The End of Days
Published May 16, 2008
Assault Heroes™ 2 was released Wednesday, May 14, and there was cake. We don't mark the release of every new Xbox LIVE® Arcade game with cake. No, the cake was to note the last day of friend, comrade and bobble head aficionado, Nick Garbareno (aka Kllrgarbs). In his honor there was cake, Mexican food, and Mexican beverages. Somewhere between the cake and the liver abuse, we found quite a bit of time to play some Assault Heroes 2 co-op.
Ooooh, watch out for that second tank.
Dark Statistical Urges
As a top-down shooter, you get the kind of action you expect from Assault Heroes 2. Enemies stream at you from every direction as you mow them down one by one with your standard bullet-hose. But everything in the game has been juiced up for a complete Arcade experience, and I've had a tough time finding anything to complain about. The enemies are all quite different, not only in appearance but in movement and the threat they pose to you. Your own weapons are useful and really cool, not to mention upgradeable. The scoring system is comprehensive, and should satisfy your deepest and darkest statistical urges following each session.
The game allows you to engage either in vehicular or foot combat at any time. The integration of this element is very well done and not gimmicky as you might expect. Sticking to the vehicle as often as you can definitely makes the game easier, but toughing it out on foot gets you tons of bonus points. Every once in a while you come upon an area which you must enter by foot. You'll be disappointed to get out of your awesome vehicle at first, but the foot sections are well designed and a blast to play.
Fire and Ice
The co-op mode in the game is great and improves the whole experience. We played the co-op story mode and, well, we died a lot. It's not that the game is particularly difficult, it's just that we were playing on the same TV and probably spent just as much energy trash-talking as we did focusing on the game. To make matters worse, Kllrgarbs was accumulating a ridiculous score by racking up combos. Whatever. Everyone knows that accuracy is the stat of kings, and I routinely dominated that category.
Accuracy or score? It's all fun.
We had some trouble with a couple of the areas that you can optionally enter on foot. They're a combination of shooting and navigational challenges which should have played right into our combined strengths, as I have great aim and Nick has no issues with the obstacles. Sadly, my timing, at least where massive piston-like walls are concerned, leaves much to be desired. So while my mad skillz bailed him out of many a bind, he was useless to everyone but himself. Except for the time we equipped complementary weapons, him with the ice gun and me with the flamethrower. That worked out pretty well.
Cross the Streams
One of the co-op exclusive features is the ability to simultaneously boost the strength of your weapons for a short period of time. At first this appeared simply to be a very convenient feature which we learned to use wisely, such as when the enemies became overwhelming or to take down a boss. After playing for a while though, we noticed that when the paths of our bullets intersected in this mode, they would spread out in every direction, effectively blanketing an area of the screen with bullets. This particularly awesome feature was especially handy for fighting off massive hordes of enemies.
Cross the streams.
We were also able to coordinate well when given the chance to pilot other vehicles. We had time to check out the tank and the helicopter. They both handle differently than the standard vehicle, and they take a bit of adjustment. Vehicles do have some weaknesses, so the other player needs to be nearby for protection. We were alright with the tank, for the most part; it's tough to maneuver but hey, it's a tank. The helicopter was a bit more difficult, as we both crashed the first time out. Once we got it airborne and stable though, it was an absolute beast while it lasted.
We only scratched the surface of Assault Heroes 2, a game I'll be revisiting later to see if I can't get a little further without the deadweight holding me back. Give it a try, it's available now for 800 points on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
Oh, and take care, Nick. Best of luck in your new career as a single 20-something woman working at a fashion magazine in Manhattan.
Article by KP
