A throwback to the side scrolling shooter days.
GAMEPLAY
The controls in Heavy Weapon are simple, and that’s a good thing. The left stick controls your tank, and the right stick controls your fire. The only other button used is the right-trigger to detonate your nuke special weapon. This allows even the most casual gamer the ability to jump right into HW, and start having fun.
The mission mode is a little short at 19 missions (half of which are the same levels just with tougher enemies). But the lasting value comes from the multiplayer modes. Although none of these modes are very tough, they do add a lot of variety to the game.
GRAPHICS
The graphics fall into a grey area between being nostalgic and dated. The in-game graphics aren’t bad. They’re on par with the 16-bit SNES days, with some additional particle effects. But there’s very little in the way of background animation, and since most of the enemies are planes, they don’t have much animation either. Plus the cut scenes look like a badly animated flash movie.
It’s not all bad, though. There’s no slowdown, even when you have 4 players and dozens of enemies on the screen. Plus the style of the sprites gives the game a unique visual style. But the best visual effect is when the player uses their nuke special weapon. A huge mushroom cloud appears in the distance, and all the enemies on screen are destroyed. Very satisfying.
SOUND
The music is a little basic, and you’ll hear the same tunes through all the levels. But the sound effects are good, and each weapon and enemy has their own audio queues. But the best part of the music is the awesome metal theme song that was added to the title screen. The narrator also sounds great, with his over-the-top military bravado lines.
VALUE
It will take the average player about an hour or two to beat the single player game. But the long-term value is the multiplayer modes, and the survival modes. Included is a mode that just pits the player against all the games bosses in a row.
The achievements are a little on the easy side, and it’s not hard to unlock most of them in a single play session. The GUI for the menus could have been better designed, as it sometimes gets difficult to tell where your cursor is. Overall, Heavy Weapon is one of the better games on the Arcade. If you love action games, you should check this game out. It’ll be worth your time and money.