Jan

A Review of Army of Two: The 40th Day

Posted by John as 2d Shooter

Army of Two: The 40th Day is a third-person shooter in which your objective is simple: get out of Shanghai alive.

When you are in the mood for something loud and fun, The 40th Day is the game for you. It provides a brash, satisfying action with the same, shallow appeal as a hit.

Play the Army of Two: The 40th Day with your buddy and blast your way through enemies care of customized weapons. The gunplay and some awkward movements of the game are solid and satisfying. If you are into teamwork to complete goals then this game is for you (and your buddy)!

Release date: January 12, 2010

Good points

• Brutal, satisfying gunplay

• Engaging weapon customization

• Diverse, detailed environments

• Good implementation of light cooperative tactics

• Surprising replay value.

Bad points

• Short campaign

• Often laggy online play

• Awkwardness in movement

• Weird dabbling on morality.

A combination of superb game play, humor and action-packed game play made Army of Two an instant success. EA Montreal, its maker, knew just what its entire fan base need to satisfy their expectations.

For those who had played the first game, it is obvious that the main game play mechanics haven’t drastically changed despite some major improvements. The key to this game is the cooperative game play. The 40th day pushes the trend of weapon customization and tactical strategies at the same time exploring something new to the series, moral choices.

Army of Two: the 40th Day sees the return of a more improved and better weapon customization system. You earn new items by completing objectives in the game. Find weapon parts lying in the street or heavily guarded supply crates. Aim to kill guards nearby to gain access to crates filled with parts of weapon and cash. The fundamental part to the game play is to constantly upgrade your inventory. The game won’t dictate when you’re able to make changes. You can now access the weapon customization menu whenever you want to, given you are not in combat.

Tactical decisions made in the game must be carefully weighed since it has a direct impact on your team and long-term consequences. For an instance, a series of negative decisions can lead to a character hindering your access to a useful area. Due to the cold-hearted nature of mercenaries, you can find yourself torn between a unique piece of item and ethical choice. Every scripted decision has an animation that shows the consequences of your action either positive or negative. Aim to save civilians from the deadly hands of the enemy to reap bonus morality points as well as weapons parts and extra cash. When these civilians die, you are left with only negative points.

Teamwork

Learn how to think of decisions beneficial for you and partner. You can find a friendship status at the bottom left of the pause menu. Get to earn a friendly hero label when you free hostages, stick with right choices, and play a game of rock-paper-scissors with your partner on a frequent basis. Don’t overdo high five or hug too much or else you would be labeled as “ambiguous or uncertain heroes”. Labels can be changed if you decide to slap or punch your partner for no apparent reason at all or because of the moral choices he makes. The game is interesting thanks to the new morality system but could be limited than you might expect it to be. Watch out when the entire level or chapter resets itself at the start of the next chapter. You can make wrong choices if you want to then make it up in the next one.

See a more vigorous multiplayer feature in the new Army of Two: the 40th Day. Three modes can be played with twelve players namely Warzone (a returning mode found in the first game), Control (two groups battle it out to seize and hold control points) and Co-op death match. The fourth mode is called “extraction”, a survival mode with an emphasis on cooperative play but is only available to players who pre-ordered the game with EA but will be soon made available to everyone as DLC a month following its release.

Visual effects and sounds

The 40th Day shows an enormous improvement compared to its release. The plot is limited in Shanghai unlike the diverse locations in the first game. When you play the character of Rios and Salem in the chaotic city, you witness the transformation of Shanghai from an urban paradise into a wrecked place. Play your way through highly detailed indoor and outdoor settings. See stunning Zoo and Market levels as well as other subtle touches found in new melee attacks and the characters flipping their masks up from time to time. Visit the game’s official website to customize their facemask and armor and use them in game. The visual enhancements may seem apparent but the game suffers from camera issues evidently seen during fooling around animations and some texture pop in but is minimal.

The voice behind the characters Salem (Nolan North) and Rios (Jonathan Adams) did a brilliant job. The humor is amusing especially when the two protagonists talk but some people can find the humor irritating when it becomes repetitive. Aside from that, the sounds of the environmental build of the city are outstanding most especially the sound effects of the weapons. The better your weapon gets, the better the way your weapon sounds.

The weak points of the game include strange comments on morality during the short campaign but can be easily forgotten by the brutal action of the plot. There is a lag when you do play on the lively online game by is not enough to stop you to enjoy the brutal gunplay of The Army of Two game.

Campaign

Expect to see six chapters of the campaign. The expected time to complete the game is less than 10 hours depending on the skill level. Replayability is what makes the 40th Day different from few other shooters. It is better to play the game alone then replaying it with your buddy (human, of course). Multiplayer function sets it unique and more fun to play. You will be logging even more hours especially in the Extraction mode, available to those who pre-ordered the game. If you haven’t, check it out after a month.

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