Review: Army of Two

Grade: B
Time Spent Playing: 5 hours

Before I get into this review, I should note that I never played any part of this game in single player. I have a feeling that playing the campaign by yourself is a dreadful task equaled only by watching baseball or, even worse, playing baseball.

Also, I had a fair number of beers. So, taking a wild guess, playing this game by yourself and sober would probably be a C- experience.

Anyway, with cold High Life's at the ready and my very own Joey Coco in tow, I set about making my way through the bullets and bombs dude-athon that is Army of Two. There is some sort of story in the game that has you shooting lots and lots of thugs of differing ethnicities in exotic locales culminating with a face off with a guy with a brohawk. To be honest, I purposefully didn't pay attention to the story and my experience was likely the better for it.

While the graphics and audio are of remarkable quality, what truly shines in this game is the cooperative gunplay. While the first few levels allow you to run from room to room like a couple of rambos, the difficulty soon swings upward and with it, the fun. Once you're forced to play smart and use cover and makes use of cooperative tactics, the game goes from amusing yet forgettable shoot 'em up to an engaging and often challenging experience.

There are also fun little additions like the "fist pump" button and the ability to literally pimp out your weapons. On the other hand, the weapons store is somewhat mystifying, featuring weapons so expensive we still didn't have the money to purchase them on the very last level of the game.

I'm looking forward to this game's inevitable sequel. While it does have its flaws, it succeeds in spite of them. With proper handling, the sequel could be the triple A title this one so desperately wanted to be.

A personal note: Sorry it's been so long since I updated this blog. I recently uprooted myself from Louisville and moved to the milder climes of Portland, Oregon. Expect me to start arbitrarily drifting into rants about the merits of riding bikes and eating organic food.