'Redefine' and 'Innovation' are the key words.
Whenever I've watched a new trailer or some game-play footage from Army of Two, gawped at a bundle of impressive-looking screenshots or salivated over the game's exciting feature list, there has always been something niggling away at the back of my mind.I remember some time ago when Electronic Art's CEO John Riccitiello said that videogame companies are 'boring people to death' with re-hashed sequels and lack of innovation in their titles and that his company were striving to do things differently in the future. Army of Two was billed as being one of these innovative games and indeed even the initial press release made bold claims that it would redefine strategic two man cooperative play. These promises have been ringing through my ears while reviewing this third-person shooter.
It's great to see a new IP from Electronic Arts, arguably one of the masters of 're-hashed sequels', but when I hear developers claiming that their title will 'redefine' a genre, it always puts me on the back foot and makes me somewhat suspicious that the game won't deliver - call me cynical in my old age. I also remember Alain Tascan, general manager for EA Montreal - the Army of Two studio - saying that Gears of War, incidentally one of my favourite single player games of the last few years, had 'zero innovation'. Army Of Two must be amazing then, right?
With these thoughts whizzing through my head, my expectations were high. I presumed that the third-person shooter, Army of Two, would blow me away. If you create the hype, you must deliver.
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