Army of Two…Short!

By Darktrc

Many, many games have come out to be a huge disappointment in recent memory. To be honest, I think there are far too many of them. Red Steel for the Wii was supposed to be what No More Heroes is now, REVOLUTIONARY, but it was a total bust. Halo 3 was only good because it had “Halo 3” printed on the cover (Yeah Halo fans, I said it.). MLB 2K8 and Bully: Scholarship Edition had MAJOR frame rate problems that both producers had to publicly apologize for and confirm there will be an update as soon as possible. These games all had one positive thing. They all came out on the original release date. It pisses me off when games are delayed…delayed…and delayed some more, and then it comes out to be a waste of $60 anyway. If only every game turned out like Call of Duty 4 (on time and great game), I’d spend $60 on every new release no matter what the game is.

Unfortunately, in the real world, that is not the case. Army of Two is a prime example of a game that just should’ve come out on its’ original date. Why? Well let’s take a look! EA originally announced AoT on July 24th, saying the game will come November 15th, and a week before that they delayed it to Q1 2008. Alright, so that’s cool, a couple months can’t hurt, especially with Halo 3 being just released. As we neared January, they announced that it will be closer to Q2, why? They needed to add more content. That’s great! I mean why not? It wasn’t until February that they announced the confirmed release date of March 6th. Everyone was excited, the trailers looked nuts and the anticipation just went through the roof.

Then…reality hit everyone in the head on March 6th. The game came out with an ultra-cool beginning and intro. Then...six missions later you’re ready to trade the game in. The online 2-on-2 isn’t nearly as amazing as it seems because there is no tactical component to it. Idiots just run around like its Call of Duty 4 with 4 people. Sure, it’s fun to play with a friend, but what if you don’t play online? You get a stupid AI buddy that fails to respond to your commands far too often for you to survive through the missions. There is barely any replay value to it, unless you are curious to see how the game plays with different friends. I was looking forward to that aspect personally…until I found out it is six missions long.

Don’t get me wrong. Army of Two had potential to be a fantastic game. It is quite possibly one of the best co-op shooters so far on the 360. When it comes down to value, online content, single player and so on…it just wasn’t there. $60 (CDN) for 6 missions and a crappy online just doesn’t do the job for me. This game is at best a 7-day rental, because you’ll beat it in 2 or 3 depending on your pace and the rest of the 4-5 days you’ll be looking for ways to get that $9-10 dollars back.

Another Take

by Khazyk

Army of Two is short. There is no denying that fact. Even with that being the case, there is a great deal of fun to be had. I quite enjoyed the game. There are some really annoying circumstances to the game though. For example, why would it take more then 1 sniper shot (2 if you have really crappy aim) to take down an enemy? There was an instance where it took about 6 sniper shots to put an enemy down. Another annoying thing with enemy AI and possibly a gripe with the third person perspective is what we refer to as “dancing with the stars.” It is when you are tracking an enemy and putting bullets in him. Then suddenly he decides to run back into you. This then commences the dance because he will start doing circles around you causing you to try and lace bullets into him and continually missing. This whole event may actually cause you to see stars because of the circular motions you and Enemy A are doing. Not a fun time!

Enough of the cons though. This game is a truly fun experience. Grab a buddy online or local, and just have a few hours of fun. The fact you can give props or lambaste your partner is a great idea, but it’s unfortunate it wasn’t flushed out more. Plus, this game has some of the wittiest dialogue I have heard in a game. It is constant and keeps you wanting to hear more from Salem and Rios. One dialogue piece occurred when Chow88 and I were playing and in the middle of a firefight, Salem started going off on which rapper was the best in the Wu-Tang Clan was. Suffice it to say, laughs started to ensue.

The game is enjoyable. It probably would be one of the best I’ve played if it were a budget title, but I think a fun time could be had. It’s too bad that late fees on games are back because this is a rental, but I’m sure you wouldn’t bring it back on time!