Welcome back to another DLC Domination. Who here has seen the awesome film The Expendables? You know, the 2010 film with all the big action stars of yesteryear and of modern day with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, and cameos from Arnold and Bruce Willis? Well, if you haven’t, you need to buy it! It is this generation’s Commando, it’s this generation’s man sandwich of pure man energy! It’s an enjoyable film and I think you can find it cheap now so there is no excuse if you haven’t seen it. The whole film seems like it would set itself up well to be made into a video game since it can be over the top, a lot of goons to shoot down, and explosions everywhere! We kind of get that film-to-game adaptation with the game called Renegade Ops. While it might not be the hottest 360 or PSN downloadable game out there, it is just pure high-octane action. You get explosions, you get multiple vehicles to pilot and shoot stuff in, and you get an incredibly stupid and clichéd story line. It is more like an arcade game or an NES game like Jackal, so if you are into those kinds of games, then I say download it right now if you’ve got the points. Does this game have its faults? Well, you will have to read and find out.
The story starts off with an evil villain named Inferno who contacts the United Nations and states that he has basically taken the whole world hostage. Inferno then demands that he rule the world or else it will all burn to the ground. While the United Nations tries to think of a more logical way on how to stop the villain, an army general goes commando and brings along 4 bland and personality-deprived teammates to take down Inferno and SAVE THE WORLD!!! Yeah, it’s total super popcorn flick stuff. No one has a solid personality, the characters you play as are bland, and some can even be useless in gameplay! I love this kind of terrible story telling, but at points it seems like they are trying too hard to make this story seem serious. It just isn’t possible, and you won’t give the slightest care for what happens in the story. Give them credit though, they did nail the stupid popcorn movie lines. Then again, the guys who created the awesome Just Cause 2 made this game.
The gameplay, however, is much more interesting than the stupid, stupid cookie cutter story. You get to control 4 different vehicles that you can choose to play as in each level. However, the only two that are actually useful are the two vehicles that are on the cover art for this game. They really don’t play any differently from each other. The left analog stick can control them, and you can aim and shoot using the right analog stick. Each vehicle out of the 4 has its own special power, like a strong cannon, calling an air strike, pulse blasts, and a super strong armor. You can gain power-ups, health pick-ups, secondary weapons, and special items to unlock extras. During some areas of the game, you will be able to unlock the ability to ride combat helicopters to take down the tougher parts of the missions. You can also play with up to 4 people at the same time offline and online, and cause even more over-the-top action set pieces than seen in a Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis film. It’s over the top fun that reminds me of another downloadable game called Gatling Gears, but that’s for another time.
The graphics are nice. They get the job done and are not the best nor are they the worst. Everything runs smoothly most of the time, and I rarely have dealt with slow-down with all the explosions and action on screen. The enemies are varied enough to make sure the game doesn’t feel incomplete. Controls feel good, and you pretty much have a good amount of control over your character’s vehicle. The music is fine, but it can sound a tiny bit generic and could have been used for any popcorn flick action film. It isn’t bad music, but it isn’t very memorable.
There are some minor problems though that bring this game down. The first is its price tag, it’s 15 dollars on both PSN and Xboxlive. It’s a bit pricey for this kind of game when you could easily get Gatling Gears for 10 bucks on either platform, which in a way is a better game. The game can also get a bit boring due to a few minor things like repetitious boss fights, missions, and not enough variety besides the helicopter piloting. The story is also very boilerplate for an action game, which made me think back to Jackal on the NES. I enjoy it for its popcorn script, but overall it just feels like a waste of time. I also feel like two of the characters are completely pointless and/or useless. It’s the two drivers who have the pulse gun and the super armor, since their weapons are not the strongest, and along with the two other characters you can play as, are boring and unoriginal.
Overall, this game reminds me a lot of Deathsmiles and Vanquish, where I enjoy the over-the-top gameplay, but it also doesn’t have a lot of substance. Granted, it’s easier than Gatling Gears, but I feel like Gatling Gears is a better game since I had more fun with that game than this game. It is better if you have more than one person playing with you, but don’t expect it to be a game you will play over and over and over again. I would say, wait for the game to drop down in price (if it ever does) to download it. Until then, get games like Gatling Gears or Hamilton’s Great Adventure.
This game gets an 8 out of 10
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