Army of Two: The 40th Day
Army of Two: The 40th Day is a third-person shooter video game that was announced on 3 December 2009. It is the sequel to its predecessor, Army of Two, and focuses on the same two-player cooperative play as well as employs the same cover system. The game was developed by EA Montreal for the Sony PlayStation 3 platform and published by Electronic Arts under the genre of third-person shooter with an ESRB rating of M for Mature. Army of Two: The 40th Day was designed on an Unreal Engine 3 and released on 15 January 2010 to Europe and on 12 January 2010 to North America. It includes both a single player mode and a multi player mode.
Review
In Army of Two: The 40th Day, players play as Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem who are combatant partners who must fight to survive and prevail over invading forces that have taken over Shanghai, China in a terrorist attack. The duo is assisted by their handler Alice Murray. In terms of game play, Army of Two: The 40th Day sees an improvement to its predecessor with further enhancements such as being able to feign surrender in order to outflank the enemy, using human shields, and automated covering. Besides that, it also features more refined controls which only require one button for any particular action as well as melee that has been mapped to a face button and the ability to rifle through weapons using only one hand. Not only that, there will also be a sprint function in the game. In addition to that, the game also incorporates a more responsive and intelligent partner AI that allows the player to direct their partner into performing specific actions such as stealth kills or feigning surrender. Compared to its predecessor, Army of Two: The 40th Day features more weapons and upgrades including interchangeable upgrades between weapons such as the addition of the barrel of one assault rifle to another, as well as new camouflage schemes to match the new options. Besides that, the game also allows for weapons to be obtained from downed enemies, thus increasing the player’s arsenal to four weapons. In addition to that, the bullets fired will also be able to penetrate weaker materials such as wood and sheet metal. However, certain weapons can only be unlocked by morality moments which consist between both good and bad outcomes. Additional weapon parts can also be obtained in the game levels for free either by searching armoured boxes or by simply exploring. Army of Two: The 40th Day is said to feel like a cross between two movies; Bad Boys and 2012, as it is essentially an interactive disaster movie because there is something blowing up or crumbling down around you every five minutes, providing an adrenaline rush as you fight through enemies or just survive what’s thrown at you. Army of Two: The 40th Day takes place in Shanghai, China over the course of a few days, unlike its predecessor which spanned over several years and included different regions of the world. However, the combatant partners are now back but running missions for their own private military corporation, TransWorld Operations. After taking on an easy contract that involved killing a few guards, handling a few objectives, the duo find themselves in the middle of a terrorist attack aftermath, with buildings blown up and aircraft falling from the skies. The game capitalizes on its co-op play that feels more natural on both the single player mode and the multi player mode. It features fast paced action that does not seem to slow down even in the middle of a cutscene.
“Army of Two: The 40th Day is a very appealing shooter, and it looks great to boot. Diverse, ruined environments, cool enemy equipment designs, and nice animation touches make the action that much more lively. It has its fair share of issues,and you’ll spend most of the game not knowing why buildings are falling and men are shooting at you. But there’s a lot of fun to be had in both the campaign and the online multiplayer. With entertaining action, great visuals, surprising replay value, and the ability to play rock-paper-scissors while standing over the corpses of your enemies, The 40th Day is a fun way for shooter fans to start off 2010.” (GameSpot, 2009)
