodness that the game developers have promised us more levels because they have severely underestimated our hero. He is a strong, independent man that needs to be challenged, and until that happens his talents and skills will squander away.