The Bar

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Platform: Xbox360 Buy it / Playstation 3 Buy it

ESRB Rating: Mature (17+)

Official Bar Score: 

Army of Two published by EA games brings fighting terrorists to your X-Box 360 or Playstation 3. It’s a decent third/first person shooter that is inventive at times and equally unoriginal at other times. It follows two mercenaries, Rios and Salem, through a (short) series of missions around the globe. In these missions the mercs fight terrorists and complete other lucrative objectives. Basically they’re in it for the money, because fighting for your country apparently doesn’t pay the bills.

The story itself is kind of dry, with some sort of conspiracy theory going on in the background. What worries me is that is based on the real War on Terror and has references to 9/11 and the Iraq War. This sort of added realism is borderline upsetting. It’s easy to tell that the designers of the game are not die hard liberals. The mechanics of the game are for the most part the controls are standard first person shooter. It’s not too fancy, but nothing really annoying. The only problem I have is that there’s no separate grenade button like Halo. Having to switch weapons just to use a grenade might be realistic, but not to my liking. The customization of the weapons works really well. During missions you can use your hard fought cash to buy or upgrade your weapons and armor. This allows you to pimp your gear out likes there’s no tomorrow, and create the kind of bloodbath that works for you.

The biggest feature of the game is its co-op play. The two players have to work as a team to complete their missions. From pushing buttons at the same time to synchronizing their snipers, the two mercs work in tandem to fight the evils enemies of America. This gives the game a good tactical feel. You cannot run in with guns blazing and hope to survive. Teamwork is everything.A nice little part of having two players is the aggro feature. As one player fires they will draw the attention of the enemy and allow the other player to move without resistance. This is great for stealthy kills and again gives the game a more tactical feel. In the end the game is decent. It’s short, but what isn’t these days. The AI is ok, and the plot was written by a 5th Grader. It’s not horrible by any stretch though and worth a rental. Just have some beer and a buddy on hand to fully appreciate the game.

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