Immediately after I started up Guardian Heroes, I was sucked back into my childhood. I fondly remembered a time when I could find arcade machines everywhere. From my local comic book store, even to the grocery store down the street. There was one machine I longed to see though, that was the Neo-Geo. Oh, to bask in it’s warm, soft glow. If you remember that machine like I do, then you remember that it housed some the best 2D side-scrollers of it’s time. My friend and I would blow our allowances on these machines every weekend I stayed the night at his house, until one day, the day he bought Guardian Heroes for the Sega Saturn. Guardian Heroes was a hell of a game then and it still is today.
So if you didn’t pick up on the hints in my Neo-Geo story well then here it is, Guardian Heroes is a badass 2D hack’n slash side-scroller, simply put. It will easily invoke memories of games such as Final Fight and Streets of Rage. Being much more than that though, Guardian Heroes adds in RPG elements, a small but very fun combo system and the ability to choose your own path, effectively creating your own story. As you smash through the stages (solo or 2 player co-op) to end the tyranny of the reigning royal family, you’re given the ability to upgrade your character’s stats as you progress. Everything from strength and vitality to intelligence and luck can be increased as you level up.
Your story choices come at the end of every stage. For example, in the first stage you’re scrambling to get away from the king’s knights as they chase you out of town and into a graveyard. Fitting becase that’s where the knights want to put you anyways. At the end of the stage you are given the option to return to town, head to another village, are stick it out in the woods. Each choice leading to different stages, that will in effect have their own unique choices at the end. This mechanic gives Guardian Heroes huge replayability, not to mention multiple endings. I’ve played through Guardian Heroes at least seven times and have had at least 4 different endings, so far.
You’ll be given the choice of four characters in story mode, but while in story mode, you’ll be unlocking more characters to use in versus and arcade modes. Versus is well, versus, but you can play against 12 players at a single time! Which is insane. Arcade mode on the other hand, can be described something akin to a horde mode, but there are no waves, more like an insanely endless stream of enemies. The point is to see how long you can survive the onslaught and get your name as high as you can in the leaderboards.
Guardian Heroes is available on XboxLive Arcade for 800 MSP ($10.00) and if you’re a fan of the 2D side-scroller hack’n slash/brawler genre then Guardian Heroes is most definitely worth picking up.
