Brutal Carnage With A Buddy.
Army of two is a third-person shooter from Electonic Arts that focuses on co-operative gameplay. It works best as a co-op campaign with a friend but can be enjoyed single player or online.
The game tells the story of two rough-necks that trade government paychecks for the big bucks of a Private Military Company, SSC. They take on countless enemies as they travel to destinations ranging from Afghanistan to Miami. The story is clever and relevant.
I don't want to make a big deal about the politics of the game. All I'll say is that it's interesting and the characters instantly appeal.
The combat system is brilliant. The method of drawing fire so your teammate can sneak up and attack from a different angle works very well. It's nice to see something innovative in a game that actually works well.
The AI in both your team-mate and the enemies you encounter is well-designed, applying different tactics and learning from your actions. For example, they may sneak up from a different angle and will learn if you try to play dead twice.
The weapons are what make the game I guess, as you complete mission objectives to earn cash so you can customise them. There are lots of guns and all can be tricked-out and 'pimped' to add an extra level of cool to the game.
The two principle characters have great presence, it's a joy to play as them. Working with a friend through the game is a great experience. This game excels at co-op gameplay in a way no game has before. It shows what Kane and Lynch or Gears Of War's co-op modes could have been.
The graphics are beautiful in cut-scenes and in-game. The terrain and environments are alive with detail and design. The animations are fluid and it suffers only slightly from glitches and bugs.
It doesn't last long (about 5 or 6 hours) but has multiple difficulty settings and a few online modes which together aid it's lastability significantly.
My only real criticism of the game is the vehicles. You only only really pilot a hovercraft and when you do there isn't much destructible elements to them. It breaks up the game a bit but doesn't do anything remarkable. And what happened to the fork-lift that we saw in the trailer?
Overall, I thoroughly loved this game. It's a keeper and will give me hours of fun anytime a friend wants to play split-screen or online in EA's best game in years. I love co-op games and this is the pinnacle of the genre.
Bravo EA. Let's have a sequel...
