A countless number of times I’ve alluded to my allergy to the recent 8-bit movement on the App Store: but the movement is unavoidable because 8-bit games are most accessible to developers who lack the monetary means to develop mock triple A titles. Plus, 8-bit offers much to a larger audience than contemporary 3D design, and that is nostalgia. The drug. The addiction. What makes gamers really whiny when it comes to novelty. What makes gamers repulsed by any Pokemon created after Generation One.
Heroes of Loot is another title employing the pixel graphics, and I can’t say it does a spectacular job. It’s nothing original. Even the music is familiar. Yet it doesn’t stumble in any particular way: the experience as a whole is fun-filled, fast-paced, and a good distraction from the homework at hand without peeling me away from real life responsibilities for too long. Even it’s title is generic: “Heroes of Loot—it doesn’t raise expectations in any way. It’s your typical experience, and some people will find this game to be amazing while others will have an ill-view of the game. I’m indifferent.
THE DUNGEON CRAWLER EXPERIENCE, AGAIN
Again—as in its been done before—and maybe better before, but this isn’t bad: and the present age is an age of reflection (so says Kierkegaard. And Arcade Fire, apparently. They raise a good point.). The iOS market—the video game industry as whole, actually—is much like the pop industry. Track after track about sex, alcohol and weekend parties. Maybe I’m filled with moldy grudge because I missed out. But it seems that inspiration is almost always foreclosed in-favour of a chance at making it big by replicating what your peers have done. I guess that’s because there is too much risk in novelty: the movie industry taught us this.
I could list a few dungeon crawlers that are of the same dollar value as Heroes of Loot: Dungeonism comes to mind first, next 100 Rogues—but the budding question is, why hasn’t a game as complex as FTL been released for iOS? (sorry, Star Command didn’t come close, but nice try), which leads to: where’s the dangerous developer who doesn’t try and (reflect) replicate the triple A console title, and, where is the developer who decided that pixels were, literally, ten years ago.
They’re out there, and I could list them. They’re in the category of the ignored. Games that push the limits of iOS, or at least take the old formulas and imbue them with much needed novelty. They’re just difficult to find: hence the ignored. Of course, the problem stemming from this is that it only discourages the dangerous developers. Too bad because we’re slipping into an age of staleness.
SMALL BODIES LOUD MUSIC
The music in Heroes of Loot is your expected game-boy symphony. Mixed with orchestra. It’s only their to compliment the (replicated) style, to instil an adventurous spirit in the player—and if you want to truly hint to your friends that you’re not listening, crank up the volume. On repeat and on max volume—where you feel the bass in the palm of your hand and the tiny iPhone speakers vibrate—you can easily hint to your friends, I’m not listening to how your day went again: beside I never asked. I hate that.
The music changes depending whether you’re in the regular caves blasting creeps into dust in a Gauntlet style fashion, or in hidden shops and quest-giving rooms. This is when the music reminds me of the Legend of Zelda fairy fountains, and suddenly the nostalgia is released from my heart, through my aorta and reaches my brain, convincing me to play more Heroes of Loot. It works. The nostalgia, that is. And Heroes of Loot proves that nostalgia is the drug that Ke$ha sings about, the drug that is addicting as bacon, or the cinnamon scent of Christmas (just around the corner!).
Besides smell, which developers haven’t found a way to incorporate into games—and I’m not sure if that’s a great idea because what about the smell of shambling corpses and slimes, and I’m sure the dank cave will smell of fecal matter from all the adventurers—music is the next best thing at reviving old experiences. Playing a game music-less reduces the flare, the enchantment, and the emotion. Of course, Heroes of Loot is no different; without the music it is a shell of a game, an empty experience that fails to perpetuate the feelings of nostalgia, but with the music it is augmented into something magical. This is why I find myself not playing Heroes of Loot while on the morning bus, or on the washroom breaks at work (yes: I could wear headphones, but they are not always convenient): instead I am playing it at home, mostly, and only sometimes.
TRUTH
It is that Heroes of Loot is a good game. It’s a solid, action packed experience. It isn’t flawed. It isn’t great either, and I believe it is symbolic of the problem of (the present age) of the video game industry’s slippery slope (if I am to be bold) into what will most likely sell versus novelty probably won’t sell.
But: your nostalgia is my drug…