Armed & Dangerous

This was one of the most hilarious games I've ever played, and I still look back on it fondly today.

In a strange fantasy land, the evil King Forge (Tony Jay- RIP) seeks to obtain the Book of Rule, a magical artifact of immense power to take over the world. Resisting him are a gang of rebels named the Lionhearts, consisting of their leader Rome (Brian George), Jonesy (Jeff Bennett) a Scottish mole, Q (Pat Fraley) a large robot who loves tea, and Rexus (John Mariano), a blind, senile old man and washed-up wizard. Together, they set out to steal the book before Forge does.

No question, the game is best known for the cutscenes full of top-notch, side-splitting British humor and dialogue that's based heavily on Monty Python. There were plenty of enjoyable references from Star Wars and Aliens that will catch any sci-fi fans interest. There was great voice acting from a top-notch cast, such as Tony Jay, Jeff Bennett, Kath Soucie, and Brian George. Plus, the song "Save the Last Pint for Me" at the ending was very catchy.

The controls were smooth and easy to handle, and the game had solid third-person shooter features. While on foot, you'll control Roman with Jonesy and Q backing you up, although they do little to actually help. You wielded a selection of cool and exotic weapons, like the Fleming machine gun, Vindaloo rocket launcher, and Cyclops sniper rifle. Some of the weapons are hilariously fun to use, like the Topsy Turvey bomb that literally turns the world upside down, sending enemies falling offscreen into the air and then falling back down to their deaths once the screen turns right-side up. And, best of all, we've got the landshark rifle, which fires a giant shark into the ground then emerges beneath a nearby enemy to devour them.

You'll battle your way across more than 20 levels, all the while fighting Forges troops, such as German foot soldiers, beastmen called Grunts, evil monks, and golems. The missions were fun, consisting of rescuing peasants and returning them to their homes, defending towns and villages from invading armies with a huge battle turret, and destroying enemy vehicles and fortifications. About half-way through the game, Rome will even retrieve a jetpack that'll help him navigate the levels more easily.

Still, the game had its flaws. The missions and objectives are pretty repetitive and get dull fairly fast. And the graphics and animation are poor, even for the time. The levels and scenery may be big and fun to explore, but they looked roughly textured, the character models all suffered from clipping and had jerky or robotic movements that were off-putting to watch at times.

In the end, most players probably enjoyed this game more for the cutscenes than the gameplay. So, by all means, give it a watch on YouTube if you're bored, because I'm sure you'll get a crack out of this.

Armed and Dangerous: 8/10: While certainly far from perfect Armed and Dangerous avoids quite a few of the pitfalls that have encumbered recent 3rd person shooters and it has a Shrek meets Monty Python sense of humor to boot.

What pitfalls you ask? Well there are two in particular; irritating and boring weapons and frustrating platforming. There are three main weapons in Armed and Dangerous. A main machine gun that is so darn effective and auto targets so well that it almost makes all the other weapons useless. A rocket launcher that is to effective and can make the later levels easier than they should have been. (Great for shooting snipers and just a trek back to the pub for a reload. Yes you reload at a pub,) And the Landshark gun which releases a great white shark that somewhat slowly eats you opponents in a hilarious manner.

The Landshark gun is loads of fun. So much so in fact that I often found myself risking my neck to use it rather than a more appropriate firearm. (It is however pretty good at taking out machine gun nests.) The rest of the weapons are either boilerplate (sniper rifle), useless (mortar) or silly and useless (instant Black Hole).

As for platforming there is none, only some simple jet-pack scenes to break up the monotony. The game also pretends to have squad elements as you control three characters two indirectly. Ignoring this and simply fighting with your main guy is highly recommended.

While the cut scenes are funny and very tasteless (and in one cannibal scene borderline racist) I was more impressed on the voice work during the fighting itself. It never seemed to get old (How rare is that.)

The graphics and gameplay get better as the game progresses and new weapons become available. An overall fun romp I find myself still picking up Armed and Dangerous after completing the game. Gotta love that Landshark gun.