As I do like a good team/co-op shooter I thought I'd have a go at Army of Two and see what new tricks it would bring to the genre. Sadly, not a lot.
I say sadly because I was really looking forward to this game. I thought it would be nice to have a co-op game designed from the ground up as a co-op game. Rather than having it bolted on as an afterthought. Alas, this time it goes the other way around and the single player feels like the afterthought.
Perhaps it is because of this co-op thinking that the single player is so fantastically poor. Plot wise it's nothing new. It's a gloriously over the top action/conspiricy involving hired guns, evil corporations and indeed terrorists, who pretty much have to make an appearance in all shooters nowadays.
My main problem with the single player is not the story or the graphics or the voice acting. In fact I liked all of these.
My problem lies with the teammate AI, and I use the term loosely, it's artificial something but definately not intelligence. The commands are simple and easy to use but, unless you get them at the exact point the game expects them they are next to useless. For example, you ask for covering fire or a distraction from your partner and he will do this for a couple of seconds then he will get bored and wander off to do something else, leaving you up to your eyeballs in enemies. Or, you tell him to hold position behind cover and he stops in the open because it didn't register the concrete block 3 feet to his right. On another occasion I was wounded and he dragged me towards enemy fire reather than away from it and when this failed he tried to heal me out in the open allowing the enemies to shoot us both at thier leisure. It's stupid things like this that annoy me in a game they go a long way ruining the experience.In this case they ruin the idea that you are an Army of Two and replace it with the idea that you are an Army of One on a very long escort mission. Too afraid to let your partner do anything in case he fucks it up.
Having gotten through the single player with my patience barely intact I decided to team up with a friend to do the campaign co-op. Not having to worry about the dodgy AI getting itself killed it meant I could look at the rest of the game.
First off, the games much touted "Aggro" system. Basically covering fire taken to the extreme. One player fills his "Aggrometer" and all the enemies shoot at him and don't give a toss about the other. At one point my buddy distracted a man with full front armour allowing me to sneak round and shoot him in the back. Sneaking wasn't needed though as I walked right in front of him and he didn't even aknowledge me. It just takes any form of skill away from the concept of covering fire. It seems like the developers saw something that worked well in other team based shooters then dumbed it down and expected it to be better.
This isn't the only place the teamwork falls down. Fancy team moves like back to back shooting and step jumps can only be done in certain, usually story driven, places making th whole thing a bit too linear for me.
Vehicle sections too feel a bit half assed. While the controls are good and intuitive the sections themselves feel empty. You can go from point A to B, and only there because you can't leave the vehicle at any time in between. During this time enemies will take some pot shots at you but overall it's not any more ineresting than going on foot. Again adding to the linearity of it all.
There's nothing wrong with linearity in a game it's just that this game was meant to and could have been so much better. Basically it dosen't deliver what was promised and expected of it, it seems unfinished. Sure it has good graphics, sound and controls but they can't be relied on solely to make the game great. It needs to be fun and a joy to play, unfortunately Army of Two fails on this account.
Rent it if you have a friend to control your teammate. Otherwise, don't touch it.
I say sadly because I was really looking forward to this game. I thought it would be nice to have a co-op game designed from the ground up as a co-op game. Rather than having it bolted on as an afterthought. Alas, this time it goes the other way around and the single player feels like the afterthought.
Perhaps it is because of this co-op thinking that the single player is so fantastically poor. Plot wise it's nothing new. It's a gloriously over the top action/conspiricy involving hired guns, evil corporations and indeed terrorists, who pretty much have to make an appearance in all shooters nowadays.
My main problem with the single player is not the story or the graphics or the voice acting. In fact I liked all of these.
My problem lies with the teammate AI, and I use the term loosely, it's artificial something but definately not intelligence. The commands are simple and easy to use but, unless you get them at the exact point the game expects them they are next to useless. For example, you ask for covering fire or a distraction from your partner and he will do this for a couple of seconds then he will get bored and wander off to do something else, leaving you up to your eyeballs in enemies. Or, you tell him to hold position behind cover and he stops in the open because it didn't register the concrete block 3 feet to his right. On another occasion I was wounded and he dragged me towards enemy fire reather than away from it and when this failed he tried to heal me out in the open allowing the enemies to shoot us both at thier leisure. It's stupid things like this that annoy me in a game they go a long way ruining the experience.In this case they ruin the idea that you are an Army of Two and replace it with the idea that you are an Army of One on a very long escort mission. Too afraid to let your partner do anything in case he fucks it up.
Having gotten through the single player with my patience barely intact I decided to team up with a friend to do the campaign co-op. Not having to worry about the dodgy AI getting itself killed it meant I could look at the rest of the game.
First off, the games much touted "Aggro" system. Basically covering fire taken to the extreme. One player fills his "Aggrometer" and all the enemies shoot at him and don't give a toss about the other. At one point my buddy distracted a man with full front armour allowing me to sneak round and shoot him in the back. Sneaking wasn't needed though as I walked right in front of him and he didn't even aknowledge me. It just takes any form of skill away from the concept of covering fire. It seems like the developers saw something that worked well in other team based shooters then dumbed it down and expected it to be better.
This isn't the only place the teamwork falls down. Fancy team moves like back to back shooting and step jumps can only be done in certain, usually story driven, places making th whole thing a bit too linear for me.
Vehicle sections too feel a bit half assed. While the controls are good and intuitive the sections themselves feel empty. You can go from point A to B, and only there because you can't leave the vehicle at any time in between. During this time enemies will take some pot shots at you but overall it's not any more ineresting than going on foot. Again adding to the linearity of it all.
There's nothing wrong with linearity in a game it's just that this game was meant to and could have been so much better. Basically it dosen't deliver what was promised and expected of it, it seems unfinished. Sure it has good graphics, sound and controls but they can't be relied on solely to make the game great. It needs to be fun and a joy to play, unfortunately Army of Two fails on this account.
Rent it if you have a friend to control your teammate. Otherwise, don't touch it.
