Previews// Army of Two

To ensure neither of you dies, communication is paramount. You have to let your buddy know what you’re doing and decide how you’re going to tackle certain obstacles together, otherwise you’ll both fail. It extends to more than just knowing where your partner is when you need to – talking to each other can also affect gameplay and mission objectives.

The beginning of a desert stage kicks off with the two mercenaries floating down on a parachute, about to land in hostile territory. One is manning the parachute; the other has a sniper rifle to take out enemies on the ground - if the parachuter moves then they will mess up the sniper’s aim. The trick is to tell each other when they’re moving and when they need to stabilise to get a clear shot.

You also have special team moves and abilities that can be used during the game. One that I saw was called Back to Back, and involves the two players literally covering each other by standing behind one another. During this time, you can turn in a fixed circle to get a better look of the environment. Time slows down, giving you an added chance to do some real damage when things get tough.

When a player gets injured, recovery takes more than a button press. EA had a lot of input from experienced military and mercenary guys to help make Army of Two as involved and in-depth as possible, and one of the strangest stories is how wounds can be healed using tampons. Yes, tampons, and yes, this is how you approach injuries in the game, too. You use a quick, timed event-style mini-game that both players have to take part in. It’s another example, if slightly bizarre, of how important it is to work together, even to the death.

From interactive leg-up sequences to on-the-fly GPS markers that instantly show your next mission location, Army of Two does some pretty nifty things that help make the action flow thick and fast, with few cut-scenes to trundle through and many opportunities to simply get stuck in to unleashing the pain. It all comes together quite nicely, something that has quelled certain particular fears I had about the game.

The big worry with the first Army of Two trailer was that EA might have a pretty interesting game on its hands, ruined by somewhat juvenile ‘humour’ that just wasn’t funny. It was about the only turn-off, with instances of the two mercenaries cussing each other at every opportunity; “I wanna get in the jeep”, “F*** you, I’m getting in the jeep”. Yeah, comedy gold, that.

Thankfully, if what I saw was any indication, that kind of slapstick genius has been stripped, with personality traits instead coming in the form of humorous high-fives and slaps across the face. It works out much better. Army of Two now seems less like it’s stooping to the lowest common denominator for cheap laughs, and the character animation and scripting appears to be pretty solid.

If nothing else, it will certainly change the way people think about co-operative gameplay online, where you’re not entirely certain where your friend is or what they’re doing. If you’re intrigued by the co-op promise, give Army of Two a whirl when it’s released in November for PS3 and XBOX 360.