Ready for the 40th Day?
Read more about Army of Two: The 40th Day Game Guide
Today marks the release of Army of Two: The 40th Day, featuring Salem and Rios in another fist-bump-worthy adventure. I had a lot of fun with the first game, but this one is a whole new beast with some welcome additions and tons of super-cool new features. And I’m not saying that just because I wrote the guide. I really feel the latest installment is a huge improvement over the original. So what are some of my favorite innovations? I absolutely love the one-button melee attacks. It’s especially satisfying to sneak up behind a distracted enemy and dispatch them with your bare hands…or a bayonet. Grenades are also now assigned a button of their own making it much easier to frag thugs during a heated firefight. But that’s just the beginning.
Perhaps the most exciting feature of the new game is the weapon customization option. Not only can you buy a large assortment of assault rifles, sub machineguns, shotguns, sniper rifles, and light machineguns, but you can tear each weapon apart and apply its parts to different weapons in your arsenal. Want to add that AK-47 stock to your M416? No problem. Or maybe you just want to attach a shotgun beneath the barrel of your semi-automatic grenade launcher? The customization options are absolutely insane allowing for the creation of some truly brutal implements of war. I made sure we paid a great deal attention to this feature in our guide, complete with stats and info on every weapon and weapon part. We even put together a helpful quick reference table in the back of the guide showing all these stats.
Army of Two was one of the first games to take co-op gameplay seriously, taking a ground-up approach in its design. I’m pleased to see that the co-op experience is even more fluid this time around. For example, co-op sniping can be initiated at any time; a great way to eliminate two target simultaneously. Plus you can perform some awesome new co-op actions such as the mock surrender. But the co-op interactions don’t end with the gameplay. Your team’s choices can affect the outcome of the story. Throughout the campaign there are a variety of co-op choices requiring you and your partner to make a tough decision. Are you in it for the money? Or are you more interested in helping your fellow man? Even better, none of these decisions are real cut and dry. But don’t worry; we cover all the co-op choices in the guide, describing the rewards and consequences for each. Also, if you’re a completionist you’ll be happy to know that we also have labeled maps illustrating the locations of all collectibles including weapon parts, radio transmissions, civilians, cash drops, and Maneki Neko cats.
Late in the project we had the chance to play through the different multiplayer game modes with the developers. And I’m pleased to say that we didn’t get totally embarrassed. Still, it helps when you have experts on your team. In all there are four game modes: Control, Co-Op Deathmatch, Extraction, and Warzone. Of all these modes, I had the most fun with Extraction, requiring you and three buddies to hold out against wave after wave of AI-controlled enemies. It’s a very tough mode but the teamwork required to come out on top is very rewarding. The developers even took the time to write some tips for each map pointing out crucial locations and tactics necessary for achieving victory.
After this one, I’m eager to see what’s next for Salem and Rios. I’m happy to see EA is investing in this franchise, complete with a new comic book set to release this month from IDW—we have the first few pages of the debut issue in the back of our guide. These characters are perfect for a comic series and I’m sure it will help maintain interest while we wait for the next video game adventure. I know I’ll be checking it out every month.
I have 300+ hours into Dragon Age: Origins, and I’m still going back for more. Not to replay the quests (I’ve done them all), not to load a new character up with fancy loot (though, admittedly, there are some cool weapons I still want to check out), not to discover a secret location in Ferelden (the unknown frontier has been colonized for me a while back). No, I miss the party scene.
