Sometimes, they do make ‘em like they used to. Case in point: Assault Heroes. One of the newer additions to the ever growing line of smaller titles available for cheap on Xbox Live, Assault Heroes is a throwback to the grand old days of 2D gameplay and wild, vertical scrolling shooter action. It’s also a perfect game for the download service—one that deserves recognition, but wouldn’t cut it as a full-on retail release.

Heroically Assaulting Everything!

Assault Heroes takes everything you remember about 2D shooters from the 80s and 90s and modernizes it without losing track of the genre. There’s nothing at all deep here, of course, but the game manages to fill the void of shooters on new systems quite nicely. Also, at 800 points it’s pretty cheap too.

As usual, you take the role of a badass soldier on a lone mission to save the world. To aid you in this noble quest, you have an armed to the teeth all terrain vehicle with 360 degrees of shooting power. Plus you can have a friend along as well. The overall goal of finding some super secret lab festering with evil doings is hardly original. In fact, nothing in Assault Heroes is original, but that’s never stopped a shooter before.

Old school gamers will find plenty of memories here to harp on—whether it’s the use of dual analog stick controls like Robotron, Total Carnage and others, or the familiar level design trappings of the 194x series, Raiden, and so on. Thankfully, Assault Heroes steals from the right places, and the overall result is a shooter that’s entertaining in its own right.

Land, Sea, Feet!

One slight distinction is that you can actually leave your vehicle. Certain power-ups are reachable only on foot, and there are indoor levels where you lay the smackdown Heavy Barrel or Contra style. Whether on foot or wheels (and occasionally on the water), Assault Heroes consists of the nearly constant explosions of lesser enemies and buildings, followed by the much bigger explosion of a huge boss creature.

You’ll also earn plenty of power-ups along the way that increase the firepower of your ATV. You can select between three weapons at any time. The flak cannon is slow, but powerful, the machine gun is speedy and weak, and the flamethrower makes people happy with its fiery, scream-inducing goodness. The ATV is also equipped with nukes that clear the screen of bad things, and it even has a grenade launcher.

The game starts out easily enough, letting players get into its destructive groove. As the levels advance, it gets a lot harder, but veteran shooter fans will likely find Assault Heroes a bit on the easy side anyway. Part of this is due to the fact that you can recharge the ATV’s shields by avoiding damage for a short period of time. Even if your ride explodes, there’s still hope, since you end up on foot until a new vehicle is parachuted. You seldom have to wait long for a replacement, although staying alive on foot can be a difficult task.

Destroy with Friends

If the action becomes too much, the cooperative mode is sure to help. Two players can gang up on evil locally, or over the Internet, giving Assault Heroes a nice classic coin-op feel. The co-op game is exactly like the single player mission, except that players have special team-up moves that case even more explosive fun. The game works great online, and the multiplayer focus is purely on cooperative play. Some other traditional modes, like team games and death matching, would have been welcome, but given the price, that’s probably nitpicking.

Although Xbox Live marketplace games have a tendency to feel a bit cheesy in the production quality department, Assault Heroes looks as good as it plays. The 3D graphics are sharp and detailed, the landscapes look great, and the explosions are excellent. The audio is solid, and filled with plenty of shooting sound effects and decent, if forgettable music.

Assault Me Baby, One More Time

Assault Heroes is the sort of game that players should expect from next gen console download services. It’s cheap, fun, and nostalgic, without being shoddy. Excellent action, superb dual stick controls, and plenty of fun for one or two players, this is one of the best traditional 2D shooters around.

Article by: Jason D'Aprile
Video produced by: Jonathan Solin