Zheros is a beat ’em up where the objective is to smash hordes of enemies and punch boxes and other objects in order to get extra points and ammo. You have two playable characters to choose from, Mike and Captain Dorian, and your mission as a member of the Zheros Squad is to defend the universe against the twisted plan of the evil Dr. Vendetta to mutate every living creature into one of his minions.
Both playable characters are very similar. All the movements, controls and combo sequences are the same. The only big difference between them is the fact that Mike’s attacks are slower but more powerful while Captain Dorian’s are faster and weaker. Their combo animations also vary from each other. Apart from that and the visual differences between them, it really doesn’t matter who you play as because the experience is almost the same.
Each character has three attack moves. Two of them are basics attacks common to the beat ’em up genre. One is the weak yet faster attack, and the other a stronger but slower one. The third attack move is in the form of a gun. By pressing and holding the corresponding button, you will see a weapon materialize in your character’s hand and it will start shooting your enemies. Apart from those moves, you will have regular ones like jump, dodge, and defense where a shield is materialized on your arm for protection.
Although each character has a good amount of combos, some of them can only be performed once you upgrade the character you are playing with. To do that you will need to achieve a specific score in each level to win RP points that are granted after completion. To fully complete the levels, you will also have to find the secret star hidden in each. Some might be easy to find but others can be a bit tricky. In case you miss one, don’t worry because you will be able to replay the levels once you finish them.
As far as enemies are concerned, they have a lot of variety to them. From robots equipped with guns and shields, an egg-shaped robot with wells that drop mines, to mechanical bulls and other strange minions, you will encounter hordes of bizarre creations. All they want is to destroy you and stop you from ruining Dr. Vendetta’s plans. Some of the hardest foes might seem impossible to eliminate but the secret is to find their weakness. Some might be vulnerable to specific attacks and their own attacks can be reflected by your trusty shield.
The gameplay is fairly simplistic. You just have to run through the level while fighting the various enemies that appear in your path. You also have to destroy some of the crates that award you extra points and health. Some might find the gameplay a bit repetitive but this is a beat ’em up so if you are familiar with titles like Double Dragon, you know that all the levels tend to be the same.
As for the visuals and sound in the game, Zheros presents you with a detailed cartoon environment with lots of animated objects in the background. The soundtrack is quite good and suits the game with a rapid electro beat but, unfortunately, tends to get a bit too repetitive.
Zheros is without a doubt a good beat ’em up, as its core is a pure ’90s beat ’em up experience. It has great 3D environments as well. Unfortunately, it suffers from a few issues. The story is all told in cinematics without a single dialogue. Apart from that, the story is kind of predictable even without dialogues. No voice actors just seems lazy to be honest. Dialogues would have made it much better in my opinion. From time to time I also noticed that the HUD, with the life bar and the weapon ammo bar, simply vanished from the screen, leaving you completely in the dark. This was rather annoying.
Another problem that ruins the gameplay experience is the fact that when you are facing big hordes, the game suffers from lag between pressing the buttons on the controller and the character performing the attacks. This can break combos and score multipliers. I tested this with different controllers, both using a cable and with batteries, and the result was the same for all of them.
One feature that definitely improves the game experience is the co-op mode. Although it’s possible to beat the game alone, it’s way easier with a friend. The only downside of it is that it’s just local, or couch co-op. Having both online and local co-op modes would be much better.
Summary
To sum up, Zheros is a good game that I can recommend, especially for those who like the beat ’em up genre. It’s true that it’s not a perfect game due to the few issues it suffers from but even with them, the game is definitely worth a play in both solo and co-op modes. It’s a free Games with Gold title so try it out especially if you enjoyed titles like Battletoads in the past.
João is a games journalist, Senior Editor at XDA Developers. They contributed 156 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: previously reported for Neowin before joining XDA Developers in 2021, where he leads coverage of Windows, Microsoft, and hardware.