Army of Two

"Short and Easy: Army of Two"

A long while back, EA announced a game that would revolutionize cooperative game play. This game was Army of Two, and a long time later, it was finally released. Army of Two is a game about a pair of private military contractors out to make it rich, but get caught up in a conspiracy involving the very company they work for.

As the name implies, the gameplay centers around two people working together. The game was primarily designed to be played with two people. The campaign can be played together with a friend over the internet, while splitscreen is available for local co-op gameplay. That said, Army of Two can still be played alone with an AI partner. When playing alone, two additional commands are added to the game to allow you to give your partner commands in order to take full advantage of the game's Aggro system. The Aggro system is basically an indicator to show players where the enemy attention is. The Aggro is shared between the two players, so that one player can distract the enemy while the other player can go around and flank for an easier kill. Other co-op gameplay elements include cooperative hovercraft piloting, step jump boosts, and having one partner hold up a shield while the other person stands behind and takes shots at enemies. The game is divided up into a number of missions, between and during which you can purchase armored masks, guns, and upgrades. Cash is earned by completing objectives during the missions, with some objective being optional. There are also a number of hidden intelligence briefcases which are worth money if found. The game plays like most other shooters of it's time. Pull the right trigger to fire your weapon, hold down the left trigger to make a more precise shot. Heavy emphasis is placed on using cover in the environment, and you simply move up to cover and your character will automatically shoot over it. The Y button enables you to perform a number of evasion moves, such as rolling, sliding behind cover, and vaulting over objects while running. Holding down the left bumper will allow you to switch weapons with your D-PAD, with each directional button programmed to a different weapon category. The right bumper allows you to perform co-op actions, such as swapping weapons with your partner, or initiate a small minigame where both partners can snipe at the same time for extra damage on whatever the target is., or in order to take out two guards at the same time. Levels are pretty linear, usually involving both characters moving to the end of the map in order to move onto the next area, with very little way to get lost. While the areas can sometimes be quite large, there aren't really any different ways to get to your destination. At the end of each area will likely be a generic cutscene involving both characters yanking down a door, or pulling a garage door up.

Graphically, Army of Two is one of the few games I have played that actually look like they deserve to be called "next gen". None of that fake, ultra shiny and sharp stuff you'll see in other big name titles attempt to look high resolution. Objects reflect light like they are supposed to, and the water ripples and splashes just like real water. A lot of detail went into character modelling, and you can see fine details on your character if you move the camera and around and examine the armor and weapons. The cutscenes are truly wonderful to watch, and feel almost like an animated movie.

Audio is where the game might fall short. For most of the game, you won't notice any significant music, other then some swelling music in key spots. The majority of the sounds in the game consist of various forms of gunfire, many of which unfortunately sound alike. The voice acting is extremely well done, though occasionally the voices are a bit ahead of the actions on screen, which takes away from certain cutscenes, though this only occurs once or twice throughout the game. Many of the enemies have generic one liners they yell and scream at you if they stay alive long enough, most of which are just plain English with an accent on it, which can be disappointing at times.

Aside from the co-op both online and offline, Army of Two boasts an online versus mode. Two people can pair up and take on two other people in various multiplayer modes, where players must complete objectives to earn money. The team with the larger amount of money at the end wins. Players can spend some of their team's money and purchase a better weapon kit. Players must contend with both the rival mercenaries and the AI enemies that are randomly placed on the map in order to make life more difficult for the mercenaries. Multiplayer features many of the moves you can perform in co-op, such as step jump and healing. The Aggro feature is present in multiplayer as well, in use with the AI enemies, though it doesn't appear to have much affect on other player characters.

Army of Two doesn't have the best replayability, due to the fact that you can unlock most of the weapons after a single playthrough. The game itself is incredibly easy, so it won't challenge you much. The multiplayer is truly spectacular if you're into team multiplayer games, however, so that's something in the game's favour. The limited number of maps and modes makes the game quite repetitive after a while, though the almost unlimited number of possibilities when playing against other people can make the game fresh many times over. Overall, Army of Two is a good purchase, but unless you really like the game's multiplayer, don't expect it to last you too long, due to the overly short campaign mode.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/12/08

Game Release: Army of Two (US, 03/06/08)