Army of Two - Review

Added March 10th, 2008 by Slunks

If there’s one mode of gameplay that’s been striving for attention over this generation, it’s cooperative play. Electronic Arts has obviously noticed this by basing an entire game around co-op play with their latest title, Army of Two. You follow Rios and Salem, a new team of mercenaries who’ve unfortunately been sucked in beyond their paycheck during the time of the Iraq War. A private mercenary force known as the Security and Strategy Corporation is slowly replacing the military, and while this may sound ideal for the team’s bank account, it jeopardizes the safety and security of the nation’s citizens. The entire world is eventually thrown into a familiar sprawl and it’s up to the dynamic duo to save it.

The gameplay’s interaction between Rios and Salem shines well and is the main key to the game’s fun-filled core. Army of Two makes sure that you can’t blow through missions without your partner by introducing the aggro meter; a hand bounces back and forth depending on who’s the most threatening to the enemy. Unleashing a bullet into a soldier’s head and then emptying your clip into nearby cover will give your character an attention hogging red glow. When all enemies are focused on one person, it’s ideal for the other to move around and flank them. This may sound like a basic tactic that’s used often--and it is--but there’s always a constant connection with your buddy and that’s where the true feeling between the two comes from. There are also moments where you and your partner set up back to back automatically to defend yourselves in open areas. Time slows down and enemies charge from all directions at your turret-like defense. It’s a last stand that’s fun, but unfortunately it can rarely feel attached to anything important and may feel planted at times. This is because of the way it’s presented in most cases; ripping off a door can somehow lead to you being ambushed by countless enemies, which after you’re done fending them off, the room has nothing of importance inside.

You can play with a friend or stranger over Xbox Live or local by using simple split screen. If you can’t find a friend who’s willing to play, you have a capable AI teammate that will do a fine job of holding his own. Instructions can be given through an easy to select wheel via D-pad that allows you to tell him to advance, follow or hold position. Telling him once will put him in a calm state and he’ll simply do his task, while doing it twice will have him fire at enemies aggressively. That might sound a tad overwhelming, but you never have to tell him where to go or baby-sit for meaningless deaths simply because you’ll very rarely see it happen. You both may also synchronize shoot enemies with your sniper rifles (using a fancy 3-2-1 countdown if online) and trade primary weapons at any time. Purchase and customizations of ballistics become available during missions and are afforded by completing objectives. There are a wide variety of primary, secondary, and special weapons to choose from. Each weapon may be customized extensively to upgrade damage, accuracy, ammunition, and even aggro drawing capabilities. Unfortunately, the high-end weapons don’t show a great promise and sometimes can’t be upgraded; you’ll most likely wind up finding a suitable gun halfway through and stick with it until the end. The weapons that manage to stand out usually offer a nice variety through the campaign’s somewhat short six missions (which lasts about eight hours total).

The multiplayer is equally appealing as the campaign. It doesn’t expand past its two versus two setting, but it works completely fine. Instead of relying on an entire team, you only need a single partner to get started. The primary game mode Warzone is objective based such as the campaign. You complete short objectives to earn money and the team with the most cash at the end wins. You may also spend your money on weapon packages to increase your odds, similar to Counter-Strike. Your missions range from escorts, assassinations and more. Although you may become quickly accustomed to these types, the competition of both teams going for the same cash-in is rough. Aside from Warzone, Extraction has you performing escort missions while Bounties throws nothing but assassination objectives into the mix. It’s also hard to safely get around as there are neutral enemy forces randomly placed throughout the map. It’s a shame the opposing AI isn’t the smartest in maneuverability both online and off. Their moves are somewhat predictable and they make little attempt to rush your position. In the campaign, you’ll accidentally get yourself killed more times then being out-played on the battlefield. Nevertheless, multiplayer is a load of fun and it’s an interesting task to balance your cash while completing objectives.

Presentation is top-notch with quality art design mostly noticeable on the menus and fits well with the overall tone of the game. You’ll be taken across the world that showcases some impressive, detailed level design, but you’ll hardly ever see any new types of enemies throughout the story line. The voice acting is well done, especially Rios and Salem’s roles, but unfortunately the dialogue is commonly tainted with cheesy one-liners that fall short of being remotely funny. It’s easy to compare the game’s model to Gears of War with its familiar gameplay, controls and style of personality. However, what separates Army of Two from the similarities to make it an original, action packed title is the extremely focused and enhanced cooperative experience that’s found both online and off. Despite some minor issues in certain categories, there’s a decent story that helps push Army of Two’s extremely solid co-op features to be an entertaining experience; whether you have a wannabe mercenary friend to tag along or not.