Having received varying opinions by both press and public over both their last games in the series, EA had uniquely struck a balance between silly, fun and a little bit mindless. The Devil’s Cartel may imagine itself as both an evolution and a revolution with new characters and a lovely new Frostbite engine, whilst hopefully still retaining that good ol’ fashioned co-op fun.
Who’re The New Guys?
Replacing Salem and Rios as the main protagonists was a bold move instigated by the end of the second game, where betrayal was an awkward yet prominent theme. Due to such shenanigans, your new best buddies are called Alpha and Bravo. Featuring in cameos at the start, both Salem and Rios make their obligatory appearance; regretfully making me pine for some old school fist-bumping nonsense! Other soldiers of fortune are vaguely introduced and tossed away, with some testosterone fuelled banter at the training session between some other ‘employees’. It’s an odd sight to see other masked lunatics; even for their brief attendance, it’s strangely humbling to know you’re not the only port of call for the big suits up top.
Unfortunately, Alpha and Bravo seem to have been given emotions and depth of character about as deep as military call signs can go. Compared to previous Army of Two games, it somehow loses the characters authenticity. Repartee between the two feels stretched and forced for the majority, with only a few jokes raising the eyebrows. Character relationship goes about as far as “I wanna rescue the girl”, “It’s too dangerous”, “come on”, “ok”. It’s just the old fashioned tough guy with a heart of gold and the more reserved, calculating one. Neither strikes you as original nor likeable.
We’ve Got Guns Over Here!
The customisation is luckily where Army of Two does it’s shining. Just like before, you get tooled up, bling your guns a little, make sure you’ve had a high five and head out to slaughter half the known population. Gun customisation is inherently back and with a large roster to choose from; not much starting cash, you’ll have to spend wisely during the early portions, as guns are expectedly expensive! A whole host of attachments can adorn your rifle including taped magazines, the infamous shield, grenade launchers and more. Unlocked via character level progression, it’s something to strive for with the points system.
Instead of just killing people, you now get rewarded with points depending on how you end their existence. Flank an enemy, more points, get a headshot on a wounded enemy, more points. Essentially a watered down version of Bulletstorm’s system, only less varied! These points help pay for your weapons, upgrades, and cosmetic alterations so it’s best to at least try!
What About Shooting Stuff?
Army of Two’s original selling point was the Aggro system; it remains in play here, albeit in a slightly less integral way. Generally, one of you paints your gun sparkling gold and sticks a whopping great grenade launcher on it whilst the other gets a suppressor out. It works well in co-op, but the AI partner inevitably doesn’t perform the action you want at times, making it more or less redundant in singleplayer.
A nice new feature is the ridiculously aptly named ‘overkill’ mode where, once you’ve filled a bar via executing skill kills, lets you wreak havoc upon pretty much anything. Lasting enough time to massacre a few waves of enemies, you become invincible, don’t have to reload and fire explosive rounds. Yes it’s as outlandish and entertaining as you might think! It’s also a great way to show off the Frostbite engine, cover gets destroyed in a spectacular fashion and it’s where the game solely has it’s most visually arresting moments.
Guns generally feel different, some inherently more than others, needless to say that the latter weapons pack a hell of a lot more punch than the starters you get. Being a cover shooter with destructible cover presents obvious issues during fire fights. You are often forced to relocate during some of the longer shoot outs; this can present it’s own problems. Moving from cover to cover is awkward at best, in a Gears of War style, you push the direction in the vague direction and the game tries to help you out by selecting the appropriate cover. This isn’t Gears of War however! Often selecting the wrong piece of cover is your reward for consistent perseverance in such situations.
Everything’s Better In Co-op…
As is customary, a lot of these problems can usually wisp away when played with a friend. Some areas can give scope for improvisation with basic tactics, but as is too often the case, the areas are typically too narrow, leaving little opportunity to do anything spectacular. More over, the game profusely decides to split the players up at points, giving you an arbitrary choice of ‘take the high road’ or ‘the low road’. Whilst it does open the game up for repeated playthroughs, taking either path shouldn’t affect your enjoyment.
Either way, the game’s at it’s peak when played with a friend, bland mission directives and tidal waves of enemies become a lot less laborious when you don’t take it too seriously!
Spit And Polish.
Loading times are fast, checkpoints are readily available; thankfully, looking through the armoury selection is painless. Menu navigation is quick and seamless; this really helps get back to the killing as soon as you realise you can’t afford that new shotgun you’ve been eyeing up.
Graphically, it’s not an eye popper, but it can look good when it removes it’s drab filter every now and again. Again, the semi-destructible environments when the proverbial hits the fan can look great, it’s just a little disappointing at other times. Some of the lighting is impressive, but again, only at specific moments.
Audiophiles won’t get a lot out of this, but it can have it’s moments. Suppressing a weapon drastically alters it; not many guns sound alike. Voice acting and script-work seem ripped straight from a 90’s action flick; let’s be honest, that’s not always a bad thing!
A Happy Ending?
I suppose ambivalence would be the word to sum up The Devil’s Cartel. On the one hand, my affection for the series still holds strong, yet I believe they should embrace what it originally was, a knowingly daft killing romp with over the top gunplay and a relatively unique idea in the form of aggro. The one truly standout feature would be overkill, in comparison, everything else just appears generic!
In short, this is comparatively similar to the others in the series, so if you got your kicks from them, you probably will from this too. Best played in co-op; not taking it too seriously would be ideal! Lacking a competitive multiplayer element could turn some away, but it’s 10 hour campaign, combined with consistent acquisition of new weapons and accessories well into multiple playthroughs should keep the laughs coming, even if occasionally they are at the game!
Reviewed on PS3, also available on Xbox 360.
