Random Heroes 3 Review

Random Heroes 3 by Ravenous Games does what it can to make platforming with a virtual controller as bearable as possible. It's not perfect - thumbs will inevitably slip and slide all over the screen, regardless of efforts - but the response times are good, and most of the levels are well-designed for tablets and phones.

As long as players don't expect a ton of innovation over Random Heroes 2 (and as long as they can deal with a new, slightly irritating gameplay quirk that will be mentioned further in), Random Heroes 3 grants a good 2D fix.

The story for Random Heroes 3 is more or less the same as the previous games' premise: Aliens (more precisely, "alien scum") are attacking, and civilization needs heroes. Players pick up an assortment of guns and get to work.

There are a few areas to shoot up in Random Heroes 3, including a compound, catacombs, and an underground bunker. Each area is packed with levels that are teeming with aliens (primarily the gun-toting, decomposing kind).

Weapons can - nay, must - be upgraded in order for the player to keep up with the levels, which get increasingly busy as the player progresses. Typical of a Random Heroes game, beefing up one's firepower requires skull tokens. There's a skull token in each level, and rooting them out serves as the game's best excuse for exploring its multi-tiered levels and myriad hidden passages. There are also coins to collect (which open up new guns) and star tokens.

Speaking of, Random Heroes 3's star tokens usher in a slight gameplay tweak. Whereas previous games hid all three of a level's tokens here and there, Random Heroes 3 hides two and challenges players to earn the third by meeting a specific goal.

Another, less compelling tweak worth mentioning: players don't get a fresh energy bar with new levels. Damage carries over, and death means starting the level over. Of course, committing suicide at the start of a new level fixes this problem, but it's irritating to make a note of running onto a bed of spikes when the stage switches over. It's easy to forget and then get fragged by a single stray bullet just inches from the end of the level.

Ultimately, Random Heroes 3 is still a fun platforming game for anyone that realizes even the best-tailored mobile platforming games are never going to control with absolute precision. At this point, it seems like most of the world is OK with that fact. Time to indulge in some random behavior (again).