You are a lone government operative, called on by the president himself to execute the most dangerous and classified of missions. You are Sam Fisch...wait, no you're not. You're Max Trigger, one-man army. You're a wisecrackin' macho man, who calls enemies like he sees them, and never lacks in style. You are Duke Nuke...wait, no you're not. You're Max Trigger, margarita-sippin' assassin. Max Trigger: Insurgence may be more full of clichés than action, but the derivative story is responsible for a few moments of entertainment regardless. The game suffers more at the hands of its own mechanics, which are a watered-down version of Metal Slug. Though the story may have the same appeal as a B movie does, and the action might be fun from time to time, these factors make Max Trigger an average game and not much more.
The story pits Max Trigger, a badass with ultimate power, against an unknown rebel army called CAS, or Citizens Against Society, as they attempt to take over the nation of Frucitus. Max explores both jungle and warehouse environments as he looks for clues to reveal the inner workings of the CAS plot. Although the story puts you through many different situations, none of them are ever realized in the gameplay. You hear of jeep rides and enemy encounters that would have offered some much-needed variety to the repetitive gameplay, but you never get the opportunity to experience any of these alternate missions. Even the boss fight against the nefarious Dr. Lodo is told through the story instead of played, making the end of the game quite anticlimactic.
Variety wouldn't have necessarily saved the game, since it's not that much fun in the first place. Gameplay consists of 2D side-scrolling action, where you platform across the screen, taking out enemies and picking up ammo and health along the way. Like Metal Slug, you'll receive bigger rewards for killing more formidable foes and from freeing hostages. You need only shoot the hostages once to remove them from their bindings, and when they escape, a present for you is virtually guaranteed.
Although the setup of the game mirrors that of many other side-scrolling action games, the pacing is entirely Max Trigger's own, and that's a bad thing. The game's focus, instead of being on weaving through bullets and a barrage of enemies with barely the time to fire back, is much more lax. You can easily take foes out one at a time, or you can avoid them entirely. Max Trigger is essentially an action game without a lot of action. This is especially unfortunate because everything else seems to be in place for a solid game. There are a variety of enemies, like tanks, troopers, and turrets, and each one has unique combat strategies. You must alternate between regular ammo and grenades, which are more powerful but more limited, in order to take out enemies from varying directions. Ammunition of all types is all over the jungle, but it is especially dominant on alternate level paths (go figure), which are often more dangerous. Given the ease of the game, however, it's almost always worth it to take the risk, especially since any health you acquire accumulates and adds to your overall life count. On each level, you're required to open up the door to the next area by flipping switches or shooting generators, and then escaping through the door. Do that eight times, with little variation other than a ramp-in difficulty, and you're done.
The game looks pretty good on the LG VX7000, even though Max's actual digs don't quite match his attitude. Instead of looking like a suave badass, Max Trigger looks like the king of all bikers, and we're talking Schwinn not Harley-Davidson. Despite this, the game is solid in all aspects of the atmosphere and polish, from the menu screens to the catchy tunes that you hear on them. If Max Trigger had pushed the action a little further, making the gameplay more fast-paced and diverse, then all other minor problems with the game would have been forgiven. Instead, the lack of entertaining gameplay makes everything else wrong with the game that much more noticeable. Since the action is the worst aspect of this action game, it's difficult to recommend playing Max Trigger.
