Last year, Army Of Two was released, it incorporated the idea of two men working side by side to infiltrate high-security facilities and take on dozens of terrorists at a time. The result was a co-op focused game that was very well hatched. However, I think many gamers and critics alike have agreed that the majority of the time the game was very hit-and-miss in it’s execution. For example, it’s incredibly hard for a player to shoot an enemy while running, but enemies can almost hit the players just as accurately no matter where they are standing; be it five feet or fifty.
Also, the singleplayer campaign has reportedly been very often frustrating, due to the simple fact that the partner AI is not very polished. When you are badly wounded, the idea is that your partner will drag you to a safe spot and heal you up. It seems however, that your AI-controlled partner has little idea just what a safe spot is, and may drag you around various areas of the level, likely getting you both killed in the process. So much for teamwork.
So it’s little surprise that the co-op in general is what Electronic Arts has really focused on almost first and foremost in the creation of the sequel: 40th Day. Firstly, the partner AI in general is much responsive, and knows how to find cover from enemies and where. When it comes to multiplayer co-op all sorts of new tricks have added, such as performing a mock surrender, where one player gives up his weapon in order to distract the enemy long enough for the other player to either snipe them from a distance or jump out from hiding and gun them down. There’s a nifty GPS tracker tool one player can use to pinpoint enemy positions while the other shoots them through a wall. That’s right; there are many objects you can shoot through now, people being one of them.
Speaking of which, EA has been proud to announce that level will be much less linear this time around, so that the player has a choice concerning the manner in which he completes the mission objectives. Some levels will contain hostages, that many terrorists will try and use to protect themselves. If the player wants, he can just blast through the level killing everything, but there optional objectives and unlockables that can only be achieved by succeeding in saving the hostages. Also, it’s possible to simply knock out and tie up enemies instead of killing them, if you want to go that route.
Army Of Two: The 40th Day is shaping up to be much more impressive than the game that came before it. Look forward to it on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 later this year.E
