The sequel to Zeppelin Games‘ 1992 budget hit, Arnie, Arnie 2 is more of the same isometric scrolling shoot ’em up action – starring everyone’s not-so-favourite, non-licensed Arnold Schwarzenegger parody.

I have read on a couple of supposedly “reputable” websites that Arnie 2 is a “four-level assault” on “an enemy chemical plant”, “an airfield”, and “battleships in a harbour”, but that is totally incorrect. As anyone actually playing this game from start to finish will discover (as I’ve just done): this is a two-level jungle assault on an enemy camp. Moby Games and Wikipedia both get it wrong and spread more misinformation on the internet…

Of course Arnie once again has access to an array of weaponry, dropped by defeated enemy soldiers, including a rifle, an Uzi, and an M16. There’s no rocket launcher this time, though.

Although Arnie 2 does look pretty good, graphics-wise, the gameplay in this one isn’t as good as the first game. The collision detection is suspect – especially when it comes to walking around the landscape (I got stuck on a couple of occasions and had to re-start the game); enemy AI is terrible, and the difficulty level is far too high. The default weapon is very weak too, with a terrible fire rate. Overall, it doesn’t play that well. It’s also way too brown. A palette change between levels wouldn’t have gone amiss. There’s no high score table either, but since this is such a disappointingly low-scoring game (in terms of points awarded to the player for shooting things) that hardly matters. Arnie 2 is quite disappointing on all fronts.

Arnie 2 was published in 1993 by Zeppelin Games, with code by Dave Sowerby, graphics by Neil Hislop, and music and sound effects by Andy Rodger.

More: Arnie 2 on Wikipedia