S&S Review: The Expendables 2 Videogame

Title: The Expendables 2 
Format: PSN
Release Date: August 1, 2012
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: ZootFly LLC.
Price: $15
ESRB Rating: M


I haven't played or even reviewed a bad game in quite some time, but The Expendables 2 really takes the cake.  I actually had high hopes for this game, the four player blow em' style gameplay looks good on paper, but doesn't transfer at all on screen.  

Presentation and Story:
The game stars Stallone, Crews, Jet Li, and Dolph Lundgren.  The always awesome Jason Statham and MMA Legend Randy Couture are absent from the game, so in order to see them, you'll have to go see the movie(which I'm sure will be much better).  The game really ditches any kind of cohesive narrative for a more blow everything and kill anything thats in your path kind of story.  Visually, the game looks like a higher res PS2 game, never really looks next gen.  There are a few bright spots in the game, the developers got the faces pretty close to the actual actors.  Especially with Stallone, they rendered his ever-so-aging face pretty well.  When you get the chance to pull of your signature kill, the game zooms in for a cool kill move.  Explosions are frequent in the game, so you'll think that they will stand out in the visual department.  You're wrong if you guessed yes, but we have come to expect a certain standard of polish found in a game, and you just don't see that here.  The voice acting is pretty laughable, the Stallone impersonator leads the charge in that regard.  Terry Crews does a good job though, lending his voice to help a game in need.  Other than that, the game is really lacking on the audio/visual side of things.  

Core Gameplay and Multiplayer:
The gameplay in Expendables 2 is flat-out boring and mind-numbing.  The game features a mechanics from your typical twin stick shooter.  I've seen this mechanic done in many games, but none this poorly.  Often I found myself wondering if I'm actually killing anyone, its just a general butt-load of bullets that congest the screen, making it hard to tell just that.    The goal of each mission can be easily summed up by reaching point B from point A, while blowing up everything in your path.  As you continue to kill enemies, you'll earn XP so that you can upgrade weapons and attributes for your characters.  The game breaks up the pace from time to time by jumping into a helicopter and mowing down waves of enemy soldiers.  The biggest draw about the game is the four-player offline/online co-op play.  Its the best way to playthrough the game, friends can only make a game better.  If you only want to mindlessly shoot stuff with your friends, The Expendables 2 is not a bad choice by any means.  

Final Thoughts:
When it all comes down to it, the Expendables game is just a mediocre experience all the way through.  Funny sounding impersonators mixed in with some PS2 capable graphics, just doesn't cut it.  If you need something desperate to play, pick this one up at your own risk.

S&S Rating: 6/10