“No Plot, No Girls!” That really just about sums up this game; no, not really, but the game does deliver on the “No plot, no girls” aspect. I upon seeing the gameplay preview above thought to myself, “That, was one awesome preview, I think I’ll buy that.” Upon checking my friend’s list, I notice two friends have purchased it and were playing it within the first weekend. I asked if it was worth buying, they said I should and that it’s really addictive.
Crash Commando
Developer: EPOS Game Studios
Platform: PlayStation 3 (reviewed)
I was still hesitant, I figured I’d look at other reviews, others really liked it, so I ended up buying it. I loved the whole experience. Quite amazingly fun for a 2D Shooter in 3D graphics.
You’ve probably seen how Bionic Commando: Rearmed looked and thought it was fun, me? I played the demo and didn’t approve, but with Crash Commando, I wholeheartedly approve of this 2D Action Shooter. Pure mayhem is right, you can take your skills online, you can make a custom game offline with bots ranging in difficulty from easy to hard or you can go through Boot Camp.
That’s right, Boot Camp. “What’s Boot Camp?” Well what do you think? It’s where you learn the basics and progress into some tough territory. You not only learn how to jump, use your jetpack (both L1), how to aim (Right Analog Stick) and shoot (R1), but you learn while pitted against enemy AI Bots that seem incredibly easy – that’s because they are; for now.
The game is 2D, so to add depth there have been added vehicles, stationary weaponry and obstacles that appear to be encompassing the layer you’re in. There are certain areas to switch which layer you’re in, you switch into the layer it says you’ll go into with the press of “X,” not “Up.” There are two layers.
You are either a Grunt or a Jarhead. Funny names right? It’s like in Warhawk, you have these two races, nationalities, whatever, that are in constant turmoil and fight each other. Why? No one really knows why, you just fight the other team. Both Grunts and Jarheads have 8 different missions to go through.
The Bots all continue to become increasingly harder as you progress, and obtaining a Commando Medal (scoring 1000 points at least in the mission) also becomes harder and harder. You simply have to kill a certain amount of enemies a certain amount of times. I.E. Kill ASD[BOT] 3 times.
You have a range of weapons to choose from, and all serve their purpose:
Primary Weapons
– CAB, a flamethrower-esque weapon that can set off mines.
– Shotgun, always the noob weapon in any game, except this one, 3 shots that are carried down by gravity.
– Grenade Launcher, the bouncing grenade that inevitably hits you when you’re trying to jetpack yourself away from the guy with the Grenade Launcher.
– Rocket Launcher, that big explosion you saw probably came from this weapon.
– Machine Gun, the classic quick-fire weapon that does damage only if it actually hits; use if there are a lot of enemies around.
– Sniper Rifle, the single-shot powerhouse of the game, if shot, you have just exploded.
Secondary Weapons
– Pistol, really only used if you’re out of ammo, which you can pick up by going through yellow pick-ups.
– Knife, a fun way to own online opponents, switch to Secondary Weapons with Square.
Explosives
– C4, a triggered explosive you can lay and use at your disposal. By far, the best way to use it is to get up to someone, lay it and watch as they fly around; press R1 to detonate it when you feel appropriate.
– Grenades, great for sticky situations, press R2 to use Explosives.
– Mines, for me, my Explosive-of-choice; you can set an infinite number of Mines as I can tell as long as you pick up the green pick-ups to supply you with more. Tantalize your prey in the middle of an area with Mines all over your position.
Special Weapons
– Plasma Canon, a 30-second special that is beastly for any group of enemy.
– Machine Gun, this is the real Machine Gun, it’s so heavy it slows you down, also a 30-second power-up.
– Nuclear Bomb, something I like to call, powerful beyond relief, if it hits a person or object, everything on your screen will obliterate. A one-shot weapon that will be opened for use every few minutes. You’re in an enclosed space, so you’re safe. You can even change layers!
– Inter-Layer Turret, does what its name implies, you hop in and shoot the players on the other layer (if you recall there are two).
Vehicles
– Jeep, fast and to the point, shoot quickly and effectively.
– Tank, the dominating tank looms over you.
Me? I choose the Sniper Rifle, I just love being able to shoot and get rid of someone. It’s not like I always manage to hit someone no matter what, but there sure are times that I have no idea how I managed a shot.
Custom games you create can be up to two hours long and you can only choose from Deathmatch or Team Deathmatch, both equally as fun. Just whichever fits your taste more. As for the Bot’s intelligence, you can make them Easy, Medium or Hard. Easy is probably advised for beginners, but as you move on, Hard will start to seem easy to you as it did to me.
I personally used Easy games with six rounds each maxing out at 10 minutes to rank up to Level 25 (which gives you a Gold Trophy) because I’m a Trophy whore. Not to say in the least that the game was any less fun, I still had equally as much fun as I did facing off Hard Bots.
But you know where the real fun is to be had? Online baby. Where your skills are truely tested. The worst of the worst, the noobiest of the noobiest and the best of the best are all here online. You can play any of 3 game modes, Deathmatch, Team Deathmacth and Map Opjectives, exclusive to Online Play.
Map Objectives is where you either protect the objectives or rush the protecting team. These modes are essentially Espionage and Sabotage. In Sabotage, the attacking team has an objective, the Control Panels – labeled by the letters “A, B” and “C,” each containing 3 Conrol Panels located in the same area – that they must destroy within the time limit. You lay the charges by going over them and pressing “X.” If you destroy all A Control Panels, you move on to B and later C. If the attackers are successful, they will have destroyed all 9 Control Panels. If the protecting team is successful, they have stopped the opposing team of destroying any more Control Panels (the attacking team gains extra time for each Control Panel destroyed to destroy the rest). You can also defuse charges set with “X” if you’re protecting.
In Espionage, there are Terminals that have Data Blocks, your goal as an attacker is to rush these as quickly as possible to get the Data Blocks downloaded and back to your home-base satellite, which must also be downloaded. Again, the protecting team will win if the attackers don’t get Terminals A, B, C or D’s Data Blocks downloaded and taken to their base. If killed in transit to the base, Data Blocks are returned.
Game sounds fun, but what’s in it for the player to keep playing? Other than the ridiculous explosions, addictive gameplay, the crisp graphics, 12-player online play and Trophies, there is a Leaderboard to track stats, a Duty Records section where you complete tasks (I.E. 50 kills on a certain weapon) and unbeatable 2D action coated with blood.
The Final Word
How can you say no to a $10, 2D, Side-Scrolling, Action Shooter with a whole lot of explosions? Keep in mind that it’s a game that gives players what it said it would and does a great job at it.
– MonsterVine Rating: 5 out of 5 – Excellent
