A plane crashing into the building you're trying to escape from and a skyscraper toppling over while you're inside - those were some incredibly exciting moments. Shanghai is completely obliterated because of their actions, and the consequences make for exciting set pieces. Mitch: Man, that opening level is fantastic, isn't it? Salem and Rios duck into Shanghai on a quick mission to earn some money, but they unknowingly wind up becoming pawns in a terrorist plot. But it sure starts on a really strong and memorable note. Whether it was the routine (and essentially repeated) encounters, complete disregard for narrative and character development, or the multifaceted frustrations found in the co-op experience, The 40th Day just doesn't live up to the genre's high standards. But I agree that while The 40th Day is an improvement over the original, it's lacking when compared to the current crop of shooters. To my surprise, The 40th Day addresses almost all of these issues - something every sequel should aspire to do but doesn't - yet the title feels like it's struggling to keep pace with the genre overall.Īndrew: It's interesting that you mentioned Gears of War as an influence on the original Army of Two because The 40th Day seems like a response to Gears of War 2 in some ways, notably the new running and melee mechanics, as well as the Extraction multiplayer mode. On top of that, you had to deal with a forgettable story and two detestable sociopaths masquerading as heroes.
At the time of its release, Army of Two tried latching onto the Gears of War craze, but the inaccurate and unresponsive shooting compromised the already-painfully-linear stop-and-pop shooting galleries. I didn't like Army of Two much to begin with, and playing it again to prep for the sequel made its flaws stand out even more. While the online co-op experience was still entertaining, I found the game to be bland overall, and the numerous flaws in the gameplay still jumped out at me. Andrew: Before starting The 40th Day, Mitch and I popped in the original Army of Two and played a fair chunk of it online to refresh our memories of Salem and Rios' undying bromance and ultra-violent adventures abroad.