Using a twin-stick shooter as the basis for an adventure game is a concept that makes perfect sense as it resonates with similar top-down action-RPGs that pit players against oodles of enemies. Shrapnel by Moyo Studios and Radical Interactive places you in the boots of Sam as she fights in a revolution against Earth's domineering military alliance.

If you've played similar titles like Minigore you'll already be familiar with the simple control system and players need only move with one stick and shoot in a 360 degree arc with the other. Your basic weapon requires no reloading and acts as a temporary stop-gap until you can purchase upgraded weaponry that will drop as power-ups from your enemies. Missions are handed out now and then, rewarding players with cash for defending zones; defeating large amounts of enemies; or pushing/carrying objects to another area. 

This is all fairly standard for the adventure genre, though as a twin-stick the action is spread out and fairly sparse. Between major missions players will have to kill a set amount of enemies before the next mission is made available, resulting in a laboriously mind-numbing experience of standing in place waiting for the dribble of enemies that are available to be instantly destroyed by your powerful weaponry. This boredom is only further accentuated by the excessive amount of slow-walking required to cross the large map, only to walk all the way to the other side again for something as trivial as an item to pick up.

Shrapnel has the right idea with balancing its story moments with some straight twin-stick action, but as the game currently stands it's hard to enjoy without a lot of patience to push through the periods of mindless grinding.