Have you ever witnessed each scene in Mad Max: Fury Road which features the masked man with the flaming guitar and desired to kick backside with an augmented instrument of your own? Ever been sat, playing the most recent Doom entry, and wished that you could easily rip and tear in time with the game’s metal soundtrack? Have you ever experienced a session on Guitar Hero and found yourself pining for zombie heads to explode each time you struck the correct chord? Well, with Double Kick Heroes, consider your every desire finally fulfilled.
In 2018, Headbang Club crafted a righteous gaming experience that demonstrated their passion for all things rock n’ roll. Now, the Nintendo Switch is graced with the presence of this fun, yet challenging car-based shoot ‘em up, set against the backdrop of a world ravaged by a viral apocalypse.
Although these parallels to the current state of our own, real world may be disconcerting, please do read on to discover why this title is the perfect escape at the moment for fans of gaming and the most righteous musical genre on the planet.
A Graveyard Smash
The world has been overrun by the undead, and only the power of metal music can save humanity. In Double Kick Heroes, players join a ragtag group of five avid fans of metal, in all of its forms. Then skilfully master rhythmic gameplay, not unlike that seen in Guitar Hero, to blast away the undead hordes in style.
Initially, the difficulty is suitably forgiving. Players will only need to concentrate on one line of beats, which they will need to strike anywhere inside an orange zone to trigger pistol blasts from the guns mounted on the group’s car, affectionately dubbed Sheila. The rhythms begin slow and steady, before gradually increasing in pace. This provides players with ample time to get accustomed with the controls and core gameplay loop. All while simultaneously easing them into the madness that is to follow.
Eventually, players will find themselves needing to hit each beat perfectly in order to receive more powerful weaponry. In time, a second line of beats are added to the fray alongside a grenade gauge. Hitting each of these secondary beats with the perfection of a seasoned musician will gradually fill this gauge. Allowing it to fill to a third of its capacity will permit players to lug a grenade at their foes.
Like the Challenges of Yore
Without doubt, this is a title for those who constantly strive to challenge themselves as gamers. Often, your survival depends on your ability to strike the multitude of beats on screen in sync with the game’s soundtrack. Players are additionally afforded an overview of the percentage of beats they struck successfully on the conclusion of each mission. This provides completionists with sufficient incentive to replay each mission in order to gain the highest score possible.
However, if the very thought of aiming for perfection overwhelms you, fear not. Double Kick Heroes contains a wealth of difficulty settings and accessibility options. These include the ability to slow down the tracks to your desired tempo and removing the punishment when beats are missed.
The Multi-tasking Mr. Metal Head
Often, in the heat of battle, the sequence of beats that players are met with are relentless and complex. Therefore, it is natural to treat the game exactly like Guitar Hero and focus solely on scoring a perfect sequence. Alas, this will have you dancing with the Grim Reaper more often than not.
Myriad enemies, including resiliant bosses and mini-bosses, will litter every portion of the screen. To effectively despatch them, players are required to alternate their fire between the top and bottom car-mounted cannons. Unfortunately, I frequently found myself so very overwhelmed with what was occurring at the bottom of the screen, that I was afraid to tear my eyes from it for even a single second to gauge the situation up top.
Consequently, the zombies and monsters of all kinds that feature in this title all-too-frequently stripped away the three lives I was granted and blew my vechile to kingdom come, adding me their hellish ranks.
On a higher difficulty I would have expected as much but, on the normal difficulty setting, this felt cheap. Of course, this is a game for those who pine for all things hardcore, but the importance of balanced gameplay can not be understated.
A Beautiful Disaster
On the occassions players can confidently enjoy the game’s art design without fear of being sent to meet their maker, they will find that Double Kick Heroes is nothing short of georgeous. Like practically all indie titles (with the exception of those rendered with cel shading), Double Kick Heroes adopts a pixel art aesthetic.
Unlike many of these titles, however, the visuals on display here are incredibly detailed. Each location is brimming with atmosphere, character and history, while the unique personalities of every survivour you encounter are displayed vividly by way of their expressive facial animations.
Furthermore, the creative variety on display is of a quality that commands a chef’s kiss. For example, enemy designs range from standard zombies, to vehicles infused with tentacled abominations, to even Satan himself. It can scarcely be argued that there is anything more metal than destroying the devil in the blazing landscapes of hell using the power of rock n’ roll.
Interlude
When analysed on a macro scale, the narrative design of Double Kick Heroes disappoints. Many of the events that initiate missions concern our ragtag group of heroes needing to fetch something for an NPC, or simply carrying out dirty work on their behalf.
All of this culminates in a sprint to a rushed finish which, can only be assumed, was designed to be humuorously subversive, but only succeeds in promting players to question the purpose of their fight against the undead. Not to mention that the story mode is crimininally short, clocking in at roughly 4 hours. Although individual player mileage will depend on difficulty and player skill.
Instead, it is best to examine the strengths to be found in the micro moments of Double Kick Heroes’ story. On each stage of the player’s journey through hell on Earth, there are safe houses to be visited, and NPCs to interact with. Often these interactions are humourous, packed with gamining references, and instantly inform you of everything you need to know about each character.
This pop in dialogue continues in the cutscenes that are sprinkled every now and again before, and after, missions. Not every line is written to a Shakespearian quality, but observing the low-key savage interactions between the game’s leads was always a pleasure.
Bonus Track
Although it will take you no time at all to conclude the narrative of Double Kick Heroes, the game’s longevity surpasses the story mode. Of course, those who constantly strive to achieve the highest scores possible will want to master every song in Arcade Mode. In this mode, players can experience the story missions all over again, in addition to missions that are specific to Arcade Mode, without needing to wade through the cutscenes a second time.
In short, it is perfect for those who desire only to get straight to the action and establish bragging rights by scoring a perfect 100% accuracy rating.
Other notable game modes include Hellgate and Fury Road. While Hellgate features little to write home about as it essentially just ports this title’s gameplay loop to additional music genres, Fury Road is guaranteed to joyfully extend one’s run time with the game.
Fury Road is a mode akin to a fully-fledged roguelike. Each run feels unique from the last due to the levels never running in the same order, and the upgrades available in-between these levels being shaken up every now and again to encourage experimenting with your purchases. Hours of fun are to be had here blasting through regular foes, bosses, and mini-bosses alike to reach the furthest possible progress you can manage.
Swansong
For those among you who simply wish to experience the main story of Double Kick Heroes, this title offers short-lived thrills that can overwhelm at times but is ultimately packed with challenging fun.
On the other hand, those of you who pine for all things hardcore will find plenty to plunder through once the end credits have ceased to roll, and experience unrivalled pleasure in your search for rock god perfection.
Although this title is by no means perfect, it contains zombie-annihilating action to suit all tastes.
