I'm in the midst of writing an article about how recent gaming has depicted the United States not as a the stalwart war hero but as a bumbling Chaplin-esque character burdened by the essentials of law and the requirements of warfare in the Middle East. If I needed another primary source, here it is. Army of Two is a game all about how silly and outdated the military is and how AWESOME it is to be a PRIVATE CONTRACTOR! Even when the game ends and the private contractors turn out to be a bunch of backstabbing power hogs, our heroes turn around and start their own PRIVATE CONTRACTOR because VIOLENCE IS AWESOME WHEN YOU DO IT WITH A FRIEND.
Watching Yahtzee's review of the game yesterday, he pinpointed something that I found unsettling: Mixing a boyish enthusiasm for violence (Kill some Islamic fundamentalists and then FIST BUMP BECAUSE THAT WAS AWESOME, BRO!) with real world events (There is actual 9/11 footage in the game, however briefly) is ceaselessly tasteless. It's enough that the game's enthusiasm for wanton violence has no real buffer- There is never any remorse for the killing or prayers for the dead- but to mix that action movie mindset with real politics isn't immersive, it's just weird. Weren't we all horrified by the Blackwater scandal not even a year ago? And now I'm supposed to play as Blackwater and feel great about it?
The game's first two levels are a wander through global political stereotypes. In level one you hike through war torn Somolia to kill a warlord with a gun dipped in gold, ironic given that the game has an option to upgrade your weapons to "Pimped", thereby shortening the gap between "Warlord" and "Hero". It is kind of tasteless, but the level is over soon enough and then we get to level 2, which starts with footage of 9/11. I'm guessing you figured out where it goes from here, but if you didn't, pack your bags because we're off to Affff-ghhhannn-iss-taa-nnn. The most frequent enemy here is the Martyr.
Martyr? Yes. Jihadists strapped with dynamite literally throw themselves at you, howling a battlecry in a language you can't understand. "Ulululululu!" they shout and then you pull the trigger and shoot the bomb strapped to their chests and KA-BLAM they blow up like the rockets bursting in air, because America is awesome and violence is awesome and other cultures are LAME AND INSANE. The plot in this level centers around these radicals getting their hands on some missiles that come from- DUN DUN DUN- Russia! Nevermind the fact that the helicopters and the guns probably come from America, because now America has bigger guns and so what.
The following levels are slightly forgettable- An aircraft carrier, a Chinese village, a post-post-Katrina, flooded Miami- and the plot is hackeneyed, Tom Clancy global madlibs conspiracy. Just put the names of the world's super powers (and irritants) in a hat, shake it up and dump them out on the writing room floor: "Let's see, (Korea) gets (missiles) from (Georgia), while (America) has to deal with (Mexican) soldiers who are being paid by (Supposed friend of the heroes) and funded by (FRANCE!)". There seems to be an aborted plot thread in the first level- A mysterious infection, a room filled with toxic gas- that never comes to fruition. Needless to say, it would have been more interesting than what unfolds.
As far as gameplay goes, it's servicable. As is the case nearly always, it's better with a friend than alone, but not because the game is built to be a co-op experience. It isn't. There are some cutesy co-op moments, but by and large as long as you can use the AI as bait, you'll be fine. It's just the AI isn't always in for the fun and on more than one occasion I found myself wishing they'd just given me a German Shepard I could have strapped a minigun to and called it a day.
It's a pretty package with some nice moments, but given the shallow gameplay and offensive political, moral and ethical themes, it's best left for a weekend rental or the bargain bin. You could probably cruise through it in 10-12 hours, less with an effective friend.
