Armed & Dangerous

King Forge has the entire land of Milola under his control.  The King has in his possession the Book of Rule, a magical book of supreme power.  However the King cannot open the book because it has been sealed by Rexus, who has no memory of the Book of Rule.  The Lionhearts (Roman, Q and Jonesy) try to convince Rexus of stealing the book from King Forge.  But during their conversation with Rexus, the King’s men capture Rexus.  It’s up to the Lionhearts to rescue Rexus and get the Book of Rule from King Forge before it’s unlocked.

Armed and Dangerous is a 3^rd person shooter where you play the role of Roman, leader of the Lionhearts.  During the game you will obtain strange and unusual weapons, and be treated to an entertaining and funny story line.  In fact this is the biggest part of the game besides the 3^rd person shooting, the humor.  The entire game is played out with a tongue and cheek attitude and story line.  The game has a British humor setting and will remind some of Monty Python.  The characters will say crazy and sometimes hysterical things to each other, either battle and or a cinema display.   

The majority of the game is based on a 3^rd person shooter, with some squad based fighting.  The other members of the Lionhearts (Q and Jonesy) will fight at your side during most of the battles.  During these battles you can issue some limited commands to them such as fighting on their own or sticking close to you.  Each character has their own unique and insane weapons they can use.  The unique weapons are another excellent part of the game.  Your character, Roman, starts off with just a regular rifle and sticky bombs.  As you progress in the game you will pick different weapons, and the weapons can be just as funny as the story line. 

For example, you have the Land Shark Gun that releases a shark to attack your enemies.  You will see the shark’s fin above ground and then the shark will come up out of the ground to attack the enemy.  It’s a sight to behold and something I recommend all gamers check out at least once.  There are two types of weapons you will use throughout the game, the regular weapons and special weapons.  The regular weapons are as follows: Hawkings Rifle, Flemming Machine gun, Cyclops Sniper Rifle, Vindaloo Rocket Launcher, Gurner Personal Mortar and the Land Shark Gun.  You can carry up to three different regular weapons at one time and switch them out at anytime during a stage.  Sticky Bombs, Topsy Turvy Bombs, Guy Fawkes Traitor Bomb, Knockout Bomb, and World’s Smallest Black Hole make up the special weapons.  During the game you can carry up to two different special weapons and can switch them out at anytime during a stage.  All of the weapons are unique, special and most of the time very entertaining to watch.

As they say in the instruction manual, action is the meat and potatoes of the game.  Since the game is a 3^rd person shooter you’ll spend most of the game running around shooting.  Sounds simple enough and it is.  Most of the missions you have to complete revolve around destroying a certain number of items, taking out a certain number of enemies or locate a specific person or item.  It’s very standard stuff and unfortunately this is where the biggest problem most gamers will have with the game.  Repetition.  Sure you have very funny and entertaining story line.  The weapons are awesome and amazing as well. But after a while you’ll use the same items and weapons over and over again during the game.  There isn’t a much variety during the missions.  There isn’t a mixture of gameplay elements, it’s all action based 3^rd person shooting. 

Even with the repetition of the gameplay, Armed and Dangerous is still a fun and entertaining game.  The humorous story line, creative and unique weapons offers to gamers a solid package that will please action fans.  For those looking for a huge variety of gameplay, this is only a two recipe meal, meat and potatoes.  Remember it’s all about having a good time playing a game.  Armed and Dangerous reminds us of what fun is all about.

Gameplay 8.0 

The controls are tight and responsive.  Since the game is a 3^rd person shooter, the controls are very important.  You look around the screen with you mouse and move with the “A”, “S”, “W” and “D” keys.  Standard layout for most 1^st person or 3^rd person shooters, and it works great in this game.  Probably the only issue with the controls is switching between the different weapons during a battle.   A few times I would accidentally select the wrong weapon to use, which would give me grief for a few moments.  The majority of the gameplay will have you running around shooting the enemy and blowing things up.  It works well in this game, but can get repetitive after a few stages.

Graphics 8.5 

The graphics in the game range from amazing to dull.  The character graphics are well done, and all of the main characters are very detailed.  The Lionhearts all have their own unique look and unique animations as well.  The character graphics of the enemies and monsters are also detailed and well done.  There isn’t much variety in the different enemies you’ll face in the game, but all of the enemies are animated nicely.  The enemies will leap and jump across the screen from explosions.  It’s hilarious watching an enemy fly straight up into the sky after you blow up a bomb near them.  There are some vehicles in the game that were amazingly animated.   The game barely slows down even when a large vehicle is blowing up and a ton of enemies are attacking you.  When the action gets really intense, let’s say with a building exploding, a vehicle attacking and 10 or more enemies attacking all at once, the frame rate will drop.  The different stage graphics are well done, but lack the detail of the characters.  The buildings all look similar to each other.  You’ll see the same buildings over and over again during a stage.   

Sound 8.7 

The music and sound effects are well done in this game.   The voice acting is first rate for all of the characters.  I applaud the developers for including a quality voice acting team for this game.  The sound effects of the weapons, explosions and stages are all great.  The sound effects come across loud and clear.  Those with a good set of speakers will probably enjoy cranking the game just for the sound effects.  The music is good but doesn’t play a big of role as the voice acting and sound effects.  The music is basically background noise for the stages.  While it might be good, it’s doesn’t play a big of role as the sound effects.

Difficulty Medium 

At the beginning of the game you can select the difficulty of the game.  At first you might want to start out on the easy mode because the game can be tough.  The number of enemies on the early stages starts off small and manageable.  As you go farther along in the game, the number of enemies will continue to grow.  It’s not uncommon to run into a section of a stage up against 10 or more enemies at one time.  But at the same time you have to deal with auxiliary weapons as well, such as cannon or weapon fire.  It can be frustrating having to start over and over again just to complete a stage.  Luckily you have the option of saving at any time during the game.  The AI of the computer ranges from excellent to lacking a high school education.  Most of the enemies will hide behind walls or rocks while they reload their weapon.  But others will stand right in the middle of the stage while you continue to fire at them.

Concept 8.3 

Essentially the game comes down to a 3^rd person shooter.  You have a funny and interesting story line, which includes some very unique weapons.  But you spend the majority of the game running around shooting enemies.  It always seems to be an endless supply of enemies you have to defeat before you can move on to the next stage.  Even when you think you’ve cleared out all of the enemies, more will pop up almost out of nowhere.   The missions are very similar to each other that has you rescuing something the majority of the time.  After a few stages it can become tiring using the same weapons over again and rescuing someone or something again.  I guess our attention span has dwindled over the past 15 years.  If this game were released 10 years ago, the lack of variety wouldn’t have been a problem.  But in today’s market, variety is offered in all sorts of games.  A little bit more variety would have helped this game enormously.

Multiplayer N/A 

This is a single player game.  While you’re in charge of a three-man team, you can only control the main character Roman.  There isn’t an option of letting another player control one of the other Lionhearts. 

Overall 8.4 

For gamers looking for an entertaining, funny and sometimes-crazy 3^rd person shooter, look no further then Armed and Dangerous.  The funny story line, excellent sound effects, quality voice acting, good graphics and unique weapons will find you coming back for more.  But for gamers looking for a 3^rd person shooter with a little bit of something more to offer, this might not be the game for you.  The lack of variety in the gameplay will be a sore spot for some players.  The stage graphics can also disappoint after a while, since they lack the same detail as the characters.  But a game is all about fun (as I’ve mentioned in other reviews) and I can almost guarantee that everyone can find something they will find fun in the game.  Heck Star Wars fans should even give it a try just for the few Star Wars references included in the game.  Give the game a try if you want to have a fun and entertaining time.