This is the Acclaim of my youth!
Since Vampire Survivors exploded on the scene there have been a metric ton of imitators. Some of them have been really bad and others have been really great; Ground Zero Hero is the latter. The first solo game from indie developer Rowan Edmondson and published by the legendary Acclaim, Ground Zero Hero takes the VS gameplay formula of moving about a world while auto attacking hordes of enemies and pairs it with an animated, ‘Rick and Morty’ type art style in a world much like Fallout; sounds dope right?
MSRP: $8.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $8.99
Let’s unpack some of that, so in Ground Zero Hero players will take control of a survivor who is taking their first steps on the surface after being in a bunker for many years to escape nuclear fallout, and the monsters. Players will emerge to a brightly colored, radioactive wasteland overrun with mutated creatures. Just as in VS, players will have to choose their first mutation, which can range from a long tentacle arm that attacks enemies in front to Chicken Butt, which gives players a chicken bottom half and sees them lay explosive eggs that are great for taking out large groups. As players make their way around the radiated world it will be important to pick up the candy that comes from the pinatas that are scattered around, this candy is what fuels you and if you have none you will being to hemorrhage health until you eat some candy (bubble gum, taffy) or end up dead.
As players destroy the many monsters they will pick up their… um soul energy I guess it is which will power them up and allow them to pick a new power or upgrade a current one. Each run is always going to be different as the layout and attacks will usually be different each time, so a strong strat that worked in one run may not be as good for the next. There are of course extra pickups like the magnet which will pull all of the upgrade orbs to the player, there are also rideable creatures that each attack differently before exploding in a large area od grizzly damage. And while for the most part, GZH follows pretty closely to the formula that VS pioneered, developer Rowan nonetheless found a way to add in some extra mechanics that I think are for the better.
Players will need to survive until defeating 10k enemies in each of the levels and then be tasked with defeating a boss monster before moving on to the next level. As players make that march the sun will start to go down and as day becomes night the creatures of darkness come out to play, starting with vampires and later levels werewolves, mummies and more. The enemies are harder at night but they give more upgrade material for defeating them. However, if players don’t want to try and survive against them the game will direct them to a hatch on the map where they can save their progress and skip the night. This downside of this is that any of the upgrade orbs that may have been picked up will be removed at the start of the next day. It ends up being a risk vs reward thing, I usually don’t use the hatch unless I am low on health.
Ground Zero Hero has taken over my free time as the game I play in spurts here or there. It is just as addictive as Vampire Survivor was when it first dropped but even more so. The bright colors really invite players to wander around its world and the ‘Rick and Morty’ style dark humor and chaotic tone will keep them coming back session after session. It’s funny that when I felt like I had my fill of VS clones that I play one that I enjoy so much.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
