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The Plot:  I'll give "Armed and Dangerous" this: it has some of the most inspired weapons I've seen in a video game in quite a while. Most notable are the "shark gun" and "topsy turvy bomb" - the former sends sharks scurrying under the ground towards your enemies, breaking through the ground underneath and swallowing them whole; the latter has your character drilling into the ground, then turning the world upside down. The game is a third-person shooter (and a single-player one, which seems like a missed opportunity) with a strange, offbeat sense of humor. You star as a sort of Robin Hood-ish criminal leading a band of warriors that include a robot and a mole person. The band of criminals originally set out on a heist, but the game eventually steers its story more towards putting the band of men up against an evil king. The game, with its wacky weapons and sheep that fly across the horizon after being too near a "sticky mine", is more about shooting just about everything that walks in front of your character than story. The game's occasional bathroom humor gets a laugh here and there, but some of the one-liners fall a tad flat - the game's humor just feels a little strained at times. As for gameplay, this is a group effort - you are matched with your two fellow soldiers - Q and Jonesy - who are controlled by AI. You can give them some minor commands (defend me, stay here), but they pretty much fire at anything that moves or, when you fire, they direct their fire in the same direction. They are not a terribly successful addition to your little army of 3, but in a game where the later levels have enemies pouring out of the woodwork, it's nice to have some sort of backup. As for the enemies, they are controlled by decent, if unexceptional AI. The difficulty of the game's later levels does not come from the fact that the enemies get much harder, but that there's simply so many more of them. They rarely seem to dodge or approach with much strategy aside from charging you. Along the same lines, the fact that enemies occasionally will fire from a considerable distance off-screen before you even see them (some are sitting in far off windows, some are on hills, you get the idea) is also a tad frustrating. Making matters worse is the fact that the environments often were pretty open, taking any element of strategy out of the battles and making them largely "charge in and fire!" events. Since you're almost never low on ammo throughout, running low isn't a concern. I also didn't care much for the game's structure, which presents the players with a set of fairly uninspired (and eventually, rather repetitive) tasks (rescue, defend, destroy) to complete before they're allow to pass to the next level. Still, the game certainly has some fun moments. A few levels in, you go on a rescue mission that throws a pretty remarkable amount of enemies at you. Then, you look up and realize that the enemy has rocket launchers in towers that look like something out of "Star Wars". Speaking of weapons, as I noted before, "Armed and Dangerous" throws many options to you, including some very creative ones. Your characters will be armed with, at various points - a rocket launcher, machine gun, personal mortar cannon, the shark gun and many others. The local "pubs" allow you to save your progress and gain new weapons. Controls are easy to pick up and learn. Overall, this is a decent effort that provides some humor and fast-paced action, but doesn't manage to tie it all together into an entirely satisfying whole. Rating: 8/10 The DVD Graphics: "Armed and Dangerous" generally looks terrific, with silky smooth graphics and environments that, while not always particularly well-designed, are visually striking. The characters are a little less impressive, showing only a moderate amount of detail; the enemies look even a tad less developed visually. There are some instances of terrific interaction with the environment, such as when you blow up enemy buildings, sending both the roof and the enemies inside flying off into the distance. With the very intense battles that occasionally start in throughout the game, sometimes the framerate gets slightly choppy, but not enough to effect gameplay. Rating: 8.2/10 Sound: "Armed and Dangerous" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The game's sound effects and sound design work is satisfactory, but given the game's focus on all-out action, I can't help but be a little disappointed. The surrounds do get some attention for sound effects, but the all-out gun battles should feel more enveloping then they do. Sound effects are vivid, but lack much in the way of impact - sound effects have little force behind them. Voice acting is pretty good, but I think some of the lines could have been read with a bit more work on the timing to get the jokes across better. Rating: 8.3/10 Rating Issues: The game is rated "T" (Teen) for near-constant (but not terribly graphic) action. Final Thoughts: Although the game's weapons and intense battles provide some moments of fun, "Armed and Dangerous" gets somewhat repetitive after a while and its humor is only so-so. Worth a rent. |