The iOS gaming scene has had an awful lot of games release lately, and a disproportionate number of them have been of particular interest to me. It’s not a bad problem to have, but it means some games I surely would have otherwise noticed and enjoyed have slipped right by me. Slashy Hero (Free) is a game I first encountered at the Tokyo Game Show, and though its Hallowe’en theme clearly marks this review as being a touch late, it’s a pretty neat action game that is still worth playing even though the season is over for 2015. I mean, maybe I’m just early for the 2016 Hallowe’en season?
Anyway, Slashy Hero is about a few different things. Mainly, those things are wearing costumes, collecting candy, and beating up monsters. You need to guide your hero through each floor of a 48-level dungeon, battling enemies and searching for the portals that take you to the next round. The hero isn’t the speediest on his feet when you try to move them around, but draw a line on the screen with your finger and you’ll be zipping around in no time. The length of the line is limited by an energy bar, so you can’t just draw a million circles and sit back, but it’s long enough that you can easily dash into a line of enemies and out unscathed.
In addition to the numerous enemies you’ll come across, there are plenty of obstacles that can hurt your hero. Run out of life once, and you’ll have the option to continue by spending some gems or watching a video ad. Fall a second time, and only gems can revive you. Gems are, of course, the game’s premium currency, purchasable in various amounts by IAPs. Besides the gems, you’ll also see pop-up ads after each game, but you can buy an IAP to make those go away if you’d like.
You can make it through the whole game without using any IAP, however. You don’t even need to be an expert, thanks to the game’s checkpoint system. As long as you can make it to the next checkpoint room, you’ll be able to pick up from there in your next game. Chances are good you’ll be stronger, too. Defeated enemies drop candy and the occasional costume part. Candy can be exchanged for permanent stat boosts after each run, while wearing costume parts boosts particular stats. You can permanently power up costume parts by collecting multiples of them, and the parts can be mixed and matched as you see fit. Your character can wear one head piece, one body piece, and one held item at a time, and once you’ve collected a piece, you can put them on or take them off whenever you want. Most of the costumes are Hallowe’en-themed, but there are a few that fall on the cuter side of things, too.
The controls are simple and effective. You can guide your character around by pressing and holding the screen, which is admittedly a pretty slow way to get around until you boost your speed stat a bit. It’s far easier to travel by slashing, which is performed by drawing a line out from your hero. The energy meter refills almost immediately, so you can perform a series of slashes to navigate around if you’d prefer. A small circle around your character clearly shows where the zone for slashing sits. It helps you avoid the problem of moving when you mean to slash or vice-versa, though that will still occasionally happen in the heat of battle.
Slashy Hero supports Game Center, with a list of achievements and a leaderboard for the game’s infinite mode. That mode has you facing off against never-ending waves of enemies in a single arena where you’re simply trying to last as long as possible. You can earn candy and costumes in that mode, too, so if that’s the way you prefer to play, you won’t miss out on anything. It’s a different experience, but the core gameplay supports both modes fairly well. Whether you’re working through a dungeon floor or trying to save your hide in the arena, Slashy Hero is about quick, precise slashes with an eye to making a safe retreat. You need to scope out a safe exit point as you make each swipe or else you won’t last very long. It’s something to master as you play the game, and it’s a lot of fun.
Like its gameplay, the main story mode of Slashy Hero is fast. Finishing it doesn’t take too long, but collecting and powering up all of the costume parts certainly provides incentive for replays. The infinite mode is good fun for a while, too, and if you’re the achievement-minded sort, trying to beat all 48 stages in one run will certainly keep you busy. As a bit of sorbet between bigger games, Slashy Hero hits the spot nicely. The basic mechanics reward mastery without being overly complicated, and it just feels good to zip around dungeons like a little whirling dervish of destruction.
