The game had origins in DC Comics as well as the more adult-orientated Vertigo Comics, and there was a small graphic novel based on the game. Loaded was released on December 15, 1995, on the PlayStation, and was ported to the Sega Saturn the following year.

The Story Behind Loaded

Asked to explain this delay, Interplay producer Jeremy Airey stated, "A year ago, we were worried if the Saturn was even going to do well. The book was published bundled with DC's works at the time and DC signed adult-orientated Vertigo Comics star Garth Ennis to write it. The game was published in North America by US-based Interplay.

Loaded and its sequel Re-Loaded would be among the last games developed by Gremlin Interactive, before it was acquired by French giant Infogrames for £24 million, and the studio in Sheffield closed. Development took place over less than a year. As of late, [Saturn sales] have picked up.

How Loaded Plays

Loaded features 21 compositions by Neil Biggin, plus 2 tracks by Patrick (Pat) Phelan and 2 more by Pop Will Eat Itself (Kick to Kill and RSVP). If he can defeat a group of the most feared individuals in the galaxy who are armed to the teeth and wanting revenge, he figures he can defeat anyone. The teddies can, however, follow Fwank and stay in use longer to attack incoming enemies.

His weapon is a missile launcher, and his bomb is the Frag Missile, a randomly-moving burst of shrapnel. This attack can travel through walls and doors. With this machine, F.U.B. plans to hold the universe for ransom and sets up a prison break on Raulf to set things in motion.

Why Players Still Load It Up

While it lacks some of the strategy of similar-minded titles like Doom, the action hardly ever lets up." He also extensively praised the graphics, particularly noting the strong details, zoom feature, and light sourcing effects. While they complimented the animated environments and four-player option, Maximum had an overall subdued reaction to the game, saying it is much more repetitive than similar games such as Alien Breed and The Chaos Engine. Hugh Sterbakov of GameSpot and Rad Automatic of Sega Saturn Magazine agreed that the game is mindless and repetitive, but held that in the field of simplistic shooters it is a success.

In a reassessment roughly a year after the PlayStation version's release, Next Generation lowered its score to three out of five stars (the same as the Saturn version). Loaded was a commercial success, with the PlayStation version shipping 250,000 copies the week of its release. A reviewer for Next Generation also commented on the repetitiveness, saying that the 15 levels look different but all play the same.

Loaded — Frequently Asked Questions