Full Review: Assault Heroes is an outstanding top-down shooter for XBLA that is a great old school meets new school game
The Bad: It's short, most achievements are too easy to earn.
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Assault Heroes is what Contra for Xbox Live Arcade should have been. It's an outstanding top-down shooter that uses new-school technology, to make an old-school consept fun again. You play as (apparently) the last surviving member of an elite task force. Your mission: to drive your pimped out dune buggy into an enemy secret lab and destroy anything that stands in your way. Sound like fun? You bet it is. The game plays exactly like an old school action game, complete with upgrades for your weapons and classic style boss battles. One nice addition to the game's classic gameplay is the ability to get out of your vehicle and run and gun on foot. This is a dangerous task, but there is an achievement for killing 60% of the enemies on foot and you do get double points for kills on foot, so it's worth doing from time to time.
The visuals of Assault Heroes are excellent for an XBLA game. It's probably the third best looking game behind RoboBlitz and Small Arms. The sound effects are classic old school sounding and really complement the gameplay a lot. One of the best additions to Assault Heroes is the ability to play the entire game co-op with a friend over Xbox Live. I guess you weren't the ONLY surviving member... This makes the game even more fun and doubles the carnage. It can be laggy from time to time, but it still plays great online.
The only thing that you can really say is bad about Assault Heroes is the fact that it is a pretty short game. I beat it in less than 4 hours, but because of it's pretty cheep price and the enjoyment I got out of it, I'd say it's worth every penny you spend on it. Overall, this is one of the best Xbox Live Arcade games and is worth buying.
Gameplay: Excellent, top-down shooter that feels classic, yet new at the same time.
Graphics: Solid, especially for an arcade game.
Sound: Complements the gameplay almost perfectly.
Value: It's worth 800 points.
Final Thoughts: Kill that giant robot...