[REVIEW] Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel

Mat Paget

(PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [REVIEWED])

Shooters get a bad rap almost immediately as they’re announced. There is a large group of people who will attack anything that features shooting predominantly. Being an Army of Two game doesn’t really help all that much either. Both of the first two games weren’t loved all that much, and the announcement of a new game was met with less than enthusiasm. But what’s wrong with shooting? Can’t someone just enjoy a game where the only thing you do is shoot guys? Yeah, totally. And someone can definitely enjoy Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, as well.

The story shifts from Salem and Rios of the first two games, to two new T.W.O mercenaries called Alpha and Bravo. They’re put in charge of protecting the Mayor of La Puerta, but things go awry. After Cordova is taken by the Cartel, Alpha and Bravo must go rescue him by shooting pretty much everything that moves. There’s a lot more to the story that I’m not telling, but none of it really matters, as it serves more of a reason to shoot dudes, than to actually convey a worthwhile story. There are times when the dialogue tries to make you feel for the characters by having them say some hard-hitting, emotional lines, but it all just ends up falling flat. Also, the campaign is pretty long — when you think it’s going to end… it doesn’t.

SHOOTING!

If you’ve played either of the first two games, you’ll know that there is a humour to the game that is best described as, “locker-room, bro-fisting jock humour.” There are jokes concerning a character’s mom, the existence of someone’s girlfriend as a blow-up doll, and a man’s future fishing boat. Oh, there are also a few jokes about videogames — IN A VIDEOGAME! None of them are that funny, but the ones that edged on breaking the fourth wall, or just being purposely ironic, definitely elicited a few chuckles from me.

The shooting is what you should come to this game for. Nothing about the game’s action will blow you away, but that’s not to say the game doesn’t do a good job at making a fast-paced third-person shooter. Cover, and the environment, are easily destructible, causing the player to have to move around the area in order to stay alive and keep shooting; players will rarely be able to set up camp and shoot from one place for a prolonged period of time. There’s also a great cover system, where players can move from cover to cover with a press of the button: just aim the icon at a new piece of cover, press the designated button, and your character will sprint over to that cover. It’s a great mechanic, and makes it a lot easier to facilitate the flanking of enemies. Melee kills also deliver some good animations, and are really satisfying to perform.

The game’s shooting is also surprisingly satisfying. Enemies are governed by some pretty hilarious ragdoll physics, which really show themselves when you’re hitting them up close with a shotgun. Watching the enemy go flying, flailing all the way, is really satisfying in a hilarious way. And going into Overkill mode turns the violence and gore up, and basically makes you an unstoppable death machine. For a short period of time, you and your partner are invincible, and can’t run out of ammo — no reloading is required either. It doesn’t break the game as much as you’d think, as it runs out fairly quickly, but it’s a great way to save yourself from death and eliminate whatever’s overwhelming you.

SHOOTING!

However, the action does have its problems. First off, the two operatives, Alpha and Bravo, aren’t the most mobile of guys. It definitely would have been appreciated if there was some kind of roll, or dodge, mechanic, as avoiding grenades is particularly frustrating at times — especially when you don’t have an easy out to another piece of cover. When the game requires you to think fast on your feet, and move frantically, the game’s movement feels clunky — thankfully, this only happens when you have to avoid grenades. You do get used to this, but it doesn’t ever not feel a little clunky.

Another issue that shows itself very few times throughout the game is the fact that you need to completely clear an area of enemies before moving on — and enemies don’t usually stray too far from where they spawned. You can make it through an area, to be met with nothing. More than likely, there’s an enemy that still needs to be eliminated. Sometimes, you have to go through the entire area to find out where they are, and this can prove annoying — why can’t you just move on to the next area, especially when it’s only one guy? It basically proves that the only real objectives in this game are 1) move forward, and 2) shoot all of the guys.

One big draw to the game is the co-operative play. It definitely works, but if you’re someone who enjoys playing games by themselves, or just don’t have any friends interested in playing, then you’ll be glad to know that the game is completely fine if you play it solo — the partner A.I. is actually pretty good. The single-player is definitely more immersive, though, as cutscenes and gameplay mesh together really well. Another issue that is present in both solo and splitscreen is the “Waiting For Partner” blocks throughout the game — they sometimes take a while to recognize that your partner is there with you.

AND MORE SHOOTING!

There are also times when you’ll have to split-up from your partner; the game gives you two choices, and when you choose one, your partner takes the other. These range from staying on the ground opposed to providing air support, or protecting hostages from afar with a sniper rifle opposed to making your way towards them. These paths are sometimes radically different, and add some tension as if you go down, your partner won’t be able to revive you.

There’s also a lot of customization within the game between your guns and your operative. New guns can be bought, and any gun can be customized; there are a lot of options to add to your gun to increase its accuracy and damage, or even the mobility and magazine size — you can even change the skin of your gun. Customizing your operative is a little more simple: you can change your mask, and you can change your tactical gear — tactical gear is another way to refer to clothes. You can even create your own mask with decals that are unlocked throughout the campaign — new guns, parts, and masks are also unlocked, along with the decals, when gaining ranks.

Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel doesn’t do anything all that different from other shooters, but what it does do is create a fast-paced, third-person cover-based shooter that fits inside of a fairly long, mostly entertaining campaign. The customization and ranks make it worthwhile to jump back in to unlock everything, but it’s still disappointing that you can’t bring any of that online in some form of multiplayer. Maybe it’s just because we’re so used to seeing some kind of competitive multiplayer in a shooter, but its absence is definitely noticeable. But if no multiplayer doesn’t bother you, and you’re a fan of the genre, then you should find yourself right at home with Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel.