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Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel
(Reviewed on PS3)
The Devil's Cartel is the third entry into
the Army of Two series. The latest entry features two brand new
playable characters, Alpha and Bravo. The story still features Salem and
Rios but they are not playable. EA have made some changes to the game
other than the main characters, but the focus is still strongly on
co-op.
As the
name implies the story follows a two man army taking on an entire
cartel, there are other supporting characters. Many of these supporting
characters play very minor roles and you probably won’t even remember
their names. As a fan of the Army of Two series I actually enjoyed the
story, although some plot points are a little predictable overall I
found it interesting enough to want to keep playing through.
Unlike in
the earlier iterations Alpha and Bravo do not know each other at the
beginning and their relationship becomes stronger as the story
progresses. For those who have not played the previous entries some of
the twists will not have as much weight, but it is still easy to follow.
The
game play is strongly focussed on the co-op aspects; some of this feels
like it has been watered down a little. You can only order your comrade
to interact with objects, get to you or take the enemies attention. It
felt like you could do much more in previous games in this regard.
The
cover system takes some getting used to. It uses the same button to
exit cover and move to the next cover, with a small semi-transparent
arrow on the next cover. This system works well once you get used to
it, but causes much frustration early on.
The
gunplay is pretty run of the mill; if you’ve played other first person
shooters then you will feel right at home here. The one addition that
separates The Devil's Cartel from other shooters is Overkill mode. This
builds with kills and once activated makes you invincible, you don’t
need to reload and your bullets do crazy amounts of damage. This is
just good fun, there is no challenge when this is activated but really
ramps up the action.
As
with previous games there is a decent amount of customisation options
available. You are able to customise the appearance of Alpha, you can
change his mask, outfit and even tattoos. You are also able to purchase
different weapons and modify these also. You can purchase add-ons for
the gun or paint them in an enormous number of colours.
This leads to
my biggest frustration with The Devil's Cartel; they have added a
levelling system that requires levelling up to get the better weapons.
This in itself is fine except that I was not able to purchase the last
guns after I had beaten the story. I had to play some of the missions
again just to get these weapons. And as there is no competitive
multiplayer for levelling up you have to replay missions. Money is also
a bit scarce and limits the amount of weapon experimentation and you
will quickly find a weapon you like and stick to it.
The
voice work was good in The Devil's Cartel, it is clear that unlike Rios
and Salem in the original two titles Alpha and Bravo do not have that
bond. As the game progresses the way they speak with one another also
changes and it is clear that they are becoming closer. The music and is
also good and adds the atmosphere of the game. The guns could have had
some meatier sound but the effects can be cranked up in the options menu
I liked that there was a headphone option in the audio options
Final Thoughts?
Army
of Two: The Devil's Cartel is a worthy addition to the Army of Two
franchise. Third person shooter fans will feel right at home here and as
a fan of the series I enjoyed the story. There are some issues with the
game and it lacks replay ability other than to unlock more gear or
playing on higher difficulty settings. The Devil's Cartel is a solid
shooter with some key differences from most other shooters on the
market. |
