If you played the first assault heroes then you’ll feel right at home as soon as you load this game up and begin playing. You’ll encounter many foes whom you fought in the first game, as well as many more new and improved weaponry and enemies. One of the major differences veterans of the series will notice is that Assault Heroes 2 is graphically upgraded in every way over its predecessor. The entire environment is now destructible and can be used to your advantage in creating chain reaction explosions. You’ll find your self burning up trees and blowing up crates to take out large groups of enemies.

Fro those that never played the game, the basic concept is simple. Shoot everything that moves, and well, everything that doesn’t as well. You’ll traverse the levels in your all-terrain vehicle completely loaded with wide abundance of advanced weaponry. From freeze guns to heat guided missiles, you’ll be wreaking havoc on the landscape. Each weapon is upgradeable as well by collecting upgrade icons that you’ll find along the way. You’ll find that the typical machine gun works the best for many situations as it’s a rapid fire weapon that allows you to spread ammunition across the battlefield quickly. There are other vehicles that you can obtain such as a chopper, tank and a mech suit.

Most of the time you will be under the heavy armor of your vehicle, whether its your all terrain fighting machine or a heavily armed chopper. But there are times when you must leave the confines of your vehicle and proceed on foot to progress further in the level. This makes for a greater challenge in the game, mostly due in part to the lack of armor you possess when outside a vehicle. The underground missions are back for another round in this version of the game, and quite challenging I might add. You’ll have to learn the patterns of the incoming infantry in order to successfully navigate these underground tunnels.

As with the first game, should your vehicle get blown up you won’t immediately be killed but rather you’ll have to meander through the level momentarily as an infantry soldier until your vehicle respawns in your general area. This can be quite a challenge when you have various large armored vehicles coming at you from all directions. Just keep moving and shooting and you’ll be alright.

The game is divided into areas with each area holding a certain look and feel to it. With that certain atmosphere, whether it be ice, sewer or jungle, you’ll encounter enemies and big bosses that are themed around the current environment. The big bosses are bigger and badder than the first game. You’ll have a challenging time taking these guys down as some of the bosses have layered forms. You’ll destroy one form of the boss, but then suddenly a new form generates and you’ll be right back in the thick of things. Just stay on the firing trigger and keep moving. Be sure to cycle through your ammunition to see what does the most damage on certain stages of a boss.

Overall, the game experience of Assault Heroes 2 is a lot of fun. Sure its simple in its approach, but all the classic arcade hits from the 80’s were also simplistic in nature. While you won’t be playing this game for the next 6 month, it’ll be fun to just pick up and wreak havoc, especially with a friend from time to time. Its well worth the 800 MSP purchase price, if you want something simple and fun. As stated before, this game is what Xbox Live Arcade is all about and more developers should follow suit.