Review: Army of Two

Mike Bantick
Thursday, 17 April 2008 17:35

Opinion and Analysis

More macho than a cigar chomping poker game between Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hulk Hogan.  Welcome to the canned violence of Army of Two.

Some games walk a fine line in order to fit in with the norms of society, subtlety sidestepping issues and perhaps hinting at concepts that could possible get the game off side with censors or the pillars of our community.  Not so Army of Two.

Army of Two
	Developer	EA Montreal
	Publisher	EA
	Rating	MA 15+
PS3, Reviewed on Xbox 360

AoT does not hold back, this is like a return to Arnies fabulous series of Eighties films.  Big dumb and violent.  Except not so dumb, it takes a level of strategy to achieve the blood soaked objectives of AoT.

The story is all grit, the mercenary team of Elliott Salem and Tyson Rios battle through the war zones of Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, China, on board an Aircraft Carrier and err...Miami.  As part of the SSC (Security and Strategy Corporation) they kill for cash, all within the backdrop of the political debate of the benefits of regular army vs corporate killers such as SSC.

But regardless of the storyline, the violence of the game is always there, without civilians or other innocents to get in the way, game-play revolves around the mantra of 'if it moves – shoot it'

As you can guess from the title, AoT is all about co-op play.  The six part single player campaign will require you to master the computerised partner.  The controls are a little awkward to begin with and take some time to master.

Once you have control however, you will be able to change weapons, control your partner and other special commands such as an exchange of equipment and a double sniping order.