Army of Co-Op

Published March 18, 2008

ARMY OF TWO™ for Xbox 360® has been simmering to careful perfection at Electronic Arts for years now, and for good reason. Now that it's been released at last to the masses, we can see clearly that the extra time spent fine tuning the game has paid off in a co-op intensive shooter that distinguishes itself clearly from its competitors. No mean feat on a console brimming with shooters.

The set-pieces are spectacular.

Where Gears of War® set the standard for two-player co-op, ARMY OF TWO catapults the concept to new heights with a litany of strategic cooperative actions and a game-changing "Aggro" system that influences the action every step of the way. Of course, you can play single-player with an A.I.-controlled partner, but it's with a human ally over Xbox LIVE® that this game puts its best combat boot forward.

Make effective and sustained use of the Aggro
system and you can trigger Overkill mode, sending
the world around you into slow motion …  

The Aggro Shooter

While the concept of Aggro is well known to massively multiplayer gamers, its inclusion by EA Montreal in a shooter is both radical and welcome. Any time you shoot at an enemy, you begin to accumulate Aggro, essentially drawing the attention of not just the enemy you're shooting at, but any of his comrades in the immediate vicinity as well.

Produce enough Aggro and you'll firmly establish yourself as the core threat, and therefore, the primary target. You'll glow red into the bargain while your buddy "fades" slightly from view, firmly establishing both characters' current Aggro status. The player without Aggro can sneak virtually unseen by the distracted enemies to flank around them for quick and easy kill shots.

Make effective and sustained use of the Aggro system and you can trigger Overkill mode, sending the world around you into slow motion while the Aggro-filled player lumbers forth, impervious to pain and dishing out twice as much damage. Meanwhile, the non-Aggro player sprints ahead at twice their normal speed, scoring stealth kills as they go.

No game rewards teamwork better.

Cooperative Opportunities

While the Aggro system lays the foundation for all of the co-op action, the game characters' specialty co-op skills go a long way towards establishing truly cooperative strategy. For example:

• Paratrooper time: Many of the missions begin with Salem and Rios parachuting into a hostile combat zone. One player controls the speed and direction of the descent, while the other dangles in front with rifle in hand, picking off what enemies they can. Only teams that work flawlessly together can simultaneously thin the enemy ranks while avoiding RPG fire from the ground. This is teamwork at its finest.
• Back-to-back: Similar to parachuting, you'll find predetermined moments throughout the game where Salem and Rios stand back to back firing in real-time at slow motion enemies. The trick here is to communicate your own rotation and field of fire to spot and eliminate all the incoming enemies.
• Co-op riot shield: Whether it's an actual shield or a car door ripped free to act as one, the co-op riot shield maneuver attaches Salem and Rios together, with one carrying the shield and guiding the duo through the battle zone, while the other aims and shoots over the other's shoulder at the surrounding enemies.

These examples are but a few of the co-op opportunities scattered throughout ARMY OF TWO. Others include lending a boost to one another to grasp otherwise out-of-reach ledges, piloting a hovercraft while the other mans the machine gun, and even cooperatively sniping targets, complete with an auto-countdown for proper timing.

Cashing In

While you begin the game as a pair of Army Rangers, soon you find yourself in the employ of the private military corporation SSC. Private military missions mean contracts and contracts mean money, and luckily, the game provides a few million dollars worth of gear to spend it on.

Whether it's at the main menu before you load a mission or at strategically placed spots mid-mission, there is ample opportunity to purchase new weapons and upgrades to your existing weaponry, including new stocks, barrels, grips, and cartridges to augment each weapon's damage, accuracy, ammo capacity, and Aggro rating.

Keep firing even when incapacitated.

What's more, you can buy new masks, toggle on and off different armor sets and even "pimp" out your weapon's appearance. If you ever wanted to lay down the law with a gold-plated, jewel-encrusted AK47, now's your chance.

2v2

If ARMY OF TWO looks to shake up and revolutionize cooperative play, it has the same goal in mind for its competitive multiplayer modes. Every multiplayer match over Xbox LIVE pits two teams of two players against one another in a race to complete objectives, including rescuing citizens, assaulting and defending key strategic locations, sabotaging areas of a map, and a great deal more besides.

The twist here is that while you're competing against an enemy team, you're also faced with neutral, A.I.-controlled enemies that will attack both you and your opponents. Like the cooperative campaign, you can spend the money you earn on-the-fly in multiplayer matches to upgrade your weapons and gear for the match you're playing.

ARMY OF TWO for Xbox 360 is as unique a shooter as has been seen in some time. Its unflinching focus on cooperative gameplay offline, on Xbox LIVE in the campaign mode, and even in competitive multiplayer matches, is both creative and exciting in such a densely populated genre. Find a friend and create your own ARMY OF TWO!

Article by Ryan Treit