Gaming For Good – Hero Bears and Help for Heroes

Gaming for Good is a series of articles that likes to shine a spotlight on the good charitable work that gaming can do and the positive effect that this can have. This week we would like to shine that light on today’s release of Hero Bears and the Help for Heroes charity.

Help for Heroes is a British based charity that work to provide support to current serving and veteran members of the Armed Forces who have suffered life-changing injuries and illnesses. Since it’s launch in 2007 Help for Heroes have been raising funding though a multitude of sporting based events, releasing the fastest selling charity single with help from the X Factor, and much more.

Now the charity’s fundraising efforts have journeyed to the video game scene to bring us Hero Bears, a charming little side scrolling title that features two Army bears transporting an injured soldier to safety on a stretcher. The aim of the game is to guide the bear mascots through and obstacle course, jumping fences and ducking through tunnels and avoiding other traps that may throw you off track.

Hero Bears also uses a beautiful hand-drawn style that you may recognise, as it’s the same design created by Bryn Parry, cartoonist and also one of the founders of Help for Heroes.

On board with the Help for Heroes effort are a couple of UK presenter celebrity types in the form of  Jeremy Clarkson and Lorraine Kelly. These two will make their presence known whilst playing Hero Bears, with Clarkson dishing out put-downs at the player for failing, whilst Kelly offers a more positive and upbeat outlook, providing words of encouragement.

Playing through the game myself today, I found myself on a pretty decent run before hitting the roof of a truck and being told by the grizzled charm of Mr Clarkson “You were ambitious, but Rubbish”.

Developer Supersonic Software and publisher AppyNation have waived their normal fees for the good of the app, which was funded through a grant by the University of Abertay and with a purchase from you,  Help for Heroes hopes that their game will become the fastest-selling charity game on mobile devices.

If you want to get involved then all you need to do is purchase the game for yourself. Hero Bears costs just £1.99, with a £1 donation to Help for Heroes made on each sale. You can pick up the game for the majority of mobile devices through either the Apple App Store, Amazon App Store and on Google Play.

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Tags: Gaming For Good, Help for Heroes, Hero Bears