Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel Review
Playing Dumb.
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March 29, 2013 Army
of Two has lost its way. While it never really grew into a huge
franchise, it deserves much better than this lacklustre third
instalment. After two decent games, The Devil’s Cartel is a mediocre
sequel that seems to have forgotten what the series is all about.
One thing Army of Two used to be about is how it brought a
cheesy bro-fisting attitude to its co-op shooting. Refreshingly, it
never took itself very seriously, with a brash yet rather endearing love
of the stupid. For example, after surviving a firefight, brothers in
arms Salem and Rios could break out the air guitars to celebrate.
But in The Devil’s Cartel those irreverent asides have
gone, and to a large extent, so have Salem and Rios. The mostly
enjoyable duo has been pushed into supporting roles,
The story is equally insipid, following the un-dynamic duo
to Mexico on a mission to rescue a political hostage from a drug
cartel's private army. But Mexico never feels like an authentic place. A
variety of locations are toured – from war-torn luxury hotels to
candlelit graveyards, crowded inner-city slums, and rusty scrapyards –
but they all feel drab and lifeless. Even locales teeming with Day of
the Dead decorations and boxes stuffed full of exploding fireworks feels
flat. There’s no bustle to these city streets – they’re eerily
unpopulated, except for wave after unending wave of cookie-cutter
enemies. The best thing about these insipid environments is that you get
to destroy them, which looks unexpectedly good.
It didn't take long for the seven-hour campaign to devolve
into one relentless slog, irritatingly punctuated by frequent score
updates that add little to the overall experience. You’re awarded points
for different types of kills and performing co-op actions, but even as
your ranking increases there's very little real impact on gameplay. New
guns and gear unlock, but the arsenal is small and lacks real
personality.
Unlike the previous two Army of Two games, Devil's Cartel
has no competitive multiplayer, which EA justified by claiming they
wanted to create a “very intense co-op campaign”. This is baffling,
since interaction between the two player characters seems less central
to the experience than ever before. Sure, the riot shield puts in an
appearance and flanking is sometimes the most expedient course of
action, but these moments are infrequent. For the most part, it doesn’t
feel like a co-op experience at all. You can progress just as easily by
simply looking out for yourself.
Even when playing that way, Devil’s Cartel is
disappointingly simplified and less varied compared to previous entries.
There’s no ‘aggro’ meter or morality moments this time around; only the
fundamentals remain. You’ll still rescue hostages, escort VIPs, man
turrets both on the ground and in the air, make last stands in open
spaces, and flank turrets. You’ll do that again and again, in a variety
of bland, lifeless locations: in churches, in hotels, in junkyards, and
haciendas that somehow manage to always feel the same. It attempts to
relieve the monotony with set-pieces but they’re underwhelming moments.
One new addition is the Overkill Mode, which makes you
invincible for a limited time and gives each bullet extra, explosive
damage. It occasionally got me out of trouble and is especially useful
when taking on brutes, but it can't save the pacing of this campaign.
After a while, Devil’s Cartel settles into a monotonous rhythm from
which it never deviates.
Shooting things over and over again can still be a good
time if the actual gameplay mechanics are innately satisfying. But here,
they’re not – they’re just infuriatingly shoddy and counterintuitive.
The cover system is by far the worst offender. Moving between cover is
unnecessarily tricky – I couldn’t always select the cover I wanted and
sometimes I couldn’t get into cover at all. You have to hold down the
left analogue to run, which is awkward when you’re also using it to
shift between and move out of cover. This is all painfully exacerbated
by how little mobility the main characters possess. Alpha and Bravo
can’t even roll to avoid enemy fire. Frequently, I got shot through no
fault of my own. I was supposed to be an elite soldier of fortune, but
at times I felt more like an idiot statue on roller-skates.
The enemies are easily the worst aspect of the experience.
The AI is just risible. Characters will just charge out of cover with a
death wish, they’ll let you run up and stab them without even reaching
for the trigger. In one section, you’re tiptoeing through darkened
tunnels, but guards don’t even notice an incredibly bright torch being
shone behind them. Mercifully, the partner AI is decent – he can always
be counted upon to revive you and not get into too much trouble on his
own.
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