Next Up Hero

Next Up Hero consists of a frantic, difficult and demanding experience that's coated in a cartoonish and seemingly harmless art style. Its technical issues can harm the experience at some points and its control scheme does not always feel intuitive, which coupled with the game's requirement to be online at all times can create some elements of frustration, even if those looking for such a tough experience will still get the most of it.

Next Up Hero manages to introduce intriguing, innovative ideas, but at the cost of executing the core gameplay mechanic well.

There’s plenty to like about Next Up Hero. Turning death into an applicable AI co-op mechanic is a neat spin on a game with a high death turnover, and its cartoon art style complements an impressively large menagerie of monsters to kill. Unfortunately, there are inherent problems with balancing and some disastrous technical problems. Its grinding takes too long, melee characters are all but pointless due to the high damage output of enemies, and those technical issues make committing time and effort a constant risk.