There has been a stigma surrounding movie based videos games, excluding the surprise hit Spiderman 2, movie based games tend to suck and bad. I would like to say that The Expendables 2 Game (seriously “game” is in the title) breaks this stigma much like Spiderman 2 did. I would like to say that but unfortunately that would be a flat out lie.
The Expendables 2 is a generic twin stick shooter, honestly there is nothing unique about it at all. You aim with the right stick, move with the left and, fire with R2. You play through the game from the top down birds eye camera view. Character models are plastic and fake looking; enemies are generic soldiers with little to no variety. The games score is nonexistent aside from the menu music. Sound effects are standard, gunshots sound like gunshots, explosions sound like explosions. The Voice acting is a complete joke; the line delivery is the definition of phoned in. Oh and I hope you’re ready to hear the same generic lines shouted again and again. Seriously if I here “Their in cover” or “Use Explosives” one more time I may lose my mind.
I would talk about the story, but it was scarce to none. The game has you going to interrogate some old friend of Sylvester Stalone then suddenly you’re going in to save hostages in the next mission, no explanation at all. Seriously game what am I doing here? If you don’t care, then why should I? With chapters taking about and hour to complete, I would say this game may last you four hours. It’s only replay “value” is a mode that allows you to complete objectives from the campaign for a spot on a leader board. With such thrilling missions as “Destroy the APC” (surprise you shoot it) how can I not be impressed right?
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This games only saving grace is that you can play it with 3 friends which can at least provide a laugh factor. Honestly though, sometimes I think the game just doesn’t care. One time well running mindlessly through a stage I lost all 4 characters. The game allowed me to stand right back up and continue playing. No real penalty to my knowledge. Throw in an arbitrary leveling system via experience earned at the end of every mission and the game is complete.
The Expendables 2 Game is functional, that’s pretty much it. If you want a generic twin stick shooter you can do worse. Then again you can also do a lot better. If it seems like this review is short then I apologize. Normally I’m verbose and I rant a lot. I enjoy really expressing what’s great or terrible about a game. It’s the reason I co-founded this website. With The Expendables 2 Game, I just feel so “meh”. It was a generic game nothing lost and nothing gained. Until next time dear readers and if something does eliminate the stigma of movie based video games we will be sure to let you know.