Army Of Two

4:01pm Thursday 3rd April 2008

Publisher: Electronic Arts Formats: PS3, XBox 360 Price: £39.99 Family friendly? 18

FOR the most part, console games are still solitary affairs, a battle of wits between the player and the machine.

Army of Two positively demands co-operation based, as it is, on co-ordinated strategies and team combat.

You can do this with a mate or, if you're billy no mates, with the console itself via the grand-sounding "partner artificial intelligence".

The game begins in Somalia, 1993, when the two protagonists, Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios, are two US Rangers asked to undertake a dangerous assassination mission.

The duo carry out the hit with precision and are asked to join the private sector working for the Security and Strategy Corporation. Dreams of a cushy desk job are soon dispelled, however, when the SSC turns out to be a global troubleshooting organisation (with the emphasis very much on shooting).

Whether its infiltrating a missile base buried beneath a mountain, rescuing American soldiers from Iraqi terrorists or retaking an aircraft carrier that's fallen into the hands of al Qaida, Salem and Rios are never far from danger.

But all is not as it seems and the powers behind SSC may not be the all-American patriots they claim to be.

Interestingly, as well as forcing you to undertake every mission with a buddy, Army of Two also places unprecedented emphasis on weapons customisation. Pistols, shotguns, sub-machine guns and even grenade launchers can all be upgraded.

This weapons fetishism even extends to "pimping" your arsenal with gold and chromed plating!

Enemies will concentrate their fire on the player deemed to be the greatest threat, leaving your partner free to out flank the bad guys and take out the attacking troops.

The game's over-the-shoulder view is easier to play than the traditional shoot 'em up's first person perspective and, although the squad-based mechanics are fairly simplistic (your orders consist of broad-based instructions like "advance, hold, regroup" etc), Army of Two proves to be a satisfying post-pub blast.

Electronic Arts hopes Army of Two will be successful enough to join its established roster of money-spinning franchises.

It has left nothing to chance.

Graphically the game looks great with beautiful cinematics, smooth character movement and wince-inducing gunshot wounds. The soundtrack, too, is state-ofthe- art, with great use of positional audio and surround sound effects.

It may be a little brainless, but Army of Two marks a promising beginning for the mercenary careers of Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios. I predict another outing very soon.

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