Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Rent it first"

As Army of Two: 40th day is announced, some who are curious may wish to play this original- rent it if you must; it will take you a mere several hours to beat. Army of Two is a third person shooter that is built around cooperative play- the gimic here, as that cooperation with you teamate isn't really stressed anymore than games like Gears of War and Halo, that have co-op as an option, but aren't built entirely on that concept.

Story 7: The story of the game is on a modern premis (think "blackwater"); you an your partner play as two elite private military soldiers who do these missions for money. Taking place immediately after the events of 9/11, you and your buddy now have plenty of jobs up for grabs. Somalia, Iraq, wherever they pay you to go. This part of the story translates into gameplay in the form of weapon purchases and upgrades. Unlocking new weapons, however, isn't enough incentive to make you replay missions to gain more cash. The two main characters have colorful personalities that play out in the game; you can press different buttons to either have your character compliment/scold the other. It's a gesture that reinforces the concept of team work, but you'll soon realize it doesn't make the game much different.

Gameplay 4: It's a standard third person shooter gameplay, with some mechanics added to attempt to encourage more cooperation. This mechanic comes in the form of something called "agro" or "aggression". Basicly, it is the enemy's tendency to shoot at the more immediate threat. So if you are shooting a large weapon, and your teamate is in cover, his character will turn slightly transparent to indicate the enemy is oblivious to him, giving him the chance to flank the enemy. Furthermore, if you are taking damage, you'll want to stop shooting, and let you partner shoot to get the enemy's attention, so you can recover over time. But this all naturally occours in any co-op shooter, so you won't find that your tactics have changed much. This gameplay mechanic is just a simple alternative to what in other games is taking cover or supressing an enemy. It's a nice change of pace for a while though, since there's a thrill to putting yourself at risk to benefit a teamate- that is, if your teamate is human...If are playing single player with a cpu-controlled partner, these tactics will barely cross your mind, as the AI cannot adequately strategize with you the same way a human can. It is instead whittled down to two simple commands to fire or take cover; which is never a gaurentee to have the desired effect. The gameplay simply isn't fleshed out enough to make it feel different from any other run-and-gun game.

There are some "back to back" sequences- which look cool, shooting enemies surrounding you and your partner. But each sequence is essentially the same thing, and the restriction of movement doesn't offer a different experience each time.

Sound 7: Some good backround during the game. Not essentiall, since the only sounds you'll hear are bullets, enemies yelling and the constant jabs the two characters are throwing at each other. Voice acting is decent- but the voices of the characters seem somewhat out of place. Two private military company soldiers; using the same dialact as any American teenager would.

Graphics 8: The graphics in Army of Two are actually quite impressive- but it's not enough to make you ignore the rest of the game's shortcomings. The graphics are just a thin lay of gold paint covering the lackluster gameplay.

Overall: 6.5
For 3 hours, I wouldn't pay more than 6 dollars. I suggest you don't give this game a buy. Rent it if you must.