Armed and Dangerous (computer game)
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| Armed and Dangerous | |
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| Developer(s) | Planet Moon Studios |
| Publisher(s) | LucasArts |
| Engine | Amityville II: The Possession |
| Release date(s) | December 2, 2003 (NA) 2004 (Europe) |
| Genre(s) | First/Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (13+) PEGI: 12+ |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Xbox |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Pentium 3 1 GHz CPU, 256MB RAM, Windows 98+, 32 MB DirectX-compatible 3D accelerator, 4.5GB hard disk space |
| Input | Mouse, keyboard |
Armed & Dangerous is a video game created by Planet Moon Studios. It is a third person Action/Adventure Comedy shooter which parodies both other games and several other media such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Monty Python's Holy Grail, using humorous in-game dialogue and cutscenes.
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[edit] Setting
Armed and Dangerous takes place in a small, fictional country called Milola which is under the tyrannical rule of evil King Forge. The game centres around a band of thieves and the only militant resistance to the King, a group called the Lionhearts by the people for their bravery. The group is led by a career criminal named Roman, his childhood friend Jonesy, one of the King's robot bodyguard-gone-rogue named Q, and Romans adopted father, Rexus.
The eventual goal of the game is to recover the Book of Rule, an ancient artifact with the power to destroy the King's empire.
[edit] The Lionhearts
The Lionhearts are three gun-toting rebels comprised of a closely knit team of friends and a senile (not so wise) one-eyed seer. They are the only people brave and crazy enough to stand up and rebel against the rule of King Forge. Trying to stop the oncoming war of Milola, acts committed by the Lionhearts to date are; sabotage, theft and (assumed) kidnap; Mainly trying to do anything to cause the fall of King Forge. The Lionhearts just so happen to be (unwittingly) part of an ancient prophecy for the future of Milola.
Previously the group, escaped from prison together, robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, aren't well received by the public and are more recognised in the local pub then their heroic acts.
[edit] Roman
Roman is the games player character. Raised in poverty and having to scrape by any way he can, Roman is the sort of man that anyone would want by their side when the bullets start flying. He is clever, courageous, and cocky; A master thief and extremely skilled with many weapons...on the outside he appears to believe that the King's iron grip on the world is insurmountable, it's a dog eat dog world, but inside he really has a glowing heart and would do anything for his mates.
- Roman is armed with a Hawkings rifle, Flemming Machine Gun and Sticky Grenades
- Rexus is his father figure
- Wears the mask to look like a bandit
- Has a stereotypical Cockney accent
[edit] Jonesy
Jonesy is an anthropomorphic mole who happens to be Roman's oldest friend, He's an explosive expert and loves nothing more than a good old-fashioned bomb, as he tends to identify with anything that blows up when messed with. Jonesy's a rather irritable moleman and is short of stature and patience. His homeland was destroyed by King Forge, He cares about nothing and nobody except for Roman and Q; as they're all he has in the world. First and foremost he believes the Lionhearts should look out for themselves and make off with the loot, wherever the loot may be.
- Jonesy laughs at explosions
- Has a twisted sense of humour
- Takes on enemies with his twin set of Molmers Pistols
- Is known to be sarcastic
- Curses and says wanker a lot
[edit] Q
Originally one of the King's elite robotic guards, Q became painfully self aware during a tea experiment, and found himself attempting a conversation with a conveyor belt. He tried to convince the other robots to leave with him, but they were programmed to ignore everyone except King Forge's officers. Q was charged and sent to prison, marked for the scrap heap. Where Roman and Jonesy found him, Roman was the first fellow to ever treat Q like a person and so they became good friends. Q has taken upon himself the duty of being Roman's servant, often making him tea and being fiercely protective of him. Q is a vain, well-spoken, and debonair robot... although he never, ever refers to himself as a robot. He is more refined than the other Lionhearts, and tends to have his own level of humour.
- Has his own customised Chaingun
- Easily distracted, slow witted, calm and relaxed
- Is known to adopt a 'surfers accent'
- His plans often don't have the desired effect
- Gives Roman tea in the midst of battle
- Believes that Roman wears his mask to hide bad teeth
[edit] Rexus
Rexus was once a world-famous seer, but a certain head trauma he received 31 years ago has made his ability to remember his past a bit foggy. Actually, he can't remember anything. Over the years he has degenerated into blindness, madness, and smelliness. He is universally hated for losing the Book of Rule, and so moved to Bergog Wasteland to escape persecution. Rexus is ancient, filthy, smells like a cesspit, and is constantly followed by a cloud of flies, which he refers to as "his only friends". Although blind, Rexus has a powerful sixth sense, although he thinks it's due to the huge glass eyes he sometimes stuffs into his sockets.
- King Forge wants him captured
- Sealed the 'Book of Rule' with a magic spell and made it into a book of other 'interest'
- Has a bad memory and is going senile
- Appears to have had an interesting relationship history
[edit] Other characters
During the cinematics, various characters add to the plot in AnD
King Forge
King forge is the evil ruler of Milola, he is a descendant of a long line of evil Kings, due to a curse many centuries ago. He recently introduced an invention called the Lime Dixon, (a water engine) instead of using natural resources to power his army. Later to be known as the 'Lime Dixon assault', he successfully conquered Milola.
Prince Stig
Stig is one of the next generation of kings (where the Forge curse falls), he has the characteristics of a neanderthal and has to take special medicine. Stig doesn't really know what is going on half the time and has a very limited vocabulary comprising of 'uhhh...' and 'Stig' prefixed to sentences about what he likes, hates or does. He also has a 'interesting' trick involving his head and his table.
Captain Vindaloo
Captain Vindaloo is Forge's right-hand man, sly and cunning, with a serpent tongue; he is an agent for Forges evil actions. Vindaloo commands the army of Forge. He doesn't like Prince Stig in strategic assault formations.
Lily
Lily is a sweet little girl that believes in and befriends the Lionhearts, perhaps a little too happy at times and incredibly rude to Jonesy. The Lionhearts soon find out that she is an important part of the future for the fate of Milola.
Henry
Henry used to be a hero, the oldest soldier in Dick Turpin village, his grand-daughter respects him, the mayor and his village respect him. Now he's an old man. an old, senile, half naked, shouting man brandishing a spear and waving it about. He's not very helpful in the quest, but he just so happens to of invented a 'flying machine' years back. According to him, Jimmy can't drive.
The Shrub Patrol
The three robots in charge of the towns gardening. They can do anything involving gardening, but are especially proud of their hedge-rows. Even when the bots happen to be reprogrammed into war-bots, these characteristics remain; and force their way into the Milola war, protecting the countryside, green and plants. Citing "Death To the Salad Eaters!" as their motto. Nothing is more important to them then plant life.
[edit] Weapons, Equipment and Items
There are many types of weapons and items for Roman to use throughout the game. Guns, Bombs, Grenades, and just plain warped experimental weapons
[edit] Guns
The guns in Armed and Dangerous are generic weapons, but some are very unusual and enjoyable to watch get fired, and if not careful, even harmful to Roman.
Hawkings Rifle A marksman's gun, the Hawkings Rifle (first rolled into production 150 years ago by Hawkings Freeloader Inc.) is trusty, accurate and slow. This is Roman's standard arnament. It is also the only weapon with unlimited ammo. It has an 8 round clip.
Flemming Machine Gun Invented by the tea baron Hieronymus Flemming for the protection of his crops, the Flemming spits out ammunition like nobody's business (10 bps) and can maintain continuous fire due to its 100 round clip. Meant for clearing crowds of rabbits and other tea predators, this old standby is used to this day by farmers, thugs and gun enthusiasts alike. Roman can carry a maximum of 1000 extra bullets.
Cyclops Sniper Rifle With a range of "very far away", the Cyclops Sniper Rifle is immediately recognizable for its glowing red sight. Unlike more useful, laser-guided sniper rifles, the Cyclops sight just glows red, rendering it effectively useless for actual snipers as it gives away their position. As an extremely powerful single-shot sniper rifle, it has a scope allowing much farther zoom magnification than the other weapons. Not only is it great for taking out enemies at a distance, but its power is so considerable that the bullet passes through the initial target and continues through any other targets beyond, making it effective against enemies stupid enough to line up for you. Roman can carry a maximum of seven extra bullets.
Vindaloo Rocket Launcher The Vindaloo Rocket Launcher is an unusual and powerful weapon in that it can engage multiple targets at once with its homing missiles, two for a standard version, up to four with the Vindaloo Rocket Launcher upgrade. Described as energy inefficient, loud, fantastically dangerous and the weapon of choice for 'today's rebel on the go'. Roman can carry 12 extra shots for this weapon, 24 warheads for the standard launcher, 48 with the upgrade.
Gurner Personal Mortar The GPM looks like a tuba, but packs a punch like 'an angry, drunken sailor'. The weapon is unusual in that it is as powerful as light field artillery, is capable of indirect fire, yet it has no setup time; the user can simply aim and fire from a standing position. It is immensely powerful, scattering infantry targets, and knocking immense walker vehicles to the ground. The recoil even forces Roman backwards a short distance when fired.
Land Shark Gun The Land Shark gun fires a baby 'Land Shark' into the ground when triggered, a system of hormone treatments and cattle prods growing it to full size in seconds. The shark proceeds to burst out of the ground, eating any enemies in the vicinity. Roman can carry one extra shark.
[edit] Bombs and Grenades
Sticky Bomb The Sticky Bomb is a disk-shaped grenade that, upon contact with a surface, releases tiny spikes that enable it to 'stick'. It then forcefully explodes once its fuse runs out. It apparenly has a heat-seeking mode, as it will actively home in on living targets. Roman can carry up to five.
Topsy Turvy Bomb The result of a failed anti-gravity experiment, the Topsy Turvy Bomb reverses the local gravitational field, so enemies 'fall' into the air. Deactivating the bomb will cause these enemies to fall back to earth again, causing injury upon landing.
Guy Fawkes Traitor Bomb A grenade that releases a green coloured gas that makes affected enemies turn on each other.
Knockout Bomb Appears as an overly large boxing glove. Using the same technology as the Topsy Turvy Bomb, the Knockout Bomb hurtles enemies into the air towards the wielder, who can then punch them out of the air and send them flying.
World's Smallest Black Hole Consists of a (relatively tiny) Black hole in a box, when released this sucks enemies towards itself and crushes them into 'a sugar cube'.
[edit] Fixed weapons
Stig Machine Gun This is a fixed weapon appearing in sandbag fortifications, and are used to defend against attacking enemies.
Forge Cannon This is a fixed artillery piece that is used to defend against attacking enemies. It is more effective than the Stig Machine Gun over range.
Base Defence Gun This is a combination of machine guns and a Gurner Mortar that is mounted on rails running on the top of heavy fortified walls. It is used for defence, and appears only in Base Defence missions. (also known as the "Tuna Can of Death".
[edit] Equipment
Jumper Pack The jumper pack is a Jet pack with the further addition of wings, allowing the user to fly short distances.
Small/Large Health Packs and Q's Teacup These heal a small portion of Roman, Q or Jonesy's Health. Large Health packs restore full health. Q's Teacup heals a larger proportion of health than the small pack.
[edit] Reviews
The PC version of Armed and Dangerous scored 8.3 out of 10 with IGN (December 3, 2003)[1]. It received a press average score of 7.6.
The Xbox version of Armed and Dangerous scored 8.2 out of 10 with IGN (December 2, 2003)[2]. It received a press average review score of 8.3.
[edit] Criticism
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Armed and Dangerous was criticized for poor comic timing, the punch lines to the jokes came about a second too late leaving the flow feeling fragmented and choppy, though on the whole its comedy was praised, with the better of comedic moments far too enjoyable to be marred by such foibles. It is also agreed that the game engine was far too simple and combat not nearly enjoyable enough considering it should have been one of its strengths. A major problem mentioned in the Gamespot review was that despite the clever weapon selection, the machine gun was easily the most useful weapon, and that most players could win the game through almost exclusively its use. Nevertheless, the game was praised for looking good and it was quirky enough for the gaming press to enjoy it upon release.
[edit] Trivia
- A type of enemy in the forest are named Twiglets, the same as a savoury snack also marketed in the UK.
- The character of Q and his beverage habits is a pun on the Typhoo instant tea QT product.
Throughout the game, there are references to Planet Moons previous game Giants: Citizen Kabuto.
- During a cutscene of the game, A Elvis impersonator/soothsayer is said to speak of the 'Majorcan Prophecy' (which then becomes the 'journey' of the lead characters of AAD), which also happens to be the planet the Meccaryns were trying to get to for a vacation in Giants before their ship crashed.
- Locations named 'Dick Wittington' has been mentioned in both Giants and AAD.
- The character design of Rexus resembles a 'Smartie' lifeform from Giants.
- "The famed blind seer Rexus" is mentioned in a cutscene in Giants.
