Armed

Not what you'd expect from a sidescrolling shooter, is it?

You play Vic, a member of a crack commando (or special forces unit--they're pretty much interchangeable) team assigned to kill aliens.To help you complete this mission, you've been equipped with lotsa firepower. You should be very excited up until this point.That is, until you find out it's a sidescrolling shoot-'em-up. Don't fret, folks.This is Interplay we're talkin' about.They gave us Loaded and practically reinvented the first-person shooter with the excellent Descent. So, take a look at these tasty screen shots and start lickin' your chops, because this is one shooter that Interplay says is going to kick butt. Judging from its track record, I'd say that's a fairly reliable statement.

What Armed has is some incredible graphics, vats of blood and guts, and some beautiful 3-D levels to explore. Development is still in the very early stages, but what we do know is that heavy artillery reigns supreme in this carnage-filled game. Apparently, Loaded wasn't enough for these violence-mongers. Now, I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree, but even I can tell you that these shots couldn't possibly be part of the gameplay.These must just be the cinematic filler which connects one explosion of violence with another, but they sure look nice.There must be a lot of this stuff too, because Armed has 12 huge, maze-like levels for you to hose down. Each one gets increasingly harder, until finally you must do battle with your most formidable opponent, an ex-com-padre of yours who has turned traitor.

Armed has what appears to be all you're looking for in a shooter. We've got aliens, big guns and betrayal. On top of that, we've got Interplay, which is as good a seal of quality as any you'll find. Look for Armed in upcoming issues before its release in September.