Platform(s): PC (Version reviewed)
Genre: Beat-em-up, Action, 3D, Multiplayer, Indie

There’s nothing quite like a co-op beat-em-up to release stress after work. With good controls and great-feeling gameplay, a simple top-down side-scrolling beat-em-up can help calm the mind, even if the game is skewed heavily in the player’s favour.

Big Helmet Heroes from developer Exalted Studio and publisher Dear Villagers may remind you of 2008 indie title Castle Crashers, but with a 3D skin and bigger heads. And 3D aesthetics and feel that may be reminiscent of 2D-to-3D beat-em-ups that do not survive the transition. After playing it for 4 or so hours though, those fears of a janky experience evaporate: Big Helmet Heroes does control great and feels natural with its 3D movement and wide arc swipe attacks and special moves you get to launch upon hordes of enemy big-headed knights, goblins, and all sorts of mechanical beasts and giants.

Head First

As you play through the game’s 20 stages with the typical medieval backdrops, you can also unlock a number of classes with various types of screen-clearing attacks. The archetypes are Warrior, Rogue, Monk, and Brute, whereas the unlockables are 29 versions of these archetypes with different supers. I usually go for the arc-reaching Monk and Warrior, though all archetype playstyles will cater to anyone who want different types of brawlers in their beat-em-ups. They’re different enough for replayability’s sake, and you want to at least explore every corner of a new stage to get the unlocks you want.

The gameplay loop of going left to right beating up enemies and using your Supers and whatever weapons you can pick up -dual-items, crossbows, wands, and so forth- all clicks when you face a horde of foes and you have enough Super meter to unleash your ultimate attack. Suddenly, crowd control is the name of the game, and business is very good on that front. The controls and feel of the combat just plays out really well and smoothly, with nary a hitch nor glitch to hamper you and your co-op partner’s experience. You only have yourself to blame if you get swamped by enemies or end up tripping onto hazards; there’s plenty of that to keep you on your side-scrolling toes. And even if the bosses do cheese you out to oblivion, the checkpoints are close and forgiving enough for you and your pals to try again and again. Plus, the game’s many stage layouts, variations, and slapstick humour will at least get a chuckle out of you if you like your laughs of the vaudevillian kind.

Big Helmet Heroes fills in the multiplayer beat-em-up-but-in-3D niche to a tee with its look, its controls and gameplay, and overall fun atmosphere and feel. It works just fine and doesn’t break down halfway like some indie brawler titles, and does try to switch things up with some fun top-down shenanigans. I’d say give this a try if you want couch co-op beat-em-up fun with giant heads and even bigger hearts.

Final Score: 70/100

Review copy provided by publisher.