Whether you are a fan of League of Legends or not, Riot Games has done everything in its power lately to include its contents on our menu. All of the tricks are part of a promotional campaign to support and celebrate their acclaimed Arcane animation series, including the developer / publisher working with a number of different developers to bring League of Legends content into other games, or the major updates to the base game and even a couple of new spin-offs: Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story and Ruined King: A League of Legends Story.
Both games are available this week, and after our review of Ruined King, I can say that I am past the hectic Hextech adventure and I have some thoughts about them that I want to share in this review.
In the event of a spin-off or Hextech Mayhem is nothing like League of Legends. You don’t have to worry about strategy or consider teamwork; There aren’t even multiple playable characters. It’s a pretty simple game where all you have to do is press the right button at the right time to pass a level and get the highest score possible.
In this title developed by Choice Provisions, the central idea is to put yourself in the role of Champion Ziggs, who travels around Piltover while wreaking havoc and trying to build the perfect bomb. But Ziggs is a real criminal, so he’s constantly being watched by another yordle (the race of the Ziggs) named Heimerdinger who uses his technical knowledge to create the ultimate artifact that can stop Ziggs’ crazy spiral of chaos.
Since this is a rhythm game, it is surprising that in Hextech Mayhem the story is a fairly important element and is developed through various film and dialogue sequences that give more information about the relationship between the two yordles. It’s fun, lighthearted, and entertaining, and the truth is that it makes this simple game a much more engaging experience all the time.
The gameplay is fluid, well designed and makes it a pleasure to play. It’s not complex or difficult and actually designed to be it is almost impossible to lose. Most of the things you need to do have to do with pressing the three buttons when prompted, but you can always step off the beaten path and collect various collectibles scattered across the levels. This means that the only way we can lose is if Ziggs collides with an object in a level, causing him to float through the entire level until you press the appropriate button again. The important thing is that it is absolutely impossible not to reach the end of a level.
However, while there is a fairly large safety net, it is also the motivation not to abuse it. The only way to get the highest score and land in the optimal locations to get there Collect the different gears Collectibles of each level is to follow the main path and press the appropriate buttons. There are three different types of gears: the normal bronze ones that you need to unlock the next levels, the bright blue gears that are needed to build the three machines you will encounter Heimerdinger with, and the shiny silver gears that Unlock new skins for Ziggs. As you can see, you have to collect them all, but each one has its own reward.
There’s not much else to scratch at Hextech Mayhem. In each level you make progress by pressing keys to the rhythm of the song and collecting gears along the way. It’s straightforward, simple, fun, and I have to admit that it’s quite addicting, so it’s also a bit of a disappointment that it’s so short. I managed to complete the story in about two hours and found no reason to go back and repeat previous levels unless I was missing a gear or two to unlock the later levels. It’s the kind of game that works really well a candy crush style designin which more and more levels are added just to keep you hooked because it’s hilarious and would work with this design.
But so Hextech Mayhem is still a game outrageously funny that you can play with for an afternoon. It’s not long and barely complicated, but naturally entertaining. In my opinion, this is a huge hit for one of the first spin-off titles that Riot Forge brings us, the editing division of Riot.
