Hero Express

Do you know what the worst thing about superheroes is? No, it's not that they accidentally knock over buildings, take jobs from us normies and leave terrible tips, but rather that they're forgetful. And can you blame them? Their focus is on saving the Earth from what probably feels like a never-ending clown car full of supervillains. Hero Express is a fun side-scroller where you play the guy behind-the-scenes rushing the much-needed supplies to the fight. It's a physics-based racing game that feels like Trials HD in a comic book world. And while we never end up seeing any of the actual fighting, Hero Express is here to prove that the drive to the frontline can be every bit as exciting.

In a world that has been invaded by eleven kaiju monsters, you play a deliveryman whose job is to bring the masked superhero everything that he needs. No matter the danger, distance or location, the good people at Hero Express are ready to drive around the world (and even into outer space) in order to deliver those all-important tools to the only guy who can protect the world. And with your assistance, our forgetful savior will be able to get the job done and rest easy. At least for now.

The good news is that the levels are only a few minutes long, but don't take that to mean that they are easy. We're initially not able to climb the steep hills or jump over the water using the underpowered default vehicle, so the idea is to collect the money lining the course to buy upgrades. You'll end up needing to replay the stage multiple times to not only rack up the big bucks, but also learn the nuances of the track and where the tricky obstacles are. By the time you've upgraded the engine a few times and learned the ins and outs of the course, you should be ready to whip through the stage and get the hero his super tools.

What makes this tricky is that we only have so much fuel to get us through the stage. There are gas pickups along the way, but they are few and far between and don't give you a lot of time to mess around. If you get stuck on an especially tricky hill or caught in some quicksand, you won't have enough time to reach the gas canister. The only other help you'll find is a spray bottle that will clear up your windshield and a jump item that will get your vehicle airborne. These help to an extent, but Hero Express largely wants you to collect money and memorize the course.

It's the different levels that end up keeping this formula from becoming too repetitive. There are eleven types of monsters for the superhero to fight, with each location offering up completely different obstacles to overcome. They have a lot of fun playing with traditional monsters, giving us a giant gorilla in New York, an alien on the Moon, a vampire bat in Transylvania, a dragon at the Great Wall, a snow monster in the Himalayan mountains and so on. These locations also come with different types of vehicles, ranging from a monster truck to a snowmobile to stretched hummer. There's a lot of personality in these stages.

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But for as much as I liked the style and gameplay, there's no question that this is a fundamentally repetitive experience. Without fail, every level plays out exactly the same way. You lose a few times, collect money, upgrade the engine and then eventually cross the finish line. It's rewarding and definitely satisfying, but it's also repetitive to a fault. I get the feeling that Hero Express was designed to be played in short chunks and not binged. If you tackle one level at a time and space things out, some of the inherent repetition probably won't get to you. But if you intend to binge it in one or two sittings, then prepare to do the same thing over and over.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, since that thing you're doing over and over is a lot of fun. This scratches the same itch as the Trials series, all without feeling like a rip-off of retread. The courses require skill and planning more than speed and aggression. I was never stuck in a level so long that it made me resent the formula, but some of the magic starts dissipate after you've seen the stages play out the same way multiple times in a row. I also wish there was more of a payoff to completing a stage. It would have been fun to see the impact your delivery had on the overall fight, even if it's just a still image or brief cinema scene. Is that too much to ask?

Despite being incredibly repetitive and not especially deep, Hero Express is a fun physics-based racing game with a cool superhero conceit and personality to spare. From the colorful graphics to the crazy vehicles to the silly monster parodies, there's a lot to like about this game. The levels are well-designed and challenging, even after you've upgraded the delivery van. If you don't mind replaying a stage a few dozen times until you get it right, then you may have what it takes to deliver important packages to superheroes.