Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel Review

[Encaen]

Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel Review

The Devil?s Cartel is fun and engaging, albeit cliché in practically every way.

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[PunkRex]

Im not to surprised, my brother and I played the first two and even though we had some fun there wasn't any real memorable moments like what we had in Gears or TCR6:Vegas. Its a shame really, this game proberly won't sell all that well and I can just imagine some suit putting it down to the fact that the main characters are Mexican or something just as stupid, when the subject matter is something in dire need of attention. That crap in Mexico is seriously messed up.

My main quip with the game is that the female character doesn't get a mask... what the hell developers, you need a pretty face that bad?!

 

[WanderingFool]

There is no part of this review I didnt like. 40th day was kinda crappy, but overall Ive always enjoyed the Army of Two franchise. I definitely picking this one up.

 

[WindKnight]

Probably skip it, but I must admit the exchange about the stealth mission made me laugh. Maybe check out the script or a youtube highlights reel.

 

[Trucken]

Wait a minute, Zack friggin' Ward voices Alpha? Yeah, I gotta buy this. Loved him as Dave in Titus and as The Postal Dude in Postal (the movie).

captcha: whoa there

Seriously, that was my first thought. Captcha, you're freaking me the fuck out.

 

[Rad Party God]

So, pretty much a Michael Bay-esque weekend rental just for the lulz of playing with a buddy.

Not interested.

 

[Something Amyss]

My fundamental disagreement with this review comes from the notion that throwing a couple of comments about seeing bad writing plot twists coming turns the flat and charmless plot into something else.

This is a touchy issue, I would say, but at the end of it it's the difference between Mel Brooks poking fun at a concept and the Epic Movie guys doing it. The former tends to be well-crafted and the latter takes blatantly bad writing and lampshades it by pointing directly at it.

Okay, I liked the bit about helicopters and stealth missions.

Also, 12 hours? Really? I'm on a second playthrough, mostly to get the achievements, and I've probably racked up six hours. Eight tops.

Im not to surprised, my brother and I played the first two and even though we had some fun there wasn't any real memorable moments like what we had in Gears or TCR6:Vegas.

And TDC makes them look downright memorable.

There is no part of this review I didnt like. 40th day was kinda crappy, but overall Ive always enjoyed the Army of Two franchise. I definitely picking this one up.

As a fan of the prior two, I'd say give it a pass, honestly. I can't quite pinpoint it, but there really was something fun in the last TWO games. This game? Even with the progress-wiping flaws, I'd take T40D over TDC

 

[UberPubert]

Aww, it's not Rio and Salem this time? What a shame.

I liked the last two games but like the last two games this only sounds good for a rental.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

But the real question is, do the shotguns still function as sniper rifles? That was always my favorite part about these games.

 

[Grabehn]

While I loved to play The 40th day with my GF even though it made me not want to play the co-op in Uncharted anymore since the shooting is pretty bad in comparison, I don't really see any appealing part in this one.
The characters in the previous game were sorta likeable, this ones look pretty bad (Alpha and Bravo, really?) and the "invincible" ability removes pretty much any effort of actual cooperation or tactics you could've squeezed out of the game, not even a rental for me TBH.

 

[Megahedron]

What concerns me is that in the demo I wasn't allowed to smack Bravo in the back of the head whenever he decided to stand next to me. I'd also like to make sure I can still turn the difficulty down to easy and tank bullets while descending upon my enemies like a bloodthirsty demon. Although I guess I still have the first game for that.

 

[kouriichi]

Army of Two has always been that "Brown and Grey Shooter", but with a little bit of purple to mix things up. Ive always liked them just for the humor and characters. They dont need development, or deep thought provoking, heart wrenching moments. Its the less serious, over the top, slightly comedic aspect that keeps the series alive.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

Rios and Salem are missing, damn shame but old news. While i like both previous games for the co-op and gameplay, i hated where they where going with the characters and the story. Compared to the 40th day the writing of the first was almost genius. I hate that they decided to waste the old duo with "the cartell" (spoiled myself with some storyparts and if you like Rios and Salem it`s not going to be pretty). Alpha and Bravo are just boring mercenaries.

 

[Slash2x]

My fundamental disagreement with this review comes from the notion that throwing a couple of comments about seeing bad writing plot twists coming turns the flat and charmless plot into something else.

This is a touchy issue, I would say, but at the end of it it's the difference between Mel Brooks poking fun at a concept and the Epic Movie guys doing it. The former tends to be well-crafted and the latter takes blatantly bad writing and lampshades it by pointing directly at it.

Okay, I liked the bit about helicopters and stealth missions.

Also, 12 hours? Really? I'm on a second playthrough, mostly to get the achievements, and I've probably racked up six hours. Eight tops.

Im not to surprised, my brother and I played the first two and even though we had some fun there wasn't any real memorable moments like what we had in Gears or TCR6:Vegas.

And TDC makes them look downright memorable.

There is no part of this review I didnt like. 40th day was kinda crappy, but overall Ive always enjoyed the Army of Two franchise. I definitely picking this one up.

As a fan of the prior two, I'd say give it a pass, honestly. I can't quite pinpoint it, but there really was something fun in the last TWO games. This game? Even with the progress-wiping flaws, I'd take T40D over TDC

The customization is MUCH more generic in this version.... The previous games named the parts and gave you like 30 options for each part so you could select something that you wanted and it would make what you selected unique. Not just " want to aim better? Get the precision barrel!" Yeah......... Gonna wait for the $20 version of this game in the next 3 months.

 

[Something Amyss]

Aww, it's not Rio and Salem this time? What a shame.

Sad to see Rio and Salem aren't the heroes anymore, they were cool.

Rios and Salem are missing, damn shame but old news.

For the record, Salem and Rios are still heavily involved in the story. However, they're no longer the same characters and not even voiced by the same people, so it's not worth all that much.

Just saying. It's like they were handed the "idiot ball" and "conflict ball" and decided to toss them back and forth.

Early in the game, they fight like children over whether or not to rescue a girl who was deep in cartel territory. In the last game, they did this six times before breakfast. And that's just the first example that comes to mind.

The characters in the previous game were sorta likeable, this ones look pretty bad (Alpha and Bravo, really?) and the "invincible" ability removes pretty much any effort of actual cooperation or tactics you could've squeezed out of the game, not even a rental for me TBH.

Agreed on Alpha and Bravo, though most of TWO's operatives appear to have names from the callsign pool. Which makes me wonder what they do if they have more than 26. I mean, there's guys named "AMP" in the game, but I think that's just "allied military (or merc) personnell."

However, overkill functions more or less like it always has. The biggest difference is that there's no longer a difference between stealth and aggro. The only real difference is solo overkill (which either can trigger) or the more destructive (and awesome) double overkill. Honestly, Double Overkill with the Frostbite 2.0 engine is THE highlight of the game. Nothing more awesome than slow-mo carnage.

The customization is MUCH more generic in this version.... The previous games named the parts and gave you like 30 options for each part so you could select something that you wanted and it would make what you selected unique. Not just " want to aim better? Get the precision barrel!" Yeah......... Gonna wait for the $20 version of this game in the next 3 months.

Most of the parts were named for the "any part from any gun on any other gun" bit, which wasn't completely true but close enough. And that's what made it so freaking awesome to customise them. Collection of parts was also more than just getting more money to level up. Weapon selection as a whole is a joke. Customisation more so.

Devil's Cartel fits that bill perfectly, and it's a shame not many see these games for what they are.

While I agree with the latter point, I disagree with the former. This isn't like the last two Army of Two titles. I loved those games. They were fun, light-hearted and over the top. This one tries to cram angst into every nook and cranny, with a body count that would leave most slasher flicks going "damn."

Look, I'm a fan of the niche games. I just think this series tried to stop being "niche" and as such, mostly stopped being fun, too.

 

[Slash2x]

Aww, it's not Rio and Salem this time? What a shame.

Sad to see Rio and Salem aren't the heroes anymore, they were cool.

Rios and Salem are missing, damn shame but old news.

For the record, Salem and Rios are still heavily involved in the story. However, they're no longer the same characters and not even voiced by the same people, so it's not worth all that much.

Just saying. It's like they were handed the "idiot ball" and "conflict ball" and decided to toss them back and forth.

Early in the game, they fight like children over whether or not to rescue a girl who was deep in cartel territory. In the last game, they did this six times before breakfast. And that's just the first example that comes to mind.

The characters in the previous game were sorta likeable, this ones look pretty bad (Alpha and Bravo, really?) and the "invincible" ability removes pretty much any effort of actual cooperation or tactics you could've squeezed out of the game, not even a rental for me TBH.

Agreed on Alpha and Bravo, though most of TWO's operatives appear to have names from the callsign pool. Which makes me wonder what they do if they have more than 26. I mean, there's guys named "AMP" in the game, but I think that's just "allied military (or merc) personnell."

However, overkill functions more or less like it always has. The biggest difference is that there's no longer a difference between stealth and aggro. The only real difference is solo overkill (which either can trigger) or the more destructive (and awesome) double overkill. Honestly, Double Overkill with the Frostbite 2.0 engine is THE highlight of the game. Nothing more awesome than slow-mo carnage.

The customization is MUCH more generic in this version.... The previous games named the parts and gave you like 30 options for each part so you could select something that you wanted and it would make what you selected unique. Not just " want to aim better? Get the precision barrel!" Yeah......... Gonna wait for the $20 version of this game in the next 3 months.

Most of the parts were named for the "any part from any gun on any other gun" bit, which wasn't completely true but close enough. And that's what made it so freaking awesome to customise them. Collection of parts was also more than just getting more money to level up. Weapon selection as a whole is a joke. Customisation more so.

Devil's Cartel fits that bill perfectly, and it's a shame not many see these games for what they are.

While I agree with the latter point, I disagree with the former. This isn't like the last two Army of Two titles. I loved those games. They were fun, light-hearted and over the top. This one tries to cram angst into every nook and cranny, with a body count that would leave most slasher flicks going "damn."

Look, I'm a fan of the niche games. I just think this series tried to stop being "niche" and as such, mostly stopped being fun, too.

Holy crap it is Saints Row 3... All the "hey this stuff was fun in the last game so lets add it in!!" Without any REASON to add in that content it is just info out of place. Yes the parts are fun in themselves but the overall experience is lacking. Like eating the contents of a cake without MAKING a cake.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

For the record, Salem and Rios are still heavily involved in the story. However, they're no longer the same characters and not even voiced by the same people, so it's not worth all that much.

Just saying. It's like they were handed the "idiot ball" and "conflict ball" and decided to toss them back and forth.

Early in the game, they fight like children over whether or not to rescue a girl who was deep in cartel territory. In the last game, they did this six times before breakfast. And that's just the first example that comes to mind.

Then it would`ve been better if they weren`t in the game at all. I watched a playthrough of the first chapter (up to the rescue part and a little beyond). By missing i ment that i wanted to play as those two again. Correct me if i`m wrong but Rios and Salem didn`t even look like themselves anymore. I really digged their designs in 40th day.

Since the review still sounded positive i`ll rent the cartell and maybe buy it after the price drops.

 

[introverted_surd]

I might have to get this because it sounds a lot like one of my favourite moves, shoot em up. Just a fun, dumb, bloodletting action.