''Army of Two: The 40th Day'' is a 2010
third-person shooter
Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...
video game developed by
EA Montreal
EA Montreal is a Canadian video game developer, video game development studio owned and operated by Electronic Arts. The studio is based in Montreal, Quebec. It was inaugurated by EA on March 17, 2004.
In April 2012, EA announced layoffs in EA ...
and published by
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
for
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
and
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
. The game was also released for
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...
, which was developed by
Buzz Monkey.
It is the sequel to ''
Army of Two
''Army of Two'' is a third-person shooter video game series developed by EA Montreal. The first game in the series, '' Army of Two'', was released on March 6, 2008 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. Focusing on cooperative strategies, ...
''.
''The 40th Day'' focuses on two-player
cooperative play
A cooperative video game, often abbreviated as co-op, is a video game that allows players to work together as teammates, usually against one or more non-player character opponents (PvE). Co-op games can be played locally using one or multiple inp ...
and employs a cover system. It features Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem, the two protagonists from the original game, 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
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
in a devastating terrorist attack.
A sequel, entitled ''
Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel'', was released in 2013.
Gameplay
Weapons and upgrades are available, with interchangeable upgrades between weapons such as adding the barrel of one assault rifle to another. The "pimped" option returns along with new camouflage schemes. Weapons can now also be obtained from dead enemies, increasing the player's arsenal to four weapons, along with grenades. Bullets will be able to penetrate weaker materials such as wood and sheet metal. Certain weapons and weapon lockers can only be unlocked by morality moments. Weapon parts can be obtained in the game for free, either by searching armored boxes (which are locked as soon as the enemy guarding it detects the player's presence), rescuing hostages, or simply exploring.
New Heavy enemy types appear as
bosses. They wear thick armor and often require a special method of attack to defeat, such as shooting gas canisters or grenade bags that they carry. The Heavy enemies carry weapons such as a
flamethrower
A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World W ...
and a
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling of North Carolina. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon.
The Gatling gun's operatio ...
that cannot be unlocked by the player, though they can be picked up and temporarily used after the Heavy is defeated.
Co-op playbook
''The 40th Day'' expands on and refines the
cooperative play
A cooperative video game, often abbreviated as co-op, is a video game that allows players to work together as teammates, usually against one or more non-player character opponents (PvE). Co-op games can be played locally using one or multiple inp ...
featured in the original game. Players can use co-op moves at any time. The playbook allows players to scan enemies prior to engaging them in order to set up particular team-based tactics. For example, players can mock surrender or set up 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 and possibly change the outcome of a firefight. 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 at enemies, a player generates aggro and in turn causes enemies to focus more of their attention on that player, and less attention on the player with less aggro. While one player has aggro, the other is usually being ignored and as a result, can then freely perform actions such as flanking or sniping. In ''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 on the player that is surrendering, allowing the other to perform a surprise attack. Some non-aggressive acts can be performed cooperatively as well.
Morality moments
In ''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 steal weapons from a mall security armory or vacate the premises. 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. The outcome and presentation of these morality moments takes the form of comic panels created by the popular artists
Chris Bachalo
Chris Bachalo (; born August 23, 1965) is a Canadian comic book illustrator known for his quirky, cartoon-like style. He became well known for stints on DC Comics' ''Shade, the Changing Man'' and Neil Gaiman's two Death (Sandman), Death series. C ...
, Jamie Mendoza and
Jock.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
in ''The 40th Day'' includes region-free play,
client-server connections, and an increased number of participants.
''The 40th Day'' maintains its focus on cooperative gameplay by requiring that players play in a partnership. Partners are a source for ammunition and are able to revive their fallen teammate. There are four multiplayer game modes:
*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 clear the map for extraction.
Downloadable content
A
DLC titled ''Chapters of Deceit'' was released on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network on April 1, 2010. It features two new campaign levels: "The Assassination" and "Collateral Damage", which attempt to bridge the plot gap between Mission 004: The Hospital and 005: The Mall.
Plot
After establishing Trans World Operations (TWO),
private military contractors Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem head to Shanghai, where they are tasked with meeting their contact, JB. He leads the two to a back alley to collect their gear and weapons before proceeding to plant locator beacons throughout strategic locations in Shanghai. After planting the last of the beacons and an encounter with overzealous security guards, they regroup on a rooftop of a building.
Handler Alice Murray radios in and tells them they will get extra cash for terminating JB; Rios and Salem can either choose to kill him or lie to Alice about his escape. Following JB's fate, Shanghai comes under attack by terrorists, ravaging the city. Rios and Salem barely escape the building and encounter the 40th Day Initiative mercenaries attempting to kill them. They manage to contact Alice, who informs them that she is alive but trapped in the South African Consulate. They head for the consulate, dispatching groups of mercenaries as well as encountering civilian hostages, whom they either rescue or leave behind. Inside the consulate, Rios and Salem discover Alice being held hostage in an office. After freeing her, the three fight their way to the main hall, where a crashed helicopter allows them to escape into the underground tunnels.
Rios and Salem pass through the tunnels and a highway, rescuing hostages and fighting through the mercenaries. They manage to make their way to the
Shanghai Zoo
Shanghai Zoological Park (), or commonly Shanghai Zoo in short, is one of the two main zoos in Shanghai. It is located near the township of Hongqiao (formerly Hung-Jao) and is administratively in Changning District. Shanghai Zoo was formerly kn ...
where they encounter more mercenaries and are guided by the zoo employees.
After leaving the zoo, Rios and Salem are contacted by Alice, who has managed to reach a safe area and instructs them to locate a communications tower to signal for help. Rios and Salem fight through rooftops to reach the communication tower, but they only find an empty room. They decide to continue searching and jump to an adjacent balcony, but it suddenly gives way, and Salem plummets down to the ground and is knocked unconscious. Salem awakens 24 hours later in a hospital, where they are met by Dr. Wu, who asks for their help in evacuating the patients. Rios and Salem defend the hospital from the mercenaries before heading to a nearby mall.
The pair are held captive at the mall until freed by a mercenary named Breznev, who then instructs Rios and Salem to plant bombs to disrupt the mercenaries' communication center. The two successfully plant the bombs and go their separate ways from Breznev. After exiting the mall, Alice contacts the pair that she has a helicopter en route to extract them. Despite their efforts in destroying the defending anti-aircraft guns, the extraction chopper is shot down and destroyed, and Alice is presumed dead.
As Rios and Salem bunker down to rest, they realize that they will not be able to escape and instead decide to exact revenge on the 40th Day Initiative by killing their leader, Jonah Wade. They manage to track him to a heavily fortified temple, and the pair fight through it until they reach the inner sanctum, finally meeting Jonah. Jonah then justifies his actions as a violent social experiment to force the world to turn back from the moral decay that is destroying it while holding a device that he claims is the trigger for a nuclear bomb located deep in the city.
He offers Rios and Salem a choice to make an "Act of Sacrifice" by having one shoot the other or choose to kill him and his invading force, which will detonate the bomb and kill seven million people. Regardless of choice taken, Jonah reveals that the bomb was a hoax. Killing one's partner ends the game with an epilogue where the surviving partner laments taking his friend's life, while killing Jonah ends the game with an epilogue of him reflecting on his motivations as
UN forces begin to move into the city.
Weaponry and equipment
Weapon customization
A predominant feature is the ability to customize weapons using money that is earned through killing enemies and completing tasks. The official Army of Two blog described it as "like Lego with Guns
��every part of your weapon is customizable and interchangeable with parts from other weapons". The changes to weapons are not only for appearance but also affect the performance and the amount of aggro that they generate. Some weapon characteristics that can be changed are handling, accuracy, ammunition capacity, aggro, and power.
Weapon design contest
A community-oriented weapons design contest was run for ''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
''Army of Two'' is a third-person shooter video game series developed by EA Montreal. The first game in the series, '' Army of Two'', was released on March 6, 2008 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. Focusing on cooperative strategies, ...
''.
The winning entries were chosen on August 6, 2009. The winning entries were the AS-KR1 "The Ass Kicker" Rifle (submitted by
Angry Joe show) and the "Grand Pinger" Sniper Launcher (submitted by Uberblargh).
Reception
The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions received above-average reviews, while the PSP version received "generally unfavorable reviews", according to the
review aggregation
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
.
In Japan, where the console versions were ported for release on March 25, 2010, followed by the PSP version on June 24, 2010, ''
Famitsu
, formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'' gave it a score of three eights and one seven for the former,
and 26 out of 40 for the latter,
while ''Famitsu X360'' gave the Xbox 360 version a score of two eights, one nine, and one eight for a total of 33 out of 40.
''
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' said of the console versions: "The morality moments could have posed larger dilemmas and the AI still stumbles at times, but overall, ''The 40th Day'' is a great game to blast through."
[ While ''Hardcore Gamer'' criticized the game's minor improvements and similarity to the original, it noted that "''The 40th Day'' is more serious, lacking in the "what the hell" moments that peppered the first game."
'']Edge
Edge or EDGE may refer to:
Technology Computing
* Edge computing, a network load-balancing system
* Edge device, an entry point to a computer network
* Adobe Edge, a graphical development application
* Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
'' gave the Xbox 360 version a score of seven out of ten, saying, "As adequate an expression of the genre as it is, it somehow can't quite conjure those high notes of enthusiasm - akin to the way in which a whiteboard diagram of demographics and key features fails to inspire heart palpitations." ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' gave the same console version seven out of ten, calling it "An all out co-op shooter that does exactly what it says on the tin. What it sets out to achieve it succeeds with style, even if these ambitions are firmly rooted in B-movie territory. Whilst this stunted ambition and some minor gameplay niggles hold it back from being truly great, this is a full throttle, adrenalin fuelled, macho-fest which is dumb, fun and full of guns." Andrew Hayward and Mitchell Dyer of ''GamePro
''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...
'' gave the same console version three stars out of five, with Hayward saying, "while ''The 40th Day'' has its moments, it just isn't consistent enough to keep my attention." However, Matt Cabral later gave the PSP version two-and-a-half stars, saying, "There is some mindless, bullet-whizzing fun and a few neat set pieces in this portable take. And, at its best, ''The 40th Day'' does recall the arcade action of classic quarter-munchers such as ''Commando
A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines.
Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...
'' and ''Contra
Contra may refer to:
Places
* Contra, Virginia
* Contra Costa Canal, an aqueduct in the U.S. state of California
* Contra Costa County, California
* Tenero-Contra, a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerla ...
''. But for the most part the technical and visual achievements that make this title tick on consoles are all but absent here, leaving PSP players with a broken bro-mance." Dakota Grabowski of ''GameZone'' gave the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions six out of ten, saying, "Although it was mostly a bore, the combat was 'stupid' enough for two players to take pleasure from watching the train-wreck."
Chad Sapieha of ''Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children. '' gave the game four stars out of five, calling it "a fun, witty, Hollywood-style action adventure that outdoes its predecessor in almost every way." Joe Roche of ''411Mania'' gave the Xbox 360 version 7.5 out of 10, saying, "There are some other aspects of the game that might be appealing to some – the customization from the original title is back in full force this time around, right down to the ability to upload your own personalized face masks to the EA server to upload into your game. I'll admit that being able to throw a soda can silencer and a kitchen knife bayonet onto my zebra pattern AK-47 was enjoyable." However, David Jenkins of ''Teletext GameCentral'' gave the same console version six out of ten, saying, "The original was obnoxious and insensitive but this new shooter lacks even that much personality."
''The 40th Day'' sold over 246,500 units during its first month of release in the US.
Sequel
A sequel, ''Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel'', was released in 2013 on the Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
and PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
.
References
External links
''Army of Two: The 40th Day'' official site
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Army Of Two: The 40th Day
2010 video games
Buzz Monkey Software games
Cooperative video games
EA Montreal games
Electronic Arts games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
PlayStation 3 games
PlayStation Portable games
Split-screen multiplayer games
Third-person shooters
Unreal Engine 3 games
Video game sequels
Video games developed in Canada
Video games scored by Tyler Bates
Video games set in Shanghai
Xbox 360 games