According to history and loosely based on a true story (yeah…right), you take control of Roman, a cockney born and bred. (Someone born within the sounds of Bow Bells….but if that is too tough, think a stronger accent than an Essex Lad). Roman is the leader of a rag tag band of heroes known as the Lionhearts. The Lionhearts are certainly unusual and their membership consists of a walking, talking Scottish mole called Jonesy, a big robot who loves to drink tea named Q1-11 and the smallest, maddest and smelliest guy, not to forget blind – Rexus.

Each member brings a unique quality to this team of Robin Hood wannabes. Jonesy is your demolition expert, Q1-11 is the group’s muscle, Rexus being the seer and great sage (at times) and to top this team off….Roman. Combining all their skills and a lot of lady luck, you will hopefully be able to move from one disaster to another.

The main storyline of this game is for the Lionhearts to attempt to steal the ‘Book of Rule’, Milola’s most prized artefact and bring the downfall of the tyrant King Forge. Whilst trying to obtain this book, they must battle the evil king’s son and his bizarre army of half-men, half-animal grunts, evil monks and wall smashing goliaths, to name but a few. Of course, to do battle you must be equipped with some weaponry and this is where it gets even weirder. Weapons such as the Cyclops Sniper Rifle – an ultra powerful shooter capable of taking out multiple enemies in a single shot, to a Vindaloo Rocket Launcher, which fires four missiles at once. These outlandish weapons are complimented with your usual machine guns and rifles, as well as some unique and wonderful bombs. Not just any kind of bombs, but Sticky Bombs and Topsy-Turvy Bombs. One bomb that sticks to everything whilst the other turns the world upside down, sending enemies hurtling into space only to land minutes later with a satisfying crunch and bounce.

Graphics & Control:

Armed & Dangerous is played through five diverse environments including icy and snowy regions, mountains, woods and rain spattered cliffs. Most scenery can be blown up or shot at, which gives you a strange sense of satisfaction when you throw a sticky bomb onto a guards house to see it then blow up with guards flying out of the windows. Even though the areas seem vast, you do get on occasion that invisible barrier letting you know you can not travel any further in that direction. Also, graphically the characters and scenery seem grainy at times, but all is forgiven when you get to the ‘cut scenes’. This is where the game excels and makes you forget any other problems this game might have. The humour is so out of this world, and with the game being produced by LucasArts, many jokes are at the expense of Star Wars. The comedy is superb and really makes you want to get thru the next mission to see the next cut scene.

Controlling the team is very simple, you only get to control Roman and by using the black or white buttons, you can tell your team to either defend the area or yourself. Most of the time, the team will shoot any enemies in sight and not last very long if surrounded. The guns you carry are swapped using the d-pad horizontal whilst vertical d-pad will change the types of bombs. Bit tricky at first but you get used to it.

Sound:

The voices in this game are fantastic and don’t sound out of place and really bring the characters alive. Well done to LucasArts for bringing a game to the market with decent voice overs. Very the many unusual weapons and characters, the sound is varied but extremely well done.

Longevity:

The game consists of 21 action packed missions with more coming via Xbox LIVE downloads, which should lengthen this game quite a bit. The mission difficulties vary from dead easy to insanely mad and should keep you going for some time.

Round Up:

Overall, a cleverly written story with fantastic dialogue which will make you laugh when watching. Too much game play for a rent, but enough to show you that it would be worth buying.

Pros:

• Excellent Humour
  
• Outstanding Characters
  
• Unusual Weaponry
  
• Live Downloadable content
  

  Cons:
  

  • Extremely difficult in places