Armed and Dangerous - Armed and Very Dangerous

Armed and Dangerous is the original proposal from LucasArts and Planet Moon, the development team behind MDK and Messiah—and it won’t leave you indifferent. It’s some of the most unique action out there, and above all, packed with British humor.

Now, it’s not like the Monty Python crew are the ones who’ve won our hearts with a video game. But there are others with a very similar sense of humor: the folks at Planet Moon. For those who don’t know who we’re talking about, here’s a hint: they’re the creators of games like Messiah, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, and MDK. Basically, the former members of Shiny Entertainment’s dev team who fled their old company, completely terrified of having to work on a massive, low-quality production like Enter the Matrix.

Now that introductions are out of the way—here’s us, the readers, and here’s Planet Moon—we can dive right into the incredible world they’ve created for LucasArts, the company founded by the creator of Star Wars, which seems more determined than ever to snatch up the best talent in the world and give them unlimited budgets to bring their visions to life.

About Armed and Dangerous

In Armed and Dangerous, you’ll control a team of thieves—or terrorists, depending on your taste—called the Lionhearts. This group is made up of four characters: Roman, a tough warrior; Q, a tea-loving robot; Jonesy, a mole with a tendency for ultraviolence and foul language; and Rexus, a crazy old man with strange powers and fake eyes.

Now that we’ve met the Lionhearts, let’s talk about the world they live in. They all reside in the kingdom of Forge, ruled by a cruel King and his dimwitted son. This kingdom is full of Scottish bumpkins and animals that have an annoying habit of getting in the way of your crossfire.

Even though Armed and Dangerous has a somewhat medieval look, you’ll find countless anachronistic elements that add to its surreal tone. For starters, even though your enemies attack you with bows and arrows, you’ll always have access to the best, most sophisticated (and absurd) modern weapons. At times, you’ll notice characters making all kinds of nods and homages to real-life figures, like Elvis Presley. But in the world of Forge, anything goes—as long as it’s potentially funny.

Even though you’ll spend most of the game with a squad of four characters, unlike games like Brute Force, you’ll only control one of them: Roman. The rest will follow you at all times, helping with the carnage as you take over different areas and complete objectives. Besides watching your own health, you’ll also need to keep an eye on your teammates’ well-being. That means managing the medkits you pick up and leaving some for the others.

At certain points, you’ll have to stop by one of the taverns scattered throughout the game. These are where you’ll save your progress and pick up new weapons. Out of all the options, two stand out: the Land Shark Gun and the Topsy Turvy Bomb.

The first one fires a shark fin at your target. When it hits, a massive shark bursts from the ground and devours your enemy in a couple of bites. Meanwhile, the Topsy Turvy Bomb lets you flip the world upside down, sending all your enemies plummeting helplessly. Once you set things right again, you’ll watch as they all fall back to the ground one by one.

Gameplay

In Conclusion

In short, Armed and Dangerous is a game where fun comes first. It doesn’t have the best graphics in the world—heck, even the hilarious (and plentiful) transition animations aren’t technically spectacular. But despite all that, this could be one of the most entertaining games in recent months. It oozes originality from every angle. That, and action—because it’s all about shooting, enemies, and destruction.

Oh, and uncontrollable laughter every time you come across something ridiculous, like the weapons we mentioned earlier. All of this is wrapped up with English voice acting that once again reminds us of Monty Python (with proper Spanish subtitles) and a soundtrack that I need on CD—like, yesterday.

It’s one of those experiences that reminds us that not too long ago, there was a company called LucasArts whose games were always the height of originality—not just cash-grab sequels endlessly recycling the Star Wars universe.

Plus, Armed and Dangerous is Xbox Live-compatible and already has some downloadable missions available through Microsoft’s online service.

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