Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

When the Wii was announced, the thing that excited me the most about it was the possibility of light gun shooters finally becoming a legitimate genre on home consoles. The Wiimote technology would eliminate the need for large, expensive and otherwise useless peripherals. Unfortunately, those games have been fairly sparse on the Wii, but it's certainly a more populated genre than on any other system. The Heavy Fire series attempts to bring those games to the downloadable market via Wiiware and is at least somewhat successful in its attempt. Special Operations was the first of these games and in my opinion, looked like a PS1 game, sounded like it belonged on the Intelevision, and otherwise put far too much emphasis on the 'Special' part of its title.

That first game was basically a glorified shooting gallery. You would stand in one spot out in the open, looking in the same direction for minutes at a time while dozens of astoundingly dumb enemies ran in from off-screen. They would then stop in a spot also out in the open and patiently wait to be shot while riddling the area directly in back of you with holes. Once they were eliminated, you would run for about ten yards and stop, at which point the process would start over again. This tediously boring series of events would repeat itself for every level in the game with absolutely no significant variety to be had. While the shooting gallery aspect of the game is still an issue with this second entry in the series, Black Arms represents a vast improvement to every other area of Special Operations. While it's still far from rivaling something like Time Crisis or House of the Dead, Heavy Fire: Black Arms looks, sounds, and plays significantly better than its all too 'special' predecessor.

This newest title still has the problem of repeatedly parking you in one spot while enemies stream in from off-screen, shoot at you, and repeatedly miss as though you an impenetrable shield covers all but an area in front of your eye the exact size of a bullet. However, the addition of destructible objects and vehicles littered throughout the environment of each level makes the experience much more fun, as do the scripted cinematic events and mobile firefights which break up those sequences. Also added to the game this time around is a checkpoint system which represents a vast improvement over Special Operations which required you to restart a level after dying. Unfortunately, you are still presented with a limited number of lives.

It seems that the time it takes an enemy shot to hit you is directly proportional to how far away from you they are firing. This means that in areas where enemies jump out and yell “boo” literally feet from your face, you are unlikely to remain uninjured unless you memorize spawn points and times, as they will hit you in less than a second after spawning. Combining this and your non-recovering health being limited to three shots before you die means that you will likely run out of lives far before getting to the end your first time through. That was an acceptable gameplay mechanic in arcade light gun games and succeeded in making the player continue to feed the machine quarters. However, there's no reason for this health and limited life system on home consoles and it serves to do nothing but make the experience a needlessly frustrating one.

As far as graphics go, this still looks like a late PS1/early PS2 title. It's a vast improvement over Special Operations, but the whole game remains very blocky in appearance and far away enemies blend in with the background for reasons completely unrelated to their camouflage. The sound design of Black Arms like its graphics, represents an upgrade over what the first game offered. While this brings it up to a largely acceptable quality, the game still suffers from constantly repeating voice samples and a single bullet sound effect which issues from every gun of every enemy throughout every mission. Needless to say, that gets old fast. Although there are still many aspects of it which still need improvement, Heavy Fire: Black Arms is vastly superior to its predecessor and can provide a fun experience if you can forgive its faults. It's a long ways away from rivaling what retail light gun shooters have to offer, but it's the best of its genre downloadable on the Wii and there are far worse ways to spend five dollars on a Wiiware title.

 

Graphics	4.0	Heavy Fire: Black Arms has a very unstable framerate and looks like a launch title from the Playstation 2.
Audio	6.0	Music works for what it is, appropriately chosen to complement the vietnam-style setting. However, the limited sound effects repeat far too often to be acceptable.
Single Player	7.0	Despite the shooting gallery-style gameplay and limited lives you are given for each playthrough, the improvements made for this iteration on the Heavy Arms franchise can provide for a fun experience.
Multiplayer	9.0	Having another person to fight through the game with you improves it greatly overall. To me though, multiplayer in light gun games means me, alone, dual-wielding and that's always a ton of fun.
Replay	7.0	It's acceptable in length for a $5 light gun shooter clocking in at about an hour, but pre-designated enemy spawns and everything being scripted means there isn't much variety to be had with multiple playthroughs.
Overall	7.0	Despite Heavy Fire: Black Arms featuring generations-old design across the board, the amount of fun you can have with it is worth the $5 asking price, as long as you have two Wiimotes, and perhaps another human handy.

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