Army of Two: The 40th Day Review

12 Jan 2010 at 14:00:00 by Staff Writers
Systems used to review this title: (PS3)

or those of you that know Army of Two you'll know that the first game wasn't met with the greatest reception when it was released. I was one of the many that grew increasingly frustrated with it, even though the underlying principles were good.

Unfortunately Army of Two: The 40th Day suffers from the same issues, albeit not as badly, but still enough to make you cry with frustration.

What has been sorted, however, is the co-op play, and we'll get on to that in a wee while, but first I want to talk to you about the story:

Shanghai is being blown up.

That's all

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Now before you start harping on about it, not all games need a story, and luckily Army of Two is one of those games. It's all about the action, camaraderie and AGGRO. AGGRO being the tactic used to distract your enemies so that your partner can sneak by and flank them or snipe them without attracting any attention to themselves. It's about co-op sniping and covering each others' back. And for this, Army of Two is great.  We played through the campaign co-operatively and then went back and did it single player with the AI, and the game handles well on both, but it really is a co-op game.

Rios and Salem make a return, as does Alice Murray - your operator - and you can expect the same kind of banter between the two protagonists. However, this time Rios and Salem will face some more challenges fighting through the game with the addition of hostages, moral choices and ways to approach the enemy.

Players may remember the run-and-gun mechanic that was employed before, but there are more ways to play out the game in The 40th Day. For example, instead of just having the co-op snipe option, you and your partner can opt to mock surrender when entering an area full of troops. By mock surrendering, you draw the soldiers out and shoot them (in slow motion) in the face when you're ready.

Another way to take on the enemy is to sneak up behind the highest rank soldier there (enemies can be tagged and rank identified in the GPS which can be accessed by pressing the back button) and holding him hostage. Your partner can then go around tying up the rest of the enemies or executing them. But be warned, if you leave it too long the surrendered troops will get agitated and start getting a little trigger happy, not ideal when you've got civilian hostages around you.

And hostages are something you'll see a lot of in-game. During the course of the game you'll be confronted with options to either save the civilians or to carry on regardless. The decisions you make will have little consequence, such as affecting your morality meter (a meter of morality based on the decisions you make - yeah, it's that exciting). A reason to save the civilians is the rewards that they do give, which can range from huge amounts of cash to actual weapon parts that you can use in the customisable weapons menu, probably one of the best things the game has to offer.

For the type of game this is, it's a nice surprise to have weapon customisation, and it's not just some cheap tack-on either. It's the same as before, but with a little more depth to it, and you can really go crazy with your weapon. My AK-47, for example is gold-plated and binged up to attract enemies, has a scope, a shield, 200 rounds and a stabiliser to make sure my accuracy is the best it can be. This is my AGGRO weapon. My sniper rifle is completely the opposite, it has a 3X scope, a silenced barrel, camouflage which drops the AGGRO right down and enough power to shoot the orange out of David Dickenson's face. In addition to this, my Desert Eagle is pretty awesome too, and I've also even been able to upgrade my grenades so that they're gold-plated and diamond encrusted. They're awesome. If you're playing co-op, a warning though. You have to go to the weapon customisation screen together, and if you accidentally leave the menus, you have to wait for the other player to finish. You can't jump back into the weapon customisation screen again. Paiiiiinful.

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