Army of Two is a surprising game, when you play it at first it seems somewhat lacking in something but as you continue it just begins to feel more and more fun and there are a number of reasons for this.
The story isn't a stunner, it is half decent and would work very well for a movie but less for a game. And each mission doesn't have a direct link with one another which retracts from the overall experience. And after playing through COD4 it is clear that it is perfectly possible to make a story driven modern shooter. Also the storyline is very short, and on the medium difficulty (contractor) it can probably be completed in 6 hours. But i wasn't really disappointed with it because of this, the game didn't need to be longer then 6 hours.
The characters are great, Salem is a bit of an arse but still they are both comical and by no means serious. Also their armor and masks are cool and have a very unique look to them which is a nice change from other modern shooters. Also the enemies graphics are quite good, not the best but as good as they need to be because frankly one terrorist / soldier looks the same as any other.
The take cover and shoot mechanic of Army of Two turned out to be great. Unlike Gears of War you don't have to press a button to get into cover but just by walking towards it and putting yourself near it automatically in cover. This doesn't mean you put your back to the wall or anything, instead you continue to face the wall but you will now raise or move your gun to shoot while in cover. And this system is very smooth and runs great and makes for a very believable shooter. Also not only walls can be used for cover but almost everything.
Army of Two's acclaimed aggro system works seamlessly and your opponents react to it very quickly and effectively but not to the point that it is unbelievable. If your partner has the aggro and you run at an enemy right in front of him he will just shoot you instead. So it really does make Army of Two a more tactical shooter rather then a spray and pray game.
The environments of the game change with each mission which makes each mission a new experience. For example in one mission you are in Iraq and in another you are in China. And these environments are all very uniquely designed. However the main issue i have is that all the enemies speak perfect English and all seem to have a similar accent if not exactly the same.
Army of Two has great character customization. As you complete objectives in a mission you earn cash and you can buy new mask designs, new guns and mods for your guns. There are a tonne of guns from a mini guns to a stinger missile launcher and of course the smaller and less fun guns like the M16. And the mods for a lot of these guns is great. Some you can attach shields to and others you can even attach a shotgun / grenade launcher onto the front of it. But one of the best gun options is the ability to 'pimp' your gun. This
makes it gold and has cool designs on the side on it. Some look crap and lame while others just look awesome, who doesn't want a golden AK47.
Where Army of Two shines is in the co-op. Both me and Warp have gotten to do the campaign together in split screen. And it is excellent and makes for one of the best co-op games to date. All the different features available to do in co-op like co-op snipe and the overkill mode makes it great. Overkill is a mode where one character has full aggro you can activate it and the one with full aggro will go slow and have everyone attack him but he will deal a lot damage. While the over goes to stealth mode and moves very quickly and does very strong melee attacks. Army of Two was just built for co-op and to be truely experienced it needs to be played split-screen in my opinion.
However Army of Two does have short comings that need to be mentioned. The multiplayer is only just decent. All you do is there are two teams of two and you run around competeting to complete different missions for cash. But it seems laggy and quite boring after your first few matchs. This really reduces the games life. Also the games AI isn't great. When i played through it with the AI partner he seemed like a complete fool and would need to be told everything which gets old. The back to back moments although quite fun at times can be a chore at times because they are just too easy and them being scripted doesn't help it.
Also if there are any readers out there in the EU you may have seen this EU tag on Army of Two. This basically means that you can't play with anyone outside the EU which is just pathetic. I don't understand it, i mean Halo 3 could run 4 player co-op perfectly with everyone around the world but Army of Two can't for some reason manage 2 player co-op. This is probably just an attempt to save money someway, but if anything it will just piss off gamers.
So to conclude Army of Two is a very decent game but not a must buy, but still fun for a few weeks especially if you can play split screen with a mate.
Score - 7 / 10 A decent buy if you have some spare cash and have someone to play co-op with.
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