Small Arms is Microsoft's answer to Super Smash Bros...almost. Thank God for these Indie developers!!
If you have ever played SSB this game will be instantly familiar. I was able to pick it up and play it with only one peek at the controls. Gameplay is instantly gratifying, being able to jump right into a local multiplayer map, or an online match. Controls are simple to remember. Gameplay can be a little hectic at times and it is easy to lose track of your character. The singleplayer campaign can also prove to be a little difficult as well.
Graphics: 9
Hey, these graphics are SWEET! Especially for a $10 game!! Mind you it is side scrolling and has a 2-D feel in a sense, but these characters, backgrounds and colors are GORGEOUS!! Everything is so bright and vivid. Sound: 8 Honestly, I haven't payed that much attention. The background music doesn't really stand out, but also isn't really annoying and repetitive (like UNO). The character voices are much like SSM. You end up memorizing all of the "Hee-YAH!!'s, UHH's and YUH!!'s" after a while. Still, it's perfect for this type of game. Value: 10
For $10...c'mon!! This game is sweet. They could have easily marketed this for more (but I'm so glad they didn't). This game offers 200 achievement points, hours of single player gameplay and an infinate amount of multiplayer and online play. Tilt: 7
This game is awesome, but there are a few things that I wish were a bit different. These are:
- More playable maps: These maps are good, but can be overly challenging. Especially the side scrollers and none of them are very good for a brand new beginner to this gameplay (even though you catch on pretty quick). - More characters: 12 is quite a bit, but I think even the first Street Fighter had about that many characters. Hopefully they'll give us more. Maybe some secret xbox characters like a grunt (LOL) or something. - More weapons and power-ups, etc.: pretty much the only thing you get is the other players weapons, health and energy power-ups. I like in SSB how you would have Poke'mon eggs and hammers, etc that were not any character's weapon, but a special item in general. That would have been neat to see here too. All-in-all, for the cheap price and infinate gameplay opportunity, you couldn't ask for more. Probably the most enjoyable game I've played for XBLA yet.