shooter

This game is about one thing: fun. It is outrageous, it has very unrealistic weapons (Shark gun, world's smallest black hole, etc.", and it has a ragtag group known as the Lionhearts. I'm not sure how far through the game I am at this point, but I can't put it down. The jet pack missions are just awesome.

The game won't win any awards for graphics, but they do the trick. No complaints there. The voice work is some of the best I've ever heard. And the sound is top-notch.

The cut-scenes that move the story along are a treat...parodying star wars among other things.

If you just wanna play an old-school, blast 'em up game, this is it. I highly recommend this one.

I've read over the other reviews regarding Armed and Dangerous and each will detail some flaw in the game and then go on to say "Who cares the game was great." I believe that this is the essence of great PC gaming: when the experience as a whole outweighs the sum of it's parts and something that the industry as a whole should finally catch onto!

Too often we see gorgeous games that are just as boring as hell to play(Dungeon seige anyone?) Armed and dangerous is Fun. It doesn't have forty different guns because you don't need them. Sniper rifle, machine gun with a generous clip a rocket launcher and a Landshark gun for laughs. What else do you need?

I think a multiplayer will be released soon enouigh and if the developer is smart, they'll make it a free download. A&D II should be great fun.

PLay this game! I laughed out loud more than once! You will too.

This game is just plain fun. Not a lot of logic, and the plot and story are so-so, but when it comes to action and humor, this is one of the best titles to grace the market in some time. You play Roman, the leader of a group of ragtag heroes known as the Lionhearts. You're accompanied by Jonesy, a moleman who speaks with a thick Scottish brogue and is (more or less) an expert with explosives; Q, formerly one of the King's robotic guards who became self-aware and now spends as much time making tea as fighting; and Rexus, a squat, smelly, and blind seer who's not so sharp after suffering head trauma. The plot is pretty straightforward: Find the Book of Rule and use it to break the evil King's rule over the land. The format is very simple: Go from Point A to Point B, find this or that, destroy this or that, and kill everything that gets in your way. It's a very simplistic shooter, and under other circumstances, this game would barely dent the market. But what makes "Armed and Dangerous" stand out is its sense of humor and non-stop action.

The game's humor may be its strongest aspect. The characters are just plain funny, with Rexus and Jonesy stealing most of the best lines. The game takes shots at the French and references "Aliens," "Lord of the Rings," and especially "Star Wars," (this is from LucasArts, after all). The cutscenes are especially funny, with jokes and gags about cannibalism, leprosy, and even a doomspeaking evangelist type who looks a lot like Elvis. There's also an exploding sheep (Seriously). Especially funny are a trio of gardening robots that are reprogrammed to be soldiers; unfortunately, the programming backfires: they only want to defend plants and flowers, go into battle screaming "Death to the salad-eaters!" and nearly execute a poor villager for being a "cereal killer" (he was caught reaping wheat!)

Equally funny are the weapons you're provided with. Some are given at the beginning of a level; other are rewarded when you reach various pubs scattered throughout the game (these also serve as save points and will recharge your health). You get some pretty standard weapons: rifle, machine gun, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, etc. But it's the special weapons that are most fun: There's the Land Shark Gun, which fires a projectile that turns into--you guessed it--a shark that gobbles up your enemies from under the ground! There's the Guy Fawkes Traitor Bomb (a clever reference to a notorious English traitor) which makes your enemies turn against each other for a time. There's the Topsy Turvy Bomb, which briefly reverses gravity and causes your enemies to fly off the earth; and my personal favorite, The World's Smallest Black Hole. Toss it and stand back, because it sucks in everything around it.

Most of the missions are straightforward and usually involve defending something or someone or knocking out enemy positions. The game switches from third-person (with a thankfully fixed camera position) to first-person when you take the helm of a mounted gun and defend a village or the like from advancing troops (who come in swarms). Too many get over the wall and the mission fails. Other missions involve flying (with a cool jetpack-type device) across levels and finding and destroying enemy positions. Located throughout the game are tokens that will unlock special features and cheats (though most gamesites have them posted). The graphics are above-average, controls are uncomplicated and easy to use, and the voicework is top notch, with animation standouts Jeff Bennett, Kath Soucie, and Rob Paulson providing many of the voices.

A couple of hints: When you hear a siren alerting the enemy to your presence, find it as quickly as possible and destroy it. Otherwise, enemies keep coming as long as it is sounding. The same is true for the rounded troop houses you encounter here and there. Much like the generators in "Gauntlet," they'll keep spawning enemies until you destroy them. Two Sticky Bombs will usually do the trick. If you can't hit a sniper attacking you from a window, throw a Sticky Bomb onto the structure and just blow up the building and him with it. When attacking rocket towers, run underneath them. They can't hit you if you're right below them. Also, when defending Lily's house in Zitwalla, stay near her house. There's no need to wander away to find enemy paratroopers and leave Lily's house undefended; they'll come to you. As long as her home and at least one other residence survives, you'll complete the level. (That was the only one that gave me any trouble). Oh, and once you beat the game (a reasonable challenge) stay tuned through the final cutscene for a funny sing-along.

If you like a good shoot-em-up with a sense of humor (think Serious Sam, for example), then this is the game for you.