The Expendables 2 Video Game Review
Game: The Expendables 2 Video Game
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Available on: Windows PC, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade (Reviewed on Xbox LIVE Arcade)
The Expendables 2 exploded onto cinema screens last week, closely followed by the obligatory video game adaptation. Rather than a full retail release, Ubisoft opted to scale things down and go down the digital download route, creating a leaner title than perhaps one would have expected. Did they get it right? Is this a movie tie-in that’s not to be missed?
The Expendables 2 Video game is based in the fictional, action packed universe of its theatrical cousin, The Expendables 2, a movie that throws together a cast of 80’s and 90’s action actors that defies belief when you look at the list of names. Willis, Schwarzenegger, Statham, Li, Norris, Stallone and many more feature in what is being described as the world’s first must see one star movie. It’s an unashamed action-fest that is perfect fodder for a lads night out, so a video game adaptation, you would think, would surely come up trumps, especially coming from one of Ubisoft’s development studios.
The Expendables 2 Video game sets its story in the run up to the 2nd movie, apparently preparing us for the events that unfold there. I can’t actually tell you what the story is about in the game, other than that there is a hostage, somewhere, who needs the help of four gun wielding lunatics. You and your squad battle through a number of made up locations on a mission to save someone. That’s about it, and that is fair enough, since the games story is largely unimportant in a title such as this.
The game itself is a four player, 3rd person shoot em’ up. Ideally played online, although the games campaign can be played through with bots if no one wants to play with you, players are able to choose from four different characters, each with their own weapon sets and specialisations. The game is played from a viewpoint similar to what you would see in a modern real time strategy title, and players control their diminutive on screen characters with both analogue sticks. Which sounds great, right? Geometry wars with action heroes and guns and explosions and stuff? Amazing! Well no, as it turns out.
The Expendables 2 is flawed in a couple of game compromising ways. The biggest faux pa being that it is very difficult knowing where you are shooting. You use the right stick to point your chosen muscle man in the general direction of the bad guys, pull the trigger and hope for the best, with the only indication of a successful hit coming when the claret starts to fly. This problem becomes slightly less of an annoyance as the game progresses and you get used to it, but what is more unforgivable is that there is no way to know if your bullets are bouncing off of scenery. Since this is a shooting game, that is all about the shooting, bugs, or “oversights”, like these turn what should have been a fun experience into a frustrating one.
Long periods of badly aimed shooting are interspersed with some slightly not-so-bad on the rails style shooting sections, as your character finds themselves behind the sights of a mounted gun on a boat or helicopter. However, it is the game’s staple run and gun gameplay that dominates proceedings. The occasional change of scenery is a welcome distraction to what quickly becomes an incredibly predictable, repetitive experience. There really is only so much mindless shooting of bad guys one can take, and I found that limit in The Expendables 2. There is the addition of a challenge mode, that takes excerpts from the main campaign and lets you take them on against the clock, with your time going up on the online leaderboards.
Graphically, The Expendables 2 looks much like a scaled up version of the RTS game its viewpoint replicates. Muddy textures are shown up badly in cutscenes, and character animations leave a lot to be desired, as you watch everyone waddle around in a way that suggests that they’ve just had a crisis. The game shines in the lighting department, however, something that adds a little visual intrigue to an otherwise drab affair.
VERDICT: The Expendables 2 could have been a great game. However, the control system, which could have been a blessing, has been executed badly and leaves the game feeling broken and unfinished. With faults like these, The Expendables 2 video game is impossible to recommend. Sorry, Arny’ and chums.
