Armed & Dangerous (2003) (VG)

Director:

Tim Williams

Writer:

Tim Williams (writer)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Tagline:

There's no kill like overkill.

Plot:

A bounty hunter, a neurotic alien, a robot and a giant mole plan to pull the biggest heist in history in the middle of a war. |

Plot Keywords:

Explosion | Tea | Desert | Blind

Cast

Daniel Riordan	...	Brother Zoltan (voice) (as Dan Riordan)
Pat Fraley	...	Captain 1 / Indian Peasant / Q / Russian Captain (voice) (as Patrick Fraley)
Rob Paulsen	...	Captain 2 / Grunt / Kato (voice)
Phil Proctor	...	Captain 3 / Monk 1 / Old Man Peasant (voice)
David Boat	...	Goliath / Stig (voice)
Lewis Macleod	...	Grunt 2 / Old Woman Peasant / Peasant Man 1 / Vindaloo (voice)
Anthony Green	...	Peasant Boy / Peasant Man 2 (voice)
Daran Norris	...	Henry / 01-12 / Shrub Patrol 1 (voice) (as Darren Norris)
Jeff Bennett	...	Jonesy / Mayor / Messenger (voice) (as Jeff Glenn Bennett)
Tony Jay	...	King (voice)
Michelle Arthur	...	Leper Boy / Leper Woman / The Lady Of The Pond (voice)
Kath Soucie	...	Lily / Mother (voice)
Corey Burton	...	Peasant Keeper / Shrub Patrol 2 (voice)
Carolyn Seymour	...	Peasant Woman 1 (voice)
John Mariano	...	Rexus (voice)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:T

Company:

LucasArts Entertainment Company

Quotes:

Rexus: Friends, I am but an old man. My knees are weak, my back is stiff, and I'm about as incontinent as they come. But there's one thing I do know, upon our shoulders lie the hopes and dreams of an entire nation and I'll be *damned* if I'm not going to do anything about it!
[applause]
Jonesy: Bastard's stealing our thunder.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Star Wars (1977)

Demented 3rd person action for the whole family

Armed and Dangerous: 8/10: While certainly far from perfect Armed and Dangerous avoids quite a few of the pitfalls that have encumbered recent 3rd person shooters and it has a Shrek meets Monty Python sense of humor to boot.

What pitfalls you ask? Well there are two in particular; irritating and boring weapons and frustrating platforming. There are three main weapons in Armed and Dangerous. A main machine gun that is so darn effective and auto targets so well that it almost makes all the other weapons useless. A rocket launcher that is to effective and can make the later levels easier than they should have been. (Great for shooting snipers and just a trek back to the pub for a reload. Yes you reload at a pub,) And the Landshark gun which releases a great white shark that somewhat slowly eats you opponents in a hilarious manner.

The Landshark gun is loads of fun. So much so in fact that I often found myself risking my neck to use it rather than a more appropriate firearm. (It is however pretty good at taking out machine gun nests.) The rest of the weapons are either boilerplate (sniper rifle), useless (mortar) or silly and useless (instant Black Hole).

As for platforming there is none, only some simple jet-pack scenes to break up the monotony. The game also pretends to have squad elements as you control three characters two indirectly. Ignoring this and simply fighting with your main guy is highly recommended.

While the cut scenes are funny and very tasteless (and in one cannibal scene borderline racist) I was more impressed on the voice work during the fighting itself. It never seemed to get old (How rare is that.)

The graphics and gameplay get better as the game progresses and new weapons become available. An overall fun romp I find myself still picking up Armed and Dangerous after completing the game. Gotta love that Landshark gun.