Army of Two: The 40th Day- PS3 Review

Army of Two: the 40^th Day- PS3 review

 

Presentation:

 

A sequel to 2007’s Army of Two was inevitable.  It didn’t sell all that well but EA wants the franchise to become a big selling Gears of War clone.  The first game was very average, and the second follows the same path. 

 

Rios and Salem find themselves in the center of shanghai when shit begins to hit the fan.  Buildings blow up, innocents die and you shoot things.  You shoot a lot of things.  And it’s never clear why the mercs have more soldiers than the US army.  But they do. 

 

Anyways, the game follows the two buds as they shoot things, and… you know what, after two playthroughs, I’m still not sure what the game was about.  I didn’t even know who the bad guy was until the endgame cutscene.

 

However, Army of Two doesn’t care.  It knows it’s story is dumb.  It just wants you and a friend to have fun playing it.  And the game succeeds at that.  I often found myself with a grin on my face after killing Merc with Jason Vorhees mask number 30.  So the game did that well at least.

 

7/10

 

Graphics:

 

AoT:40^th D, looks rather decent.  It’s got the standard color scheme of shooters now a days.  Brown, and light brown.  Character models got an upgrade and overall it looks a lot better than part one. 

 

7.5/10

 

Sound:

 

I have to give credit to the game, it does sound nice.  Gunshots have an oomph, and explosions sound… explosiony.  Nolan North lends his voice again, and as usual he’s great.  The lines can still be awful, but at least North provides a wink and a grin style delivery to them, that makes the games ham fisted dialogue listenable. 

 

8.5/10

 

Gameplay:

 

Army of Two: The 40^th Day’s gameplay is exactly what you would expect.  You take cover.  You pop out of cover.  You shoot bad guy.  However, the Aggro system adds a bit of strategy to the game.  You fire more, you attract the attention of the enemy.  This allows your partner to become invisible and flank enemies.  The problem is, if you are playing single-player, your AI partner is too much of a dipshit to flank them.  It works if you are doing co-op with a friend though. 

 

Guns have upgrades that are actually a lot of fun to collect.  And the wide range of options is nice. 

 

You now also have morality choices in cutscenes.  They don’t change much, but it is nice to have them there. 

You can rescue scattered civilian hostages through out the game as well.  It’s a nice touch, but it can get annoying. 

 

8/10

 

Lasting Value:

 

The campaign is short, 6-8 hours in length.  However, if you and a buddy don’t get bored playing through it, it can last you a while.  The online modes are rather decent.  We have a horde mode knock off called Survivor, that pits four players against 16 rounds of enemies.  The standards are here as well, Deathmatch, TDM, CTF and what not.  It’s not that bad actually.  However, lag can get overbearing and ruin a match.  If you can handle that you might have some fun. 

 

7/10

 

Overall: 

Army of Two: The 40^th Day is a decent mind-numbing co-op affair that will please you if nothing better is available.  Hopefully, for Rios and Salems third outing, all the improvements that were made for the sequel will remain, and a good story can put the game into a higher category.  Give it a rent or purchase it on the cheap. 

7.5/10