Summing it up
Disappointingly, Army of Two is extremely linear, even to the point that you can pull up a GPS system and simply follow a line on the floor to your next objective or location. Despite battling away in Somalia, Afghanistan, and China the locations are also fairly dull. There's nothing wrong with the graphics, the game looks great, but the underground bunkers, the corridor battles and fighting through hangars lacks variation and style. The only reason I knew I was in Iraq because I was told so (okay, so the guy in the turban with a bomb on his back kinda gave it away as well), but some street fighting would have freshened up the action.As I said at the beginning of this review, the words 'redefine' and 'innovation' have been niggling at me every time I've heard mention of Army of Two. In truth, it doesn't redefine co-op gameplay. It does, however, provide a solid and entertaining co-op experience. There's also nothing really innovative to be seen either and it's an amalgamation of ideas from a dozen other games, admittedly brought together with ingenuity, but nevertheless not innovative.
'Aggro' works extremely well, but feels a bit mechanical in single player mode; it's much more fun playing with a friend. The biggest disappointment for me is that I didn't experience any really big, powerful 'wow' moments in the game, like I've enjoyed with the likes of Call of Duty 4 or Gears of War. Was it fun? Yes, most of the time. Was it entertaining? Yes, most of the time.Did it blow my socks off and will I play the campaign again? No.
Cast aside my obvious disappointment for a second, perhaps I was expecting a little too much from those 'innovative' EA folks, because in all fairness Army of Two is a solid and entertaining shooter. I just feel there's better to come from both the franchise and the studio.
Pros
Aggro opens up possibilities
Weapon customisation
Strategic battles
Cons
Your team-mate AI could be sharper
Locations are dull
No 'big' moments
HEXUS Awards
Army of Two - Xbox 360
