Armed & Dangerous review

Armed & Dangerous is a simple yet amusing third-person shooter, loosely - and we mean loosely - based on Robin Hood and various fairy tales.

The lead character is a chap called Roman, a cockney geezer who sounds like he's come straight from Camden Market flogging a dozen lighters for a 'pahnd'. Alongside him is a Glaswegian mole called Jonesy; a camp, tea-drinking robot by the name of Q1-11; and a blind sexual deviant called Rexus. Their job is simple - pull off the ultimate heist.

As you've probably guessed, Armed & Dangerous doesn't take itself too seriously. It's packed with childish jokes and amusing dialogue: from an operation where our heroes get the word 'incision' confused with 'circumcision' (ha, ha!), through to disguising Rexus as a sheep, who promptly gets whisked off by a farmer for some barnyard pleasure. So the storyline's good; what about the game?

Well, there are 21 missions through five different environments - mountains, snow, ice, woods and seaside cliffs - all set in the fantasy world of Milola. And it's here where some of the limitations begin to show.

For starters there are only four types of ground enemy: a bog-standard grunt, a machine gun-toting baron, various snipers and a few blokes toting jet packs. Coupled with just the occasional zeppelin, it makes for a pretty limited range of foes.

There's not a whole lot of choice on the weapons front either. While the land shark gun (it fires a great white shark that chews everyone up) and tuba grenade launcher may put a smile on your face, you're limited to a sub-machine gun, sniper rifle and rocket launcher to really progress though the game. The secondary weapon is a limpet grenade, which sticks to buildings or people. There are three types of bonus grenade, but you'll see and use them so rarely that they won't make much of an impact.

Combat itself is a simple point-and-shoot affair, with a zoom function for the sniper rifle. There are power-ups scattered across the map, as well as fixed gun installations you can use for limitless firepower and ammo galore.

Armed & Dangerous is a simple arcade game that will entertain you. But while the script may make you laugh, the price tag will wipe the smile off your face. It's a good game - but not worth £26. Pick it up when it's released as a budget title.

Author: Daniel Emery