It's funny. It's fun. It's funny and fun. With only a few minor drawbacks, Planet Moon has managed to put out a solid sophomore release in the enjoyable and hilarious Armed and Dangerous.

When a fledgling game studio releases its first video game, it sets a precedent. When the first game is as good as Giants: Citizen Kabuto, it sets a precedent that is not necessarily easy to live up to in consecutive releases. Luckily, with Armed and Dangerous, Planet Moon Studios surpasses its previous release in every respect.

In Armed and Dangerous, you play Roman, the leader of a small band of rag-tag thieves called the Lionhearts. While attempting to heist the magical Book of Rule, a great and powerful artifact, the Lionhearts are entangled in a much more involved adventure, ultimately becoming champions for the people against the armies of the evil King Forge, and his Frankenstein-like idiot son Stig.


Graphics

A&D’s in-game graphics are, simply put, beautiful. Expansive draw distances coupled with attractive textures and lighting make the environments really feel alive. Most of the structures and objects in said environment are wonderfully destructible, adding to the realism. Ranging from seaside cliffs and villages to lush jungle environments, the scenery is quite a sight to behold.

The complex character models animate beautifully, and rag doll physics make for some fantastic enemy death throes. The cut scene graphics, on the other hand, are pretty dismal. Clipping abounds in the character models, and the animations are clumsy and unrealistic at best.

This is really a shame, since otherwise the game looks so good. It is really unfortunate that the pre-rendered stuff is so rough, since it pulls you a little out of the game and stands in stark contrast to the fantastic in-game visuals.


Sound

While the sound effects are adequate and the ambient noise does it's job, you won't be blown away, save for some spectacularly boomy explosions. As far as a musical score goes, A&D is spotty. On one hand, the music that plays is really, really good.

On the other hand, it doesn't play all that often, and when it does, it does so at odd times. This is unfortunate since when the music is audible it's beautiful and cinematic. I just wish it would play more consistently. The voice acting, on the other hand, is absolutely spot-on.

The raunchy jokes are delivered with spectacular timing and emotion, and the varied accents of the characters are quite believable. It is rare to find this quality of voice acting in a video game, which makes it an even bigger shame that the characters animate so poorly in the cut scenes...Well, so much for suspension of disbelief.


Gameplay

The fundamental game play in Armed and Dangerous consists of your standard third-person, behind-the-back, "squad based" shooter fare. I put the squad-based part in quotations because your squad is effectively USELESS, except for comic relief.

Your team consists of the human (yourself), a mole-man named Jonesy who is supposedly an explosives expert, Q, a tea addicted robot (yes, I said tea), and Rexus, a stinky blind old seer blessed with a sort of inconsistent telekinesis. Throughout the game these three follow you (Rexus seated comfortably in Q's chest cavity) and assist you in your quests.

And by "assist" I mean immediately get killed, forcing you to finish the mission solo style. It's not that the friendly AI is stupid, it's just that it is DOWNRIGHT RETARDED!!! With the few commands you can assign to your team (defend me, return to me, defend area), there is not enough leeway to prevent them from engaging enemies, which they are terrible at, and getting killed.

Luckily the game is enjoyable enough that you can still have a blast...well... blasting enemies. And what blasting you do! Aside from your standard rifle and (overpowered) machine gun, you are provided with a bevy of unique guns and bombs to spread your wanton destruction with.

Some of the more unique tools in your arsenal include the Shark Gun, which fires (you guessed it), land sharks to devour enemies, and a portable black hole that sucks all nearby enemies into oblivion.

Mission goals are fairly limited in variety, which is one of my few complaints about A&D. The basic four are: kill everyone, destroy specific buildings or structures, rescue villagers and return them home, and defend buildings or structures.

While the majority of the game is played on foot, there are several levels where you are equipped with a jetpack, and a few where you are placed inside a mounted turret and required to mow down entire enemy armies. While the mission variety is fairly limited, the game play is still so enjoyable that the game never really feels monotonous.

What does feel monotonous, however, is having to repeat the more difficult sections over and over due to sparsely situated save points. Taverns serve as these save points (as well as weapons storage and health pools) and the taverns are separated by large sections of sometimes very difficult challenges.

It is not uncommon to find yourself fighting long and hard, only to die before reaching the next tavern, forcing you to repeat the same section multiple times. Therefore you may find yourself backtracking over long expanses to save a game at the last tavern you passed. This can get more than a little frustrating, at times.

The great thing about Armed and Dangerous is the fact that despite its shortcomings, it still manages to be thoroughly entertaining. Tight controls, great graphics, hilarious (and raunchy) dialog and storyline, and truly enjoyable game play greatly overshadow the minor problems with the game.

Replayablility comes in the form of tokens which are used to unlock extras that must be found throughout the many levels. Also XBOX live support means that downloadable missions should keep the game play fresh for quite a while. The bottom line is, if you like to laugh while blowing stuff up, and who doesn't, then you will truly enjoy Armed and Dangerous.


Review by Zack Stromberg.