I will be upfront and confess I had never heard of Strike Force Heroes, the original Flash-based browser released in 2012, before tackling this brand new remake (I think it’s a remake?), which is still exclusive to PCs as of the time of writing this piece. It did look interesting from trailers and pre-release material, however, namely in the fact it bizarrely felt like I was watching a bizarre lovechild between Battlefield and Super Smash Bros. In theory, something that would be entertaining, even if the execution failed to deliver. I gave this game a shot and was indeed pleased with some of its elements, despite being rough around the edges.

I usually don’t like summarising a game as “x meets y”, but it’s hard not to see Strike Force Heroes as the description mentioned on the previous paragraph. It is a sidescrolling shooter where you move around Smash-esque arenas, where you can fall to your death depending on the layout. Keep moving and jumping with the WASD keys, all whilst aiming and shooting with the mouse. It takes some time to get used to the aiming, because you cannot aim too far away, or else your gun, depending on its range, will simply refuse to work properly. Winning conditions depend on the ruleset, but if you have ever played any multiplayer shooter, you know what to expect.

The Battlefield part of the equation comes in the classes of soldiers you can use, which are pretty similar to the ones seen in DICE’s shooter series. There’s the medic, the tank, the sniper, and so on. You can customize your soldier with new perks and weapons, both of which can either be obtained at random whenever you level up or by investing money on a roulette. Though I am not a big fan of earning upgrades by chance, there are no microtransactions or any other schemes to try to lure you to spend extra money, so that didn’t piss me off. In fact, the arcadey nature of the game made me enjoy it quite more than initially anticipated. I just wish this wasn’t a PC exclusive; Strike Force Heroes screams “pick up and play”, making it a perfect candidate for a future Switch port.

Another thing I wasn’t expecting to like that much in a game like Strike Force Heroes was… its sound design. Of all damn things. Against all odds, not only did the game feature a pretty good soundtrack, but its voice acting wasn’t bad, either. In fact, it did make me chuckle a few times. Even though the game doesn’t exactly ooze expensive productions values, the developers did make sure the voice acting and music were as good as they could afford having.

Sadly, the same cannot be said about the visuals as a whole. Let me be clear that the graphics aren’t bad… just cheap. Have you ever played one of those indie games where characters are modeled with individual sprites for each limb, making them all look like cardboard cutouts? Strike Force Heroes is one of those games. Even though I didn’t like that art style at all, it wasn’t an egregious issue.

As a game to dedicate hours of your life at a time, Strike Force Heroes isn’t very interesting. For as much as its gameplay loop is decent enough, it lacks a bit of depth and substance. Now, as an arcade-like distraction, this game shines. It’s great to pick up and play, to simply join a match and proceed to blast everyone near you with your carefully crafted character build. Being a PC exclusive doesn’t help that much, but if you have a Steam Deck, Strike Force Heroes is an easy recommendation. I hope a Switch port is planned in the near future, as this would be a fantastic addition to that system’s library as well.

Graphics: 6.5 Looks charming, but also a bit cheap. It individually animates the limbs from the rest of the character’s body, making them look like cardboard cutouts.	Gameplay: 7.0 The controls are responsive, but they are also a bit confusing. This kind of platforming / twin stick shooter hybrid is a bit odd on a keyboard and mouse setup.
Sound: 9.0 Against all odds, not only did the game feature a pretty good soundtrack, but its voice acting wasn’t bad, either. In fact, it did make me chuckle a few times.	Fun Factor: 7.5 As a game to dedicate hours of your life at a time, this isn’t very interesting. As a neat little distraction, it manages to shine for a few minutes at a time, with its “Call of Duty meets Smash Bros” approach.
Final Verdict: 7.5

Strike Force Heroes is available now on PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.

A copy of Strike Force Heroes was provided by the publisher.