Army of two is a third-person shooter from Electonic Arts that focuses on co-operative gameplay. It works best as a co-op campaign with a friend but can be enjoyed single player or online.
The game tells the story of two rough-necks that trade government paychecks for the big bucks of a Private Military Company, SSC. They take on countless enemies as they travel to destinations ranging from Afghanistan to Miami. The story is clever and relevant.
I don't want to make a big deal about the politics of the game. All I'll say is that it's interesting and the characters instantly appeal.
The combat system is brilliant. The method of drawing fire so your teammate can sneak up and attack from a different angle works very well. It's nice to see something innovative in a game that actually works well.
The AI in both your team-mate and the enemies you encounter is well-designed, applying different tactics and learning from your actions. For example, they may sneak up from a different angle and will learn if you try to play dead twice.
The weapons are what make the game I guess, as you complete mission objectives to earn cash so you can customise them. There are lots of guns and all can be tricked-out and 'pimped' to add an extra level of cool to the game.
The two principle characters have great presence, it's a joy to play as them. Working with a friend through the game is a great experience. This game excels at co-op gameplay in a way no game has before. It shows what Kane and Lynch or Gears Of War's co-op modes could have been.
The graphics are beautiful in cut-scenes and in-game. The terrain and environments are alive with detail and design. The animations are fluid and it suffers only slightly from glitches and bugs.
It doesn't last long (about 5 or 6 hours) but has multiple difficulty settings and a few online modes which together aid it's lastability significantly.
My only real criticism of the game is the vehicles. You only only really pilot a hovercraft and when you do there isn't much destructible elements to them. It breaks up the game a bit but doesn't do anything remarkable. And what happened to the fork-lift that we saw in the trailer?
Overall, I thoroughly loved this game. It's a keeper and will give me hours of fun anytime a friend wants to play split-screen or online in EA's best game in years. I love co-op games and this is the pinnacle of the genre.
Bravo EA. Let's have a sequel...
A reimagining of 5 disappointing video games and the masterpieces they could have been underneath other studios.
well... if disappointing movies can get remakes then why not games? some of these have really good premise but somewhat disappointing execution. In the right hands they could be great.
I quite enjoyed lair (after the patch), too human and the order 1886. I'd even add in quantum break and recore as disappointing but with a good premise.
"well... if disappointing movies can get remakes then why not games?"
But how many disappointing movies actually get those? I'm still waiting for a remake of Howard the Duck.
@Gangsta
Wasn't there a rumor that they were looking at making another Howard the Duck? He had a cameo in GoTG2.
Love that movie for how bad it was. That and Garbage Pail Kids.
The Order was a fresh experience. Not the most compelling game, but I didn't want to put it down, and platted it. Good for what it was.
Quantum was something different as well, but a little less fun to actually play, imo. The 'acting' was done in a cheese factory too. Completed one path and never returned to it.
FFXIV was already remade, and it's probably the beat thing Square has put out in years.
Every time sites need clicks. Just look at the obligatory: i wAnT cLIcKs tEh OrDer 1886 pIcTUrE.
It's really not super often, but it does happen!
Mostly we see cult favorites come back around but in the recent case of Shaq-Fu we really saw a truly awful game see new life (not great life but at least new).
It's something I'd love to see a lot more of.
Thanks for reading my article!
Replies(4)
The Order has its faults yes but it had a fantastic atmosphere and some great gameplay. A game with enormous potential and far from disappointing. I say give Ready at Dawn another crack at it because I think they created an diamond with some rough edges that just needs some tlc.
Problem was the repetitive boss fights. I liked the gunplay, cover system and somewhat the story.
It did have fantastic atmosphere, I'll give you that. But gameplay pretty much played out like short gunfire segments interlaced with walking/sneaking + QTE events. Gameplay was the weakest point of The Order because RAD prioritized world building and graphical detail. Ut was disappointing because it didnt live up to the massive potential it haf. If they were given another shot at a sequel, I hope they can learn from their mistakes.
gameplay was meh but the world had potential, in my ideal world it'd have Mass Effect kind of gameplay
I waited till The Order was discounted and went in with certain expectations and wasn’t disappointed. Just like Quantum Break. Great concept just needed a little extra meat on the bones.
I had high hopes before it released. They were curbed some by the early previews, and while I found faults with the game, and it was obviously released unfinished, I still enjoyed it. The lore, acting, graphics, and world itself were excellent.
I agree that it had some awesome atmosphere and the gameplay wasn't awful, but that potential is exactly why I put it on this list. I actually loved playing the game (same as some of the other games I put on this list such as Army of Two) But I would just love to see what could happen if it fulfilled some of that potential, ya know? Could have had the next incredible Sony franchise to rival God of War.
Thanks for reading my article!
The order should have had a sequel. The first one wasn't bad just needed a few tweaks.
I would love a sequel to The Order. It is still a great game.
Lair had a great concept and could be amazing with the current technology available. A Lair-like ps5 game could be incredible.
AAA games get all the attention. But some games get lost in the shuffle. Especially shooters! Make time for these five.
I didnt care for brink. I thought it was going to be like overwatch back in the day.
We all have game franchises we love so much that we don't care what others
think. Then there are games that the majority just agree shouldn't exist.
Sometimes it just takes one of these to kill our most beloved series.
It Takes One Game to Kill a Franchise
Street Fighter V and SoulCalibur V come to mind.
^^ i agree .....i also damn totally agree with Halo 2 ...if it wasnt the huge fanbase behind the first one and the huge potential of the franchise would be a dead IP ...HALO CE for me is still an unsurpassed FPS but HALO 2 completely trashed the series to below mediocrity quality levels...i also partly agree with MGS2 ...it had ridiculously convoluted and gibberishy plot considering what masterpiece MGS1 was ...but it narrowly escaped...also RE 4 could be considered such type of game ...RE was doomed after that
Interesting that you would pick Halo 2 over 4 or 5. I have yet to play 5 but as for the other 4, not one of them has disappointed me in terms of story or play mechanics. Halo 1 is a classic and 2 improved on everything while being a cliffhanger and then 3 having the dual story lines was a nice way to bring things to a close (of that trilogy).
4 was an interesting take on trying to create a new story where it had initially ended. The demand of knowing what was going to happen next for MC was what prompted them to come up with the new trilogy. I hope 6 will bring all things to a proper close... for now.
More like it takes one guy or team to kill a franchise. Its not the game fault it's the person behide it. Same with movies.
True, and it depends on what the devs learn from the experience whether or not the franchise can make a comeback. Or even make it's first "comeback". Like with Nier. Nobody cared about the first one, but it's hype all around for the sequel :p
Sometimes a game can kill a franchise even before it starts, if it doesn't perform as well as expected. The Order 1886 is an example of this.
I want to say socom with socom 4 as it was by far the worst but confrontation had its issues also. However compared to socom 4 confrontation was amazing. Still not socom 2 but it worked.
But awesome review, I was planning on renting this but there were no copies left so I went with Bully: SE
So do you think it's an absolute must to play with with a friend instead of the AI? I've heard a lot of people saying this which means I'll get someone to play the first time through with me, but when I go back for achievements I'll probably be using the AI.
I obviously can't comment on the score, but overall really nice review.
"I don't want to make a big deal about the politics of the game."
lol you can bet when I eventually get around to my review I WILL make somewhat of a deal about the politics :P
i bought this game and im really digging it, the only thing that ticks me off is in multiplayer if the other team is loosing and they decide to leave, you and everyone else gets kicked out of the game and noone looses, so there is no penalty for loosing then exiting the game if you dont want to loose. its stupid. other than that i love the game but i wish it had better menues and lobbies. i dont understand why ea doesnt know how to do that stuff
its like your those two bank robbers that were in CALF. with all the armor and machine guns battling the 100 cops!PLAY B3YOND!!
I love it. I know I gave it a really high score but I feel it's justified as it's so much fun.
@toughNAME, I feel the game is best as a two-player. It's too fiddly messing around, ordering the AI to flank you etc. But as you can play online or split-screen co-op there's really no excuse.
I'm still playing it! Go buy it guys! Feel free to add me and play me sometime.
The pimping of weapons and buddy action animations rule!
how does the split-screen co-op work? Because i was planning on playing it with my brother.