Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Some games are deep, some are tough and others are mindless, but the ones that just make you laugh and hoot while you play are rare. Heave Ho, which was revealed at PAX East 2019, made me laugh and grin like a schoolboy throughout my entire play session.
At first glance this little game from independent developer Le Cartel and publisher Devolver Digital seems too strange to be real. I started my match picking what my odd little creature, really just a head and arms, looked like. A number of arm types and head options were available to make my monstrosity unique.
Once we had all picked our characters (this is best played as four-player co-op) the level started, as did the fun and shouting. The point of Heave Ho is for us to simply get to the end of the level and land all of our creatures in the resting spot. To do this, true co-operation and zany antics are needed.
Each level has a series of obstacles. All I could do is grip anything – walls, other creatures, myself even – and swing and drop. By carefully gripping walls and other players and then swinging our collective masses we could eventually get around obstacles.
The hilarity starts when some people lose their grips, or if one gets tangled or left behind. Whenever one player drops off the screen the character is shredded and multi-colored goo is flung on the level itself.
The sheer ridiculousness of the characters and actions needed to complete the levels is truly a joy to experience and made me and three strangers buddies by the end of our 30 minutes of playing.
Heave Ho is coming out in summer 2019 for PC and for Nintendo Switch – which if promoted wisely could be a terrific platform for the game. It really is a fantastic co-op couch game guaranteed to brings laughs from players and anyone watching.
