REVIEW: Army of Two: The 40th Day

Developer: EA | Publisher: EA | Format: 360/PS3

Reviewer: Craig Jay Gallagher Army of Two: The 40th Day is reliant upon the same cooperative premise which featured in the original, two soldiers working side by side in an attempt to kill hordes of enemy soldiers and save the day. The cooperative nature of the games makes for a rather interesting dynamic. Simple tasks such as opening doors and disarming alarms take on a whole new meaning with one taking the simple task of opening/disarming while the other soldier lays down fire taking our any would be enemy assassins.

As with all sequels there have been a number of tweaks made to the original gameplay. You can now use enemy placements to your advantage, sneaking up and quietly taking out enemy troops is a nice change of pace from the usual gung ho nature of war based shooters. You can also tag enemies which you partner can take down which helps in hostage situations. Bot of these are heavily tied into the new morality system which features quite a lot. Most entertaining of all though is the ability to pretend to surrender to enemies where you fake waving a white flag as your partner takes out the advancing soldier. Bar these few changes the gameplay remains pretty much the same which is no bad thing.

The aggro system is still in place, you open fire on enemy positions so that they concentrate their fire on you while the other soldier sneaks about taking out any enemies. You can order your AI partner around using the d-pad. As you would expect this has it’s fair share of problems and at the end of the day the only way to truly enjoy a co-op game of this nature is with another living breathing human being.

The morality system is something which could turn a good game into a great game. Unfortunately the system is slightly flawed. Take for example one of the more questionable morality moments. You are able to call on the assistance of a small kid to help you in a skirmish or else you can have him seek cover. You then get him through the mission alive before sending him on his way home. When he gets home the kid kinds a group of gunmen keeping his parents hostage, the kid pulls out a weapon and kills the gunmen. It ends up more confusing than anything else. Are the developers trying to say something about the very nature of war or is it just a melodramatic moment meant to illicite an emotional response?

Online and co-op is where the game really shines. Bar the campaign mode there are a number of modes such as the self explanatory Versus, Deathmatch, as well as Control in which you defend various points on the map and Warzone where you protect various people and locations. The last addition is Extraction which involves you mowing down wave after wave of enemy soldiers. While nothing here is what you would classify as original it is a hell of a lot of fun.

Even with the odd morality system Arm of Two: The 40th Day is a thoroughly entertaining and fun shooter offering serious bang for your buck. Best experienced alongside a friend the game still has plenty to recommend for the socially retarded.