The first Army of Two provided a fun co-op experience, but it had some flaws that prevented it from becoming a good third person shooter. The pacing was a little off, the story was weak and if you didn’t play the game cooperatively with a friend, the chances that you got frustrated of the partner A.I were pretty high. Now EA Montreal has released the sequel, but have they fixed the issues that ruined the original?
 
 

The game follows the story of Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem (yes, they are back) who are engaged in a routine mission in Shanghai. Everything goes as planned until a competing PMC attacks the city, causing mayhem and destruction and threatening Rios and Salem’s survival. The story in the sequel is really more of a survival story and about what happens to those characters in the process.

Moral choices are one of the new features in the sequel. At certain points in the game, during some cut scenes, you will be asked to make choices that will be impacting the outcome of the story, available equipment and how other characters see you in the world. While this isn’t something new, it’s a welcome addition to the series as it makes the story more dynamic and more involving. Though the story in the sequel is better than the original, it’s still average.
 

the basic gameplay mechanics haven’t changed too much from the original, but there are a lot of enhancements have been made to the core gameplay and weapons customization. You can now feign surrender in order to outflank the enemy, using human shields, sprint, select from more weapons and upgrades, add interchangeable upgrades between weapons and much more. You’re now equipped with a GPS, which can tag enemies and it gives you better understatement of the environment. Once an enemy is tagged you can see where they are, even if they duck for cover or hide behind walls. The Aggro system makes a comeback as well, and strategic play is a must if you want to survive in this game. Multiplayer in Army of Two: The 40th Day has improved. There are three modes for up to twelve players (four if you pre-ordered the game). Co-op Deathmatch, Control, Warzone, Extraction are all fun to play, but they don’t provide something new to the genre.
 

Playing the campaign mode cooperatively with a friend is still the best way to play the game. But if you want to play it solo, you won’t be disappointed because the partner A.I behaves in an intelligent manner. Enemies A.I doesn’t disappoint either, they will flank you, revive their fallen comrades and much more.
 
 

Visually, Army of Two: The 40th Day looks stunning. It’s one of the best looking games to be running on the Unreal Engine 3. The game has great looking textures, amazing particle effects, and detailed character models. Some imperfections like textures pop up/in do hinder the visuals quality a little bit. But if you are playing the game on Xbox360, I recommend that you install the game on the HDD which will fix the textures pop up/pop issue.
 

One aspect that disappointed me about the visuals is you see all of those scripted scenes where building collapses in front of your eyes, but you can’t blow up the environments. It would have been nice if the environments were fully destructible. The game has great voice acting as you will hear the voice actors deliver their lines expertly. The sound design is good as well. Also, the music in this game describes the situation at the screen perfectly.
 

Army of Two: The 40th Day is a great improvement over the original. The game looks sexy, sounds great and most importantly fun to play. If you’re a fan of the original or co-op play, get this game, it’s fun, but don’t expect something that will blow your mind.
 
Score: (8.0/10)