Army of Two: The 40th Day

Army of Two: The 40th Day

Faiyaz Shaikh, Jan 26, 2010 1030 hrs IST

We wish the single-player campaign lasted longer

More polished than the first release, vast customization options and impressive collection of weapons

Long load-time and texture pop-in, multiplayer modes are disappointing

Expert Rating :

Expert Review

The single player campaign spans across seven chapters and on normal difficulty, it takes about six hours to beat. After this you have the option to replay the game with higher difficulty level or login to EA servers for multiplayer action. Replaying the game is a good option if you want to unlock all collectibles and see how taking a different stand on situations affects the game's storyline.

While the single-player mode is pretty robust and mostly hassle free, the multiplayer features are equally disappointing. The problems start with not finding a match to play the main campaign in the online co-op mode. Even after waiting on the matchmaking screen for five minutes, the EA serves were unable to find a partner to play with. After giving up on this, I tried some of the other multiplayer modes that the game has to offer. There are three other multiplayer modes-Co-op Deathmatch, Control and Warzone; while Extraction mode is only available to those who had pre-ordered the game. Even here it was a matter of chance to find a game of choice and the best way to get into the action was choosing the Quick Match option.

Things were not too hunky-dory after getting into a game either-the lag on the servers was so severe that after playing a single match I was feeling nauseous and could not continue. I tried multiplayer sessions at different time of the day, but each time the experience was quite disappointing.

After releasing a game with a very short single-player campaign, you would think that EA would have comprehensive multiplayer options. Even if we do not consider the lag issue, the multiplayer game modes are too few and lack variety. Additionally, the Extraction mode is locked from public for the first month of the game's release and only accessible by people who have received an unlock code by pre-ordering the game. Given the wide choice of weapons and customization options, there just isn't enough content in offline play to fully realize all of it. We would have rated the game a lot higher if the multiplayer modes had not left us wanting or of the single player mode lasted longer.