Army of Two The 40th Day Review

Army of Two: The 40th Day sees the return of lovable mercenaries Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem, set to wreak havoc upon the streets of Shanghai when a "simple" contract turns into total chaos. The whole city starts to collapse around you, entire buildings start exploding around you, the civilian populace fleeing for their lives, and even at one point you even see a plane fly into the very tower block you're trying to ex-filtrate from. This scenario quickly turns into one of simple survival as you try to escape the armageddon.

The first Army of Two had issues, there's no getting away from the fact that while the game was decent, the bad points definitely got in the way of fully enjoying the game. Thankfully EA have taken the criticism on-board with a myriad of changes, most of which I shall not bore you with. but Iin brief the changes make for a more fluid gaming experience. You will notice that your control over either Rios and or Salem is more intuitive than the first and it does not take long to have them dancing around like an extension of yourself.

The basics of the game have not changed a great deal since the pair's first outing, instead they've had a spring clean and a bit more attention given to them. Firstly the weapon customisation is definitely more varied than the first game with more paint jobs, more parts and more implements of 'stabbyness' to be attached to your weapon of choice. Fancy a Screwdriver on the end of your AK? Perhaps an empty beverage can as your silencer? Well go right ahead as you're free to do so, hell you can have two of them gaffer taped together if you're feeling greedy.

While this weapon customisation is all fine and dandy, I do feel that some of that time spent on figuring what appliance can be stuck on what gun could have been used in expanding the selection of sidearms as to be quite frank, a total of three handguns to choose from is rather turd. However, this is a minor gripe on the arsenal on offer with the selection of primary and special weapons being more than adequate.

Just like the first outing, you have an aggro meter to gauge who has the majority of the attention from the enemy forces. Using this to your advantage is key in being able to sneak up on enemies or letting your partner do the same while you spray lead like a sprinkler to keep the focus on you. To aid you in your 'sneakery', the face masks have been upgraded with a GPS system which enables you to tag enemies. This is especially handy to see the rank of soldiers when the time comes to restrain and subdue your foe in the aid of rescuing civilians.

While on the subject of civilians, it is really your choice if you decide to rescue them or just be a cold blooded bar-steward and leave them to die at the hands of these mercenaries. These questions of your own morality have an impact with on your relationship with your partner in the single player and how your game progresses further on in terms of aid and gathering new items. There will be moments in the game where you have to decide the outcome of a cut-scene, the impact of your decision majorly effects your morality status and the result shown in an animated still slideshow which could show that you may have not necessarily taken the right action.

Visually the game is quite varied for being set within a single location, flowing from back streets, to offices and even a zoo, you do get the feeling that this was once a living breathing landscape before someone blew it to hell and back. The subtle details like the dust and broken electrical cables sparking in the street add to the atmosphere, also some of the cover you may hide behind can be chipped away with automatic fire or just simply blown up with a well placed RPG shot, so you'll have to be on your toes when deciding what cover to use.

Both characters have a decent and believable script with some nice voice acting. There were times where I was giggling to myself after Salem delivered another one liner which was drier than Gandhi's flip flop, and the repertoire between the characters really does add to the overall experience of the game. It seems EA have managed to balance the chatter just right in this outing, while in the first game you were starting to wish the pair had some sort of mute button.

On the multiplayer side of things, the game ships with three game modes which can accommodate a total of four players, however for those who pre-ordered the game, a fourth mode is available to them. This I don't agree with, why should those buy this without pre-ordering miss out on game content already on the disc? Now after a little digging around it seems this mode unlocks after a certain amount of time from the day of release but all those who did pre-order will have a leg up on that game mode and more than likely annihilate the newcomers to this.

Moving to the game modes themselves and you're faced with Co-op Deathmatch in where you and your partner face off against other pairings. Control mode is like Headquarters in Modern Warfare, in where you must capture and hold a control point somewhere in the map until points are awarded. Warzone is an interesting one, this is an objective based mode which can give you a random objective to accomplish in the map. It may start off with giving you a computer controlled AI in which any team may seek and eliminate for points, or give your team a waypoint in which to plant explosives while the others attempt to stop you. The final mode, which is the exclusive pre-order one, is Extraction. This is strictly limited to four players where you simply have to survive against increasingly difficult scenario's in which waves of enemies spawn to face you. Again you are tied to your partner so Co-operation is key to survival.

Overall the game has been thoroughly enjoyable, while I encountered moments of questionable AI in the single player campaign, this did not really deter from the value of the game. The Co-op component is where EA have decided to focus on and it definitely shows, on-line or off-line you're in for a ride and a half, definitely one for your collection.