I really liked this
game. I have to admit, I've been a fan of the Ao2 games ever since
the first game back in 2008. I love Alice Murray, I admit it. She was
a character from the first 2 games, who guided your character on
missions over the radio; a stunning Asian woman covered in tattoos
with an extremely sexy voice! She was played by Tracey Rooney who is
very talented and beautiful herself. But still the franchise has
plenty to offer even in her absence. This is the 3rd Ao2
game, with Ao2: The 40th day coming after the “eponymous”
first game.
So the story goes that
TWO (Trans World Operations), the Private Military Company (PMC) run
by Rios and Salem, is in Mexico, getting to grips with the drug
cartels who do so much to ruin everyone's lives over there.
Although the
protagonists are no longer Rios and Salem as before (they are now
supporting roles), the 2 newcomers and protagonists, Alpha and Bravo,
are pretty unmemorable. Jo Flanagan (from Stargate Atlantis) does a
good job as the voice of Salem and the new “token” woman in the
game is pretty spectacular, she is Fiona, a Mexican mercenary/bounty
hunter voiced by Emily Rios (who after checking out her IMDB profile
I can say is very talented as well as gorgeous.) She actually plays a
pretty big part in the game fortunately, is very competent, and isn't
objectified or damselled too much (well yay!). She was earlier before
the events of this game, rescued from the drug cartels by the
protagonists, and is now after revenge! It is quite clever how the
game portrays her crisis – how far will she go to get back at her
enemies? (Spoilers) Sad ending for her though, which I thought was a
shame, but it did actually hit quite hard from an emotional
perspective for me.
The game is a pretty
spectacular action fest with some great set-pieces and fairly
imaginative gameplay elements. There is an amazing section where the
building you're in collapses and you slide down the sloping floor ,
dodging obstacles and shooting enemies, until you fall into a
swimming pool outside. The game is punctuated by various good to
pretty awesome vehicular action sections, with run-and-gun car
chases, helicopter fights etc. The environments are varied, well
realised and interestingly destructible.
The production values
are better than expected and at times the games feels more like Call
of Duty than Army of Two! Action varies from sewers to cities to drug
labs, mountainside villas, mines, and loads of other areas; and some
missions are more open ended – you get to choose a route or path to
proceed at several points. Some area are dark and oppressive and
other large and open as you fight your way through open vistas and
courtyards.
Gameplay is the normal
co-op style 3rd person shooter with tactical and RPG
elements. Taking cover and timing your blasts is essential. You can
order your partner to perform various actions such as take covering
fire, flanking, throw grenade, etc. The cash reward system gives you
money for killing enemies, but do it in varied tactical ways and
bigger rewards ensue. The money is used to buy and upgrade a fairly
large selection of guns and avatar appearance upgrades: masks, armour
and tattoos. Another nice touch is your partner automatically
upgrades his weapons during the game as well, which is also reflected
in the cutscenes.
There are various types
of enemies from toughly armoured brutes to an insane drug-fuelled
maniac with a machete, trucks, APCs, and choppers to the big-bad guy
Diablo himself. There are loads of allies and friends who get killed,
shot up etc. throughout the plot.
Overall it's well worth
getting for action fans, and warrants a second playthrough, where you
can bump up the difficulty, buy new guns and take the different
option at the points of choice where paths diverge. I give it a solid
8 out of 10.
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