The Bottom Line
Pros
- Private military? Great use of current events to twist the standard shooter plot-line
- Very compelling co-op experience
- Shopping for and customizing weapons brings 'loot' concept to the shooter
- If you don't take it too seriously the jovial banter can be fun
- The inclusion of "aggro" is a concept every shooter should adopt
Cons
- AI is very inconsistent
- Despite multiple objectives, level design is very linear
- Objectives can be hard to find
Description
- Graphics: 4 Great character design and effects make Army of Two a very pretty game to play
- Sound: 4 Though some of the dialog is questionable, the voice acting and music are excellent
- Control: 3 While everything works, too much gets mapped to one button
- Difficulty: 2 Developers, PLEASE stop locking hard mode, we shouldn't have to play the game twice to experience a challenge
- Gameplay: 5 Aggro will change the way you play shooters, and it will make it more fun
- Multiplayer: 4 This is the way Army of Two was meant to be played, a great "buddy" game
- Online: 4 Though some mechanics are hard to pull off online, co-op and head-to-head matches are quite fun
- Documentation: 4 Fine, but the evil tutorial level makes it redundant
- Rated: Mature If you;d let your kid watch Rambo, you'd let them play Army of Two
Guide Review - Army of Two Review (PS3)
The story of Army of Two will really strike a chord with those who follow the happenings in Iraq. Essentially you work for a private military contractor doing the jobs the U.S. military won't or can't. The culture is boyish and greedy, and while some critics complained about this, to me it seems to be spot on with the stories we've heard of the real soldiers of fortune in Blackwater. Army of Two has fun with it, but don't for a minute think that the real men being paid massive amounts of money to shoot big guns are somber about their duties.
The gameplay revolves around a two person squad. As a single player you can give simple commands to your partner. But the magic really happens in co-op. The ability to draw enemies (known as aggro) to one player while the other strafes is not only innovative, but one of those, "every game should do this" concepts. Aggro/threat aren't the only MMO aspects imported to this game. Players earn money accomplishing objectives which they can spend in an expansive gear & guns store. I am more than willing to admit that I too got sucked into the gun shopping experience.
Army of Two is not all guns and roses, however. From enemies standing in the corner to my partner getting stuck on a ledge, AI issues seem to pop up more than they should. There also seem to be tech issues. I had the game freeze my PS3 and have some odd draw issues where the screen looked split in two in the single player game.
Complaints aside, this is a fun game with lots of new, clever elements. Army of Two 2 will hopefully fix the AI/tech issues.
