Army of Two Preview

Camaraderie is the order of the day.

Team-based and co-op multiplayer action games increasingly dominate the gaming scene, which, thankfully, seems to drive publishers and developers towards new and better ideas. With any luck, the next wave of PC and console titles should offer a few steps forward in terms of gameplay mechanics of your basic multiplayer shooter. In that respect, EA is attempting to improve the genre with its latest project, entitled Army of Two, a third-person military shooter, currently in development at EA's Canada-based studio, EA Montreal.

Nothing like a knee kick to start things off.

She feels soft, Frank. I want her.

As the title itself suggests, this PS3/360 shooter is centered on a two-player oriented experience. In fact, the developers stressed that Army of Two was made from the ground up specifically for two players. However, that doesn't mean you cannot enjoy a single-player game with an AI-controlled ally by your side. Even so, having a human teammate appears to be the key ingredient that makes this game stand out in the growing crowd of multiplayer titles.

The game's premise revolves around a politically flavored plot. You are one of the two operatives, working for a PMC (Private Military Contractor). At the outset, you'll get to complete a series of contracts, but soon enough you begin to discover the true intentions of your employer. From here on, players enter a suspenseful storyline with many unforeseen twists. You've stepped into the shoes of a mercenary. Mercenaries live an intense life and, as ruthless as it sounds, they are evidence of a powerful political system, which, by the way, grants them immunity from prosecution. As a cold-blooded merc, you are thrown into a variety of highly dangerous missions, involving stuff like demolition, assassination and similar actions. Remember, mercenaries aren't looking to deliver justice. They don't consider themselves to be goody-goody heroes compelled to do the right thing. Getting the job done is their main objective and money is their sole motivation; plain and simple. (Just like that fucker Jaques Custo. - Ed)

With such a backdrop providing the cornerstone for Army of Two, EA also decided to spice things up with a fair amount of mature content, so you'll often see blood splatter across the screen and you may hear occasional bad language and banter from the two-man merc team.

When it comes to gameplay mechanics, most gamers should feel right at home. The third-person perspective is very similar to what we've seen in Epic's smash hit Gears of War. The action is viewed via the over-the-shoulder camera, while the two main protagonists head from cover to cover and blast their way through enemy formations. Your character may also fire his weapon while behind cover, blind firing like in GoW. To make things a bit more interesting, EA Montreal included GPS (global positioning system), a more than handy tool for finding your way around and marking your objectives.

But most of these features are more than familiar. In fact, at first glance, you could say Army of Two borrows elements from several known franchises. What makes the game unique, however, is the approach taken by the developers to ensure the gameplay remains centered on communication and cooperation between players. According to the development team, every precaution was taken to analyze the contemporary multiplayer gaming scene. Everything was examined from MMO games to the way people communicate through web services such as Myspace and Facebook.

Within the game, helping your buddy is essential to your survival. If your mate lies heavily wounded on the battlefield, you'll have three minutes to reach him. Although he won't be able to move, the injured player can still fire at enemies to keep them at bay before help arrives. If he's successfully dragged behind cover by his teammate, the injured player can easily recuperate. At this point, you can enjoy a button-bashing mini-game, which requires players to place a tampon (that's right, a tampon) on the wound. This is no joke. Apparently, when working on this particular feature, the developers went straight to the source. They received tips from military advisers and it seems that tampons are regularly used by mercs to stop the bleeding in real-life battle situations.

The so-called Aggro meter is another component of gameplay that encourages player solidarity. It's basically a sliding scale that shifts depending on how much players expose themselves to enemies, how much they draw their attention. Keeping things balanced and sharing incoming fire from enemies, unlocks an effective back-to-back mode, with both players remaining stationary, while firing at enemies, thereby covering the area in a 360 degree angle. This feature makes for an excellent strategy when players are surrounded. However, when a player starts dominating the scene Rambo-style, drawing the fire away from his partner, the meter slides all the way to one side and the other player becomes a real stealth machine with the ability to sneak up behind foes and snap their necks (ouch!).

You hold him down, I'll whip out the ole' cannon.

Hovercraft vs. helicopter -- an epic fight.

When creating Ao2, the ultimate goal was to inspire players to work together; not fight against each other (like in a majority of multiplayer shooters). Aspects like players giving each other a high five were included to maintain the feeling of camaraderie. But this is a mere cosmetic element. More importantly, players have to cooperate as often as possible and frequently, teamwork is the only option. You can give your partner a leg-up, for instance, if you need to reach higher ground - as soon as one player climbs up, he can turn around and to give his comrade a hand. (Like in Splinter Cell's Spy vs. Merc multiplayer mode, I suppose. - Ed). There's also a neat team-fire feature, where a player lifts his friend to allow him to shoot over high obstacles. Another cool example of teamwork is when one player grabs a shield, holding it in front of the other player as protection from oncoming enemy fire; meanwhile, the other player fires at opponents above the shield. Co-op sniping is also an option. This particular facet involves a three-screen mode: the top half of the screen displays the standard third person view, while the bottom of the screen features two zoomed in views that show the perspectives of both players. With this method, it will, supposedly, be easier to coordinate attacks.

Like in any action game, progressing through the missions leads to a more powerful arsenal. With cash rewards you can lay your hands on a decent choice of modern-day weaponry, such as the H&K PSG-1 sniper rifle, Steyr AUG, SPAS-12 shotgun, the inevitable AK-47, etc. Altogether, there will be more than 30 weapons for players to wield and each one of these can be customized. You can easily increase the accuracy of the AK-47, for instance, by getting longer and better barrels. In turn, players can also add optics and other attachments, such as fore-grips, under-barrel grenade launchers, etc. On top of which, you may switch magazines - the AK-47 uses different mags, from 30-round and 40-round mags, and even 100-round c-mags.

Next to all these weapon features, gamers are also promised a fair dose of vehicular combat, with both players using buggies, hovercrafts, various armored vehicles and so on.

To sum up, even with all the multiplayer shooters currently on the way (Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, etc.), it's safe to assume Army of Two has a fair shot at making its own mark on the gaming scene. Once again, EA seems to be following closely what the competition is doing and trying to beat them to the punch production-wise.

The game is heading towards a mid-November release, on both Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms.