Mention the game Armed and Dangerous, and you probably think of the relentless humor you’ll be enjoying come December. Most previews so far have focused on the hilarity of the game, and rightly so. After playing through a near-complete build, my sides literally ached at times from the game’s situations, weapons and dialogue. But what’s often been overlooked is the actual gameplay itself. You know, the stuff that actually keeps you glued to the TV.
Well fret not, because behind the humor, nestled just a few thousand rounds behind the over-the-top firefights, is a darn fine shooter. In fact, looking at the crop of third-person shooters this year, Armed and Dangerous is shaping up to be one of the best shooters released in 2003. It just happens to be hilarious to boot.
First things first: Armed and Dangerous will never take its genre too seriously. The game features team-based combat, but your teammates provide as much comic relief as they do suppressive fire. The game has an arsenal of heavy weapons and grenades, but the Shark Gun and Guy Fawkes traitor bomb are among them. The game even includes expansive, bump-mapped levels with well-placed save points, but those save points are English pubs.
Yet with all that said, the core of the game is entirely intact. Make no mistake, Armed and Dangerous is a true next-gen shooter. Let’s start with the strategic elements. Yes, you read that correctly, the strategic elements.
Lesson One: When you only control character, not the entire team, it’s important to plan your attacks. For example, in one level you’ll face a bomb-dropping zeppelin, an army of grunts, a dozen or so snipers and two massive turrets. All at once, mind you. If you run in with guns blazing, as many previews imply you might do, you’ll be pulverized faster than Roman can ask "is that a spleen?" Instead, you’ll need to organize your attack into stages, taking out the most powerful and immediate threats first.
Lesson Two: Ammunition is plentiful, but not unlimited. With all the talk of ammo-depleting firefights, it should come as no surprise that weapons rely on a steady supply of rounds - even if those rounds happen to be subterranean, grunt-eating, heat-seeking sharks. Like the "reload" message in Halo or Rainbow Six 3, there’s little worse than being in the middle of a dozen Armed and Dangerous grunts and finding yourself stuck with the default rifle. With that in mind, after dispatching enemies and seeing their ammo on the ground, you should make sure to pick it up only when your own cache needs replenishing. This becomes particularly important with weapons like the Shark Gun, which only allows you to carry a few rounds to begin with.
Lesson Three: Environmental destruction is your friend. Games like Red Faction treat deformable environments as something to be manipulated for your convenience, not necessarily for the direct death of your opponents. In Armed and Dangerous, though, environmental destruction means just that: "destruction." See some boulders on top of a hillside? Shoot out the bottom one and watch the rocks tumble over your enemies. Hindered by some grunts under a city gate? Throw a sticky bomb onto the arch and watch the entire structure collapse onto their heads. You can even shoot one section of an oil pipe and watch the explosive chain reaction take out enemies along its entire length. This game is about blowing things up, but it’s about blowing them up for a reason.
Which, ultimately, brings us back to the surprising but ever-so-pleasant realization that Armed and Dangerous is destined to be one of 2003’s most memorable shooters. More than just a stand-up routine, it wraps a comic layer around an incredibly capable third-person game. Is it fun? You’d better believe it. Even back at E3, it was one of our favorite titles. Is it funny? Oh yeah. It’s been a long time since I laughed out loud like this, but it’s hard to avoid when enemies are on fire screaming "my ass! My big, burning ass!" And finally, is it engrossing? No doubt about it. Once you get beyond the comic veneer, Armed and Dangerous is as "serious" a third-person shooter as you’ll find. Xbox and PC owners have a lot to look forward to this holiday season, and Armed and Dangerous is a big reason why.
