Range Rover. Check. Mounted .50 cal machine gun. Check. Even bigger gun ready to spring out of the boot. Check. Driver's name is Gunnar. Check. Why hello there "Expendables, the game." , how are you today? No, I'm not confusing the games here, this is the game that the Expendables license should have been slapped on, it has everything you could possibly want. Big over the top villains, a thoroughly ludicrous story, a main protagonist so masculine that you will feel testosterone seep out of the monitor, and a crew who either should be skydiving, in jail, or both.

The game runs incredibly smoothly, even when there's a lot going on, and there's enough graphical whizzbangery combined with the over the top explosions (yes, everything blows up, and blows up spectacularly) that you'll feel like you just took a seat in a movie theater to be greeted by Sylvester Stalone and Jason Statham fistbumping. The music is nondescript, it serves mostly as a backdrop for the constant sound of your guns going DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA. The story is paper thin, but let's be honest, if you're considering this game, it won't be for the plot.

What's on offer here is straightforward, to the point, and does what it sets out to do with aplomb. It's entirely brainless and a great way to kill an afternoon.

I'm a big fan of most top-down, twin stick shooters to begin with, but Renegade Ops is one of the better ones regardless. The story and atmosphere is like a big slice of 1980s GI Joe with over the top villains, technobabble weaponry and lots of explosions. The gameplay is typical of the sub-genre, cut your way through waves of smaller enemies, grab power-ups, level up, and fight the big bosses. A sizable character upgrade system and high score leaderboards are icing on the cake. Old school bliss.

Firstly, the context of my experience with this game. I bought the four pack for myself and some friends. My first playthrough was with one buddy and we played through all nine missions over two nights on the medium difficulty without much trouble. Next we will do the hardest difficulty and we will try the DLC which we immediately bought after our first playthrough. Eventually I will get two more friends on for this game and probably play through on solo as well.

Secondly, the positives. This game is simple fun. The basics of the game are: an arrow points towards your mission objective, you follow the direction the arrow is pointing and blow ♥♥♥♥ up along the way. The mechanics of the game make it easy to play so you can enjoy the action and focusing on not getting killed.

The story and cutscenes are hilarious and enjoyable. Never once did I find myself saying, "Oh no another cutscene." Infact it was the opposite. I truly enjoyed every single one. Bryant is a badass. The ending to this game is, in one word, AMAZING. Best ending ever? Probably.

Thirdly, some comments in general. At first I had some issues with the controls. The default controls are set up such that W moves you towards the top of the screen, S towards the bottom, A to the left, and D to the right. This is really counter intuitive. Luckily there is an easy way to change this. Simply turn on tank steering in the options. Once that option is enabled W moves you forward, S backwards, A turns to the left, and D turns to the right.

Some have criticized the mission timers that appear occasionally when you are playing. I am unsure why they find these unenjoyable. Firstly, through my entire first play through I think I saw a timer maybe 6 times. This game isn't about exploration. It is about fast-paced action. You get more points for doing more damage in a short period of time. You always want to be moving forwards to the next objective. Not to mention the fact that the timer isn't arbitrary. It is usually tied directly to a mission objective. IE Destroy the tanks before they reach the town. The timer was never a challenge for me, it was more of a reminder to get the primary mission done.

Finally, the negatives. I found the game quite easy. Dying wasn't really a punishment as you just respawn a short distance from where you died and lose some of your power ups which you can quickly reclaim. During my entire first playthrough I did not get a game over once and did not struggle at all to do things within the time limit. The game being easy had the benefit of allowing me to just enjoy the action and story of the game. In short it was a nice casual playthrough. I hope the hardest difficulty puts up a good fight.

Also, I would say the game is too short. I am not saying the game is not worth the money, far from it. I got my moneys worth out of this game. I just wish there was more. I wish there was more DLC and more missions. I wish this game wasn't over so fast. I wish there was more story and more Bryant. I would follow that guy into hell and back.

So that is my review of the game. I hope you find this helpful.

TL:DR;

Fast-paced arcade style blow ♥♥♥♥ up game
+ Awesome Story, Great Action, Great Gameplay
- Too Easy? Short

Turn on Tank Steering if you plan to play with keyboard.

GI Joe/Just Cause 2 the Comic Book: The Animated Series starring Gordon Freeman

A more fun game than it appears at first glance. It's part action-adventure, part RPG as you zip around in a vehicle of your choosing with a unique ability. 4-player co-op and campy story make it enjoyable, but the gameplay holds up too. Check it out!