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Army of Two: The 40th Day

By Colin Day

Third-person shooters have never really been my cup of tea, but for the sake of the UWeekly, I decided to try out the latest iteration of the "Army of Two" franchise. I came in skeptical, played it skeptically and finished playing, still being skeptical about the chance I'll ever play a shooter like this ever again.

"AoT:T40D" features the brothers-in-arms duo Salem and Rios, two former U.S. Army Rangers-turned-mercenaries. After a so-so reception, the first game suffered from atrocious AI and gimmicky co-op, eventually being thrown into the growing pile of forgettable TPS's. As unsuccessful as others believed, the 2008 release gave people a taste of what a single player can do when given two people to control, and after successful rebirths of other franchises in 2009, "Army of Two" decided to try it as well.

Instead of roaming through various countries, EA Montreal's latest has you venturing through Shanghai and its industrial glory, and like most post-apocalyptic video games, you need to kill to survive. With the city in shambles, Salem and Rios work together to take down the bad guys, give playful bro-laden taunting and try to get out of the city before everything comes crashing down.

To keep players interested, there are a series of morality decisions you can make. Whether you decide to save civilians from attackers, take guns from a locker or choose to kill other parties, the decision ultimately comes down to you and your other half, which can ultimately change the handling of a scenario. For instance, if you play with a friend and you choose to end something peacefully and the other selects a more violent option, the split decision can make the next scene a bit more interesting.

Like more and more shooters, cover systems are essential to survival. Whether it's a desk, a table or a large land mammal, Rios and Salem can take cover basically anywhere. It of course goes without saying that there are a myriad of problems with taking cover: running and taking cover will have your head sticking out for a sniper's delight and snapping into cover can sometimes put you on the wrong side of a pillar or box and into harm's way.

And that brings us to the faulty AI. On more than one occasion, I shared the same crate for cover with an enemy, only to have him stay on one side of the box as he tried to shoot me. Calmly walking to the other side was all I needed for a kill. You will also become quickly frustrated with the amount of bullets an enemy can take, finding that enemies can spring back to life after a barrage of bullets to the face.

While the implementation of an agro system and new options like feigning death and fake surrenders has made the game more dependent on the buddy system, this game is still an easy miss on game shelves.

Originally Published: January 27, 2010

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