Mariachi Hero sounds like it could be a brilliant twist on Guitar Hero. Swap the electric guitar for a classical guitar, add parts for violin, trumpets, and vihuela, and explore the wide range of mariachi music that is the heart and soul of Mexico. Unfortunately, Mariachi Hero is not that game at all. Instead, you control a racist cartoon who has to shoot tequila bottles and squash cockroaches in time with the music.
Unlike most successful rhythm games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, or Thumpies, Mariachi Hero doesn't let you choose your own songs or difficulty. Instead, this music game is all about getting a high score and surviving as long as possible, even when the songs quickly start to repeat.
Madre de Dios...
To keep time with the music, you have to squash cockroaches-- an unsettling accompaniment. In addition, you have to shoot bombs and bottles for extra points, and avoid squashing a walking tortilla chip named Mr. Nacho. There are also two unfun minigames that involve swiping and shooting roaches.
You play as either a poncho-wearing hombre with a cigar, gold tooth, and natty beard, or a heavily made-up seniorita with a missing tooth. What, no chihuahua? There's only one environment, a blasted desert-scape, but a saloon environment is "coming soon".
Maybe we shouldn't expect Swedish developer Pan Vision to be racially sensitive about Mexican culture, but Mariachi Hero is just as offensive as the Frito Bandito. It appears this game exists solely to mock Mexicans, since as a game, it's terrible.
Somehow this might be considered in poor taste.
The endless high score run just isn't a good fit for the music genre. We prefer mastering one song at a time, and adjusting the difficulty level to provide an extra challenge. While the bombs, bottles, and walking nacho in Mariachi Hero are decent additions, it's just not worth listening to The Mexican Hat Dance on repeat.
Mariachi Hero Grande for iPad is a waste of your time and money, and it's offensive in a number of ways. Unless you think racism is a joke, avoid this awful game.
9 Comments
Wow, thanks for this great review, will avoid this mediocre and racist attempt of a game.
The funny thing about this game is that even though our game "Mariachi Giro" was featured by Apple as New and Noteworthy using music from "Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán" known as "The Best Mariachi of the World" and with a mechanic similar to RockBand Unplugged in which you can select venues from Mexico and even customize to some level your Mariachi Band you couldn't take the time to look at it....
Yes, I admit that it's rough (and very rough sometimes) around the edges... I could excuse us with our budget (just check the credits) but this industry tough and the consumer deserve our best effort...
There's only one thing worse than racism: political correctness. Not sticking up for the game, but a lot of this review seems to be based on the political views of the reviewer. In my opinion it should be more about gameplay mechanics.
So maybe the game deserves a 1 out of 4 (only 4 songs, "dull" etc. seem like valid points made in this regard), but in similar fashion to your own conclusion: unless you think pressing your political views upon others is a joke, avoid this awful review.
Couldn't agree more! I've played the game, and in terms of gameplay i think Mariachi Hero holds its own. True, it's much more of a casual setup than what we're used to seeing in a rhythm game, but does that make it bad? On the contrary, I think the game really works.
And what makes this game "racist" anyway? The cartoon-style characters? Oh my gosh, they seem to be a bit exaggerated - almost... almost cartoony! Come on, the graphics ROCK!
Seems like the reviewer has decided to slam the gameplay, so as to also justify his own eager-to-please political correctness: "I think this is racist - let's make sure it's bad too!"
I haven't played the game, but as someone originally from Mexico, I don't think I'd be at all offended by it. I wasn't offended by the Frito Bandito, nor was I offended by the Taco Bell dog. What I do find offending is the ridiculous amount of political correctness society shoves down our throats, and that includes well meaning game reviewers (sorry, Andrew).
I'm not trying to be overly PC here, I just think the characters in this game are the definition of racist cartoons. This game uses a mean-spirited and extremely negative portrayal of Mexicans for no apparent reason. Plus, it's just bad as a music game.
@ADPodolsky Seems like a pretty wierd game, but:
Could you please explain wy it's an "extremely negative portrayal of Mexicans...". Sombreros and ponchos are a part of mexican culture, right? Looks like a spaghetti western style game to me.
Sup everybody, I'm mexican and I'm really sad about this game because thats no mexican culture in the game theres only a bad and racist joke at a false picture of México mariachi has a 100% different look the character of the game is a teporocho and they are in all latin america... its sad the inculture of this stupid studio I hope Apple read my e-mail and do somwthing about this.
Pah! I can't remember anyone slamming Nintendo för making Mario a short, fat Italian plumber running around yelling "Mumma mia!", or Little Britain inventing the village gay person. C'mon, there's a healthy difference between stereotyping and racism. I'd say the game is more spaghetti Western than mariachi, and I'm always in the mood for a spaghetti Western. But of course everyone should try the game and judge for themselves... or else we're just a bunch of hysterical me-too's standing on the sidelines without an opinion of our own.
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