App: Punch Hero
Developer: Gamevil
Price: Free
Rating: 5/5
Growing up in the age of Nintendo, I am hard pressed to let go of such classic games as Metroid, Super Tecmo Bowl, and of course, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. So when I found this week’s app to review, I was extremely excited. This week’s app is a game called Punch Hero. Right from the beginning, I got a bit of a nostalgic feel from the 8-bit like font that is used on the load screen. Seeing that font immediately took me to a place where my name was Little Mac, and I struggled to fight opponents named King Hippo, Great Tiger, and Bald Bull. This reminiscing is a big compliment, because I loved Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, and I get similar enjoyment out of Punch Hero.
The gameplay is amazing, with 3D graphics that are on par with any other game available on your smartphone. Punch Hero has that rare combination of addictiveness and difficulty. It’s the difficulty of this game that keeps you coming back for more. The options available in the game aren’t mind blowing, but they are fun. Graveyard mode allows you to play friends or other players around the world, there is a costume shop and a skill shop, where you can use your hard earned coin to upgrade your fighter, and there is a training center. You can use the training center to, well, train, and get better at the game.
Arcade mode is where you get to fight different fighters and scale the ranks of the boxing world with each victory. You can also take a pic of a friend or foe from your phone and put their face in the challenger registry. This will allow you to fight them in the ring and mash their face in, if you so desire.
These options, along with the extremely fun gameplay and challenging difficulty, are what allowed me to give this game a rating of 5/5 without hesitation. Now I want to go find my old NES so I can see if I can FINALLY beat Mike Tyson!