Home Games Army of Two

Army of Two

First Person Shooter
Releases: 04.04.08
EA Montreal
Electronic Arts
ESRB: Mature

Army of Two

Two heads are better than one in this third person shooter.

by Sarah Schutz

When Army of Two was first released, I let out a big sigh of exhasperation: "Another war game." And this one promised to especially irk me since it eschewed any concept of creative license and doesn't even pretend to take place in any other context than the very real life "war on terrorism" in Iraq and Afghanistan. You will be fighting terrorists from Al Qaeda not as soldiers, as rugged money-hungry mercenaries for hire. Does anyone else find this more than mildly offensive? Not only does the game make light of a real life war that thousands of soldiers are still fighting, but suggests that the way to accomplish the "goals" of this "war" is to hire ruthless private armies that use their own methods to accomplish that which can't be done following more civil methods (if any war can be civil - ok, ok I will refrain from voicing my political opinions on the matter). Regardless it is somewhat jarring to explore a very real subject matter through videogames, especially when considering that for most gamers, no thought will be given to the social context and relevance of the game. I hate to think that this view of warfare, and our current war in particular, becomes commonplace.
All my hyper-conscious bitching aside, I must admit that as the supreme co-op commander I am, I enjoyed the creative game mechanics of Army of Two's co-op mode. This game really is all about the two-player co-op. Strategy is key in fighting your way through each level with your partner. As gunfire is drawn to you, your partner draws less attention when creeping to the back of the battle zone to blow 'em all away. Awareness of each other's location and swift cooperation will help you to succeed and solve each puzzle, combined with precise duck and cover shooting. If, however, you are a friendless gamer, you will find that your AI partner lacks any sort of intelligence, artificial or otherwise and may or may not follow your commands. Successful cooperation is a crapshoot and just makes for annoying gameplay.

If you are new to co-op gaming, don't start here. There are better co-op games out there with better duck-and-cover gameplay (Gears of War, ahem), but if you are a diehard co-op fan like myself, Army of Two provides a satisfying diversion as we await the next great game. If you can successfully mentally avert socially conscious thought about the storyline and entirely avoid single player gameplay, you will find a refreshingly different look at co-op that emphasizes strategy and cooperation above frantic shooting.

Creative Co-op game mechanics

Story lacks tact and social awareness; AI blows

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