Army of Two
If you're looking for a new game to play with your buddy, you should be quite happy with the arrival of Army of Two, a game produced by EA for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 that will take some getting used to at first, but will get you hyped as soon as you get launched in to the game.
This game would be best described as a third-person tactical shooter but proves to be unique in his kind due to its many fun and practical aspects that we've all been dying to see in a shooter these days.
Storyline:
The game begins with its two leading characters: Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem who start off in the US military. Shortly thereafter they join a private military corporation and serve as mercenaries fighting bad guys in the form of terrorists. From thereon the game focuses on the debate whether or not state militaries should be replaced by private military corporations. If you don't pay attention during the missions though, you'll miss a lot of this, as conversations between the two characters take place during and in-between all the shooting. The story turns out to be very predictable and won't prove to be anything stunning. But personally, I find it a bit far-fetched to look at the quality of a storyline a shooter, simply because we don't play these games to get blown away by its plot. But the ending of the game won't dissapoint you and will even prove to be quite satisfying.
Score: 82%
Graphics:
Not much to say on this area: the game looks nice. The main characters are excellently done though, with an extra level of detail as well as the cutscenes. What adds to the sensation of it all though, is how your weapons look, but I'll cover that later on. The atmospheres of the enviroments you go through are also neatly done. They look very realistic and really send over the vibe that represents the area. The effects of gunfire and explosions could be better, but nothing to complain about. The game just meets up to the next-gen standards.
Score: 93%
Gameplay:
This game combines different elements seen before in other games, as well as introduce new concepts to strengthen its name.
Co-op Play:
Obviously you can play this game with a friend, and you should! The game loses almost all of its value if you play this game by yourself. It will all get really old, really fast. But if you play with a partner, your roles will change, and the whole experience will feel a lot more thrilling. You can play either split-screen or have a friend online to join you.
Partner Actions:
As you progress through the game, you will need your partner at your side, either to cover you, or to just help you get past obstacles. Getting to a higher area will be impossible if your buddy isn't there to give you a boost and for you to pull him up. Furthermore, when somebody gets 'fataly' wounded, he won't be dead just yet. He'll only be down, and it's his partner's duty to drag him to safety and patch him up so that he can continue fighting. Also, please note that in the midst of this dragging, both players can still fire their guns.
Aggro/Overkill:
Some of you might know the term Aggro from MMO's. Well, it's in this game too. The bigger your gun is, and the more rounds you fire, the more attention you'll get. This leaves your partner to pick enemies off one by one, as he's practically invisible to the foes. This is a very important part of the game, as it serves as the most important tactical feature. If one player has gathered enough Aggro, both players can go into Overkill. The player that has all the Aggro will then do double the amount of damage, but lose his speed and evasive moves, while his partner goes into Stealth mode, where he is faster than normal, and invisible to all enemies in the area. It's a great way to add some variety in the game, but (thankfully) it doesn't last too lang, because everything goes in slow-mo.
Weapons:
One of the things that make this game awesome is not only the selection of weapons that you have, but the option to customise them as well. Each player can carry up to three weapons: a Primary weapon (rifles and shotguns), a Secondary weapon (handguns and sub-machine guns) and a Special weapon (snipers and rocket launchers). Apart from the vast selection you have, you can upgrade them like there's no tomorrow. Think about changing barrels, stocks, cartridges, frontmounts, shields and also every single weapon comes with an option to 'pimp it out'. This varies from a chrome layer to a gold coating on the weapon. Just imagine shooting down bad guys with a golden AK-47 that houses 100 bullets a magazine with a grenade launcher stuck to it.
This game has a LOT in store when it comes down to gameplay, and there's a lot more than I've discussed, basicly because there's too much to discuss.
Score: 100%
Difficulty:
Okay, on the lowest difficulty, it's very doable, until the last mission. There you will be really challenged and the game demands to show what you got. On the highest difficulty level you're gonna need a lot more bullets for every mission you start. There are a handful of extra enemies, and they all require some extra rounds before they go down for the count. The last mission then forces you to really think and fight tactically, which makes this game extremely challenging and realistic. The game also offers armour levels, so if you feel that the game's not hard enough for you, strip of some plating of your body and go wild.
Score: 97%
Sound:
First of all: excellent voice acting, and good work on the personality too. The conversations feel genuine and just real, not at any point do you feel that this is voice 'acting'. Another enjoyable factor is the variety of sounds that all the weapons produce. Every type of gun has a different ring to it, and it's nice that the producers put some thought into that. Also, when you're down, or things are in slow-mo, everything around you sounds a lot more tense and dynamice, enhancing the sensation naturally. The music isn't so bad either, although you don't pay much attention to it either way. And although there are some minor flaws here and there (such as a huge falling hangar door not making a loud noise when hitting the ground) the game offers some great work on this departement.
Score: 96%
Overall:
Normally, I'm not attracted to shooters, of any kind. Third person shooters can draw my attention every now and then, but they grow boring very fast. In reality, this game offers little inovation when played alone. But when it's played together, its features REALLY stand out. It feels like a whole new genre in fact. Never did a co-op feel this exciting, this intense before. And eventhough it borrows elements from games such as Brute Force, Gears of War and Halo, it makes itself unique due to all of its extra features the other games don't have. The choices in weapons give this game a personal touch, not to mention the choice of character and the mask he'll be wearing.
Be advised though, this game contains a lot of swearing and the attitude the game brings with it seems to be rather fake and an attempt to be cool. Like I said before, the character becomes personal by picking weapons and a mask, so try to pay little attention to Salem's childish behaviour ^^
All-in-all extremely good game. This is raw action combined with tactics, who wouldn't love this? I'd like to see this game as the start of something beautiful in the gaming industry. I'd say that this is easily THE best shooter ever made, hands down. Let's just hope we'll see some sort of sequal soon!!
Score: 95%
Amry of Two was an excellent game. I greatly enjoyed going aggro and blasting the shit out of people. As far as shooters go it is currently my number 4 favorite.
Halo 3
Gears 2
COD: MW
Army of Two
The 2nd Army of two, the 40th day was an excellent game. The weapon customization was greatly improved, and the graphics were excellent.
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