Assault Heroes 2 (AH2) is another top-down shooter on a service filled with top-down shooters.  However it does what it does quite well and manages to stand out from similar Xbox Live Arcade games.  If you are not a fan of scrolling shooters it won't change your mind about the genre, but if you're looking for some mindless and frantic shooting action it certainly delivers that.

The first thing that sets AH2 apart from the competition is its graphics.  Sure the whole thing is in 2D and seen from the top down, but what it does show it shows with great color and a ton of details.  Not only are your swarming attackers well-animated, the level environments are packed with details and a good portion of them are destructible.  There's also a wide variety of enemies and environments taking you everywhere from frozen tundra to steamy jungles.  The very nature of scrolling shooters can make the gameplay monotonous at times, but in AH2 the scenery never is.

Most of your assault in the game will be conducted behind the wheel of a little buggy.  Your standard weapon is a mini gun, but there are plenty of pick-ups than can upgrade your buggy to fire missiles, flames, and even a freeze ray to turn enemies to take the reigns of a helicopter, tank, and mech, but to switch vehicles you'll have to hop out of your current vehicle first, leaving your poor little guy pretty vulnerable to enemy fire.  There will be some stretches where this can't be avoided at all and you'll need to move forward on foot. 

AH2 can be challenging with the large numbers of enemies it throws at you, although bringing a friend in to play co-op will help a lot.  There are also some pretty tough multi-stage boss battles to contend with.  Some may find the going to be too tough, although shooter fans and those who enjoyed the original Assault Heroes will appreciate the challenge.  The challenge also helps mask the fact that AH2 is a relatively short game.

The biggest knock against AH2 is that shooter gameplay is inherently repetitive.  This is not the type of game that you'll want to play the heck out of for a week straight.  It's best enjoyed in short bursts when you're in the mood for a little bit of frenzied shooter action.  The game also suffers from an annoying aspect of the scrolling gameplay, namely once something scrolls to the bottom of the screen it's gone for good.  It's frustrating to dodge a few bullets and then find that the helicopter you wanted to jump into has scrolled to the bottom of the screen making it inaccessible.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 82%. Assault Heroes 2 is an enjoyable arcade shooter, but on the downside it's still an arcade shooter.