While marshalling an army of insects may not be the Pentagon's idea of a winning combat strategy, it proves surprisingly effective - and entertaining - in the third-person multiplayer battler Bug Heroes 2.

The premise of the game is straightforward: lead a two-man squad of tiny gun-toting insects into battle against approaching hordes of equally insectoid enemies.

Before starting your first game, you randomly select a squad of two from the roster of 25 bugs, each of which have unique abilities and upgrades. Once selected, these two are your team until you eventually unlock more bugs through play, or purchase them through IAPs.

Single player, co-op, and versus modes are all on offer to test your mettle. Missions usually involve weathering waves of enemies while completing objectives, or erecting towers and defending your base against the approaching horde.

Battles play out in real world environments that appear appropriately massive from your pint-sized perspective. Each of your suitably weighty bugs stomp around these arenas using cups, pencils, and a host of other items for cover as they make their way to the objective.

During missions, upgrades for weapons and base defences can be purchased with coins earned through combat. Though these upgrades do reset between levels, you'll need to keep buying them, as they're often the only way to beat longer stages.

However, while the levels and characters are well-drawn, Bug Heroes 2 truly shines in the control department. The touch inputs feel natural, and the an auto-fire mode is convenient and well-implemented.

Developer Foursaken Media has managed to keep things equally streamlined when controlling the second member of your team. Your bonus squadie can be set to follow your lead, or hold position with a tap of the screen, while double-tapping on the environment will see them head off to that location to give covering fire.

It isn’t that any of these elements are especially new. Rather, Bug Heroes 2 integrates each element so harmoniously that they form a genre mashup which is both thrilling and intuitive.

As a result, whether you are strapping an AK to an ant or a grenade launcher to a gnat, the miniature mayhem of Bug Heroes 2 comes highly recommended.