There are plenty of video games out there that let you control some of the greatest superheroes of all time. But how often do you personally get to be morphed into a superpowered crime fighter who pummels evildoers? “PowerUp Heroes” for Kinect does just that — to an extent. “PowerUp Heroes” has you inheriting the powers of an alien being who came to Earth chasing the evil entity Malignance. After getting your hands on a suit that imbues you with electrical energy, you must punch and kick your way through a cadre of cartoonish minions loyal to Malignance on a quest to retrieve the other suits.
Just about everything in this game seems to be lifted from other superhero stories, from the suits — one of which is a dulled version of Iron Man buddy War Machine’s — to a back story that seems lifted from the pages of the “Green Lantern.” This aspect can be taken as good and bad: good in that you’ll get superpowers similar to your favorite heroes’, bad in that it comes across as the developers phoning in a bit of the design.
| ‘PowerUp Heroes’ |
| » System: Xbox 360 Kinect |
| » Price: $49.99 |
| » Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars |
“Heroes” doesn’t hold a candle to the likes of the latest Batman game, but it does offer up a fair bit of motion-controlled goodness. Watching your Xbox avatar mirror your kicks and punches is somewhat thrilling, but “Heroes” truly shines with its superattacks. Plenty of “Dragon Ball Z” fans got to act out the Kamehameha on the Nintendo Wii, much to their delight, and these supermoves bring that type of pure joy to the Kinect. Each suit has three moves, and striking certain poses unleash the attacks.
The standard combat is still fun, just not as strong or varied. Fighting is done at only two distances: ranged (about 15 feet apart) and close up. In ranged mode, you can punch to throw weak projectiles or act out a supermove. Close-up fighting is initiated by raising your knee. From there, you’ll rush your opponent and unleash a torrent of punches and kicks. Though it’s satisfying to pummel your enemy into oblivion, this type of attacking doesn’t do a whole lot of damage and can be easily countered if not timed properly. And throwing all those punches will actually leave you sweating if you get too into the battle mentally.
The game’s only real drawback is that the melee combat doesn’t offer a wide array of moves to use. There are straight punches, plain kicks and an uppercut that can only be unleashed at certain times, and that’s it.
A short campaign doesn’t hold the game back too much, as there are a number of other modes, including online battles with friends. “PowerUp Heroes” is definitely geared toward a slightly younger crowd, but even adults can have a bit of fun. The cheaper price also makes this game more appealing.
This one may make a good holiday gift for your tiny gamer … if you’re the type of person who has started shopping already.
