Army of TWO (The 40th Day)

[Fiach]

Army Of Two The 40th Day Gameplay



I just finished this and I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable TPS games I have played in awhile.
The game concerns two characters Rios and Salem, two mercs in Shanghai to do a job. Suddenly the city starts blowing up all around them, planes and choppers crashing into buildings, armed forces patrolling the streets kidnapping people and herding them to football stadiums (yes I know its stadia, it just sounds wrong :)).

Anyway its a sort of tactical shooter, you have a Co-Op partner or one of the guys under AI control, I have to say that the AI control was faultless and it was quite an enjoyable way to play the game.

The game has many interesting mechanics, that really add something to the genre and set this game apart from straight forward FPS games like CoD etc. It has bosses, Shotgun Boss, Grenadier Boss and Gattlng Boss, it has other things like Feign Death and Mock Surrender, where you sucker enemies into thinking you are safe to deal with and suddenly you pull out your pistol and blow them a new "one :).

If you get mortally wounded, your AI partner will come (circumstances permitting) and drag you to shelter, then heal you with what looks like an adrenaline shot. While you are in this condition, you can still shoot people with your pistol, it can be a bit like second wind in Borderlands, you make just take enough heat off your partner so you can be healed.

Speaking of "heat", you can make your partner (or yourself) draw aggro from enemies, so your partner can blind side them from a different direction. You can also direct you partner to different places and give commands like Hold and Fight etc.

The weapons you have can be picked up, or bought through an in-game menu, they can also be customised from parts you aquire while playing, to beef up their damage, precision, handling etc. You pay for this through money you pick up from fallen enemies and for completing missions etc.

The missions mainly consist of your actual escape from the city, but these are augmented by some others that you can aquire in-game. These are "morality" missions, you will be tasked with certain demands that can be completed in two ways, good or evil, depending on which you choose, you will get no reward or something quite useful, but until you make your choice you may not know which will net you the best deal. Once the choice is made, the results of your decision will play out like a short comic strip ..... some good choices may apparently not turn out for the best :).

While this is mainly a corridor shooter, there are certain scripted sections that are very well done and alleviate the sameness usually associated with the corridor types of FPS.

You may arrive in an area and come across soldiers about to execute a number of civillians, you can ignore this or try to save them, the more you save, the higher your morality score, plus you will get money and/or weapon parts. You can try to save them in two ways, take an enemy leader hostage, or shoot all the bad guys, this also affects your morality score. To help you identify your enemies, you can tag them via pressing the SELECT button, this changes the screen view, marking the enemies as soldiers and officers with orange chevrons above their heads. This HUD also shows you where to go next, if you get confused. There are other side missions that crop up that are more varied, with surprising results.

Combat is quite fluid with some of the most memorable shoot outs I have experienced, on saying that I dont play many shooters, so my experience is limited :), But it can be hectic and fun and never frustrating, even though you are being attacked by RPGs mounted turrets and scores of mercs, even when I died, I had a plan formulating while the game reloaded a recent and well placed checkpoint, as to what tactics to try next. There was never a time I minded, having to replay any section. There were also a couple of sections where the guys are surrounded and turn back to back and hold off the enemy horde, shooting over each others shoulders etc, which re-inforce the buddy aesthetic of the characters, Culminating in the grand-daddy of all moral dilemmas at the end.

The interaction between the characters is subtle and humerous and its cool to hear the AI say things like "great shot" or "hey, have you been practicing?" etc. When you make a cool head shot or make a few fast successive kills.

The graphics are quite good, I've seen better, but they are nice and crisp and depict the carnage of a city in chaos very well, with some quite stand out moments usually puncuated by the characters saying things like "you gotta be sh!$ting me!".

When the game ends, you can replay it with all your gear and money, with new outfits and a couple of cheats like INF Ammo and Big Heads, which is a nice way to round up what was a very fun experience.

If I was to say anything negative, it would be that the game is a bit short (8 hours?), but has replay value that will easily double that, plus a number of difficulties for the more masochistic among you :).

The previous game in the series is just called Army of TWO and it had mixed reviews, but even then I am keeping an eye out for it, as I enjoyed this one so much.

[Art Blade]

Very nice review, cheers Fiach :)

Time for a slap on the back, mate  :-X :)

[Art Blade]

On an aside, I don't believe it.. they're actually slipping in animated commercials in a game presentation now.  >:((

[Fiach]

Cheers mate, Yeah, but bunnies are cool :)