Double Kick Heroes

There's plenty to commend Double Kick Heroes for; it's an ambitious game, with great-looking pixel graphics, plenty of songs and modes, an enjoyable story and a general vigour to it that underpins its heavy metal aesthetic very appealingly. Unfortunately, we feel like it tries to do a little too much and ends up being rather confusing and slapdash in execution. We found the central rhythm-action gameplay to be the worst part, and that's not a great thing in any game. The disappointing soundtrack only compounded this problem, but we do appreciate that it's going to be a matter of taste in this regard. This leads us to a bit of a conundrum; Double Kick Heroes clearly has an enormous amount of love poured into it, but it's not enough for an unqualified recommendation when we just didn't quite have enough fun with it. A sequel could refine its more confused elements into something wonderful, but for the time being, you may get a (Double) kick out of this effort.

Diving into new kinds of genres you’ve never played before can be interesting. Today I dive into the rhythm genre of games. Double Kick Heroes was my start in this genre, but it combines shooting and strategy in it as well. How did this game do at combining these into one? Read and find out.

Double Kick Heroes is a neat callback to rhythm games of the past, both in terms of gameplay, and also musical genre.

Double Kick Heroes really aims for a very specific niche of the rhythm game market. For players who love heavy metal and retro difficulty settings, this is a great opportunity to rock out to some new tracks and a fun story, then maybe create some zombie-slaying mayhem of their own to their favorite Ozzy or Motörhead track.

The idea behind Double Kick Heroes is absolutely amazing, and its soundtrack is oh so great. I really wanted to love it, considering how much I love most rock-centered rhythm games, but this game is a mess when you play in harder difficulties.

If you liked the games of the Guitar Hero or Rock Band sagas, and you have also developed more neck than Fernando Alonso based on headbaging, Double Kick Heroes will enchant you. Not only is it visually a very worked game, but the compositions of the game could pass through real themes of first level heavy metal bands. Of course, beware of its high difficulty.

In a nutshell, Double Kick Heroes is a violent enjoyable ride of ingenuity worth putting the pedal to the metal for! Besides the rushed odd in an argh way yarn jammed with an overabundance of profanities, everything else is about the game is essentially a smash hit! No one-hit wonder doesn’t define the Double Kick Heroes.

I wanted to like my time with Double Kick Heroes more than I did. It’s got a great soundtrack, memorable aesthetic, and a fun concept in a rhythm shooter. Playing the game tended to be more frustrating and physically uncomfortable for me than fun, however, even taking advantage of the numerous options available. For metal fans, this game is a must-play, if only for the ear worms, and I would suggest rhythm fans check it out if they want a challenging, albeit frustrating, title. That being said, I think I’d rather just listen to the soundtrack.

Double Kick Heroes is a very bright and unusual project with well-developed characters, strong plot and excellent soundtrack, which suffers from minor flaws and sometimes from very high difficulty.

Double Kick Heroes is, by far, one of the most unique rhythm games I've played. While some of the early songs are dull and the difficulty modes need adjusting, I can still confidently recommend this to hardcore rhythm game fans.