Army of Two (AO2) has a unique selling point (USP) and that is the co-operative (COOP) play that it’s built around. What this means is that we can review the game thus; AO2’s COOP USP. And for that we give it 8 out of 10. But, once you dig a little deeper you’ll find a few flaws that take away from the excellence of the COOP.
AO2 is a fairly standard third-person shooter, complete with gung-ho characters (of which you play as one and the PS3 does an excellent job of playing as the other), weapons, and enemies that can take more damage the more powerful the bullets you shoot at them. It’s true, really. Early doors take a few pot shots with a weak-ass (that’s the sort of language AO2 revels in) pea-shooter and they drop with a shot or two. Later on, the same enemies (albeit with different clothes on, which are obviously concrete re-inforced) take multiple shots from a bazooka while drinking tea and refusing to die. Like I said, fairly standard third-person shooter.
But, AO2 has a USP up its sleeve and that’s the COOP. Each level is tackled as a two-man team (and don’t forget, these levels can be played with a friend via the PSN) and this is where AO2 really scores. As the main player you can give your AI-buddy commands (hold position, advance, follow me) and also specify how aggressive you want them to follow those commands. It’s easy to get your partner to hold up somewhere safe and aggressively fire at the enemy, while you sneak round un-noticed and deal death. The more enemies you dispatch the more AGGRO you accumulate, and the person with the most AGGRO is targetted more by the enemy. So, using the commands and accumulating AGGRO (or letting your partner do so) becomes the way of navigating the levels.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, it is. But then it throws such silly things your way that the carefully crafted tactics appear far too contrived. For example, occasionally enemies confront you that are all but impervious to your bullets from the front. The obvious tactic is to get your partner AGGRO’d up so they are targetted and then you can sneak round the back and attack the enemy. At which point you realise they are wearing crepe paper for armour on their backs, and they die almost instantly. It is ridiculous. Worse still are the times when you sneak up on an enemy who is targetting your AGGRO’d partner, and you stand right next to them, WITH A BIG GUN, and they completely ignore you. You can watch them for ages trying to kill your partner – who will let you know if they are succeeding, by moaning at you – while you decide whether to shoot or not. Even worse, yes worse, are the parts where you get to parachute with your buddy and try to control the parachute with the wonder that are the SixAxis motion controls. If ever a game takes you out of something fun into something fun like sandpapering your arse, this is it.
Now, we’re ragging on it a tad here, and in that vein we shall continue!
Mid-mission shopping is a feature that seems so out of place, it makes Gordon Brown look like he belongs in Number 10. Just picture it, you’re making your way through war-torn Somalia, mowing down enemies with disdain before reaching a checkpoint. And then up pops a screen inviting you for a spot of retail therapy down the high street. Ok, it’s not your average high-street, and the stuff on offer is heavy-duty weaponry, but how the hell do they get this stuff to the player? If they’re flying it in, couldn’t they just nuke the whole level at the same time and save us the trouble? But, shop you can, and the best part by far is ‘blinging’ your weapon. Rude as it sounds, it merely means that your gun gets a fetching makeover and bedecked in stuff that reeks taste like a rapper’s crib. That is to say, there is no taste at all. Which is similar to that Cristal stuff they drink, so AO2 is full of rich symbolism. Anyway, back to the bling. Bling your weapon and the enemies take it more personally when you attack them. To be honest, I can see the logic in that. It’s like how we feel at TSA Towers when the latest rap video comes on MTV and we can’t decide whether to claw out our eyeballs or cut off our ears first. We wonder if Byron considered that during her review.
Ok, ok enough’s enough – AO2 isn’t all that bad. The COOP is actually very well executed – online and off – and the commands and tactics do work well, often forcing you to apply different approaches on the fly, or allowing you to work to a plan. The general running-around-shooting-stuff is also really enjoyable, and we love the over-the-top Americanised celebrations you can get the guys to perform. Some of the dialogue is hilarious too, in an “All your base are belong to us…” type way. Did we mention the story? There is one, and if private military corporations and conspiracy theories are your thing then it’s actually quite good.
And we can’t end the review without a mention of the quite lovely graphics. Unreal-powered as it is, there are loads of excellent textures and details, all shifting about at a cracking clip, and it’s smooth in split screen too. Some of the animation is slightly dodgy, our favourite being the constipated enemies that waddle past you on their pre-determined route to a hiding place. We’re nit-picking again though, because AO2 looks the business for the most part.
See, we don’t hate AO2, in fact we love it. It’s a fun shooter, with a really well implemented COOP element, it’s just that sometimes that illusion is needlessly broken and it makes a mockery of your tactics.
Work to be done then: roll on AO22.