Video Game Review: ‘Army of Two: The 40th Day’ Addictive Guilty Pleasure

Printer-friendly versionE-mail page to friendPDF version

CHICAGO – Every good gamer has their guilty pleasures. They’re the titles that we know are flawed but that we still enjoy playing from opening cinematic through closing credits. “Army of Two: The 40th Day” is such a game for this critic; one that I recognize has problems (and I’ll get to them) but that I can’t deny enjoying from beginning to end and sometimes that’s all that matters.

Video Game Rating: 4.0/5.0

The loose plot of “Army of Two: The 40th Day” centers on a massive attack on the city of Shanghai. While buildings crumble, civilians are held hostage, and chaos reigns, the legendary Rios and Salem are forced to save the day just to survive. Playing cooperatively - online, locally, or with an AI assistant - Rios and Salem must gun down hundreds of enemies to escape the city, making tough moral decisions along the way.

Army of Two: The 40th Day
Photo credit: EA

The trend in gaming in the last few years has clearly been cooperative play, making a sequel to the mediocre “Army of Two” inevitable. Luckily, the developers have improved on several of that first game’s flaws and delivered a title with much more seamless cooperative play and a more accomplished visual experience. Nearly every aspect of the disposable first title has been upgraded.

Army of Two: The 40th Day Photo credit: EA

Most notably, the weapon customization has become a major, expansive part of the game. In fact, it’s not an exaggeration to say that “Army of Two” is all about the weapons. You’ll pick them up from fallen enemies and also find cash which can be used to buy and upgrade new firepower. Almost hysterically, the latter can be done mid-level. Having trouble with an enemy? Buy a new shotgun. From who? It doesn’t matter, just hit the right button. The title clearly isn’t going for realism but gleeful chaos.

And, to that extent, it works. I’m not usually one prone to too much customization, but I was pretty proud of my pimped out weapons stash by the end of the game and how aware I was of what to use in each situation. I’ll admit to feeling pretty bad-ass with my sniper skills.

The key to “The 40th Day” is cooperative carnage. If you’re playing solo, you’ll still need to use the AI-controlled partner to get through the game. In some cases, it’s obvious, like when you need a push over a ledge. In others, you’ll have to instruct your partner to hold or advance at the right time to successfully proceed. The instructions can be a little sketchy. Instructing Rios to move forward to a cover spot sometimes required perfectly timing ‘Advance’ and ‘Hold’ or he would go too far into the field of battle. I wish the partner AI was a bit more intuitive. When I say ‘Advance,’ I don’t mean into a hail of bullets.

The Aggro system has returned. In it, one player fires at enemies, building up something called Aggro. While they do so, the other player turns blue and mostly invisible, making flanking enemies easier. It’s a necessary strategy to complete the game and a GPS system that allows enemy tagging and objectives helps.

Army of Two: The 40th Day Photo credit: EA

Another improvement over the original title is a quality advancement in enemy AI. There’s still an odd glitch where enemies won’t notice you until you fire, even sometimes if you’re right next to them, but, overall, they’re much smarter than not just the first game, but a lot of shooter titles. They’ll flank you, move to man mounted guns when you kill their friends, and generally work more smoothly than a lot of titles.

So, why is it a “guilty” pleasure? The big problems are common - it’s short (about 6 hours) and repetitive. The enemies are faceless drones, your partner is inconsistent, and the game has pretty much shown you its entire arsenal of tricks after the first few levels. There are normal bad guys and more heavily armored ones. That’s about it. A bit more variety to the gameplay and “The 40th Day” wouldn’t feel so one note, even if it’s a damn fun note.

There is also an odd mechanic regarding morality that doesn’t feel fully fleshed out. At various points in the game, the player will be forced to make a moral decision. There are big ones, like choosing to follow instructions to kill someone or let them go, and there are small ones like saving civilians or just opening fire. But they seem oddly inconsequential. Sticking to the moral high ground paid off for this player a bit, but the choices are somewhat arbitrary. I get points for tying down one hostage taker instead of shooting him even though I just annihilated 400 of his buddies? Seems random.

Army of Two: The 40th Day Photo credit: EA

Readers may be wondering how a critic could get this far into a review and not mention the plot. That’s because it’s easily the weakest element of the title. It all takes place in Shanghai, opening with Rios and Salem taking a contract that ends with the total destruction of Shanghai. From there, they merely have to stay alive long enough to figure out what the hell is going on. Sadly, the story is paper-thin and the ending is unsatisfying. Luckily, the writers throw in a clever quip now and then to alleviate the story boredom.

Multiplayer is what you’d expect from a game so reliant on co-op play. There are three modes or four if you pre-ordered the game: Co-op Deathmatch, Control, Warzone, and Extraction (the exclusive mode). They’re pretty straight forward, well-designed, and varied in what they deliver, although not straying too far from the themes of the game - co-operative mayhem.

Ultimately, your enjoyment of “Army of Two: The 40th Day” comes down to expectations. Don’t come looking for story or plot. This is not a game of nuance. It is a mindless summer blockbuster in video game form, trying to give the paying audience as much explosive action as possible. Judged on those terms, it totally delivers.

Before you go, check out this cool preview:

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com