With a clamoring from fans for more shooters on Xbox Live Arcade, now comes Capcom's somewhat lackluster answer. Looking like some kind of Smash TV or Robotron send up, Rocketmen: Axis of Evil has a similar top down perspective, but differs by having a RPG element not found in those other games. However, when all is said and done, Rocketmen's interesting features are hurt by a general sloppiness that permeates throughout the entire product, ruining the game for even the most diehard of shooter fans.

The story is told through comic book inspired cel-shaded cutscenes. The plot involves Martians wreaking havoc throughout the galaxy and is straight out of the 1940's pulp of yesteryear. Overall, it seems to be preoccupied with one-liners and other cheesy catch phrases that just do not sound or read well throughout the game. The narrative is not particularly in-depth and has a tendency to border on silly, but given the nature of an arcade title like this, it's not that big of a problem.

Gameplay takes place over a series of ten maps located throughout the solar system. Featuring some branching paths and secondary objectives, the game tries to expand the core gameplay by adding some additional paths to traverse. Even with these few extra paths, though, Axis of Evil is an incredibly linear experience that's further held back by some pretty bad level design. There are some attempts at incorporating high and low ground as well as some variations to the objectives, but the experience does not change enough to be considered even remotely different from one level to the next.

If not for the wonky camera, Rocketmen could have been an enjoyable game.

Making matters worse is Axis of Evil's horrendous camera. It lags far too slow behind players, and its spastic attempts to follow through the winding corridors of the game make it a more of a hindrance then a help. In fact, more often than not, objectives such as rescuing prisoners or item drops cannot be executed, merely because of the camera.

In multiplayer, it's even worse, as players can get trapped behind walls, often missing entire sections because of the shoddy viewing perspective. For some reason, it jitters between the front and back of players, and as a result, things quickly become unplayable. Players get stuck so often or get booted off the main area of a map that it frequently becomes necessary to leave a game entirely. Many of those who have purchased the title seemed to have realized this as well, because finding an active online game is near impossible. As you might expect, this ultimately renders the multiplayer component of Rocketmen broken. Although the idea of leveling with a friend seems fun, the camera effectively destroys the entire mode. On top of that, because of the purely linear level design and the lack of any real differences past cosmetics between levels, things get repetitive fast.

Rocketmen has some loose RPG elements, but instead of loot drops, enemies drop weapons in addition to elements that can then be used for upgrades. These elements can upgrade both your player's base attributes and armor along with the usefulness of said weapons. The weapon upgrades are a welcome addition, as they raise statistics like rate of fire or attack power, helping to make your character far more powerful and effective. Additionally, although the low level armor looks somewhat silly, when upgraded, it both looks and works well, stopping attacks quite easily. Overall, this is the most rewarding aspect of the game, but because of the aforementioned camera issues, even picking up the elements needed for upgrades can prove difficult.

In terms of visuals, the game looks okay, but the enemies tend to phase through each other at times and look somewhat blocky and not particularly impressive. The characters look different enough from race to race and the environments are decent, but again, nothing stands out. Sound effects are adequate and are about what should be expected from a game featuring ray cannons. The music, on the other hand, is a bit cheesy, and does little to transport players to the various places throughout the universe where the game takes place. In the end, the presentation is average at best and boring at worst.

Rocketmen: Axis of Evil is far too short a game at the ten dollar price tag and will do nothing more than frustrate and annoy casual fans of the shooter genre. The camera is an issue far too often, the story is just plain silly, and the linearity of the levels can be a headache. Although the RPG aspect does add some additional life to the game, there are just far too many problems that arise during gameplay. At a cheaper price, Rocketmen may have been worth a look, but as is, it's not even worth a trial download.