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Army of Who?
Graphically though, Army of Two is a rather stunning game. It isn’t quite the visual feast of something like BioShock with its heavily stylised presentation and character design, but Army of Two is still a sumptuous treat to behold even if the locales and enemies seem to be borrowed from Shotterus Genericus.The lighting is especially worthy of note as the game makes heavy use of HDR. Normally an excessive use of high dynamic range lighting would be a bad thing, but Army of Two uses it consistently and appropriately. Burst out of bunker into the sunlight and expect to be blinded for a few critical seconds, taking a few bullets for your foolishness.
It’s these little touches that really pick the game up for us and lift it back out of the mire that poor AI and level design may have left it in.
Sniping was another of our favourite little features – whip out your scoped rifle and for the first few seconds your aim will wobble crazily. Wait a second though and it’ll calm down and your aim will steady. This slight delay helps strike a balance between the reality of using a weapon like that and the accessibility required to make the game fun.
In terms of the value of the game, it’s a little hard to decide if the game is worth playing full price for. The singleplayer campaign is a bit on the short side and is composed of only a handful of missions—though each mission is decently long and can take a good hour or two to defeat—and playing through on co-op will only speed this completion up.
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However, Army of Two is definitely a fun enough game to spend that time on, so long as you don’t go in expecting a deep, engaging storyline and characters who’ll leave a lasting impression.
Here’s what Army of Two has to offer; a fun, over-the-top shooter filled with mindless swearing and attitude. You’ve got a wide arsenal of customisable weapons to tinker with, a predictable array of levels to test them over and a load of collectibles to scrounge for in between your mass murders. It’s enjoyable and clearly doesn’t take itself as serious as it might seem to.
Basically, think something along the lines of a two-player, linear version of Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, which is no bad thing.
If you’ve got a hankering for something violent and team-based and you’ve got friends who want the same thing then Army of Two will be right up your street. It isn’t massively long in the tooth and it isn’t as hugely groundbreaking as you might hope, but it’s a passable romp that’ll strike a chord with gamers across the market.
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