Army of Two is a interesting game, that has alot to offer, some good, some horrible.
Opening Statement::
EA has been known for milking entire game series dry until they kill the thing, so when a new IP dubbed 'Army of Two', a game that focused on perfecting the Gears of War co-op, people were shocked EA was actually TRYING something new! The thought was almost overwhelming, but to restore peace among the gaming nation, gamers all around were flaming this new series to no end. Quotes flew from the battleground between EA and a large amount of gamers with no end in sight.
But oddly EA did not respond, and kept most of the news about Army of Two quiet. When they released the game a year or so ago to the game reviewers, supposedly the game was so horrible '1's were flying around, so EA delayed the game further to try and improve what the reviewers had problems with. Again, the anti-EA gamers took this as more evidence on EA pumping out lame titles, and with this new ammunition, those gamers took to the fields again.
So is Army of Two, now released awhile ago, be the new IP that could steer EA to greatness, or to only confirm the epic failure that is EA?
Game Play:
Army of Two states very plainly that it's a game that should be played with friends or someone online. I agree with this because the AI partner is so stupid I would burn this game if there wasn't any option for a non-AI partner. Well that might be a little harsh, I would make my friend play it by himself and have him burn it for me.
Army of Two rips of the Gears of Wars cover system, and over the shoulder camera placement, but I like it and fits the game much better than if it was a FPS.
Having a dumb AI partner is interesting; the enemy AI is top-notch with only a few times were they're shooting at nothing at all. But when you, for example, take enough damage and needed to be healed, the AI comes over like a good puppy, and then drags you halfway across the map before healing you.
Leaving the horrible world of AI partners behind us for now, let's turn to the guns. Oh yes there are guns, and lots of them and they make me very, very happy. Why you ask? Well sit down son, and let me explain something in Army of Two that blew me away.
In Army of Two you carry a Primary Weapon (Assault Rifles, shotguns, and very manly machine guns.), a Secondary Weapon (Pistols, and sub-machine guns.), some grenades (Which you can't have different ones.), and a Special Weapon (Rocket Launchers and Sniper Rifles.). There are about 10 or more weapons in each category, and they're ALL different. Each one fires differently, each have different stats, and you can play with ALL of them.
How you buy these weapons is by completing in-game objectives and hidden objectives or side objectives. Soon you will have enough cash to buy the weapon you want. But that's not it my friends, you can even upgrade them from several different options. From silencers, to stocks, to barrels, to scopes and more, you can even 'pimp' out your weapon with gold, silver, and other shiny bling. While it sounds stupid it actually boosts one of your stats, called Aggro (More on this later.).
And that is not it, you can improve your body armor to take more hits, while if you do this you slow down and are less agile. And you know those funky masks they ware? You can even buy different masks, and there are quite a bit to choice from. And all of the upgrades and weapons mentioned above ACTUALLY change what your character looks like. I love how they tried to combine the character creation system from RPG's into this game.
Now to another interesting feature, this is dubbed 'Aggro'. Aggro is commonly used in RPG, mostly in MMORPG. Basically when one character gets in the thick of battle more, all of the enemies are going to focus on them, and then other players whom are now ignored can sneak around back stabbing people or flanking them. While this sounds gimmicky, the game actually gives you challenges where you NEED Aggro.
From distracting a turret with a bullet-proof front, to attacking enemies with full uber front body armor, and to assaulting fixed positions. Soon you will usually dub someone to be the main guy who will always gather Aggro in their Aggro meter by firing at the enemy, to increase the amount of Aggro gathered you can upgrade your guns to attract more Aggro (From bigger barrels to 'pimping' out your guns.).
Soon you and your friend will be using this tactic over and over again without even thinking out it. There are also bigger bonuses if you max out your Aggro meter, you can activate a mode where you become an unstoppable juggernaut, and your friends attack enemies with them not even noticing him, this usually lasts for a few seconds so use it tactically.
Army of Two really tries to make it so each player feels needed in the game by using co-op moves. From a bullet time back-to-back shoot frenzy (Which oddly you cannot trigger when you want to), boosting your buddy up a wall so they can help you up, a mode where you can snipe at the same time, to the ability to trade primary weapons, carrying a riot shield while the other gun hides behind you and mows down n00bz, to even dragging a wounded gun into cover so you can patch them up.
Overall Army of Two tries, and succeeds in trying to improve the 3rd person genre, especially in the area of co-op, but some things stand in its way to become a holy deity of shooters. Such as a faulty AI for your computer buddy, to some of the upgrades for you guns doing not that much, a vehicle that steers just as well as a drunken pig on ice skates ,and to sniper rifles generally sucking all across the board. But I need to give a special shout-out to the level designers who gave us so many things to do in one level, thanks guys!
Art:
Art-wise, Army of Two fails pretty short. Well, sort of. The characters look great, the enemies are designed well, and graphically the game looks pretty great. But a lot of the environments looks bland; some of the textures are just plain embarrassing, and generally while the levels are pretty, they are mostly uninspired and dull.
Though one place in the whole game where I HAVE to set above as one of the best video game levels of all times. You will come across this one level were you actually have to storm a captured aircraft carrier, and sink it. And what happens in that level is just pure awesome, that it may even make it all the way to my years end awards blog post.
Audio:
Audio, so let's start.
First off the guns all sound different, and realistic. Which helps give each one a special personality, so you will stick with it throughout the game. The grenades sound a little weak, and that sniper rifles are just embarrassing how weak they sound. I've also noticed that adding a silencer to your gun really doesn't quiet it down that much.
The voice work is quite good, but some of it is ruined by cheesy one-liners ripped of every cool action movie ever made, and are really quite boring after a few hours in the game. Rio's voice actor is actually one of the best actors I have heard in a while, and generally you will ignore the whinny dialogue from Rio's partner, Salem.
The enemies' voices are nowhere near as good, and have just as lame dialogue as the other characters. But I guess you could make the excuses for the dialogue that it was MENT to be cheesy, I mean, this game is really just an interactive version of Die Hard 2, so really I can forgive the character dialogue.
Content:
Overall you have a grand total of six missions, and it sounds just as small as it is. I spent around an hour on each level on the second-hardest difficulty setting, so you can guess this game was made for replay ability. And with all of the achievements you are probably going to miss out on, and all of the cools weapons to mess around with, I have played this game through about 3 times and it still is not boring when I take the time to pop it in.
I could go on and describe the story, but really it sucks. The concept is nice, but they introduce plot twists you could see from miles away, and the ending shamelessly hints at sequel. One of the BIG issues I have is that you don't even get to fight the final boss, but a cut scene appears out of nowhere to do it for you. (Though the second-to- final boss is gratifying awesome because you will hate that boss so much at the end of the game.)
You play as Rio's and Salem, former Army Rangers turned to private military mercenaries. You will slowly unravel a sinister plot to take over the US military, and to find out the people they work for are planning to betray them. The sad part is that this game tries to take itself WAY too seriously, if would be funnier and more enjoyable if it was treated like a Die Hard movie instead (Or a Jackie Chan movie.). Maybe we will see some improvement in the sequel
Multi-Player wise, the game had a lot of potential, but falls flat on its face. There really only is one mode where you take a number of objectives like 'assassination' or 'defend and transport the pilot' which earns you money, while you battle it out with bots and another team. Whoever gets the most cash wins.
While this is fine, you can't even take the cash you earned in the online modes, and use it to upgrade your character. You have to buy weapons during the match, and once that match is over everything you earned is gone. And it would have been nice to see a character creation screen. Also the servers are region locked, so for example, you won't be able to play with your friend in Japan from the USA.
The online co-op is fun though, playing through the campaign online is usually lag-free, and fun if your buddy gets bored of playing the game, and you rather not play with the AI partner (I don't blame you.).
Really it would have been fun to see an all-out death match using a full-fledged character creation screen, buying masks, armor, weapons, and making your character from the ground up. Or even have a huge capture the flag or death match with eight or more other teams.
Closing Statement:
Army of Two tries to be different in a over-flooded shooter genre, and some of the things this game tries out is good, but some are also bad. Multiplayer had a lot going for it, but drops the ball on that one, and some of the game play choices (AKA crappy hovercraft, bad AI partner, etc.) just don't work out so well.
Overall if you have a buddy, or online friend (Who lives in the same region mind you.) who likes Gears of War, or other co-op games, pick this up or rent it and enjoy it, sense it has a lot to offer, but not all of it good ,and personally, I like it and I am excited to see what surprises Army of Two 2 (lol) will pull out.
Game Play: 8 out of 10
Art: 8 out of 10
Audio: 7.5 out of 10
Content: 6.5 out of 10
Technology: 7.5 out of 10
FINAL SCORE: 7.5