Developed by Headbang Club, Double Kick Heroes is a zombie shooter but definitely not your traditional kind. Instead, Double Kick Heroes is a metal zombie shooter where you kill zombies using machine guns that fire when you hit the right notes. It is a rhythm-based shooter featuring brilliant pixelated visuals complete with cutscenes and a killer metal soundtrack. This surely sounds like a weird combination but trust us when we say that Headbang Club has worked miracles on their new title. This is our review of Double Kick Heroes in which we headbang to metal and take down giant zombie dinosaurs and sharks in our Sheila.
Double Kick Heroes follows the story of the band called Double Kick Heroes. The band comprises of five members out of which one is a leader, one is a lacky, one is a hardware geek, one is a pretty face with a temper while the last one is a wannabe. During their what was supposed to be a normal performance, they find out that their audience is nothing else than bloodthirsty zombies and they have to run for their lives in their machine gun equipped lowrider Sheila. This marks the beginning of their journey through the country all the way to Hell where they must find the root of the evil and eliminate it. The main story of the game plays out on a map where you pick new missions, replay old ones, or visit safe spots where you will meet tons of NPCs throughout your journey.
These safe zones are your small respites from all the action happening on the highway. These range from gas stations to jails to bars. Each location will introduce you to new characters that will fill you in on their side of the story and area they are located in. You will get to know what is happening in the world via these NPCs as well. Some of the NPCs will also give you quests or tasks that you can complete however they play out in the rhythm form as well. You can rest in these safe houses and chat with different NPCs that will help you figure out your next move. Once you are done, you can jump back in Sheila and hit the road with your guitar and drums to gore down some more zombies.
Being a rhythm-based title, Double Kick Heroes does not disappoint when it comes to the soundtrack. Its heavy metal music will have you rocking your socks off every time to get in Sheila and take it to the road. Not only does the game has around 30 original songs but it also has a decent collection of licensed metal songs for you to listen as you slaughter zombie after zombie in your crusade through the wasteland. In the licensed section, you have soundtracks from metal legends such as Gojira, Ultra Vomit, Volkorx, Gorod, Jinjer, Carpenter Brut, and many more. The soundtrack does not disappoint in any way. Each mission is essentially a test of your drumming and guitaring where very perfect note you pull; a zombie will give its life for the cause.
You have a plethora of game modes to play in Double Kick Heroes. The main story is where you will spend your starting hours in the game as it offers a great introduction to the wacky theme of the game and how you can take down hordes of undead using nothing but the perfect notes of metal music. You can play any unlocked story mission quickly again in the Arcade mode however you can also pick your favorite song and jump in the game quickly in the Hellgate mode. If you want more unique modes, head to the Fury Road where you can jump in the Daily Fury which changes every day or play the Endless Mode where you will continue to ride until you die. The campaign is spread over 6 worlds and features some of the craziest boss battles that we’ve ever played in any video game.
The gameplay of Double Kick Heroes might look simple as it just requires you pressing buttons on the controller when they appear on the screen but it is extremely challenging especially when multiple tracks kick in. The key to successfully killing the zombies is to hit perfect notes. While the zombie-slaying action is going on at the top, as the player, your main focus will remain on the bottom of the screen where the controls appear and the small yellow box which is the sweet spot for hitting the notes. Inside this yellow box, there is another spot which is the perfect zone.
Hitting the zone closer to this spot in the middle will get you Perfect Hits that build up your combo and upon reaching certain combo multipliers, you will upgrade your weapon to a more powerful one. Start missing these notes and you will not only lose your combo but your weapon will also degrade to the previous one. Keep building your combo and main it high and you will have access to the most powerful weapons in the game to split open the zombies and other monstrosities chasing you. During multiple track levels, you will also get access to other abilities as well such as grenades. They are charged separately with their own unique inputs before they can be used in the game against the zombies. This also makes the game more challenging as you have to press two different keys now at the same time.
While the game is definitely playable with the Xbox One controller, it would make more sense and will be much easier with a guitar controller that is used with the Guitar Hero titles. Under the zombie-slaying action, it is still a rhythm-based title and you have to press buttons when they are on the screen in a rhythm so unless you play the game a lot and get used to the controls or simply go for a guitar controller that would make it much easier for you to play the game. I played the game on the controller and after a few chapters, I would still sometimes get confused and press the wrong button in particularly faster sections. Personally, I would prefer the guitar controller over the Xbox One controller for this game however depending on your skill, you can ace the game on the Xbox One controller as well.
Double Kick Heroes is a really fun game and it offers quite a lot of content for a decent price. After completing the main story, the fun does not end as there are different game modes that you can explore or try your luck in the Endless Mode that comes with an online leaderboard. One thing that I would have loved in the game is multiplayer. There is currently no multiplayer in the game and it would have been fun rocking to some of the greatest metal songs while gunning down hordes of zombies. Even without multiplayer, the game can still keep you occupied for hours with its addictive gameplay, highscore hunting, and various game modes.
Final Verdict:
Double Kick Heroes is no way an easy game but if you are a rhythm-based game player, Double Kick Heroes won’t be much of a problem for you to play. It features fast-paced gameplay that will keep your fingers on their toes for the entirety of the level. The music is hardcore, the gameplay is fast and the zombie-slaying is gory. Double Kick Heroes is a brilliant combination of some of the most hardcore mechanics that you would want in a video game and it executes it perfectly. I am not a hardcore fan of rhythm-based video games and this is my first game of this genre in a very long time but I can easily say that I had a great time enjoying the game. Once you’re up to the speed with the fast-paced gameplay, nothing satisfies you more than killing zombies while headbanging to metal. A must-play if you are a rhythm-based game fan and if you want something different, challenging, and fun to play at the same time.
Final Score: 8.8/10
