Army of Two (Xbox 360)

...When I first heard about Army of Two I was so excited, me and my friends would download as many trailers as we could and discuss it quite frequently, then when the game actually came out only one of us got it and said the game was not worth buying, well a few weeks ago I came across it in the pre-owned section with a 2 for £30 sticker on, so I picked Circle of Doom up and Army of Two to try them out for myself and when I got home that was the first ...
...who has worked in the army for a long time, whilst Rios is the tough brute who looks like a marine and has a few scars, your typical solider.

The idea behind the game is that you either Rios or Salem who are working for the privatized military or in this case the SSC, meaning that you get paid to kill and with this comes missions that bold no relation to you and each level could have no relation with the other some even being a few ... more

Army of Two

When I first heard about Army of Two I was so excited, me and my friends would download as many trailers as we could and discuss it quite frequently, then when the game actually came out only one of us got it and said the game was not worth buying, well a few weeks ago I came across it in the pre-owned section with a 2 for £30 sticker on, so I picked Circle of Doom up and Army of Two to try them out for myself and when I got home that was the first thing I did.

Story

In the very beginning you make your character selection of either Salem of Rios, on both times I have chosen Salem as he seems more like the cute and friendly and some how quite good looking for someone who has worked in the army for a long time, whilst Rios is the tough brute who looks like a marine and has a few scars, your typical solider.

The idea behind the game is that you either Rios or Salem who are working for the privatized military or in this case the SSC, meaning that you get paid to kill and with this comes missions that bold no relation to you and each level could have no relation with the other some even being a few years apart, unlike other shooter games, instead the story is based on what is happening outside the mission as Rios quickly comes suspicious of Clyde and this continues throughout the story until it eventually means something, this suspicion is then heightened as they catch Clyde doing possible dodgy dealing aboard the aircraft carrier, as usual Salem thinks of it as nothing but it is Rios conspiracy theories that actually adds a bit of interest to an otherwise lackluster story.

Obviously I don't want to give away to much as you may want to find out for yourself, I'll just say this, don't trust anyone during the game, they have an underlined motive to almost every mission, all will become revealed towards the end.For me the story only really gets interesting when you arrive in China and take out a senator who, behind the scenes of the missions, was trying to prevent the military from becoming privatized, this is where the missions relate to the story and you feel like you want to complete them to find out more and help save one of your captured friends, this isn't that bad and does provide you with a few exciting moments, unlike the rest of the campaign. Altogether there are 6 levels to go through on the game, but look foreword to the last two:

1. Somalia
2. Afghanistan
3. Iraq
4. Aircraft Carrier
5. China
6. Miami

Each level shouldn't take that long, obviously depending on the difficulty and you're ability, but the game isn't a lengthy one, quite short compared with the other games I play, but that is one of the good points of the game, its fun but it doesn't drag on, by about the fifth level you do feel a lot of repetition where every level is essentially the same as you enter an area, kill the enemy, then advance, with no real idea of whom you are killing or why.

Gameplay

Army of Two is a game built around the idea of co-operative play and tactics; this can either be done with a friend or the AI partner, admittedly the game would probably be more enjoyable with a friend, but as I was the only one to have it and I also hate split screen, I was forced to do it with the A.I partner. First of all I was a little worried with working with an A.I as usually they are dull and do not always do what you want. Luckily Army of Two has done quite well in producing a rather handy partner with only a few minor problems such as they won't hold any shields as you have to, or occasionally they'll try and heal you in the middle of battle instead of in cover thus resulting in your death and annoyance.

The Gameplay is just a basic set-up of a third person shooter, something I prefer more to the usual first person, mainly due to Gears of War and with third person you feel more connected with the character as you can actually see them and the surrounding scenery, which is quite important.

Now this game, like I said is built around the idea of team work and in the trailer this was always the main point as they constantly showed you various moves that you can perform together, but I was actually quite disappointed with what you can do as it all seemed pretty basic, on the trailer they had at least 79 moves as they numbered the ones they where showing you, but these including things like the hovercraft or healing you're partner, for me these don't really count as moves, the only real ones you can do are things like the step jump, cover shield and the useful back to back, other than that there isn't much to the rest of them, but it is still fun doing flipping cover together or dragging you're A.I partner across the floor as he pumps some oncoming enemy.

Weapons

Weaponry on Army of Two is a brilliant part of the game as unlike most other games you're weapons can be modified with thins like, a different scope, bigger clips and even a small shield on the front, this gives the idea of progress within the game that is seen in RPG games, you start off with an average gun and by the end of it you may have a rocket launcher and a beefed up shot gun, also as you advance you can also go from light armor into heavy armor and change you're mask to what ever one you wish to have equipped.

One problem with the weapon system is that some weapons offer very little ammunition, some only one bullet, this creates a problem when you're in desperate need for some heavy fire power, but the mid-mission shopping does help as you may require a different weapon for the next part of the mission, you can also spend some of your hard earned cash before you proceed.

Graphics

Almost every game that comes out on the Xbox 360 is expected to have great graphics and to be fair to Army of Two; they have done quite well in that category but with games like Mass Effect I expected nothing less and if played on HD then it does add a lot more to the quality, but although the graphics are good there is nothing really challenging them, faces are covered, bodies just die, no over the top explosion or unbelievable head shots and if you're looking for the gore factor, look elsewhere as this has relatively simple graphics that are good in its own right but nothing compared with Gears of War or Far Cry 2.

Sound

Sound is very important part of the game, when you're sat on the settee playing a game you don't feel much like a soldier, but when you hear the sound of a shot gun blowing up 50 creates of explosives through surround sound then this might change your mind, unfortunately this didn't do that, but it did sound average, just not enough to draw you into the game and the sound of silenced weapons are really annoying, they may be more stealthy but I hate that type of weapon, I prefer the sound of a head cracking as the bullet is fired out of a rifle, not silenced out, all in all the sound does fine with the rest of the game, just about average.

Online

One of the most important thing for me in a game is the online play, games like Gears of War have kept me on there for so long due to the addictiveness of the online experience, this is most certainly not the case for Army of Two, mainly die to the fact that it is only 4 players, I've always loved games where you are part of a big team but obviously Army of Two wasn't going to do that, but only having a 2 v 2 scenario is quite boring as there is relatively little action, very few maps to chose from and the 3 game modes of 'Extraction,' 'Bounties,' and 'Warzone' these modes act just like campaign where you either have to kill someone or complete an objective, all of this happening whilst you try and kill the other team, talk about repetitive and yes it is true that some repetitiveness can be great, I mean breathing is pretty repetitive and so is Gears of War, but no one likes doing something they hate over and over again, unless its for money and this is a similar case.

Overall my online experience was not what I was expecting and really does put this above average game down to the usual, bored after a while type game that is found everywhere.

Achievements

There are 41 achievements to obtain in the course of you're Army of Two experience and most of these are the type of achievements I enjoy, such as kill 250 men with shotguns and earn one millions dollars in campaign, these are the type of achievements that keep you playing the game, better than that of earlier Xbox games which involved about 10 achievements, more recent games tend to have longer and usually more achievements in an attempt to keep people playing and I'll give Army of Two credit for that, these achievements will keep you playing for at least two campaigns and maybe if you feel up for it, you can try and earn 1 billion dollars online, I'm not even going to try!

Conclusion

Personally I think this game had one idea of team work and tried to base a whole game around that, not really thinking much about the rest of it, above all the game can be a good laugh for a few nights, but is not the type of game that will have you enthralled and griped to the very edges of your seat, instead it will provide with a couple of quick thrills for a few hours before you regret purchasing it. Online play provides you with nothing exciting and the campaign isn't long enough to keep you playing for weeks and neither is it the type of campaign you'll want to do again in a hurry.

Overall it's an okay game, with good graphics, an average campaign, very little story and not it's not surprising to see it going for cheap, I would only really advise this purchase if you're planning on doing it with a friend, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

Rating

Gameplay - 7
Graphics - 8
Enjoyment - 6
Sound - 8
Value - 5

Total: 34/50
68%
Average

Thanks for reading, hope this has helped any possible buyers.

Rampant_Ross
Thanks Ciao! 

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