With games aiming to provide a more cerebral experience these days, with deeper storylines and ever more complicated gameplay systems, it's all the more harder to come across a game that is as simple at its core as Army of Two: The 40th Day. Whereas many other games give you back stories that are worthy of epic literature and characters that are well rounded and fleshed out, Army of Two gives you two stereotypical jock mercenaries fighting their way through the streets of Shanghai without even telling you who or why they're fighting until 5 minutes from the end of the game. The important thing is that it doesn't detract at all from the game's fun factor and in fact adds to its sense of cheesy, action packed atmosphere that the game is looking to evoke.
This time round what starts out to as a simple mission to place beacons in Shanghai turns sour with the city going into full blown panic mode as an army of mercenaries invade. Collapsing buildings, crashing planes and flying bullets are only some of the hazards that await you on the streets of Shanghai. Rather than being tasked with taking out a target or rescuing hostages, your primary goal here is just to survive long enough to escape alive.
The gameplay is much the same as in the first game, with you and a partner (human or AI) working your way through the game's levels and shooting your way through large numbers of enemies. Occasionally you'll come up against tougher enemies that might call for some flanking maneuvers, which also brings in the Aggro component. This fighting technique makes it possible for you or your partner to draw enemy fire (increasing his Aggro meter), allowing the other to take down your opponents without too much trouble. Watching the Aggro meter will allow you to effectively flank enemies without being seen.
Progression through the game is fairly linear and it manages to not outstay its welcome by keeping the campaign to a short 6 hours or so, while there is some replayability with the morality moments and collectibles. Morality moments boil down to a simple binary decision which will either give you increased morality or reward you with new weapons and ammo. Just remember that whichever team mate decides first, chooses for both - so there's the possibility for disagreement if a decision is taken too hastily.
Other than the morality moments, the only other really noticable change from the first game is the weapon customization that allows you to strip your weapons apart and build them up using custom parts, with each part improving or weakening any number of stats for the weapon. Its a bit cumbersome and most of the time I found myself barely using it other than to try ridiculous weapon set ups such as the soda can silencer and screwdriver bayonet attachments.
If you're playing the game with an AI partner (though you really should be playing this with a human) you'll be pleasantly surprised at how little he actually gets in your way. You've got slight control over him with the use of the D-pad and only occasionally you'll find him intent on soaking up all the incoming fire with his body before collapsing to the floor in a pool of blood and demanding that you help him. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the enemy AI, whose military training only sees them managing the odd flanking maneuver when their confidence is high.
As you work your way through the game you'll soon realise that Shanghai must be one of the worst looking cities in the world, either that, or the graphics engine manages to create some of the ugliest environment textures I've seen. In contrast, the levels do excel in the variety of locations that you traverse in the campaign, with one memorable mission taking place in the Shanghai Zoo. Being a sequel, the main characters have had quite a lot of attention devoted to them, unfortunately the other characters came off second best in the looks department. The fact that you'll face the same two or three enemy models certainly doesn't help matters.
Army of Two: The 40th Day doesn't do anything to help it stand out when compared to the list of high profile releases dotted across the 2010 Q1 calendar. And with 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand being cheaper and providing just as much fun, it's also harder to recommend this game as a new purchase. But like 50 Cent, if you're aren't expecting anything new, and are just looking for a basic co-op shooter, then Army of Two: The 40th Day may just keep you and a partner amused for a few hours.
Pros:
- Gameplay is easy to get to grips with
- Competent partner AI
- Diamond encrusted grenades!
Cons:
- No real improvement over the first game
- Graphics aren't the best
Rating: 
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