March of Heroes

Before each level in March of Heroes, you're treated to a cheery loading-screen epigraph.

"My father used to talk about marching from Casablanca all the way to Berlin during WWII. He called it the march of heroes…

"I never felt like a hero in Vietnam. I was just a scared kid trying to follow orders and stay alive…"

Seemingly extracted straight from the journal of your player character, these notes describe a world of moral ambiguity in which young men are sent to fight and die without the luxury of a heroic cause. They unflinchingly explore the ethics and politics of war.

Meanwhile, the game itself has you gleefully shooting Vietcong in the face, rewarding explosive headshots by filling an on-screen meter which unlocks airstrikes for you to deploy on unwitting Charlies.

I love the smell of ludo-narrative dissonance in the morning.

This jarring shift between po-faced reflection and manic commie-blasting might be more of an issue if the commie-blasting weren't so much fun.

But as it stands, March of Heroes's campaign, which has you merrily shredding your way through waves of Vietcong in a 2.5D levels, offers simple but reliable thrills.

Firefights require little more than the presence of mind to hammer the 'fire' button until everyone in a conical hat has stopped moving, but the game's exaggerated gore and pulpy, B-movie charisma keep you engaged and entertained throughout.

Real effort has been made to inject variety, too, and the vehicular diversions, stealth interludes, and moments of low-key bromance ensure that the central running and gunning gameplay stays fresher for longer.

It would seem that Gameloft has basically thrown everything at the wall to see what sticks - and a surprising amount has.

Although its action-flick gameplay never displays much in the way of innovation or mechanical ingenuity, March of Heroes is a solid shooter that seems desperate to please, and frequently succeeds.