Army of Two Megathread

[nenmu]

Originally Posted by awolpoland

Beat it ....... its very short if you though call of duty 4 was short this is like maybe half of that.... hopefully the online play is worth it for buying it or im ****ed

That sucks. Is there any replay value?
Like any reason to play through it again on a harder difficulty setting?

[silversnake]

Originally Posted by awolpoland

Beat it ....... its very short if you though call of duty 4 was short this is like maybe half of that.... hopefully the online play is worth it for buying it or im ****ed

i was afraid of that. i just got it today and i've been playing with my buddy for like 3 1/2 hours... sooo much fun


I'm playing on the highest difficulty so far but the one above will be unlocked when you beat the game.

Graphics/Audio is very good. Co-OP gameplay is really, really fun. I can definitely seeing myself playing the single player again a few times , especially if it's short. The shooting is definitely different from most shooters but it's still pretty good. I'm going to try online tonight and see how that goes

[Proteus]

Actually...

The game is not so much shorter than COD4. It's a tad longer, but in the same ballpark. Just depends on your playstyle, I imagine.

Yes, you can blow through it in Recruit mode in about six hours; however, why would you play in recruit mode if you were already a capable shooter player? This game is definitely longer than Gears of War and Halo. It's also longer than Heavenly Sword.

The graphics are awesome, the sound is awesome, the voice acting is the best I've heard in a long time actually, and the dialogue makes sense and is natural. The story is strong and carries the game well (with plenty of 'real' references to world events).

The game is fun as hell with exceptional gameplay. For comparison, the gameplay (including cover system) is almost exactly like Gears of War (with the third person camera drawn out a tad farther so you see your whole self). The main difference is that Army of Two is no where near as linear as Gears. There are literally 100's of different ways you can approach any one situation if you stop and think a bit. This is a major difference from COD4 (where only a few option existed) and all linear style shooters (it's kinda like RB6V in how you can 'move around' and 'flank' and such).

The customization is 'okay' but not great. There are different weapons and such, of course; however, you end up finding the handful that are really worthy real fast and stick to them. It doesn't take long to pimp them out and add all the mods (you have to beat the game on 'professional' to open all the mods available). Which leads to...

The game is a little too easy. If you and your partner are at all familiar with general strategy and tactics, you can surmount things quite easily even on 'professional' setting. Even in single player 'professional' isn't so tough (regardless of Partner AI issues that are minor really) if you think and set things up... I kept hoping that a 'supremely hardcore' mode would secretly open once 'professional' was beaten, but, alas, I was dissappointed.

Making money isn't hard either. Seriously, I had enough cash to buy a ton of weapons (foregoing waiting for them to open at campaign completion), buy every single mod for them, pimp them, and buy every single mask available by the end of the first day (about $500,000 worth of love or so I'd guess). This process could have been slower and I would have been fine with that because now I have 100's of thousands of dollars I'm not sure what I can spend on.

Versus mode... Well, this is truly the negative of the game for me. This aspect of the multiplayer has been tremendously disappointing. The graphics take a pretty visible dive for 'versus' and the cash you make is only a 'score' basically for leaderboard purposes. It has no other real use (other than to buy stuff from crates in the map or resurrect sooner which are decidedly minor). The concepts of the versus games are fun and thoughtful, but you can not use your 'profile' character and for some reason when I pick a preferred character at the versus custom match window it does not translate into the game. In fact, it seems totally random which character you get and what weapons you get. This is really an immersion killer for me as it becomes hard to play the role I'd like to be. I just can't get into the versus mode no matter how hard I try. Not to mention the process of finding/starting a game is a royal pita that involves WAY too much waiting around.

The beauty of the multiplayer lies in the Co-op stuff for sure. In this mode every single thing in your 'profile' is considered and if your friend sucks and didn't get any good weapons yet you can just trade him one of yours. Total sweetness to be able to play co-op like this. In fact, I'm gonna say _all_ games should have co-op modes like this to play with friends. This is truly a shining point of the game as I can play with my friends and we can try new stuff constantly (including using the 'not so fresh' weapons and attempting to survive still... Or, use the M134 and spray and pray through things). I see this aspect of the game being very long standing providing EA delivers on content expansion (which is why it is so short I think, undoubtedly they decided to cheap out on the release to make PSN content look more enticing). The versus mode needs new content very badly (only four maps or so?) but, in reality, I'd be surprised if anyone cared about Versus. Co-op is where it is at and an entire set of another six missions is probably called for on the PSN. Harder missions with even wider options. Some serious and detailed new weapon packs are definitely necessary and, here's the most important, _customized armor and masks_. They really should release a HUGE armor and mask pack with 100's of custom stuff in all styles (light, med, heavy) using the awesome art design of the game. Give us something to spend our in game $$'s on EA!

Technically, it is an EA game, so there are bugs. I've frozen in Somalia three times now. The screen (and side video) can turn a annoying teal green color sometimes (almost looks like the GPU faulted but it didn't). It doesn't happen mid game (yet, well, it does in the partner cam sometimes but that's not so important) but during cutscenes and the beginning of missions (then the normal color fades in). I do find it funny that when you 'co-op snipe' there is an Xbox logo in the middle between the crosshairs... Ooops! There are a few other quirky things too.

Finally, would I recommend this game for buy? Depends. If you have friends that play PS3 and would get it also, then _most definitely_. This is probably the beginnings of one of the best co-op games there is. The dialogue and character interaction creates a _very_ true sense of bonding (the character emotes even are fantastic for communicating if you decide not to use a headset). The positive, and negative, reinforcement emotes are great, sound real, and can be quite humorous. This is a must have game if you are a co-op player (and, yes, I'm banking on EA coming through on their promise of a lot more maps on PSN for co-op).

If you are only into single player and Versus style play, you might want to just rent. The single player is easily beaten and with 'professional' being so not-so-challenging for any experienced shooter player you would probably buy all the guns and mods by day three and put it down. I've already discussed how Versus is a let down so I'll leave it at that.

With RB6V2 right around the corner, I've found this game is a good filler for the next three-four weeks. I'll probably play it still after that; however, it IS RB6V2 people... So, that will definitely get a lot of my time (especially with all the new co-op options it has to offer now).

[Roland1919]

Jomari, Can you add a poll to this. Rate this game 1-5 Stars. I'm curious how our Blu community is rating this game. Reviews I've read have been mixed. Thanks.

[L or S of Perfect?]

does it have mic support for online play?

[jomari]

Originally Posted by starlightpress

I have the original 60 GB PS3 since launch. Hasn't given any problems at all on any other games. I did turn OFF the EA online option and played for a few hours with no problems at all. That could've been the culprit. Could've just been a rare bug in the game.

the same thing happened to me, but i already turned the EA online option off before i even played the game.

turned it off, and went back into the game without a hitch. a glitch possibly,but not enough to frustrate me.

[GamingPhantom]

Originally Posted by L or S of Perfect?

does it have mic support for online play?

yes it will work with some bluetooth and usb headsets.

I think that it stinks that the ps3's version is 720p game, and the 360's is 1080p.

[Shin-Ra]

You mean 720p upscaled to 1080p.

[jomari]

Originally Posted by Roland1919

Jomari, Can you add a poll to this. Rate this game 1-5 Stars. I'm curious how our Blu community is rating this game. Reviews I've read have been mixed. Thanks.

so sorry roland i dont know how, maybe someone can pm me so i can try to do that.

not a bad suggestion either.

@proteus,
great posting about the game, and, has confirmed that im not going to be the only person who bought it.

quick questions tho
1. whats the blu indicator above the enemies? im assuming its their health bar?
2. does the GPS system also give you clues on where 'secret' cash missions are?
3. when you have your partner advance, can you 'place' them in a particular area?

thanks guys.

[Chocolatejas]

Thinking I am going to split this with a buddy.

[Shin-Ra]

Poll added.

[L or S of Perfect?]

Gave it a 3/5 so far based on initial impressions. IMO it should be a 7/10, but I didn't want to give it a 4/5.

I think the camera is a bit loose, and it would have been better with a GOW behind the shoulder approach.

[jomari]

@ L or S of Perfect?

Thank you for placing the poll. highly appreciated.

Originally Posted by L or S of Perfect?

Gave it a 3/5 so far based on initial impressions. IMO it should be a 7/10, but I didn't want to give it a 4/5.

I think the camera is a bit loose, and it would have been better with a GOW behind the shoulder approach.

good point. another thing i didnt really like that much is the sensitivity options. medium is my current choice, but would like something in between medium and high. or at least more control.

another problem i found is the fact that i cant change the layout for the controls. i normally play FPS games, and this took a bit of a learning curve.

so for the meantime its either i play COD4 or this one.

hehe. i answered my own question

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by jomari

so sorry roland i dont know how, maybe someone can pm me so i can try to do that.

not a bad suggestion either.

@proteus,
great posting about the game, and, has confirmed that im not going to be the only person who bought it.

quick questions tho
1. whats the blu indicator above the enemies? im assuming its their health bar?
2. does the GPS system also give you clues on where 'secret' cash missions are?
3. when you have your partner advance, can you 'place' them in a particular area?

thanks guys.

The blue and red indicators seem to have something to do with the level of the enemy. Blue is a total wuss, red is a better dude and yellow is the 'elite' guys from what I can tell, but it's not very clear other than it shows their health bar.

I haven't seen any of the extra suitcases on GPS at any point in time so I'd have to say no. In fact, the GPS has been pretty useless other than to show where to go if you get lost.

No, you can't tell your partner where to go exactly (i.e. Ghost Recon, etc.). I just put them on follow, run where I want them, then tell them to hold and run off where I want to go. Most of the time you will find it works better to just put your partner on defensive advance and lay down cover for him. On 'pro' mode you gotta take lead a bit more often though as the PAI is kinda not up to spec for it without doing something stupid (like standing in the middle of a room to reload while getting plastered with bullets). If you have a 'real life' partner, then I would leave it up to you as to how stupid they are or aren't.

On a continuation note, I now have purchased every single mod/weapon/mask/pimpage there is in the game. I'm guessing it took about 1.25 mil but, honestly, I didn't add it all up.

The game begins to lose it's draw after you beat it a few times solo. You really need to have access to a partner to play with (and try new crazy things with in the game) to maintain the games longetivity.

If it were up to me, I would have done quite a few things differently in the games design. Like the simple ability to pick up a dropped weapon, for example. The game really looks like they took Gears of War and attempted to build from that. And, let's face it, GoW was not a particularly great game other than awesome graphics. It was the most linear and short sighted game I think I ever played, lol. But, it was fun and so is Ao2. I do really like how they made the characters look in Ao2. It adds to the 'not ordinary' immersion. I just couldn't get into COD4 because the characters looked too realistic. I can go out to Hill AFC and hang with the guys there if I wanted that and trust me, running with them and shooting real guns blows COD4 out of the water.

I am _really_ hoping beyond hope that EA comes through with a lot more campaign/coop maps on the PSN. The Versus mode in this game is a total suckfest and any new maps for that would be wasted; however, that is the easy way out so EA may drop those first/instead which would be VERY disappointing. I would love to have another six missions (about 18+ maps) worth of Coop goodies.


Edit: Wanted to add a note about Xbox360 being 1080p. It's not. From what my friend says it appears to be 640p upscaled to 1080p via the Xbox's doohicky for that purpose. In fact, it appears most games go this route on Xbox. They always seem kinda blurry to me whenever I go over to his house and his rig does not suck in any way at all.

[MasterXeus]

Originally Posted by jomari

so sorry roland i dont know how, maybe someone can pm me so i can try to do that.

not a bad suggestion either.

@proteus,
great posting about the game, and, has confirmed that im not going to be the only person who bought it.

quick questions tho
1. whats the blu indicator above the enemies? im assuming its their health bar?
2. does the GPS system also give you clues on where 'secret' cash missions are?
3. when you have your partner advance, can you 'place' them in a particular area?

thanks guys.

1. I think the Indicator above the enemies is for their armor level. Blue Being Light, Red for Medium, Green for Heavy. (unable to kill from the front) You can also see their health too.
2. I don't think so, but I wasn't really looking at it that much. Next Play through I'll take a closer look.
3. Not sure, I've only played on Co-op Campaign

[Chocolatejas]

Is there a split screen co-op? I can't seem to find this info.

[MasterXeus]

Originally Posted by Chocolatejas

Is there a split screen co-op? I can't seem to find this info.

yes

[Chocolatejas]

Originally Posted by MasterXeus

yes

hopefully going to buy it today

[jomari]

thanks for the replies folks.

1. i think that the little indicators next to each tango is their health bar, fresh at blu, then declines afterwards.
2. i think the secret missions are all 'listed' when you pause the game, go into objectives and scroll through the secondary missions.
3. i cant tag em to head somewhere specific like Rainbow does.

after playing with this for a while, i kinda got pass the learning curve for the game controls, and found it a good game. not enough for me to not stop playing (just like COD4 was, man that game definitely raised the bar), but not bad for me to just quit all of a sudden.

a. i too like the idea of picking up other peoples guns, et al.
b. i also prefer to have the opportunity to upgrade my weapons WITHOUT getting the first set for it. for example, i have to purchase A to get B accessory. A sucks. B rocks. why do i have to buy A first? my first few gripes.
c. sometimes i want to swap, but the darn guy keeps on saying 'cant do BRO'.
d. BRO died in the 90's. why go back? it couldve been BRA to add a little more flare to it.

for others definitely a rental, i am justifying my purchase by how it met my 'underpromised' expectations for this game.

[Chocolatejas]

Add me as a friend if you want to play online co-op.