Game Card
Heavy Weapon (PS3)
- Publisher:
- Sony Computer Entertainment
- Developer:
- PopCap
- US Release:
- 09.10.2009
- EU Release:
- n/a
- Number of players:
- n/a
- Age:
- Modern Times
- Reality Factor:
- Science Fiction
- Type:
- Action
Review
We play Heavy Weapon...
In a world not so different from our own, the Red Star forces are ready to take control. Crushing any man, building or military resistance that stands in its way, there’s only one option left: surrender your children, give the wife up to enemy soldiers, and slump to your knees in fear of execution. Yeah right! One line of defence still stands: a secret, battle-changing tank- it’s technology so powerful that humanity’s last hope rests on it’s sturdy back. Grab back those children, pull the wife in for a kiss and rise from the ground with gusto, it’s time to unleash the Heavy Weapon.
As ever with Popcap Games’ releases, you know you’re in for an entertaining ride whenever tackling one of their titles. We’ve seen many transfer to PSN, but Heavy Weapon is rather different from the puzzlers like Bejeweled and Peggle the company are renowned for. What we have here is a side-scrolling, twin-stick shooter that loves to create as much chaos as possible. Its appearance echoes Metal Slug, albeit with a cleaner and less gritty finish. With so much happening on screen at once, this title is quick to put down the marker as a real challenge, even for those with the reactions of a paranoid cat.
Although easy at first, Heavy Weapon’s accessibility wares off after the first five missions. In the beginning you’ll be strolling across screen, unleashing an array of bullets and generally destroying anything that decides to stray in front of you. With support helicopters making their way across screen every thirty seconds or so, there’s enough shield boosts and gun upgrades to get you rolling in the right direction. You may pick up enough boosts to provide access to a laser that disintegrates any opponent into speckles of dust, or if you’re really lucky, an earth-shattering nuke that literally wipes every opponent out, leaving you alone and shrouded within a cluster of silence while the next wave moves in. These powers are a complete luxury in the earlier levels, and will have you admiring the slick visual style as you crush any threat in an instant. Advance enough however, and these luxuries become essentials for getting the job done.
Within an hour of playing, Heavy Weapon will make or break itself as a success with most players. The difficulty ramps up so dramatically within a short space of time that it can become extremely daunting for those who just want to play casually. Your enemy will call in greater bombing tactics in order to dismantle your tank- often linking waves together to create a sense of isolation and ominous defeat. You’ll face helicopters with homing rockets, blimps that explode into armour crushing cluster bombs, and nuclear missiles that arrive in formation. Throw in the fact that, whilst you face this tougher type of enemy, the screen will be packed with the grunts of the game, and you have a recipe that will have many turning off in frustration. It takes careful planning to overcome many opponent types, and it’ll be a necessity to play through the latter levels multiple times in order to learn the patterns each Red Star force adopts. With rockets coming in from the sky and the ground, it’s certainly a more intense test than Popcap have delivered before.
At the end of each level, you’re given the chance to improve your tank via a simple upgrade system. This consists of either selecting to bolster your shield (with an irritating bobble that circles your vehicle at all times), or choosing to add some enhanced weapons to your set-up. Flak cannons, homing devices, and even the power to emit lightening bolts are offered at each interlude, and are a vital part of staying in the hunt for survival. Often the game forces you to suffocate the sky above with gunfire, as there are too many enemy aircrafts floating overhead at all times. Once you reach the end of the straight road on each level, you’ll then receive a danger warning, as some of the most laughably awful bosses move into focus.
After trawling across each road, you may be surprised to find that each boss arrives feeling a little comical. If you’ve stored your nukes up from the level then you’ll be fine; a few button presses and these odd choices will be hitting the ground just like the rest of the Red Star’s army. They’re often not very challenging at all, as you face giant monkeys, octopus styled aircraft ‘thingies’, colossal boats that offer as much threat as a canned sardine. It’s a strange change in fortune, as each level challenges so eagerly, and then you’re pitted against the equivalent of a remote controlled car with a terrifying roar. Most probably not intentional, the game would have worked just as well without the inclusion of bosses- something that highlights how spectacularly they fail to fit in with the rest of the design.
That’s not to say Heavy Weapon doesn’t have a good sense of humour. Gear up to find yourself in battlefields such as Tankylvania or Triassic Park. Although this title’s hectic nature doesn’t allow respite to look away from enemy contact often, you may spot a dinosaur or two in the latter, or a ghost hovering across your vision on the former- nice little touches to keep each scene feeling fresh. What’s more, if you opt to play through the survival mode or make it to the latter stages of the game, you’ll witness the Red Star’s dictator in all his glory; via some satirically designed yet amusingly modest statues. Despite it’s tough interior, the game loves to poke fun at the seriousness of the world we live in- hence the extensive nuclear warfare it highlights so vibrantly.
As mentioned, there is a survival mode to work through, which times the length of your survival and posts it onto an online leaderboard. This is a great way to see just how quickly the game increases it’s difficulty, as you’ll go from shooting rabbits to wrestling with bears in a matter of minutes. If you manage to complete the main game, the Boss Blitz mode lets you revisit those wondrous creations in order, without having to tackle the level first. Throw in both a simple competitive and a co-op online mode, and you have yourself a title that will provide a lot of entertainment for those who can fight on after the initial frustrations.
Ultimately, it’s Heavy Weapons quick decision to leave all casual players in the lurch that leaves it scoring lower than it should. Throw in the fact that bosses are ridiculously dull, and the game doesn’t provide enough repetition, and the title falls short of previous Popcap creations. It’s still a solid shooter, and will have many prodding restart until the good fight has been won. For us, even the thought of periling to the Red Star doesn’t make us bothered to play through it more than once.
Top Game Moment: Unleashing a nuke at just the right time to wipe the Red Star out for a few seconds.
As ever with Popcap Games’ releases, you know you’re in for an entertaining ride whenever tackling one of their titles. We’ve seen many transfer to PSN, but Heavy Weapon is rather different from the puzzlers like Bejeweled and Peggle the company are renowned for. What we have here is a side-scrolling, twin-stick shooter that loves to create as much chaos as possible. Its appearance echoes Metal Slug, albeit with a cleaner and less gritty finish. With so much happening on screen at once, this title is quick to put down the marker as a real challenge, even for those with the reactions of a paranoid cat.
 |
 |
|
| Just one of the oddly designed bosses. | Here he is again, just sligtly more angry. |
Although easy at first, Heavy Weapon’s accessibility wares off after the first five missions. In the beginning you’ll be strolling across screen, unleashing an array of bullets and generally destroying anything that decides to stray in front of you. With support helicopters making their way across screen every thirty seconds or so, there’s enough shield boosts and gun upgrades to get you rolling in the right direction. You may pick up enough boosts to provide access to a laser that disintegrates any opponent into speckles of dust, or if you’re really lucky, an earth-shattering nuke that literally wipes every opponent out, leaving you alone and shrouded within a cluster of silence while the next wave moves in. These powers are a complete luxury in the earlier levels, and will have you admiring the slick visual style as you crush any threat in an instant. Advance enough however, and these luxuries become essentials for getting the job done.
Within an hour of playing, Heavy Weapon will make or break itself as a success with most players. The difficulty ramps up so dramatically within a short space of time that it can become extremely daunting for those who just want to play casually. Your enemy will call in greater bombing tactics in order to dismantle your tank- often linking waves together to create a sense of isolation and ominous defeat. You’ll face helicopters with homing rockets, blimps that explode into armour crushing cluster bombs, and nuclear missiles that arrive in formation. Throw in the fact that, whilst you face this tougher type of enemy, the screen will be packed with the grunts of the game, and you have a recipe that will have many turning off in frustration. It takes careful planning to overcome many opponent types, and it’ll be a necessity to play through the latter levels multiple times in order to learn the patterns each Red Star force adopts. With rockets coming in from the sky and the ground, it’s certainly a more intense test than Popcap have delivered before.
At the end of each level, you’re given the chance to improve your tank via a simple upgrade system. This consists of either selecting to bolster your shield (with an irritating bobble that circles your vehicle at all times), or choosing to add some enhanced weapons to your set-up. Flak cannons, homing devices, and even the power to emit lightening bolts are offered at each interlude, and are a vital part of staying in the hunt for survival. Often the game forces you to suffocate the sky above with gunfire, as there are too many enemy aircrafts floating overhead at all times. Once you reach the end of the straight road on each level, you’ll then receive a danger warning, as some of the most laughably awful bosses move into focus.
 |
 |
|
| Saving nukes in preparation for the bigger enemies is vital for success. | The giant laser: perfect for wiping out any opponent in one sweep. |
After trawling across each road, you may be surprised to find that each boss arrives feeling a little comical. If you’ve stored your nukes up from the level then you’ll be fine; a few button presses and these odd choices will be hitting the ground just like the rest of the Red Star’s army. They’re often not very challenging at all, as you face giant monkeys, octopus styled aircraft ‘thingies’, colossal boats that offer as much threat as a canned sardine. It’s a strange change in fortune, as each level challenges so eagerly, and then you’re pitted against the equivalent of a remote controlled car with a terrifying roar. Most probably not intentional, the game would have worked just as well without the inclusion of bosses- something that highlights how spectacularly they fail to fit in with the rest of the design.
That’s not to say Heavy Weapon doesn’t have a good sense of humour. Gear up to find yourself in battlefields such as Tankylvania or Triassic Park. Although this title’s hectic nature doesn’t allow respite to look away from enemy contact often, you may spot a dinosaur or two in the latter, or a ghost hovering across your vision on the former- nice little touches to keep each scene feeling fresh. What’s more, if you opt to play through the survival mode or make it to the latter stages of the game, you’ll witness the Red Star’s dictator in all his glory; via some satirically designed yet amusingly modest statues. Despite it’s tough interior, the game loves to poke fun at the seriousness of the world we live in- hence the extensive nuclear warfare it highlights so vibrantly.
 |
 |
|
| The white helicopter is your support, and your best friend for gaining a quick upgrade. | If you're going to survive, you must work out how to tackle each Red Star wave individually. |
As mentioned, there is a survival mode to work through, which times the length of your survival and posts it onto an online leaderboard. This is a great way to see just how quickly the game increases it’s difficulty, as you’ll go from shooting rabbits to wrestling with bears in a matter of minutes. If you manage to complete the main game, the Boss Blitz mode lets you revisit those wondrous creations in order, without having to tackle the level first. Throw in both a simple competitive and a co-op online mode, and you have yourself a title that will provide a lot of entertainment for those who can fight on after the initial frustrations.
Ultimately, it’s Heavy Weapons quick decision to leave all casual players in the lurch that leaves it scoring lower than it should. Throw in the fact that bosses are ridiculously dull, and the game doesn’t provide enough repetition, and the title falls short of previous Popcap creations. It’s still a solid shooter, and will have many prodding restart until the good fight has been won. For us, even the thought of periling to the Red Star doesn’t make us bothered to play through it more than once.
Top Game Moment: Unleashing a nuke at just the right time to wipe the Red Star out for a few seconds.
User Comments
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 29, 2009
