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Playing Pair
There’s been a little confusion about how the co-op gameplay works in Army of Two, with some journalists saying that it’s online co-op only and some reporting problems with the disc regions.Here’s the low-down from what we gathered with the Xbox 360 version though; the game can be played offline in split-screen co-op, online over Xbox Live, but the game is region specific. PAL disc owners in the EU can only play others in that region and so on. You might also want to prepare for some flaky servers – but from what we hear it’s not a huge problem.
Co-op gaming is definitely where the vast majority of the fun is to be had because, although the game is perfectly approachable in singleplayer mode if you excuse the brain-damaged AI, it isn’t actually all that much fun. The locations are pretty dull and uninteresting, ranging from Generic Bunker #1 to Boring Desert #99.
Ah well, at least there aren’t any brown, pseudo-medieval castles, eh Quake?
So, when co-op kicks in then the fun should really begin, right? Sure, kind of. In co-op the game is certainly more fun to play and a little easier to boot as long as you work and communicate with your ally. Be warned though, if you want to communicate in an online co-op then you’d be best off getting hold of a headset if you don’t already have one. You should get some friends while you’re at it too.
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Getting used to the co-op game style can take a fair old while as Army of Two is both very detached from and very close to the run-n-gun style of games like Serious Sam. On the one hand there’s near unlimited numbers of enemies that come charging at you in swathes of swathes, while on the other hand the game is very difficult and it’s remarkably easy to die.
Co-op campaigns have some nice touches though – enabling co-op sniping gives human players a countdown they can use to synchronise their shot. That move is especially helpful for when you need to detonate something in the distance or thin a distant cluster of enemies.
In the co-op campaign though things aren’t entirely co-operative and players are actually competing for funds. Players can earn extra moolah by completing secondary objectives, collecting extra intel and enemy plans or simply mowing down enemies – but the funds are given only to the player who actually achieved the objective, not divided. This helps to keep a nice competitive edge to a co-op match and having two players both trying to sprint for one briefcase is a common sight.
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Money is more than just a way of keeping score too. At several points in missions you’ll be able to do some shopping, buying new guns and gear as you progress through the game. Each weapon can then be customised to enhance the stats – adding silencers, expanded magazines or face shields all have different effects.
Learning which weapon balance is right for you is vitally important to beating the game. Having a silencer on your rifle might mean you have increased accuracy, but it’ll be a trade-off as your reduced presence will mean it is harder to accumulate Aggro.
Unfortunately, co-op has the same problem as the singleplayer game and some areas are just too damn hard to believe. The Aggro mechanic is clever, but it’s at odds with the rest of the game. Using Aggro to distract heavy guards who can only be defeated from behind is fine in theory, but there sometimes isn’t enough room for players to get a shot off behind the enemy.
In order to accumulate Aggro you often have to be visible too, which means getting shot at – something that players don’t actually want to do, so the whole idea kind of goes against the usual way of thinking for a game. On top of that, if the player with the Aggro is knocked down then the player behind the soldier is suddenly left in a near unwinnable situation, having to get past a minigun toting freedom fighter that is now focused solely on him.
Shopping
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