Action Hero is a free-to-play 2D action side-scroller game made by Donut Games. It borrows the mechanics and play style from classic consoles in the past. You will play as the titular character on top of a moving train, to stop gangsters from taking over the city.

Action Hero is a game where you can only avoid enemy projectiles such as bottles, boxes, and dynamite, while engaging directly in melee combat. The cutscenes are directly inspired by comics. The game offers a timed trial version, with a one-time payment needed to unlock the rest of the levels.

Save your city in comic-book fashion

The title character, Action Hero, is you. You’re a vigilante who discovered a heinous plan by the gangsters to cause chaos in your city. Lucky for you, you found their train en route. Now you aim to defeat them and save the city from their unspeakable crimes. You don’t have any weapons to fight, only the agility to dodge and evade their attacks, while prioritizing hand-to-hand combat.

The game lets you play through its touch controls, but you can also connect a gamepad for much more precise movements. There are bosses at the end of each chapter which requires all you have learned, and apply it to them. Cruise the speeding train in the tune of a sprawling cinematic action soundtrack, and you can also earn achievements by completing individual game missions and random side-quest tasks.

The game is free-to-play, which lets you play for free with a timer. The one-time payment option will remove the timer and unlock all stages for you. The game is fast-paced and enjoyable. However, the controls have some latency issues and do not respond well in situations where a lot is going on. Still, the overall gaming experience is great and pretty responsive most of the time.

A fun classic 2D action game

Action Hero gets things right when it comes to its overall concept, combat mechanics, fun soundtrack, and controls. The timed but free version is a nice benchmark for you to test before purchasing the full game if you enjoyed it. However, while the controls are great, it suffers from latency during intense stages, and an external controller may be necessary to play the game without any issues. Nonetheless, this is a fun game.