Army of Two

Army of Two is, at heart, a fairly standard action game that is saved from mediocrity by some fun co-operative gameplay. If you don’t have a friend to play through this with, you may as well stop reading right now.

A bit too silly to be considered a serious shooter.

Army of Two definitely doesn't deliver the genre revolution some were expecting, but I still had a good time spraying bullets with a buddy. [May 2008, p.82]

The game ranges from moments of great intense action to totally bland and repetitive sections. The developers present all of these cool things to do and then give the player very little control over doing them.

However if you want to go solo into a new gaming experience, this is no Army of One.

The game is short and sweet but with little to offer any replay value. It’s a mishmash of good ideas that have been thrown together with only some success. It bodes well for a sequel, though.

It has plenty of redeeming and rewarding features to offset its linear limitations, but it was designed to be played with a friend, so approach with caution if you don't have Xbox Live or a friend to partner up with.

Calling Army of Two a poor mans Gears of War may be unfair, but the comparison is a reality as the game falls short on so many levels.

The single, or should that be double, player campaign is a bit on the short side, but it’s quite replayable due to being fun with a friend, and the multiplayer is good for a blast, just hope some new maps turn up for it pretty soon.

Although we’re real fans of co-op action, we couldn’t help but to feel disappointed. It’s just not well structured and doesn’t seem to offer any real exciting moments. Some of its mechanics are well implemented, but there are some other cooperative shooters far better than this one that don’t even have to pull these kinds of tricks. [Apr 2008]

If you're looking for a game to play and you've got a friend who can sit on your couch and play it, then grab it. If you don't have a friend to play it with you, leave it alone.

Army of Two is definitely one of those "love it or hate it" games. If you manage to "get" the game mechanics, there’s definitely quite a bit to enjoy.

As a game by itself it kind of feels empty and soulless. Get a mate to join with you and that is forgotten as the fun level rises considerably. It’s not a bad game in single player, but you feel as if it really was meant for humans and not COMs to play with you.

The fine-tuned excellence of Army of Two's co-op gunplay will easily sustain you through one run through this gutsy, broadly enjoyable game. But the desire to revisit it is weak, and for game that's designed with social online play in mind that's a big problem. Any level of the current co-op king, "Halo 3," has more spectacle and incident packed into it than the entirety of Army of Two.

Army of Two is a co-op focused game, much more so than even "Gears of War." If you pick this up, you absolutely need to be playing with a friend. It's borderline broken when playing alone, but if you are taking down tangos with a buddy, it becomes a much better and unique, experience.

If you're looking for a profound single-player experience, you'll be annoyed by the issues with the artificial intelligence, but if you plan to play with a friend, this game is well worth checking out.

Not every aspect has been worked out correctly, but for people that want to experience a new coop style will do well by buying this game. Mind though, that Army of Two is quite a short game, and there is no reason to play it twice. That's why the single player leaves a bad impression. Let's hope the follow-up is better, because the game has quite some potential.

Whoever designed the levels in this game, clearly didn't bring a lot of effort or imagination into it.

It has the feel and production values of a blockbuster game, but lacks any big-budget thrills. If you can get over the inane storyline, there's enjoyment to be had from the solid game play and co-op moves, but don't expect the fun to live much longer than those Iraqis you're shooting at.

As aforementioned, Army of Two does have its issues. It's got a flawed partner intelligence system, some horrid hovercraft piloting sequences, and not to mention the game is region-locked for online play.

A few things need tweaking, mostly the funky camera which just zooms in way to close with no option to move it around. If you are looking for a fun game to pick up and play with your buddy, make sure he is a patient one and an experienced gamer.

Other than the controls of the weapons and poor aiming model, the great graphics and fantastic voice over work help make Army of Two a solid if unspectacular outing.

While Army of Two does have its high points (an attack on an aircraft carrier being one), levels often lack excitement and instead deliver much of the same over and over. As mentioned before, it's not bad gameplay, but it never builds to much of anything. In fact, the entire game is rather anticlimactic.

If multiplayer hadn't been a broken mess the game probably would have scored higher and while good fun, Army of Two fails to be a great game.

But even its title mocks the Army, literally one-upping its slogan while glamorizing a sector that, if anything, deserves scrutiny--not macho fantasy.

The game may not have many redeeming features, but at least with a friend you can laugh together at the AI or attempt to make your own fun. Army of Two isn't terrible, but we're hard pressed to find a decent reason to recommend it.

It has its gimmick of two people being an army but it's not a very good one and quickly becomes tiresome. [Issue#31, p.78]

The enemies just aren't clever enough to keep up with players in most situations, not to mention the number of times your computer controlled partner will inevitably get stuck behind a wall. Plus, the seven-hour campaign doesn't provide enough entertainment value without the added fun of multiplayer gaming.

For every moment where the ideas seem fresh, the gameplay feels awkward, often to the extent that the fundamental mechanics feel broken. You're certainly an army of two, but you might not want to see your partner again once you're finished.

There are far worse games out there, sure, but few that tackle such big issues in such a blinkered and cringeworthy manner.

An underwhelming experience. The game has some great ideas, like the co-op manoeuvres, but doesn’t hit home with them. Instead it leaves them floating around in the park, crying out to be used better.

But even with another player, the action gets repetitive too quickly.

It can be fun with two players, but it's a real stretch. With Aggro, there is a sentiment to try it at least once, but we can't recommend more than that.

Flawed in places, abysmal in others - but it's hard to hate it as much as you should. [May 2008, p.74]

Too many flaws here. And so the wait for the ultimate next-gen co-op shooter continues. [Apr 2008, p.74]

And its idiotic treatment of our current military and rather insulting depiction of our soldiers is the kind of thing that makes me feel not only like my intelligence was insulted, but also just a little ashamed to be a gamer.