NoReload Heroes Enhanced Edition, developed and published by Teatime Holdings for the Nintendo Switch, is a co-operative twin-stick shooter for one to four players centered around battling robots in a wizard's tower. Part of a long line of co-op games for the Nintendo Switch, NoReload Heroes emphasizes couch gaming and family friendly destruction. Unfortunately, NoReload Heroes doesn't have a lot of content to write home about.
After a brief introductory cutscene in which a hapless group of techno-wizards are overthrown by the mighty wizbot Mephisto, players are thrust into the game. As a group, players will move through procedurally generated levels of their wizard tower, encountering robotic enemies that, once destroyed, drop experience and loot. Looking and aiming are controlled with the two joysticks, shooting and dashing controlled by the triggers, and A interacts with objects and doors. There is some fun in discovering new weapons, leveling up as a party, and dodging the increasingly hectic spray of bullets that enemies put out, but that is the extent of what NoReload Heroes offers.
There's just not much to say about NoReload Heroes, and many games, including Minecraft Dungeon, do what it does better at this point in time. The core mechanic is simply clearing rooms and moving ever onwards until the final boss is confronted and the tower reclaimed. There are some interesting mechanics sprinkled into NoReload Heroes, like the ability to vote on group level up abilities. If anyone dissents, the outcome is randomized. Powerups can be acquired which improve damage but are lost when the player takes a hit. Weapon variety is the star of the show, with over 150 weapons sprinkled about like snowball launchers and spread shots. But again, the tragic reality that the overall package is shallow is never far from the player's mind.
This may be a good title for young children to join their parents in playing a cooperative game. The difficulty was never intense enough to discourage play, downed players can be revived by their teammates, and there is no obscenity in any form. This is wizards shooting robots with silly guns. The fact that there is very little story content is too bad, given the opportunity NoReload Heroes had to use its setting to create a heartfelt light romp. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury's Captain Toad levels offers the same family friendly atmosphere but in a frankly more compelling game. As it is there is almost no personality to any of the characters in NoReload Heroes and there is almost no interaction between characters - another missed opportunity to breathe some life into the game's aesthetic and story.
There are also very few options to help tweak gameplay. Beyond the cooperative main mode, which doesn't even feature a save system, there is a simple competitive king of the hill mode and a page of credits. NoReload Heroes has the feel of a student project, or an indie team's first game meant to test the capabilities of an engine. The core mechanics work, and the gameplay itself is sufficient, but once a group has seen one run through the tower, they've seen it all.
NoReload Heroes Enhanced Edition is a good idea on paper: a light, couch cooperative twin-stick shooter that families can enjoy. In practice, while it does everything it says it will, the gameplay is shallow, the story non-existent, and replayability hampered by few meaningful choices throughout the game. Though an alright idea for families with young children, there are other choices that are assuredly a better pick.
NoReload Heroes Enhanced Edition will be available on Nintendo Switch on March 11 2021. A Switch Code was provided for the purposes of this review.