Army of Two: The 40th Day Review

Conclusion

Electronic Arts should be praised at least for bringing a degree of balance to the introduction of these features, even if the use of a binary choice is a somewhat obvious way to artificially increase replay value and fight claims that the original game was too short. While the morality events offer a simple, clear-cut choice, the stealth events are explicitly skill-based and allow compensatory killing for when you’re tired of treading the nice route.

Aside from these few portions though the game is essentially unchanged and the core of The 40th Day is still based around the Aggro mechanic that was introduced in the first game. In brief, since the entire game is designed for co-op (though the AI does an OK job of keeping pace if you lack any friends.. with the game) the enemies are usually focused on which player is most aggressive. If Elliot is spewing the most bullets then they’ll focus on him and Rios can get into a flanking position.

Unfortunately, while the Aggro mechanic is an interesting idea the actual implementation has taken a step back this time around. Enemies focus so devotedly on whoever has the most Aggro that the other player can often openly walk up and melee the foes one by one. Fighting the heavily-armoured bosses is a cinch once you’ve worked out their weaknesses. Deducing vulnerabilities is easy too – shoot the flamethrower boss in the gas tanks, for example.


That doesn’t mean the game is easy though, at least not on the normal difficulties anyway. The 40th Day can often be more taxing than trying to play Lemmings blindfolded, unless you’re playing on Easy, mainly because enemies are innumerable and the key to winning large battles is letting one of your two-man team actually get shot at more for the sakes of distraction.

Still, there are some nice concessions that help make the more tactical portions of the game a bit more forgiving, such as giving countdowns for those points when both players are trying to snipe through an area. It’s a little thing and it doesn’t at all redeem the controller-rending difficulty of the remainder, but it does show that EA gave some thought to the practicalities of playing online.

That’s a good thing too, as it’s in co-op where the game is best enjoyed. In singleplayer The 40th Day feels shallow and unsatisfying, with boring levels, repetitive enemies and hateful protagonists. In co-op it’s the exact same game, but the friendliness and banter brings a touch more enjoyment to the matter – though not enough to push the game up above the mediocre.


On the plus side, the multiplayer has definitely been improved since the original game both in terms of actual design and technical backend. There’s four multiplayer modes to try out and The 40th Day has moved away from P2P connections in favour of the traditional server setup. The fact that the multiplayer modes still require players to work in twos though means that online battles still feel awkward though, as there’s little room for players to go rogue and try their own thing.

The single ray of light is that of the Extraction mode, where enemies come in waves and you move towards a safezone – an subtle and appreciated twist on the other survival modes we’ve seen recently.

Overall though there’s no real getting away from Army of Two: The 40th Day’s immaturity – both in terms of presentation and actual playability. The perpetual push to add more enhancements to your guns comes at the expense of proper balancing, to the extent that a silenced, scoped, drum-magazined AK-47 with the best stock, grip and barrel, pimped out in gold and diamonds, is a good way to ensure victory early in the adventure. Likewise, the co-op doesn’t feel any better thought out than it was in the first game, so rather than feeling like you’re playing with someone, you’re left with the feeling that someone else just happens to be there.

At the end of the day Army of Two: The 40th Day just isn’t as smooth or polished as it needs to be, and that’s only thinly veiled by the selection of distractions that are littered through the game. Diamond encrusted grenades, indeed.

Score Guide