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You and What Army?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 30 / 32
Date: March 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Generally, this is a good shooter. At its heart, it's a co-op game where you team up with either an AI partner or a real life partner to take out numerous terrorist threats the world over. Is it groundbreaking? No. Is it entertaining? Yes. It's a good game that has good gameplay and graphics. However, it still doesn't compare to its cousins like Gears of War and Call of Duty 4. That being said, you will still most likely have a good time. The aiming and shooting mechanic mirrors that of Gears where you pull left trigger to aim and then shoot with right trigger. The game is unique in that it does require team work with your partner to get through some of the levels. The "aggro" system is a prime example of this. One partner essentially steals the spotlight and attracts the attention of most of the enemies, enabling the other partner to stealth around the battle field and get a better shot. I also like the ability to customize your weapons and gear (all for a price). Afterall, the point of the game is to get paid, and you do get paid handsomely for killing ruthless terrorists and protecting key targets. It's a fairly linear game, but you do have some options of completing secondary objectives that might take you off the beaten path. You would be hard pressed to get lost as there is a "GPS" system that basically shows you the path to take to complete the mission. I think most shooter fans will like this game. It just didn't grab me quite like Gears or COD4 did.

Finally, a game meant for Co-Op!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 24 / 28
Date: March 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you're like me, you love video games. You love shooters, and more than that, you love to share the fun with a friend. Sure, it's a blast to have multi-player where you can kill each other, but what the industry has been lacking til now is a game meant to be played with a friend. Army of Two delivers.

First off, there's various modes where you combine forces with your characters, including a dual-sniper mode that allows you and a friend to coordinate sniper shots to take down two foes at the same time. You'll still depend on your friend taking the voice-cue from the game, but if they don't know how to fire when the game tells them to, it's the least of your worries. There's also back-to-back mode, which looked a LOT like the final shoot-out scene in Mr. & Mrs. Smith - very cool how the characters twist and turn around each other to shoot the badies.

There's a lot fo the game that depends on two people helping each other, but there's also a lot of subtle things added in that make it fun enough to want to talk about. Not only can you congratulate your co-op buddy with a high-five or smart remark (via game controls), you can also insult them or give them a well-deserved headbutt for overwhelming idiocy in the line of duty.

The great part for me is that as you advance, you make money. You can then use this money to outfit yourself with new and more powerful weapons, armor, and even facemasks. (The facemasks are the best part, as you can get ones that with a desert motiff, a "street" motiff, or my favorite, a clown face!!!) you can also save your money to focus in areas you're good at. I'm a sniper, so I spent most of my money getting the latest and greatest sniper rifle.

The story line is solid, the game controls take bit of getting used to, especially with all the bumper use, but all in all I have to say this is the best 360 game yet this year.

Mercenary action taken to new heights!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: March 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

It's been quite a while since I first saw the teaser trailer for Army of Two. When I did all those months ago, I figured it was some kind of high tech, science fiction sort of game... you know, an unstoppable duo wielding the latest in death dealing weapons and the best armour that science could create.

I figured that it was going to be dealing with blowing away aliens or the like.

Well, I was wrong.

Well, partially at any rate.

The game does touch on some of this, a pair of former Rangers named Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios, who end up quitting the military to go for a Mercenary Company known as SSC, the Security and Strategy Corporation.

The beautiful part of the game is that it is very heavily story driven. You're mercenaries, and you get paid by the mission, and you can get bonuses of cash throughout by completing secondary objectives.

This cash can be used to buy better weapons - you have your primary - typically an assault rifle, but you can purchase different types, all the way up to a mini-gun. The secondary weapons are handguns but you can also purchase sub-machine guns, such as the P90. Finally you also have your special weapon which is typically a sniper rifle, but you can even buy anti-tank weapons to use.

Now, if you don't have enough money after a mission to purchase a new weapon, you can always upgrade your existing weapon to increase its damage, accuracy, ammunition capacity and aggro.

So, you can really customize your weapons. Hell, you can even `pimp' out your weapon, getting it covered in gold plating, if you so desire.

As for the game, it's divided up into six missions, played over a thirteen year period, starting in 1993.

You start in Somalia, then head to Afghanistan and fight your way though an old soviet military complex. From there you fight in Iraq, and then mission four takes place in the Philippines, on the Aircraft Carrier the USS Constellation. Mission five takes place in China and finally the last mission of the game is in a flooded downtown Miami.

Throughout the game there are numerous cut scenes, all that adds to the depth of the game world and the story behind it.

If I had a complaint about these cut scenes is that several times the walking animation of the various characters involved was really jerky, not smooth or natural in any way. But I only noticed this I think twice through the entire game.

While I'm on it, the animation was beautifully rendered. It didn't quite have the rag-doll effect that I've been growing accustomed to seeing in many of these first person shooter games, and the blood and gore was really toned down.

Frankly, I wouldn't expect any less from an Xbox 360 game.

The sound effects were well done as well. Each weapon had its own unique sound. It's a good thing I don't usually play these games with the sound cranked, because if I did, I'd probably have damaged my ears every time a rocket was launched and it exploded!

Despite the fact that there is little in the line of gore, this game isn't for children. The F-bomb is dropped with frighteningly regularity, and it does deal with mature subject matter, although there isn't any nudity in the game.

Game play is your typical Xbox 360 first person shooter. You don't have a health score, but you can tell how badly you are injured as your screen will start to turn red, and you're breathing will become hard and laboured. If this happens, make damned sure you find cover and give yourself a short period of time to recover!

If you take too much damage, you'll get knocked flat on your armoured rear, so make sure that your partner is close at hand, or you are dead. See below for more on this...

You have plenty of places to hide in the game environment, so make good use of them. Duck behind desks, or small walls or even glass doors to evade enemy fire. That did kind of annoy me, as I would have much preferred to see you be able to shoot through objects like this, but that too is minor.

Unlike many other Xbox games I've played, this one has very little in the way of environmental kills. There are occasionally barrels or propane containers that you can shoot and cause them to explode, but I found that they were few and far between.

One thing that you can't ignore is the use of your partner. You have three commands that you can use on him. Stick close, head out and draw fire, or stay put and cover. These can be used to varying degrees, such as if you want your partner to go ahead and draw fire so you can get into a better position to cause some serious damage.

This is especially useful when you run into heavily armoured opponents who can only be hurt if you get behind them and shoot them in the back, or machine gunners who are hidden behind full shields.

Of these three commands, you have two levels of aggressiveness... blue which means defensive, or red which means offensive.

Now, as I stated above, if you or your partner get badly injured, you can call them up to help you. You will get dragged away, and while you're being dragged, you can still fire your weapon at the enemy. Once you're behind cover, your partner will heal you and you're ready to fight once again.

You'll know if your partner is in trouble as he will call out for help. If this happens, get to him quickly... if you don't he'll die and you'll have to start from the last checkpoint.

One thing that really took me by surprise was the scope of the game. Several levels, starting with the USS Constellation, were amazingly huge! You really felt like you were fighting on the deck of an American carrier!

Even in Miami, several of the maps you fought on were incredibly large, like the airport. Plenty of places to hide, but also if you were unlucky enough to get caught out in the open, well as Hudson would put it, Game over man, Game over!

Combat was, once again, typical of an Xbox 360 game. You could see the damage meter above your targets and this helped you to know if you were actually hitting the target or not during combat. You could zoom in a little closer by hitting the left trigger, or if you were using your sniper rifle, you'd be able to zoom directly in for a nice head shot. You know, one shot, one kill.

Hitting the head was also a good way of taking down your enemy with a minimal expenditure of ammunition.

There are also two ways of replenishing your ammo supply. You could pick up ammo off the bodies of certain enemies after you dispatched them, or you'd get re-supplied between missions. The ammo dropped by the enemy always looks like golden packs, so make sure you grab when you can.

Be warned, the enemy isn't stupid. They don't like getting caught in the open, and they will use cover to its full advantage. Watch out too, while you're at it, as they like to drop more than F-bombs on you. Stay too long behind cover in one place, and they'll toss a nice little grenade your way.

There are a couple of times throughout the game you'll get to drive vehicles, or control a parachute as you drop in on your mission. Make sure you have your sniper rifle at the ready as you drop in during the parachute phase, as it'll reduce the number of enemies you have to face once you hit the ground.

The driving sequences were pretty standard fare, with you controlling the vehicle while your partner provided cover-fire. I guess if you're playing two player mode, you could quite easily take control of the gun instead of driving.

Oh, as you fight, you'll gain aggro. This means that the enemy is targeting you and you alone, unless your partner presents himself as an easy target. This can be a bad thing, if you don't have anywhere to hide. But, while the aggro is on you, you can send your partner out to take out the opponents while they concentrate their fire on you.

The reverse works as well, you can send your partner out to attract the fire while you get into a better position to take out your enemy.

And, if you find a riot shield to use, don't hesitate!

Finally, as with the aggro overkill meter, several times during the game you'll have to fight back to back. When this happens, time will slow down and your weapon will do a great deal more damage. You'll have to keep turning in a circle in order to take your targets out, so don't just aim for one location only, or you'll get yourself and your partner killed!

Ok, Pros of the game...
- Smart AI for both enemy and your AI controlled partner.
- A wide variety of locations world wide to fight in.
- Map size for some of the missions.
- Upgradeable weapons.
- Some very entertaining mini cut scenes. Watch em carefully!
- Co-op sniping!

Cons of the game...
- Some of the larger maps don't have too many save points, and it can get frustrating.
- Only about six hours of play time.
- Some of the movement in the cut scenes were very jerky and un-natural.
- Would have liked a larger variety of weapons, more ways to upgrade, upgradeable armour, and the ability to pick up your opponents weapons.

I haven't tried out the multiplayer part of the game, so I can't comment on it.

Overall, it was a solid, enjoyable game with lots of potential that was put to excellent use.

4 out of 5

Like Gears Of War Without The Fun

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 19 / 27
Date: March 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The taste in my mouth: (before the actual review)

This game is bad. I mean, what marketing focus group decided the two main characters (white guys) would talk in surfer ebonics? Does that somehow increase the game's appeal to an inner-city 16-24 crowd? Don't even get me started on "pimping" your weapons with the money you earn. I'm not talking about customizing appearance or effectiveness (one of the things that earned this game two stars of fun), but simply changing the weapon's appearance like a cheesy late-90s hip hop video would.

If it sounds like I'm ragging on hip hop culture, ebonics, or anything like that, forget it...it's just that I'm mystified as to why this game would include such over-the-top, cheesy content at EVERY TURN. On to the review:

A rundown:

Plot/Dialogue: SO...CHEESY. After the first 20 minutes, you're dreading the cutscenes (they look pretty, though). What predictable plot twist will come next? What cool-guy quip will the dorky characters blurt out? Pathetic. I'll bet you can guess the first plot twist before it's even introduced. Just come up with the most clichee, overused device you can imagine.

Controls/Feel: Playable. Smooth, but player movement and animation feels clunky. Like Gears of War without the realism or fun. Aiming while running or maneuvering around obstacles is tough (not in a realistic way; in an annoying way). The one thing that really gets to you after an hour or so is the player death/healing animations and the hand-to-hand animations. Often you'll find yourself involuntarily going into one of these slow, unstoppable animations in the middle of combat when you'd rather get behind some cover. You will die because of this. Often, if you're playing on the harder difficulties. Also, when playing in co-op, joystick sensitivity can't be individually adjusted (and there's only 3 settings, none of which seem quite right after Halo, Gears, etc).

AI: Crappy. Everything even mildly cool that enemies do in the game is scripted. The AI itself is extremely basic. It feels like you're fighting the same two types of enemies for the entire game, they just keep getting progressively harder to kill. No personality, no backstory to the enemy types...they're just mindless drones that you kill in hordes. Fun for an hour or two. Boring for the rest of the game.

Level Design: Boring. Cosmetically, the levels all look good after you get past Afghanistan and Iraq...even reasonably different from each other. It's always the same cover placement, though, and the levels always work the same way. It gets really repetitive after a while. By the end, the co-op partner I had started with had abandoned me, and I was figuring out where the ambushes would come from just by seeing where the cover was placed. Sound crazy? That's the kind of mental acrobatics you'll be playing with yourself if you try to push through the entire game...just to keep it SOMEHOW entertaining.

Co-Op: A friend of mine shelled out the better part of $60 for this game. We played for half an hour on the normal difficulty and turned off the console. He was so disappointed that he gave the game to me to finish (so I could write this review). This is a guy who LOVES shooters, who LOVES co-op. Sadly, the co-op actions in this game (co-op snipe, jump steps, etc) are SO contrived and useless, it feels like they were just added on at the end of the game design. You will run into bridges that have little holes JUST so you can jump-step up on the other side, so you feel like there's still some "co-op action" going on. Two words: BS.

Graphics/Hud: The HUD sucks. It's hard to see your crosshairs for the first 20 minutes of the game (until you stop looking for them). Graphics aren't nearly as good as Gears of War, which came out a looong time ago.

PROS: The game sucks, but there ARE a few small things that don't. To be fair, I'm including them...although nothing can stop this game from trainwrecking in the first 25 minutes.

Autosaving is GREAT. I feel like I would have chucked this game across the living room if I'd had to replay large sections of it. The game's autosaving is as seamless and helpful as I've ever seen in a game (if only Splinter Cell: Double Agent had implemented something like this!). It really saved me a ton of time and frustration.

Customizing your weapons is fun, too. Too bad there's no way to sell off weapons you've been using to invest in the bigger, better ones by the end of the game. Oh well.

OVERALL:

Props to the programmers, animators, art guys, etc....all the "grunts" who worked on this game. It runs smooth, looks pretty, and all the technical stuff seems to work just fine. You guys did a great job. Where this game utterly fails is the concept/design itself. What happened?

Seriously, what went wrong? Too many focus groups diluting the core ideas that could have made this game cool? Too much marketing BS about making the game more attractive to a wider audience? The idea could have been cool, if the concept had just been left alone. As it is, though, everything about Army of Two feels totally overproduced. It's like a bunch of 50-year old white guys were trying too hard to make it "cool"...which resulted in laughably bad dialogue/characters, an "I've-seen-it-a-million-times" plot, and BORING gameplay. No amount of pimping my AK-47 can fix that.

If any part of you still thinks this game could be cool, RENT IT FIRST. You'll see what I'm talking about. If you still love it, then buy it, but I think that advice will save a ton of people $55 that they could invest in something else.

Good luck to those who've already sunk cash into this game. Try to get rid of it while the marketing hype is still going, because after that no one will want it. A total loss.

0.5/5

Pretty graphics, engaging co-op, a ton of guns and not much else.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: March 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I, like a lot of people was very excited to play this game. I will admit however that when it was initially supposed to be released last year I definitely had absolutely no intentions of purchasing. But after the extra hype and the hopefully polishing that went on for those extra several months, I was on board.

To sum it up, the game has a co-op experience like no other, very pretty graphics but not much else. I'm just going to cut to the chase and spare you my wonderful writing skills: Shooting in this game is extremely frustrating. Not to mention the behavior of the AI is annoying. That = hard to kill. You will take a ton of hits and go down for the count when you don't really expect to. The melee-ing is terrible. You need to be face to face with the enemy and if you CAN manage to get into that position, you still have a 50/50 chance that his magical computer powered skills won't melee you first.

I've read other reviews that this game contains great production values. I heard all about the battleship sinking while you are on it, and though I am no Call of Duty Fan Boy (by the way, I have disowned the game as of last week in support of R6V2) the first mission of COD4's ship sinking blows Army of Two's ship sinking out of the water (figuratively and literally). Sure it's awesome to see some fighter jets falling past you but it's short and honestly appears to be half done. A TOTAL dissappointment. Other than that there really is no huge action sequence to write home about.

A stiff breeze could knock the bosses down. Yes the "Aggro" system is novel and unique, but you don't really need to use it, and even when my human partner and I tried to utilize it, we were basically punished because it did not work. Also if you WANT to use Aggro you are required to unload all of your ammunition which is not extremely plentiful. Every single boss in the game can only be killed one way: from the back. The boss in the first mission is just as hard as the boss you fight in the 5th mission. There is no curve of difficulty. The same goes for the other enemies in the game.

A lot of the Co-op functions in the game are pretty useless. Co-op snipe is a cool concept but you utilize it 2, maybe 3 times. The back to back feature which sounds awesome cannot even be initiated by the player, the game itself automatically puts you into it, USUALLY at the very beginning of the stage. I will give credit where credit is due, the co-op parachuting is awesome. It is a challenge to snipe while in motion but still awesome. The hovercraft contains the most ridiculous controls I've ever encountered in a game. I highly doubt it is that complicated to operate an actual one.

The game can be blown through in 6 hours on the initially given hardest difficulty. Once beaten you have the option to complete on a harder difficulty, but why you'd want to put yourself through that mindless drivel a second time given the fact that you know exactly what to expect is beyond me.

I myself LOVE LOVE LOVE multiplayer aspects of games. I hold it in higher regards than nthe single player. I hoestly wish I could give you a full review of the multiplayer, but unfortunately after waiting 15 minutes in a room witih my friend we could not get 2 more people to join our match. However we did successfully enter one match and to say it wasn't fun would be an understatement. I enjoyed it yet it was a little ridiculous because along with with the human opponents the map was fully of AI opponents which always happen to come out once I engaged the human opponent. This really leaves the multiplayer match winners to be determined by luck. That does not equal a strong multiplayer component in my eyes.

One strong suit of this game is the selection of guns and the amount you can customize them. This section is awesome. It almost looks as though they spent more time fine tuning this aspect than the actual gameplay and AI choices made while creating. Although it would be fun to unlock all weapons and masks, I don't think I could play the amount required in order to accumulate enough money to purchase them all. But I admit that the weapon selection and customization is the strongest part of the game.

In closing, yes it was a diversion of 6 or so hours from my normal life. But I am currently selling my copy used. It is in immaculate condition: disc, case and instructions, you can find it on amazon in the used section it is selling for 48.99. If you don't believe me you can try for yourself and let me know.

Great CO-OP

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

A great game to play with a buddy (or wife:-) for co-op play. Playing solo with the AI is okay, but not nearly as enjoyable as with a *real* partner. The AI does a good job, but the dialog variety is a little weak and doesn't provide you with any game feedback, i.e., "Watch out on your left." Also, avoid using your GPS; it's too much hand-holding. It's more fun to explore and figure out your route and objectives on your own. The game is fairly linear, so what's the need for the yellow-blinking brick road?

Things that would've given it a higher rating in my book:
1. more AI instructions, i.e., go left, right, forward, etc.
2. more levels! Too short going solo. Good length for co-op though.
3. customizable armor, i.e., speed versus protecting, custom paint to match the masks, etc.
4. more innovative co-op moments

We're looking forward to Army of Two... er... uh... 2!

Disapointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

After watching the commercials on TV I thought this game looked great. However After playing it through I was very disappointed. The game didn't look to bad visually, but other than that there isn't a lot to be excited about. The thing that was very annoying was that the aiming seemed like it was unresponsive even when I put it on the highest setting. The campaign was short and I beat it in under 6 hours. The online multiplayer has an interesting concept in working co-operatively with a partner to complete various objectives, but it's hampered by the slow gameplay. If you really have your heart set on buying this game , I strongly, STRONGLY suggest renting it before hand.

As fun as i expect but lacking in replayability

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: March 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I had high expectations for this game. It looked like lots of fun and had some original ideas. The gameplay turned out to be what i expected and i didn't want to stop playing. The graphics are great and the 2 player interaction makes it very interesting.

The couple downfalls that i have noticed is that it took me 4 hours with a friend to get halfway through the game. If you dont mind spending $60 for 8 hours of entertainment, i guess you can ignore this point. The single player is designed so that you get money for your missions and you spend that money to upgrade your guns (or a face mask that is pointless except for looks). The problem is that you have to buy each gun just to try it out. It would be impossible to build up an arsenal that you can pick and choose from at the end of the game. Instead, you basically get to build up towards one good fat setup and have it for the end of the game. If you want to try out all of the weapons, you will have to play the campaign many times.

Multi player seemed like it could be lots of fun also. I only tried a few games so i didn't get to try out everything. The biggest flaw is that there aren't really any rewards to playing online. You earn cash which is ONLY used as rank. I dont know about everyone else, but that isn't too much motivation to bring me back to the game. If you could build up your character like you do in single player mode (or even if you could just use your single player character in multi-player that way your guys is someone custom) it would make it a lot better. Starting with the same premade guy that everone else has is kinda bland.

It is a very fun game that made me laugh and i hard a hard time putting it down at the end of the night. I dont regret buying it, but i have a hard time recommending it to friends.

Got the shooter the industry needed.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game was exactly what the video game industry needed. I think it is the best shooter to come out EVER!! First Halo 3(which is still the most replayable and best online) was number one. Then we got Call of Duty 4 which was groundbreaking in graphics and story line. Then there is Army of Two, it has it all. It is simply the best co-op game ever created, great graphics, smooth gameplay, great story and the wepon and gear selections are endless. You could spend hours just checking out the different wepon layouts. Co-op has been needed by gamers and this game delivered. I could replay this with a different freind every night of the week. Thanks EA and keep them coming.

WOW

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: March 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I thought this would be so much better. Don't watch the ads because that is not what the game is like. There are far to many load screens that take an eternity. People have said this is like gears of war. It is not even close!!!!!!! It steals ideas from there and them makes them bad. Terrible interface and many glitches!! What is the deal with the melee attacks. It is the same button as shoot so you never know what it is going to do.

This is fun if you have someone to play with. Other wise forget it, this is a waste of money and an insult to the name Gears of War. They tried far to hard to add cool little things like congratulating your partner, and videos with awesome graphics.

Story is very bad does not flow at all and very abrupt ending. You can hardly even tell that you are fighting the last guy until he is dead.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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