Army of Two™ Review: Legendary Cooperative Shooter

Army of Two™ is a 3rd person action shooter game published by Electronic Arts Montreal in 2008. In this game, you play as a couple of mercenaries who take part in different war conflicts. The gameplay is based on partnership mechanics that are available for split-screen and online walkthrough. You can download Army of Two™ for Xbox 360 on Xbox Live.

Graphics – 4/5

Army of Two™ game is an old franchise that still looks rather good for an 11-year-old title. The graphics are powered by Unreal Engine 3 technology, character physics and shooting are designed with precision and attention to detail. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t support dynamic lighting, so the image looks flat, which is typical for the beginning of the 7th generation of consoles.

Gameplay – 5/5

Army of Two™ gameplay is oriented on a cooperative walkthrough. You have to play for two brave mercenaries Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios. Both partners start as military soldiers in the U.S. Army, but they receive a more beneficial and attractive offer from Colonel Richard Dalton. He helped this promising group of warriors to become professional private contractors. After that, they begin to fight against terrorists and other hostile groupings or personalities. In the end, they establish their own agency called T.W.O.

Army of Two™ action game was one of the first shooters that introduced advanced customization features. You can unlock 3 types of armor and purchase different masks to protect the faces of characters. You can also spend in-game currency to buy and customize weapons. You can use extended magazines or the so-called ammo-drums. This feature is very useful because the casual style of shooting requires you to spend tons of bullets. There are also various kinds of grips, suppressors, underslung guns, shields and more.

The cooperation mode implies players to invent an on-the-go strategy to complete objectives. In the single-player mode, the logic is the same, but you have to collaborate with the AI-driven character.

Controls – 4.5/5

For this Army of Two™ review, we compared versions for PS3, and Xbox 360 and both proprietary gamepads showed similar comfort of play. However, some players may lack aim-assist. Aiming with the right stick is not very accurate, so the ammo consumption is very high.

Replay Value – 4.5/5

Army of Two™ full game walkthrough may take about 6 hours. It’s worth a double completion in both single-player and cooperative modes as they provide different tactical experience. There’s also an online multiplayer feature, but EA shut down the servers in 2011.

Conclusion

Army of Two is a great title for the history of video games. It presents multiple battle mechanics that were new for the rise of the 7th generation of consoles. Its cooperative slant makes it a perfect shooter for split-screen and LAN entertainment. This title is recommended for all fans of the genre.