There are several games on the mobile store called “Hero Rescue.” The one I’m referring to is called “Hero Rescues – Pull Him Out!” by NEOTIX APP LLC on the store. When downloaded, it’s labeled Hero Rescue 2. Of the Hero Rescue games, it’s the highest rated at 3.7 (at the time of review) which is why I picked it.
Created by Bazooka and Super Game, Hero Rescue 2 is a pin-pull puzzle game. Pull the pins in the correct order to get the loot, kill all enemies, or rescue the princess. This game has 5 modes – the mainline puzzle adventure, Treasure Mode, Tower Mode, Block Mode, and Sword Mode. As you progress through the main game, levels for the other 4 modes will unlock.
Main Game Mechanics and Strategies
Skip this part if you want to go in blind.
- Lava and Water – Water does not appear to do anything, but lava is hot and will kill you or enemies. Combine water and lava to create rocks. Rocks can be walked across or dropped to kill enemies. Lava can also burn wood and destroy treasure, so watch where you let it flow.
- Poison Gas / Frost – Both of these mechanics will travel to open areas and kill the hero or enemies.
- Ropes – Ropes can be cut, dropping anything attached to it. It’s useful for dropping items on enemy heads to kill them. Some physics are in play here, so be cognizant of which rope you cut first. The hero can also be killed by falling objects.
- Spike Pits – These equal death for anyone who falls in.
- Sword – Pick up the sword to defend against swordsmen or spiders.
- Goblin Swordsmen – Can be killed by goblin archers, lava, spike pits, falling objects, wall traps, dragon fire, and you with a sword. Swordsmen will always walk toward the hero, princess, or spiders if seen.
- Goblin Archers – can be killed by other goblin archers, lava, spike pits, falling objects, wall traps, and dragon fire. Goblin archers will fire at the hero, princess, or spiders if seen.
- Spiders – Will walk toward the hero or princess if seen. Can be killed by all methods.
- Wall Traps – A set of darts fire from the wall when a living creature passes in sight of it. It only has one shot, so it’s safe to walk by after the initial fire.
- Switches – Blue switches open silver doors. Red switches drop spike plates.
- Dragon Heads – These blow fire at intervals. Timing is often key with these, and they can be blocked by rocks.
- The Niffler and Purple Chests – These little blue platypus looking creatures will steal treasure. Lure them to purple chests that explode instead.
Additional Tips:
- Let the hero complete an action before jumping the gun to the next pin.
- Physics can be tricky. Sometimes what seems like the right way doesn’t clear the stage because a few pieces of treasure get stuck. Just reset the level and do the same steps again.
- You don’t always need to pull every pin or use every mechanic seen on screen to complete the objective.
- If you know the hero is about to die, press the reload button. It’ll save you the death animation and your hearts. Hearts only deplete if you’re killed. They don’t if you fail other ways like burning the treasure.
The hardest level in the game is 223. It’s the only one I had to look up. Highlight here for the answer: It’s a matter of terrible physics. Release the water and lava quickly to get as many rocks on the left side. The hero will bounce on them, missing the archer arrow and triggering the trap to kill the archer.
Treasure Mode: Pull pins in the right order and drop enough treasure to fill the box at the bottom. A full box triggers the pressure plate and lets the hero through. Unique to this mode is gray treasure, which turns into real treasure once in contact with the real treasure.
Tower Mode: A treasure chest sits atop a tower of blocks. Navigate touchy physics by tapping to delete blocks to drop the chest down to the bottom.
Block Mode: Similar to Tower Mode, tap to delete blocks within a structure to kill enemies without crushing the hero. It reminds me a lot of Angry Birds physics.
Sword Mode: Obtain the sword to either kill all enemies or exit the tower through the lava rock door.
Review
Overall, I thought it was a fun little puzzle game despite the large amount of ads. They appear every few levels, but you can often close out of them instantly. There’s also no pay to win or energy refill wait period – if you die and lose all your hearts, you simply watch a 30 second ad and get another go.
The game starts easy and gets harder as you’d expect. Later levels required me to really think it through before acting. Treasure Mode was my favorite of the bunch, though much easier than the core game. I also really enjoyed Tower Mode, even during the frustrating losses.
I played through the whole game in a single day, which was a bit of a let down. There’s currently 270 main levels and about 200 total additional levels from the other modes. The app says additional levels are added weekly, but according to some comments, that may not be the case.
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