88 Heroes offers gamers a mixture of nostalgia and popular culture, wrapped up in an 8-bit platformer. This two-button game offers dynamic gameplay through the 88 playable characters available. While the main point of the game is to jump and attack, each variable character adds a completely new way to play.
Everything in 88 Heroes revolves around the theme of 88. There are 88 playable characters, 88 levels to complete, 88 seconds given to complete each level, and bonuses for collecting 88 coins. The levels are split into a few different worlds that are reach by progressing through the levels to reach a boss, the evil Dr. H8. As the story goes, the doctor is holding the people of the world under ransom for $88 octillion dollars, and we all have only 88 minutes to pay him…or die.
In 88 Hero mode, the main story mode, the player plays as all 88 heroes. A random character is chosen at the start of Room 1. If the level is completed without that character dying, then a perfect is achieved for the level and a new random character is chosen at the start of Room 2. This continues until the end of the game. However, it is highly unlikely that the player will perfect every level without practice. When the character is killed in the level, a new character is chosen from the pool of 88, and the dead character is lost from the rotation. By collecting enough gold coins, dead characters can be revived to join in the fight against Dr. H8.
Each level involves trying to reach an exit location somewhere in the room. Later levels involve meeting requirements, like finding a key, before exiting the room and progressing. In each level, the characters will need to navigate over floor spikes, around lasers, under cats hanging from the ceiling holding dynamite, and through mazes. Each level, and world, offers new challenges to overcome. And each new level also adds the opportunity to defeat it with a new character.
I do not have enough space to describe every character in detail, but I will describe three in order to express the variety available to the gamer. The laser kitty is a small ball of orange fur that shoots lasers from his eyes. His laser attack is incredibly powerful and makes levels with lots of enemies a piece of cake. The war snail is an American flag-carrying, missile-toting, gun mollusk that can stick to walls and fire rockets at bad guys. Then there is Nibbles, The Destroyer! He is a hamster in a ball…that’s it. He does, however, spend most of the game claiming to be the god of destruction and destroyer of worlds.
Check out 88 Heroes coming to Xbox One later this month. It is currently available for preorder.
Joshua was a regular ICXM contributor between 2016–2017, publishing 42 articles across game reviews, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative.