American Hero Walkthrough

Welcome to American Hero! This early example of a full-motion video game is reminiscent of the early classics like Night Trap and others... a far cry from the excellent FMV games that Wales Interactive publishes today. In fact, I'm sorry that I even mentioned them in this walkthrough because the quality of American Hero is far below anything that Wales Interactive does. My sincere apologies, Wales Interactive, you're much, much, MUCH better than this.

The game features Timothy Bottoms, a well-established actor from the 70s who starred in the critically acclaimed The Last Picture Show and, admittedly one of my personal favorites, The Paper Chase. You should check those out. They're considerably better than what you're about to suffer through.

So, the important stuff: If you're on this page, you've already fallen into the rabbit hole that is American Hero, or you're thinking about it. If it's the former, I'm here to try to get you out of that hole as quickly as humanly possible. If you're only thinking about it... well, you've been warned.

No, I'm serious. There are warnings. While content changes over time, some things become more acceptable, and other things less so. Therefore, I feel obligated to let you know just what kind of crap you're going to be dealing with. First of all, the game literally begins with the following three screens.

I feel like I should add the disclaimer from South Park: "Due to its content, it should not be viewed by anyone."

So there, I've warned you. Now you can go about watching the videos of the strip clubs, the gratuitous female objectification, violence, etc... basically, everything that made the 90s what they were.

Just remember, I spent hours upon hours putting this guide together so you don't have to suffer through any more than you have to. You're welcome.

If you've played other full-motion video games, such as the ones produced by Wales Interactive (sorry again), you have a basic idea of how they work. A scene will play out, and at a certain point, you'll have to make a decision. Today's games are much more forgiving; in American Hero, you will have about three seconds to make a decision; accessibility be damned. If you miss that choice, the game will make a choice for you, and it may not be the one you want. For that reason, I suggest reading ahead for the next few lines so that you have an idea of which decision you should make.

Jack will give you each choice three times before deciding for you. These are rapid-fire: left, right, left, right, left, right... missed your chance. You need to press at the right time to make the choice.

I will tell you what to choose, like this: not this one/THIS ONE. Occasionally the text on-screen will be different than the guide because the game changes the text. (Yes, really.) I've picked the words that I saw most often. This doesn't happen often, and it'll be obvious which one I'm telling you to pick.

If you make a mistake, all is not lost. You can still replay from the previous checkpoint. In fact, you're going to have to do that A LOT since you have to die in all of the 25 different ways offered in the game. This will give us a chance to see the story from multiple angles. There are no strictly missable achievements in this game because you can replay checkpoints as you see fit. Unless, of course, you make this mistake...

DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER RESTART AT THE NEW GAME CHECKPOINT. Doing so will cause you to lose access to the later checkpoints. You will, unfortunately, have to restart once because, try as I did to avoid it, there's one branching decision that I couldn't figure out how to do in a single run.

When looking to go to another checkpoint, use the to move left and right. I couldn't figure out how to do that for a bit, probably because I lost brain cells watching this gem.

THIS GAME CRASHES A LOT. This is more annoying than most games because it means you're going to have to suffer through a scene more times than you should have to. This gets really rage-inducing during the last checkpoint, "Reservoir," because the time until the first decision takes almost four minutes, so you'll need to play through this scene a total of six times.

When the game crashes, assume everything is lost since the last checkpoint, because it probably is.

There are several cumulative achievements, most of which can be counted over any number of playthroughs, including if you restart at New Game. The exception is this one:

Climb Every Mountain

Visit every location in the game.

1 guide

This must be done in one play... but it's okay because you can still use chapter select if you need to. The other cumulative achievements are for fighting whenever you can, finding all the bottles (which are directly in the path of one play), and dying... a lot.

Pugilist

Engage in every fight in the game.

1 guide

Potent Potable

Find every Auf Wiedersehen bottle in the game.

1 guide

If you don't like watching the game on the small screen (on your small/large screen), you can change it in options. You can also make it grainy, but why would you do that?

Let's roll.

Let's get right to it... by doing absolutely nothing. This does two things. First, it gives you an idea of how fast the choices are, and it also gives you an achievement. (Of course, the achievement's the important part).

Start the game and put your controller down. Wait until Jack's eventual demise.

[DEATH #1 - RUN OVER]

Rebel Without A Choice

Allow the game to play from start to finish without making any decisions.

1 guide

...and you're back at the club. That was so much fun, let's do it again (almost)! Wait through the first prompt, but at the second choice, you're going to choose A LEDGE. There will be a quick-time tap reallyreallyfast DON'T PRESS ANYTHING AND FAIL THIS QUICKTIME.

[DEATH #2 - BLEED OUT]

Third time's the charm. Here we go:

• BAD NEWS/party


• DICKHEAD/yesss (Doing this gets you a punch toward Pugilism)


• LIMO/get it/split


• LAURA'S/KVK


• GATE/door/climb


• save it/GRAB HER

[DEATH #3 - STABBY STABBY]

Back to the club:

• BAD NEWS/party


• DICKHEAD/yesss (Doing this gets you a punch toward Pugilism)


• LIMO/get it/split


• LAURA'S/KVK


• gate/DOOR/climb


• PLAY ALONG/that'll do (Choosing the wrong one skips many scenes and misses this death)

[DEATH #4 - I'M NOT AN OWL]

Clubbin':

• bad news/party/NO CHOICE


• a ledge/run/NO CHOICE


• drop/JUMP

With this, we are now at

Checkpoint - Abandoned Lot

From here on, I'm going to just tell you the choices so you can experience the "story" for yourself without commentary.

• fake 'em/TAKE 'EM

[DEATH #5 - TAKIN' IT]

Abandoned Lot:

• FAKE 'EM/take 'em


• DOWNTOWN/Shortcut


• LIMO/cut through


• LAURA'S/KVK


• gate/door/CLIMB

Checkpoint - Laura's House

• forget it/NEED IT

At this point, choosing "forget it," then "Hmmm?" will take you to a steamy scene with Holly that you won't otherwise see, but it'll also cause you to skip several scenes. If you're a glutton for seeing attractive women getting out of a shower, go for it, but that's on you. I won't judge.

• HMMM?/gotta go


• I'm outta here/FIGHT

[DEATH #6 - BEAR HUG]

Laura's House:

• HMMM?/gotta go


• I'M OUTTA HERE/fight


• WASTE HER/let her go

[DEATH #7 - RIDING SHOTGUN]

Laura's House:

• HMMM?/gotta go


• I'M OUTTA HERE/fight


• waste her/LET HER GO


• A LEDGE/run (WIN THIS QTE)


• MY RIDE/run/fight

[DEATH #8 - I'M WALKIN' HERE]

Laura's House:

• HMMM?/gotta go


• I'M OUTTA HERE/fight


• waste her/LET HER GO


• A LEDGE/run (WIN THIS QTE)


• MY RIDE/run/fight


• my ride/run/FIGHT


• fight/RUN (We'll get this fight on run #2)

Checkpoint: Dock

• RUN/pray

[DEATH #9 - BEAT DOWN]

Dock:

• run/PRAY


• left/RIGHT

[DEATH #10 - KEEP RIGHT]

Dock:

• run/PRAY


• LEFT/right

Checkpoint - Car Chase

• brakes/gas/FIGHT

[DEATH #11 - POLE DANCING]

Car Chase:

• brakes/GAS/fight

[DEATH #12 - SCHOOLED]

Car Chase:

• BRAKES/gas/fight


• BRAKES/gas

Checkpoint - Chemical Plant

I get lost on long pages in walkthroughs, so on to page 2!

Checkpoint - Chemical Plant

All roads eventually lead to the chemical plant. If you get here and have missed anything from before, feel free to go back and correct those decisions. Make sure to follow any decision to the next checkpoint, or you will lose your progress.

[BOTTLE #1/3]

Depending on certain choices, you may take a gun from a guard. If not, you will definitely get it on the second run.

KILL 'IM/later

[DEATH #13 - IRON PLATING]

Chemical Plant:

• kill 'im/LATER


• hairpin/the guard/NO CHOICE

[DEATH #14 - SMOOSHED] (ENDING #2/5)

You'll also get this:

Till Death Do Us Part

End the game at Jack and Laura’s funeral.

1 guide

Chemical Plant:

• kill 'im/LATER (If you have this option)


• HAIRPIN/the guard


• LEFT/right


• LEFT/right


• LEFT/right


• LEFT/right

[DEATH #15 - LOST IN CIRCLES]

Chemical Plant:

• kill 'im/LATER (If you have this option)


• hairpin/THE GUARD

Escape Artist

Find all the ways for Jack and Laura to escape the cell.

1 guide

• left/right/NO CHOICE


• LISTEN/run (You can miss once and still pass this section)


• LEFT/right


• LEFT/right


• left/RIGHT

Checkpoint - Virus Lab

• SNEAK IN/break in


• THIS ONE/that one

[DEATH #16 - BETTER DYING THROUGH CHEMISTRY]

Virus Lab:

• sneak in/BREAK IN


• do it/FUCK IT (Ending #3/5)

Never Said I Was A Role Model

Go back to the club instead of facing off with Krueger.

1 guide

Virus Lab:

• sneak in/break in/DO NOTHING


• DO IT/fuck it

Checkpoint - Reservoir

This is the longest checkpoint of the game. You will need to play through this six times. Each time, you will have to wait for just under four minutes until the first choice. You can't skip scenes, so this will take about an hour.

Jack will say, "Don't have much time," then look at a white truck and a red barrel.

• Krueger/HOOVER/drums

[DEATH #17 - KILL 'EM BOTH]

Reservoir:

• KRUEGER/Hoover/drums

[DEATH #18 - FIRING SQUAD]

Reservoir:

• Krueger/Hoover/DRUMS


• Hoover/KRUEGER

[DEATH #19 - TOLD YOU NOT TO COME]

Reservoir:

• Krueger/Hoover/DRUMS


• HOOVER/Krueger


• GRAB IT/fight

[DEATH #20 - GRAVITY KILLS]

Reservoir:

• Krueger/Hoover/DRUMS


• HOOVER/Krueger


• grab it/FIGHT


• get it/FIGHT

[Ending #4]

Reservoir:

• Krueger/Hoover/DRUMS


• HOOVER/Krueger


• grab it/FIGHT


• GET IT/fight

[Ending #5]

Jack Is Back!

Receive the President's Commendation.

1 guide

The Ends

Find all of the game endings

1 guide

Now let's run through the other branch, but it won't take nearly as long.

We're going to go through some areas we haven't seen before. If it wasn't for a necessary change at Laura's House, we could do just one run. Alas...

START THE GAME FROM THE CLUB (NEW GAME) - Yeah, I said not to do it. I lied.

Checkpoint - New Game

• bad news/PARTY

Checkpoint - Private Booth (Bottle #2/3)

• yeah/what the?../DO NOTHING


• ESCAPE/boombox

[DEATH #21 - DISCO IS DEAD]

That's No Moon

Get Jack killed by the disco ball.

1 guide

Private Booth:

• YEAH/what the?..

[DEATH #22 - SHOOTING UP]

Private Booth:

• yeah/WHAT THE?...


• yeah/WHAT THE FUCK?


• escape/BOOMBOX


• get out/TAKE IT


• SHORTCUT/Laura's


• limo/CUT THRU


• my ride/run/FIGHT


• run/FIGHT (We need this fight for Pugilist)


• left/RIGHT (Resets the checkpoint)

Private Booth:

• yeah/WHAT THE?...


• yeah/WHAT THE FUCK?


• escape/BOOMBOX


• get out/TAKE IT


• SHORTCUT/Laura's


• limo/CUT THRU


• my ride/run/fight/DO NOTHING


• fight/run/DO NOTHING

[DEATH #23 - MOWED DOWN]

Private Booth:

• yeah/what the?.../DO NOTHING


• escape/BOOMBOX


• get out/TAKE IT


• SHORTCUT/Laura's


• LIMO/cut through


• LAURA'S/KVK


• GATE/door/climb


• SAVE IT/grab her


• fake 'em/FIGHT 'EM


• who?/GET OUT


• MY RIDE/run/fight


• FRONT/side (Bottle #3/3)

Potent Potable

Find every Auf Wiedersehen bottle in the game.

1 guide

Checkpoint - KVK

• split/GET IN


• leave/YEAH


• do her/JUST TALK (The other option leads to some gratuitousness, but I'm not sure if it affects the play. It's right after the checkpoint. Your call.)


• fight/whistle/DO NOTHING

[DEATH #24 - AXED]

KVK:

• split/GET IN


• leave/YEAH


• do her/JUST TALK


• FIGHT/whistle


• CABLE/rack

[DEATH #25 - SHOCKING]

Did We Try That Already?

Find every way to end the game at Jack’s funeral.

1 guide

KVK:

• split/GET IN


• leave/YEAH


• do her/JUST TALK


• FIGHT/whistle


• RACK/cable


• FIGHT/whistle

At this point, you should have gotten into all of the possible fights across the two playthroughs, so this should pop:

Pugilist

Engage in every fight in the game.

1 guide

Now, exit out to the main menu and reload the KVK checkpoint.

KVK:

• split/GET IN


• leave/YEAH


• do her/JUST TALK


• fight/WHISTLE


• fight/WHISTLE

Whistleblower

Find every way to use the whistle.

1 guide

At this point, the only achievement that you should still need is Climb Every Mountain, which requires you to visit all of the checkpoints on a single save file. We're going to run through the next few checkpoints and finish this thing.

Checkpoint - Chemical Plant

Depending on certain choices, you may take a gun from a guard. If not, you will definitely get it on the second run.

• TAKE IT/run


• KILL 'IM/later (Death #13)

Otherwise...

Chemical Plant:

• kill 'im/LATER


• hairpin/THE GUARD


• left/right/NO CHOICE


• LISTEN/run (You can miss her once and still pass this section)


• LEFT/right


• LEFT/right


• left/RIGHT

Checkpoint - Virus Lab

• sneak in/break in/DO NOTHING

Checkpoint - Reservoir

Climb Every Mountain

Visit every location in the game.

1 guide

...and that's it! Now feel free to quit out, blow the game off your console, and we will never speak of this again.