Army of Two Review
March 4, 2008 - In his farewell state of the union address, President Eisenhower warned of the dangers of a private military force, reasoning that corporate troops for hire would undermine the safety, security and standing of our armed forces. Eisenhower didn't know just how prophetic his words would become, especially given the state of the world today. Companies like Titan Corporation, Triple Canopy and Blackwater have hired their military services to the highest bidder, dropping into hotspots for missions while undermining the image of the armed services. It's this backdrop that's the concept behind the latest action title from EA Montreal and EA Games, Army of Two. As you can tell from the title, the game places a premium on co-op play, and while the single player experience is fine, it's co-op play where this title really shines.
The story of Army of Two takes place across 16 years, centering on Elliott Salem and Tyson Rios, two battle-hardened former Army Rangers that join the private sector as mercenaries for hire. Following their former commander Dalton to Security and Strategy Corporation, or SSC, Salem and Rios are dispatched across the globe to "take care of problems" in warzones while raking in large sums of cash. However, as time goes by, both Salem and Rios start to notice that a number of leaks and secrets seem to coincide with their missions as well as a bill in Congress to fully privatize the military. Trying to get their heads around what's going on, Salem and Rios fight their way through battlefields in a tale of betrayal, conspiracy and revenge.
In a single player match up, you select either Salem or Rios to take through the six story driven campaigns, with the computer controlling your partner. While you might think that guns are primarily going to help you survive, the real tool in your arsenal is Aggro, a system that is based around how forceful your soldier is being in combat. If you throw grenades, continually shoot enemies (or even blind fire in their direction) or cause explosions, you swing aggro momentum in your direction, which will in turn make every soldier focus their attention on you. That might seem like a bad thing, especially when you're glowing red to indicate how aggressive you're being. However, there are definite advantages to pulling aggro. First of all, with all of the attention on your soldier, your partner will turn transparent, indicating that they can sneak around and flank rival soldiers without them knowing it. The other advantage of aggro is that if you maintain that state, you move into what's known as overkill, a bullet time inspired place where you do twice as much damage and are able to fire unlimited bullets or sneak around completely invisible for about 16 seconds, performing melee strikes like chokeslams or kicks to the stomach.
Aggro also serves to drive home the point that you can't do everything within the game by yourself. You'll need to become accustomed to doing things with your partner, because going into a firefight pretending to be invincible is a sure one-way trip to a body bag. Instead, players will need to learn how to best use their computerized partners to advance to a spot, then holding their position and laying down fire support so that they can regroup when all enemies have been eliminated. Players can dictate the posture of these commands (aggressive or passive) with what's known as the partner order wheel, controlled by the direction pad, which will affect how vigorously players use these tactics against the enemies you face. Getting a grasp on this will be key when it comes to eliminating the three kinds of troops you face: blue highlighted troops are basic grunts that are easily killed, while red are higher up officers that put up more of a fight. Gold troops are heavies that are just as armored as Salem and Rios, and require your flanking techniques, because they can only be damaged from behind.
A fierce air arm wrestling bout ensued...
See, Salem and Rios carry three firearms and a collection of grenades into battle. The primary weapon is frequently a machine gun or a shotgun, which is used to eliminate large groups of enemy troops with their range and power. Secondary weapons are typically pistols or sub-machine guns that can back you up if your primary gun runs out of ammo. Finally, special weapons are used to cause significant damage at a distance, and include sniper rifles, RPGs and Stinger missiles.
But while all of these are deadly, you can easily upgrade these with new items, such as swapping out the barrels, adding protective shields, adding larger capacity cartridges or magazines for guns. All of these augmentations will increase or decrease the stats of each weapon, but perhaps the most significant change is the pimp out option, which will turn your firearm into elaborately gold or platinum plated pistols with diamonds and other embellishments. These blinged out weapons heavily jack up your aggro and catch enemy soldier's attention; after all, when's the last time you saw a gold plated AK47 or a platinum Dragunov on a battlefield? The same could be said for those enemies, who are quickly drawn to this sight.
What's more, the co-op portion of Army of Two really drives home the point that this is a game designed to play with a friend. That's not to slam the partner AI in any way; it will do what you need it to do for the most part and help you through most missions without major incidents. However, the AI will perform some stupid mistakes here and there, such as dragging you large distances to what it determines to be "safe cover" before healing you. This will sometimes have the effect of pulling you through dangerous enemy positions and leave you open to more grenade attacks that you can potentially defend against. What's more, it won't always take advantage of the stealth provided to it when you draw aggro, and will sometimes charge blindly into the middle of battle, swinging the momentum its way and leaving it open to be quickly injured or even killed.
I don't think you're supposed to move him if he's injured.
What's worse is that there's practically no reason to ever swap guns with your partner unless you want to see what firing their weapon is like -- you don't get extra ammo, and you don't need to acquire a different weapon unless you made a poor choice. Furthermore, while you can cheer your partner or hit them in the head, there's no need for this feature to even be included in the game. The AI won't keep track of the number of times you give them props or pound them, and will sometimes slip into an animation loop of constant headbutts or air guitar solos. It makes this feature stand out more as something that was initially intended, but wasn't fully implemented.
Fortunately, you can avoid many of these issues if you play with another gamer, and at least Army of Two gives you multiple ways to experience the game with a friend. You can play via split screen if you're on the same system, or you can establish a private co-op game with a friend or a public game with anyone who's online. Once you play with someone else, especially with someone who's played before, you see how the game is supposed to work, and you can intelligently maneuver through the battlefields without significant issues. What's more, you frequently find that you come up with new tactics to address game situations, ones that the AI would never think of. That's where Army of Two shines.
One thing that stands out with Army of Two are the visuals, which look incredible. Both Salem and Rios come across with huge character models and sharp details, from the top of their protective face masks to the tattoos and scarred battle armor. These characters look great, but that isn't solely restricted to the main characters. Enemies are just as large, and animate as smoothly at Salem and Rios do. Environmental textures are clean and nicely done, and with the exception of the random render pass here and there or texture rip, the game runs quite well. Many of the explosions that wind up rocking stages, from the fuel cans you shoot to the planes you destroy, look very good, and if you're looking for a visually striking stage, the sinking aircraft carrier is eye catching indeed.
Co-op and multiplayer are the true stars of the game.
The sound for the game, on the other hand, is excellent. Be warned, however, that this title is definitely for adults, with a variety of curse words frequently dropped in conversation. However, the dialogue is delivered extremely well, with all of the main voice actors delivering their parts believably. The sound effects for the various guns are excellent, and while the music that's there is more of a backdrop for the action, it's also well done. Aurally, Army of Two is a great game.
Closing Comments
As a single player experience, Army of Two is a fine game -– one that manages to provide a fun, engaging time despite its length, AI issues and elements that don't seem fully implemented. However, it's really co-op play and multiplayer where the game stands out, and these two modes will most likely keep you playing for a long time.
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Originally Posted by chesster
