Shipping this November, Army of Two promises politically charged action for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. It’s innovative co-op system aside; and trust us — Army of Two is the reason the term co-op exists — how does the near final build stack up months before release?

Jump in for all the deets, or at least to check out my Plato quote!

Plato wrote, “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” This holiday season Electronic Arts reinforces Plato’s philosophies with the the politically charged, third-person shooter, Army of Two.

Army of Two focuses on two operatives working for a private military contractor and is build as a wholly cooperative experience. The EA representative leading me through the demo summed the concept up nicely, “The game is built for two players- you have to work together because the maps wouldn’t work if you were alone.” Gamers with thin friends lists will also be able to jump into the action alone, supported by a computer controlled ally.

Since Army of Two is based on a corporation that makes money from war the game takes a page from the Mercenaries book and rewards you similarity. Each mission has core objectives that reward you with a certain amount of money and optional secondary objectives and hidden cash throughout the level that can help fatten your wallet used to customize and superpower your operative.

Army of Two recently made headlines for its use of 9/11 imagery in their latest promotional trailer, and while the EA representatives were tight lipped on how the game will reference other real-world issues the locales in the game speak for themselves. While one of the representatives selected the appropriate mission for him and I to play cooperatively some mission locations were revealed, including: Iraq and Afghanistan.

What first struck me about Army of Two is how the game feels like Gears of War but is very visually different. While Gears is as impressive as it is dark and gritty, Army of Two is a brighter and crisper experience.

Starting off the demo I was given a quick tutorial on the controls. Those familliar with other shooters on the PlayStation 3 will feel at ease, holding down L2 aims while R2 fires, shaking the SIXAXIS reloads your weapon and the X button acts as the games cover system. Pressing X near a crate or wall sticks your character to the position under cover where you can pop out to shoot by aiming or blind-fire ala Gears of War.

The mission we played was structured into two sections. Firstly, we were tasked to rescue a hostage from behind enemy lines (possibly the hostage referred to in the aforementioned trailer, but the room was too loud and the objectives were not made clear) and then transport him via an M1 Abrams tank left behind by the enemy troops.

During the initial rescue attempt I was introduced to the games Aggro system. Like that of an masively-multiplayer online game, the aggro meter swings between each character and shifts based on who is causing the most damage to the enemy troops. When one operative maxes out the meter he begins to glow red and becomes more powerful with his weapon, while the other becomes transparent and can stealthfully maneuver through enemy lines. Maxing out this meter can also allow the team to initiate an overload mode where each member gains special abilities while it it active. For example, overloading will cause the stealthed operative to become faster and stronger while still maintaining his stealth attributes.
Team Fortress Classic purists wishing Valve would bring back death feinting may want to look at Army of Two as that ability is available with the aggro meter; but the representative was whisked away while he began to explain how it works.

One interesting feature that can be activated on the fly is the GPS mode where, by hitting the Select button, the world becomes digitalized around you and an orange line on the ground directs you to your objectives. In this mode you can also detect traps like land mines. While your character appears normally the world around you is mapped out like a blueprint and can actually be played in this view.

After the rescue we placed the hostage inside the tank and attempted to escape. My partner was in control of the mounted machine gun turret on the tank while it was my responsibility to drive us home. Driving may take some time getting used to. While the driving itself is easy enough, R2 accelerates, you must click in the left analog stick to go into weapons mode with the tank and use R2 to fire. No drive-bys unfortunately. I was having some issues getting in and out of aiming mode but it seemed that it was more of an issue with the overused SIXAXIS controller and not the game itself.

We mopped up the remaining soldiers and a few enemy controlled M1 tanks before driving over a flare to end the mission.

After the demo I was shown the in game shopping mode. Between missions you are able to jump into the mall and pick up new weapons, upgrades and armor for your ops. The weapons are three-tiered: primary, secondary and special while the armor is a simple selection of light, medium or heavy gear that bulks up your op and increases his resilience to damage. You can also customize your mask from a wide variety of options, but this is purely cosmetic.

The weapon customization is the real hidden gem of the game. While we couldn’t get a final count of how many weapons are included in the game, the combinations are nearly endless. You can affix suppressors, larger clips, shields and other weapons to the weapons to increase its stats (accuracy, damage, resistance for example). Yeah, you read that correctly. Selecting a standard machine gun I was able to purchase and attach a shield over the barrel increasin, then adding a new clip attachment doubled the amount of ammo I was able to store, once that was finished I decided to attach a shotgun to the weapon. By switching weapons ingame you are able to go from the machine gun to the shotgun attachment seamlessly and the same can be said for the other options like a standard grenade launcher. When your new Frankenstein of weaponry is completed you can add a little flare to it by pimping it all out by encasing the weapon in diamonds, gold and various other jewels.

While we already know about the co-op experience, which is so far is much more ambitious than any other game can claim, standard online modes are being added to the game. The representatives weren’t able to give out the details yet, but promise we won’t just be playing deathmatch this November.

The demo wasn’t without its flaws however. There were some clipping issues with enemy weapons poking through solid walls and although the game has the next-gen graphics seal of approval, the animation of a tank exploding was laughable. When a tank is destroyed it catches fire, leaps ten feet in the air and comes down charred and deformed… that one animation could have been found on PS2. Other issues plagued the reps and weren’t the fault of the game as one PS3 system locked up at a loading screen and had to reboot which forced me to wait to play the demo; once it was up there were no issues.

Army of Two is a rarity for Electronic Arts. The, sure to be mature rated, third-person shooter is packed with enough originality and detail that seems to have been lost at EA in recent years. While we’re not sure how long the overall game will last, Army of Two promises to be one of the years best online experiences with a built from-the-ground-up cooperative mode that leaves what Gears of War did far behind and into the next generation of connected gaming.

Army of Two is set to ship for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 13.