Armed and Dangerous

"Wasn't aware developers were able to pass off beta's as finished products."

Boy, was I mistaken. Unless of course this is the finished product, and if it is, it still should be a crime to release something that's so uncompelling in every aspect.

Graphics-7/10
The graphics in Armed & Dangerous seem to have two types of completely different graphical settings. One of which is the in gameplay graphics, which aren't bad, but aren't that good either. The scenery has a certain detail to it that portrays a nice background (until being up close), and the characters seem to have some decent graphical nature to them as well, however, it seems pretty bland at the same time, something similar to Brute Force's graphic implementation that just doesn't hold much uniqueness and over all detail. The second type of graphics are in the cut scenes, these can look decent to flat out ridiculous. At times, it looks as if 'stop animation' was used in these, and it looks awful, especially the lack of anti-aliasing and resolution that takes a nose dive right into the latrine.

Story-7/10
The story itself isn't very amusing, however, the slap stick humor is pretty entertaining. The story pits The Lionhearts, who are, Roman- the disproportionate leader, Jonesy- a belligerent mole, Q- a very odd looking robot with a questionable fondness of tea, and Rexus- a senile, blind and famished looking little alien thing. The Lionhearts are after the Book of Rule which is in the hands of the King, this book grants power and the like, which is why the group wants to get their hands on it, along with roughing up the King for his harsh rule over the people of Milola. The comedy comes into play with the brazen humor of the characters, and with the over-the-top Scottish accents, it only fuels the humorous plot.

Gameplay-5/10
The developers, Planet Moon, seemed intent on integrating some innovations in this third person shooter, by throwing in some pretty quirky weapons, and while they are very unique and interesting, they're undermined by the default weapons, are unefficient, and are just killed by no support of top-notch animations and atmosphere to them.

You take control of Roman, and have Q and Jonesy to back you in quite a few missions. You can issue three commands, for them to either guard a certain place, for them to return to you and defend you by staying close, or defend and be more assertive, in which they'll be off fighting and not necessarily be by your side in the process. These options don't offer much in terms of being part of a team, usually they'll be off being lambasted in combat. They are aggressive though, they shoot in unison when Roman seems pretty intent on blowing up something or killing someone. And of course they have a well established AI, only when it comes to killing, otherwise, they will generally sit and take being sniped like it's nothing, until they're floored. The enemy AI can be ludicrous, they either happen to be great marksman, surrounding you in groups, or extremely inept and have absolutely no concept of intellect when it comes to patrolling or move when being shot at.

The controls, handle like the setup of most third person shooters these days, the left analogue handles the movement and the right analogue handles the aiming, which happens to be very sensitive that can be a pain when aiming precisely. And when aiming horizontally, the camera doesn't undulate very well, instead it has loss of equilibrium, it jolts side to side like some camera man in a drunken stupor is trying to operate the lens.

The weapons can be either intriguing to just plain excusable by ditching them, but are unexcusable for their weak implementation. You begin with the sticky bombs, which can be helpful, but rather poor animation, and the rifle, which is too generic to even comment on. Later, like three minutes into the game, you can come across some weaponry at The Pub, the place to warm your spirits by selecting whatever weaponry you'd like to chose at that particular moment, as Roman can carry only three firearms, and a few secondary weapons. You can swap weapons in and out for whatever suits your tastes or if you want to be quasi-strategic. A couple of weapons are interesting to watch, but to much dismay, they outlive their welcome after a couple of animations-worth. Take for instance, the traitor bomb, it's funny watching your opponents just kill each other immediately after the bomb explodes, but it only lasts a couple of seconds. Then there's the land Shark gun, you fire off a baby shark into the ground, after which it grows to a full size Great White and swims after your foe's and devours them. It's cool to watch..three times, and then it becomes forgettable, due to no supporting aspects, they made it too general, and no intriguing animations, other than it coming out of the ground just to bite once and then swallow the unfortunate opponent. No difference in animation every time it's executed either, no entertaining movements or atmosphere when it's done as well. This unfortunately applies to the other select few of eccentric weapons. Like the topsy-turvy bomb that turns everything upside down, or the portable black hole which couldn't be more uneffective. With some work, these weapons, along with others could of been really impressive, the concept was there, but finished poorly. It seems to be routine in a lot of games that are being produced lately.

When it comes to fluid movement, look elsewhere, as A&D does not boast very fluid combat and animations, it's really evident in the cut scenes, or at least most of the time it is. The running and jumping look equally ridiculous, as does strafing and just about everything else. There's a certain choppiness that clutters the action and inhibits any real enjoyment of killing and blowing up everything that's in sight.

Replay Value-3/10
Codes to input and fool around with that unlock big head mode along with big hands and feet. There are also coins to collect in order to play through missions.

Over All, All the flaws and weak integrations overshadow any of the eccentric weapons and slap stick humor. If it were only in development longer to study up on collision detection, fluid animations, quality graphics and cut scenes, and better implementation of the weapon mechanics, it probably would of done this game justice.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/03