Renegade Ops

Nostalgia is dialled right up to eleven. The broad strokes of the story are both lovingly vague and sharply black and white. There's an evil General to be stopped, and you've got to drive the choice of two gun-heavy vehicles to blow him, and his elite group of warriors off the map. This is 80's arcade action; budget's been balanced 90/10 between explosions and story.

The two rides are a joy to control, loose enough to give you that arcade flair, precise enough that you always feel in control. You're travelling from A to B unloading whatever guns, bombs and destruction you can on the way. Contra on wheels? For the explosion count, it could well be.

Machine gun fire chatters back and forth between you and the enemy. Buildings capsize and drop like cards through either prolonged exposure to detonations close by, or you driving through them. The air's constantly this with bullets, missiles and cannonballs. The whole package is given a fantastic sheen, not surprising given the developer's last title was Just Cause 2 - Avalanche Studios packing the heat we saw in that tropical blockbuster, as well as the fantastically-crafted environments, into this tight-fitting digital release.

We've roar through tight canyons, over and along open desert terrain. Smaller sound effects and background music robust even in the face of the prevailing symphony of destruction, all blasting the ears wonderfully over the game's nine mission length.

Changing gears on difficulty from casual opens the possibility of experience points to upgrade your ride, and the higher the difficulty, the quicker the increase of XP - a deeper gameplay experience beckons, and nicely divides the game up between a casual arcade blast and more thorough affair. Each of the game's four characters have their own special abilities to take on the road with them, such as temporary indestructible armour platting. Upgrading the ability lets you reflect bullets and rockets back at the sender.

Renegade Ops is a much welcome blast to the downloadable domain. The range of options under its hood means its accelerated past any arcade shortcomings, and the inclusion of a four-player multiplayer component just sweetens the deal. It's not a game for every taste, but for those that like the game's stylings, this is a must buy.