By Cody Webb

Back when the first Army of Two came out, co-op games weren't nearly as popular as they are today. While Army of Two helped to contribute some of the co-op standards that we have today, the rest of the game was a little bit underwhelming. The team at EA Montreal has spent their time improving on the potential the first game had, and now they have released the sequel: Army of Two: The 40th Day. The 40th Day starts with a lot of promise: returning mercenaries Rios and Salem are in the middle of a simple mission in Shanghai when it is invaded by a private military force. The duo are caught in the middle of Shanghai's destruction and their objective becomes to escape the collapsing city in one piece.

Unfortunately, this is where the story starts to derail. Instead of making escape and survival the main focus, the story is put into radio logs and into separate "Save the Hostages" missions. This makes the story seem disjointed and when the game throws a moral choice at you, the emotional impact it could've had is diminished. As a result, the story's biggest feat is bringing the duo's frat boy talk down to a minimum. While the plot remains a low point, the gunplay has improved between games. The cover system is still touchy, but it's nowhere near as iffy as it was in the first game. Guns perform their jobs well and the myriad of customization options for them are definitely a high point for any gun junkie. The relatively tight controls have one rather irritating annoyance, however: the button to run and the button to revive a downed teammate are one and the same. This leads to players accidentally dashing away from their buddy or performing a needless action roll while their friend is slowly dying. While this isn't a gamebreaker, it's certainly something that should've been addressed during development. The graphics are pretty good, a little more average than some of the games that are currently out, but they suffice. They aren't ugly by any means, they just don't compliment the boring and seen-them-before locations. Unfortunately, the rest of the levels just can't match the opening's intensity.

While the single-player campaign starts with a bang and ends with a fizzle, the multiplayer does its best to pick up the slack. Players should definitely try out the Extraction mode, which tasks them with defending a location from waves of enemies. I realize this is starting to become a standard with co-op shooters, but with the full complement of players, it can be fun for hours on end. It's a shame EA didn't take the chance to implement some sort of ranking system or progressive stats. Unlockable rewards, like outfits or guns and gun additions, would have done a world of good for The 40th Day. Unfortunately, they didn't even include the single-player's weapon customization system! Players are stuck with preset weapon sets and none of the options present in the campaign. The most depressing part of all of this is that you can see the game has potential. You can tell that it's there, but it is buried under questionable choices. If you didn't enjoy the first Army of Two, it's a pretty sure bet you won't enjoy this one. I give it a C; hopefully if EA decides to try another Army of Two, they'll give it the polish that this one needed.

Cody Webb lives in Live Oak.