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Army of Two: The 40th Day

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Army of Two: The 40th Day
Developer(s)PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360:
EA Montreal
PlayStation Portable:
Buzz Monkey[2]
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Composer(s)Tyler Bates[3]
EngineUnreal Engine 3
Platform(s)Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable
Release
Genre(s)Third-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, Multiplayer

Army of Two: The 40th Day is an upcoming third-person shooter video game that is developed by EA Montreal and published by Electronic Arts for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable. It is the sequel to Army of Two. Army of Two: The 40th Day ships on January 12, 2010 in North America and January 8, 2010 in Europe.[4]

Army of Two: The 40th Day focuses on two-player cooperative play and employs a cover system. It features Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem as combatant partners who, with the assistance of their handler Alice Murray, must fight to survive and prevail over invading forces that have engulfed Shanghai, China in a devastating man-made disaster. A demo of the game has been released on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.

Gameplay

Game play will be further enhanced such as being able to feign surrender in order to outflank the enemy, using human shields, and automated covering. The refined controls now only require one button for any particular action. Melee has been mapped to a face button, and rifling through weapons can be done with one hand. There will also be a sprint function in the game. Partner AI has also been revamped to be more responsive and intelligent allowing the player to direct their partner into performing specific actions such as stealth kills or feigning surrender.

More weapons and upgrades will be available, adding interchangeable upgrades between weapons, such as adding the barrel of one assault rifle to another. The "pimped" option returns with new camouflage schemes. Weapons can now also be obtained from downed enemies, increasing the player's arsenal to four weapons (up from three in Army of Two). Bullets will be able to penetrate weaker materials such as wood and sheet metal.

Coop Playbook

Army of Two: The 40th Day expands on and refines the cooperative play featured in the original game. Unlike in Army of Two, where cooperative moments were primarily predetermined at particular intervals in the game, in Army of Two: The 40th Day, players can use co-op moves at any time.[5] The playbook allows players to scan enemies prior to engaging them in order to set up particular team-based tactics.[6] For example, players can mock surrender or setup simultaneous sniper shots. This is in addition to using aggro as a mechanic for tactically engaging enemies in the midst of combat.

Aggro

Aggro is a system that allows two players to tactically control the target of their enemy's attacks. Aggro is measured by a HUD element that displays which player the enemy characters are currently focusing on. By performing aggressive actions, such as firing one’s weapon, a player generates aggro and in turn causes enemies to focus more of their attention on that player. While one player has aggro the other is being ignored and as a result can then freely perform actions such as flanking.[7] In Army of Two: The 40th Day, additional non-aggressive actions can affect aggro. For example, by performing a mock-surrender the enemy combatants will focus all of their attention (and aggro) on the player that is surrendering.

Morality Moments

In Army of Two: The 40th Day players are forced to make moral decisions that affect the story of the game. At pre-determined points in the game players will be presented with a choice, for example whether they should overtake a security guard and steal weapons or vacate the premises.[8] The decision is not a vote between two players. but instead either player must decide while the other player is forced to accept the ramifications of that decisions regardless of what their preference was.[9] The outcome and presentation of these morality moments takes the form of comic panels created by the popular artists Chris Bachalo and Jock.[10]

Dynamic & Variety In Gameplay

EA Montreal has taken steps to ensure that the gameplay in Army of Two: The 40th Day is more dynamic than the original. This includes the environment, where some objects, such as wooden walls and crumbling mortar can now be penetrated by bullets.[5] Likewise, there are now noncombatant NPCs that players will be forced to engage with. Players can simply ignore these civilian NPCs and allow them to be killed by combatants (or their own fire), or alternatively players can decide to deliberately rescue them. This sort of interaction can also occur in specific hostage scenarios where players must use coop moves to successfully overcome the situation. This is distinctly unlike the original Army of Two, where the enemies existed in the world solely to attack the player. There is also a lot more variety in characters, as there are more than twice as many different types of NPCs in Army of Two: The 40th Day, when compared to the original game.[10]

Multiplayer

Multiplayer in Army of Two: The 40th Day has received significant changes since the original. These changes included region-free play[11], client-server connections[12] (as opposed to the original Army of Two’s client-to-client connections), and an increased number of participants (up to 10).[13]

Army of Two: The 40th Day maintains its focus on co-op play by requiring that players play in a partnership. Partners are a source for ammunition and are able to revive their fallen team mate. There are a total of four multiplayer game modes:[11]

  • Co-op Deathmatch pits teams of two against other partnerships.
  • Control awards points to teams for capturing and defending randomly spawned points.
  • Warzone has players battle over various objectives.
  • Extraction is a game mode where teams of four fight waves of increasingly powerful enemies in order to progress through areas of a map with the goal of reaching an extraction point.

Synopsis

Background & Story

Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem begin Army of Two: The 40th Day a few years after the story of the original game ends as self-employed private military contractors who run, with the aid of Alice Murray, their own private company called TransWorld Operations (TWO). They are engaged in a routine mission in Shanghai when things go very bad. A competing PMC attacks the city, causing mayhem and destruction and threatening Rios and Salem’s survival.[11] As executive producer Reid Schneider explains, “It's really more of a survival story, and about what happens to you when you're there. Salem and Rios are on a routine mission in Shanghai and all hell breaks loose. We want to tell a story about what happens while you're there."[11] The idea is compared to the movie Cloverfield, where a series of events (disasters) occur and the characters must then overcome them. Amidst their efforts to survive, Rios and Salem will also have the opportunity to take up missions in order to earn money.[14]

Weaponry and Equipment

Weapon Customization

A predominant feature in the Army of Two series is the ability to customize weapons using money that is earned in-game. As the official Army of Two blog describes it, "it's like Lego with Guns […] every part of your weapon is customizable and interchangeable with parts from other weapons.” [15] The changes to your weapons are not merely cosmetic, but instead affect the performance and the amount of aggro that they generate. Some weapon characteristics that can be changed are handling, accuracy, ammunition capacity, and power.

Mask Customization

Rios and Salem wear ballistic masks as part of their combat gear. By logging into the Army of Two: The 40th Day website, the player can create custom designs that appear on their masks in both single and multiplayer.

Weapon Design Contest

Like for the original Army of Two, a community-oriented weapons design contest was run for Army of Two: The 40th Day. The contest challenged fans and enthusiasts from North America, Italy, France, and the UK to submit an image and brief description of a weapon that they designed. Two weapon designs (one from the North American and one from the European entries) were chosen as winners and will appear in the game for those players who have a saved game present on their game console from the original Army of Two. The winning entries were chosen on August 6, 2009. The winning entries were the AS-KR1 "The Ass Kicker" Rifle (submitted by Angryjoeshow1) and the Sniper Launcher (submitted by Uberblargh).[16]

References

  1. ^ a b "Army of Two: The 40th Day Will Hit Retail Stores in January 2010". Electronic Arts. 2009-08-13. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  2. ^ "Buzz Brings Arcade Action Goodness to Army of TWO for PSP". Buzz Monkey Software. 2009-09-22. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
  3. ^ Breckon, Nick (2009-10-09). "Army of Two: The 40th Day Scored by Watchmen, 300 Composer Bates". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  4. ^ Ron Yatco (2009-08-13). "Army of Two: The 40th Day Announces Its Ship Date". ArmyofTwo.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  5. ^ a b Will Porter (2009-03-13). "Army of Two The 40th Day preview". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2009-10-28. Cite error: The named reference "Eurogamer" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ Nick Breton (2009-03-20). "Army of Two: The 40th Day Preview". Shacknews. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  7. ^ Steven Hopper (2009-05-26). "Army of Two: The 40th Day Preview". GameZone. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  8. ^ David Hinkle (2009-07-23). "New Army of Two: 40th Day trailer takes aim at morality". Joystiq. Retrieved 2--0=1-=28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  9. ^ Stephen Totilo (2009-06-09). "Army of Two: The 40th Day's Smartest Feature Guarantees Arguments". Kotaku. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
  10. ^ a b Ron Yatco (2009-07-23). ""EA Montreal Signs Renowned Comic Artists Chris Bachalo And Jock To Army Of Two: The 40th Day". ArmyofTwo.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28. Cite error: The named reference "Army of Two Official Site" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  11. ^ a b c d Jeff Haynes (2009-10-22). "Army of Two: The 40th Day Multiplayer Hands-on". IGN. Retrieved 2009-10-28. Cite error: The named reference "IGN" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  12. ^ Michael McWhertor (2009-07-26). "Army Of Two: The 40th Day Team Tease Multiplayer Early, Annoy PR Folks". Kotaku. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  13. ^ Giancarlo Varanini (2009-10-22). "Army of Two: The 40th Day Multiplayer Hands-On". GameSpot. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  14. ^ Ben PerLee (2009-03-16). "Preview: Army of Two: The 40th Day". Destructoid. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  15. ^ Ron Yatco (2009-06-06). "That's a Wrap! E3 2009 Comes to an End..." ArmyofTwo.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  16. ^ Ron Yatco (2009-08-06). "Army of Two: The 40th Day Weapon Design Contest Winners Announced!". ArmyofTwo.com. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
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