Army of Two: The 40th Day! Salem and Rios are back. This time though everyone’s favorite mercenaries look distinctly different. And they find themselves in Shanghai when a lot of messy stuff just happens to go down. The entire city of Shanghai seems to be crumbling due to events set in motion by a terrorist organization, and the Army of Two find themselves conveniently right in the middle of it all.
You would expect a very immersive experience filled with loads of action and an infinite number of plot twists, like we experienced in the first part. Okay, we may have exaggerated that degree slightly. And well, EA definitely delivers with new systems, mechanics, and features to keep your mind busy on cohesive teamwork and intense moral choices that will define who you and your teammate have come to be. But the story of the game seems somewhat distant and disconnected, if not nonexistent. Game graphics though are great.
Army of Two: The 40th Day, will have to settle for constantly, or semi-constantly, being compared to the first game, as is the trend with most sequels. If you’ve played the first game then you’ll probably immediately notice that there are several things different about The 40th Day. Right off, what will strike you is that Salem and Rios look very different, as if aged by all the battles they’ve fought since we left them at the end of the first game. But this seems to have very little bearing in the game. The weapons in the game get a makeover and the weapon customization system has also been pushed in a new direction. And it must be said that the point and shoot mechanism has also undergone quite a bit of revision, and is much better we think.
Something that has made a huge leap in Army of Two: The 40th Day is the gameplay. Probably the best part about it is that unlike in the first game, you can customize weapons you own or purchase new weapons at practically any time during the game. In the first game there were certain sections during gameplay where you would be presented with the opportunity to customize or purchase weapons. The addition of this feature means that you can now equip weapons that you own, any time you’re not getting shot at by enemies. This allows you to switch strategy as and when you wish, and comes in real handy if you’ve been trying to pass a section, only to face defeat and death time and again, thanks to a heavy with a gattling. The stuff you can add to your guns to make them more accurate, do more damage, and to make them shoot more precisely is limitless (well almost), given that you have the funds for it. The game feels a lot better than the first and gameplay gets an 8.2 out of 10.
This brings us to another thing about the game. You have the power to make certain choices bordering on the moral. Go out of your way to save civilians from the enemy and you receive a cash reward, as well as a higher moral standing. Make choices to simply take for yourself, callous to others and you get whatever it is you have chosen to take, like weapons, money, etc. But this will result in your moral compass straying from the North.
It must be said that playing Army of Two: The 40th Day solo, with a “computer controlled buddy” as the game puts it, is much less viscerally gratifying than taking on ‘The 40th Day’ with a human teammate. At times it is really difficult to get a computer controlled Salem or Rios to sit exactly where you want him to. And although the money and ammo is all for you in a solo game, the interaction with your partner is far from what you would want. Sure there is the odd step jump here and there, and the co-op snipe if you’re patient. But that hardly constitutes interaction. Playing with a friend brings out the best in the game’s combat system. And you can truly harvest the Aggro, playing off it to tackle situations in which the two of you are vastly outnumbered.
The environments in the game are crafted to perfection, with every tiny detail having been thrown in to great aesthetic effect. This enhances the excitement as you make your way through the crumbling sections of the city, and through narrow corridors as well as blown open parts of decimated buildings. Game environments definitely do their job in putting you in the thick of the action in Shanghai. You can flip down tables and a few other things to crouch behind them, taking cover as you shoot wildly at the hundreds and hundreds of approaching enemies. And man does the game have hundreds upon hundreds of baddies! Making your way through a mall is just so real, and the vastly damaged structure has everything you would expect a multi-storied mall to have. What the environments lack though, are enough of interactive items in them. For most parts of the game the environments are just that; something to ogle at, and take cover in. The low level of environmental interactivity gets to you at a point, and leaves you wanting more from Electronic Arts. Game environments receive a score of 9.2 out of 10, for want of more interactivity.
The story in the game though is a huge disappointment. Nothing you would expect after playing through the first. The story in its entirety can be described as: “You are stuck in Shanghai as terror digs its teeth into the city, and you must fight your way out.” Oh sure, Army of Two: The 40th Day has cool new things like the mock surrender, the ability to take enemies hostage and a few moral choices bordering on insane, in addition to the feign death and the rest of the regular stuff. But apart from these, there’ is not much deep down, in terms of story, to keep you every bit engrossed, and shocked. The makers seem to have taken good care to ensure that the story stays well hidden from the limelight, while combat steps into the foreground. Story is cheap to say the least and gets a measly 5.5 on 10.
Without giving too much of the story and the ending away we shall say this: The last moral choice in the game is just that. The last moral choice. And will have you kicking yourself. In fact if you ever get down to playing the entire game all the way through another time, it will be to see what comes of the ending you didn’t choose the first time around. Once you complete the game, big head and infinite ammo cheats are unlocked which you can enable from the cheats menu. Also new amour will be available at the character selection screen.
The Final Word: As for your dose of absolutely blinding action, Army of Two: TFD delivers a whole year’s worth. You and your partner go up against an absolutely crazy amount of enemies in the game. In a way it kind of reminds us of Sony’s captivating first person shooter Killzone 2. If mad action is what you’re looking for, and you don’t really care about the story or what decisions you make and the consequences they lead to, then Army of Two: TFD is a game you shouldn’t miss out on, no matter what. But if you are one of those people who hold a game’s story higher than the almighty, and especially if you’ve played the first, then the game is sure to disappoint and leave a bad taste in your mouth. But with excellent environments, superb graphics, great gameplay, and hundreds upon hundreds of baddies, what more could your itching trigger finger ask for?
Graphics: 8.8/10.
Gameplay: 8.2/10.
Environments: 9.2/10.
Story: 5.5/10.
Replayability: 6.0/10.
Overall (not an average): 8.0/10.