War on the Cartel

Third chapter of the Army of TWO series, here comes for all fans of the saga (and there are not a few) the episode called The Devil's Cartel, which, as can be easily deduced from the title itself, sees us protagonists against a dangerous and bloody Mexican drug cartel , of those ruthless and without any humanity. And to stop certain criminals you don't need ordinary soldiers but just as many "war animals" as are the two new protagonists Alpha and Bravo, godchildren and colleagues of the two terrible Rios and Salem already appreciated in the previous chapters that we will also find in this latest game. Once again branded Electronic Arts, the new chapter passes from EA Montreal to the American experts of the Visceral Games (former authors of the successful Dead Space series, as well as of the old shooters linked to 007 during the last gen and the series of "The Godfather") .



War on the Cartel

Army of TWO, let's say it right away to understand what we are facing, is one of the most popular series of this generation as regards the two-player cooperative game, whether it is via the internet but above all live. This franchise exploits (or at any time tries to do so at all times) the union on the battlefield of two characters who help each other, demolish together, cover, unite, cooperate with a single common purpose: to destroy everything and everyone and save your skin in situations worthy of the best Hollywood action movies.

Yippie ki-yay!

Once started Army of TWO: The Devil's Cartel we are already in the action zone after only 5 minutes of quick tutorial, just the time to learn how to do the covers, how to get around the enemies attracting their attention and the basic use of primary and secondary weapon. Kid's stuff for shooter chews.



War on the Cartel

Fortunately, the game does not dwell on the subject and precisely throws us into the fray directly in Mexico where, once we meet the old Rios and Salem, we are informed of our mission which is to protect a politician called Cordova, linked to the fight against drug trafficking. and of which all bad guys want the head. It goes without saying that things will get complicated and the story will unfold through many different locations and missions ranging from rescue to infiltration, from total destruction to the protection of secondary characters, all always and only performed in close cooperation with our partner Bravo, controlled by an online friend, or by the game's artificial intelligence. The characters and their "macho" personality are barely mentioned, never investigated in the depths of the soul for obvious gameplay reasons: it is a 100% shooter without any kind of moral, philosophical, ethical or any other narrative pretext. The script simply consists of two lines, the personality of Alpha and Bravo from one.

War on the Cartel

But we like it like this, after all: hard and raw. Indeed, if we really want to find an immediate difference with the previous chapters, we can say that it is a more "serious" game without the glitz of the previous one, all too ironic and almost annoying in some situations where the brutality of free destruction is it clashed with the goliardic and unconographic celebrations of a purely Yankee mold of Rios and Salem. This time Alpha and Bravo do their homework at home almost silently, without laughing, cheering or getting high as a basketball player after a dunk. Certainly some criticism has had the right effect on the sweetening of the game action. Compared to the first two chapters, in addition to the "decrease in black humor" there are other substantial changes. First of all in the gameplay: the Overkill returns from the first Army of TWO, or the possibility of having a few seconds of advantage over the enemy with a doubled rate of fire, slowed time and active invincibility, but only after a certain number of kills and in cooperative. Factor which, moreover, makes the most intense and complicated parts of the game much simpler and more linear. The difficulty level set on "normal", on the other hand, is too simple in itself: the advice is to start at least from the higher one.



War on the Cartel

Added the "Overkill" bindings, however, numerous other features that have always distinguished the series have been cut, such as the ability to move forward "shoulder to shoulder". There is no "aggro" that gave the game an unexpected and hinted strategy of attack through the distraction of the enemies on our partner, and there are not even the moves and gestures of a couple. The "moral" moments where it was necessary to make very specific choices dictated by our personality were also cut. In short, it is the least cooperative Army of TWO of the three, certainly the most simplified and less full-bodied, since there is also no online mode any other than the story mode in co-op. So no competitive multiplayer, which also distinguished the previous two chapters well and which, precisely by virtue of the characteristics of the game, could fit us perfectly (let's just think of the various 2 vs 2 modes of Halo). Given the lack of many online modes and a certain ease in the continuation of the story, the total longevity of Army of TWO: The Devil's Cartel it is decidedly low and below the average of its kind. And not even the insertion of the score is enough to give this title a worthy replay value.

Xbox 360 achievements

As it is in the natural order of things and the universe, too Army of TWO: The Devil's Cartel offers the player the classic 1000 points to unlock, this time through 46 achievements, almost half of which are secret. Well we reveal to you that there are no particularly difficult actions to perform to get them all: just destroying them all the time will be enough to unlock them, as well as kill, demolish cars and objects. Fire at will!



Total global destruction

Visceral Games developers have been very skilled in taking advantage of all the graces offered by the latest Frostbite Engine 2 graphics engine, after having "retired" the Unreal Engine 3 previously used for the other Army of TWOs. The new engine allows a much higher destructibility of the environment and therefore a spectacularization of the scenography now "at the service" of the explosions. Blowing up objects, cars and barrels of gasoline not only gives satisfaction, but there are also specific objectives linked to these actions so we practically feel obliged not to leave even a twig standing. In practice, however, this exaltation of the war scene was only half successful. The amazement disappears a little when we notice that not everything reacts to fire in the same way: for example, wooden barrels can blow up, but not chairs, sofas and furniture in houses. Cars and wagons can be destroyed, but trees, bushes and objects much less resistant than a car can be destroyed. In short, we could have done better, or else not insert this interactivity in the middle at all. Another area in which we are in strong doubt is enemy artificial intelligence. Too often they launch and move on the same "scripts" enemy after enemy, performing the same runs and movements, as well as actions such as cover and shoot at almost rhythmic time. At times he recalled (albeit vaguely and with due distances) even the good old and dear Virtua Cop. The previous Army of TWO did a more refined work on the movements of the opposing CPU and we remember enemy encirclement and cover that in The Devil's Cartel hiding. On one occasion we also found ourselves, while we were firing like mad from a fixed position, with an enemy at the side who shot us endlessly without moving and constantly hitting the metal plate to protect us, while behind we were completely uncovered. Gifts that an AI worthy of the name shouldn't give, honestly.

War on the Cartel

Having said that, and in any case, the guys from Visceral Games did a great job on the technical front by drawing very heterogeneous maps ranging from the Mexican luxury hotel to the desolate lands of the countryside, from the small typical town to the guerrilla in the city, always with a great horizon ahead and a polygonal calculation worthy of this gen. Excellent textures and their general quality also thanks to the installation of almost 1.5 GB, not mandatory, on the Hard Disk. A few glitches and imperfections here and there in the polygonal interpenetrations are sporadically noticeable to the keen eye, but nothing really serious. The real strength of this Army of TWO: The Devil's Cartel however, the very strong component of customization remains, both of the characters and of the weapons, possible both before starting to play and between one level and another, by accessing the armory and shop option through the main menu. Here you can buy and equip dozens and dozens of weapons, objects, gadgets, camouflage and war suits, uniforms and uniforms, and last but not least the famous "masks" that characterize the series and its characters. You can also draw them yourself by creating overlapping "layers" just like you did when drawing car hoods in Forza Motorsport. There is no doubt that, despite the many defects from which this last chapter of Army of TWO suffers, it still turns out to be a title that, as the British would say delivers, or that does its duty as a shooter giving a certain satisfaction in shooting , destroy and take down the enemies. The notable cuts to the gameplay, multiplayer and pure co-op component, however, turn it into the worst chapter of the series and in an inexorable missed opportunity to make the fateful and much desired "qualitative leap" that was definitely missed. We look forward to the next chapter, probably "next-gen".

Comment

Version tested: Xbox 360 Resources4Gaming.com

6.2

Readers (76)

8.0

Your vote

Once again Army of TWO will make the happiness of those looking for a shooter without many frills, all action and destruction, perhaps alongside a friend. Too bad that the co-op component is not exploited to the maximum as in the previous chapters, and that an expendable feature (the Overkill) has been re-introduced in spite of others much more juicy and fun (the competitive multiplayer, the aggro) . Having said that, we do not feel like advising regardless of the latest Eletronic Arts effort, but we leave each individual the freedom to do it according to their tastes and gameplay needs by virtue of that something good that the title suggests.

PRO

  • Total destruction without the need to turn on the brain
  • Great customization of the arsenal and the character
  • Great use of the new Frostbite 2 engine ...
AGAINST
  • ... but some imperfection and naivety in physics
  • A not exactly brilliant artificial intelligence
  • Absent many interesting features
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