Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) has seen some great original games and some hit and miss older arcade titles. Many of the XBLA games have become love or hate relationships, usually ending with poor controls and sub-par game play.
This is not the case with XBLA's latest download, Assault Heroes. Explosively fast game play with a variety of weapons and vehicles to use in the best looking graphically rich levels seen on the Arcade.
If you were to mix Ikari Warriors and Commando, add vehicles with some powerful weapons, shaken - not stirred, you have a Assault Heroes. Luckily, the game has a solid control scheme which beats out all action XBLA titles. You'll also find the best graphics, great sound and most importantly, gun blazing, flame throwing, rocket firing, blood and guts fun.
Story
"Take on the role of the only surviving member of an elite special forces unit searching for a secret underground lab. Play the mission alone or fight side-by-side with a friend in the two-player cooperative mode.
Hop into a heavily armed 4x4, maneuverable speed boat or trusty military-issue footwear, blasting your way through enemy-infested territory while being assaulted by waves of formidable enemies with unrelenting attacks. -- xbox.com
Graphics
Heroes has some impressive screen shots but with the limited download size several of us were concerned it would suffer from same-lame level-itis. This is far from the case, just playing the first couple of levels proves it. They squeezed everything into this title they could, including rich tropical beach level, destroyed city, wide open ocean (with some impressive water effects) and more gaming levels.
The particle effects for fire, weapons and explosions are very well done and look great in high definition. Some buildings having multiple levels of damage as well, something you might not notice while driving around dodging incoming missile fire.
In our humble opinion, this is the best looking XBLA game to date. All those who love good graphics will find this a real enjoyment.
The Sound Of Music
The sound track does not blow us away. It sounds like a techno bubble gum rock track but the music is snuffed by screams of fallen enemies, exploding tanks, burning trees, streaking rockets and subtle sounds of heavy artillery destroying everything in your path.
The sound library for Assault Heroes is great. High quality with some amusing sounds from the “red exploding infantry” which is really all the music you really need in a game of this type.
Game Play
You remember those classic games we all played in our youth? 2o2p’ers will recognize the "spin ‘n gun" game play from so many classic arcade games. The game play is far better than anything we will remember from our younger years - zipping around and unloading gun fire in all directions with ease!
The variety of weapons and their particular upgrades push the fun to new heights. Do I burn or shoot? Machine Gun or Flak Cannon? Nuke ‘em All or just sit back and laugh like a school girl on speed mowing down the incoming enemy?
More weapons would have been nice but the upgrades do allow for some change ups in the way you will use a weapon. Sometimes the flame thrower will work better against those mechanical spiders than a machine gun.
Controls
Horrid game controls have been the biggest bane for XBLA gamers with the 360’s game pad. It is the best controller we have seen on a console for gaming, but really sucks for arcade gaming.
In Assault Heroes, control is life or loading screen and thankfully they deliver solid game controls. You can quickly dodge enemy fire, zip around obstacles, drive one way, fire another, drop a bomb in another direction and order a half latte mocha frapa... You get the idea.
Switching weapons is easy with the bumper buttons, nukes are the left trigger, and firing grenade/bomb is with the trigger, driving is the left thumb and firing in any direction with the right thumb.
You can get out of your vehicle to grab certain power ups, do a cooperative attack and see where the weak spots on bosses are with the B, X and A buttons.
Multiplayer
As of this time, not many people were online and playing multiplayer Assault Heroes, but other reviews have been very rewarding towards the co-op game play which can be split screen or over Xbox Live.
Overall
An 800 point or USD $10 dollar XBLA game delivering more then many USD $60 dollar games is worth buying. Sierra Online published this great title and hopefully they'll have more titles coming from this innovative developer, Wanako Studios.
Rating: BUY
