Review: Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel

When you have been blogging about games for a while, there are a number of factors prior to a game’s release that set alarm bells ringing which may indicate that a bad game is on the way. For example, the publisher going silent in the six months leading up to launch is not a good sign; likewise, a distinct lack of mainstream advertising, review copies heading out at the last possible moment and one of the studios responsible for development being shown the door just before launch, all scream “bad game ahoy”. Each and every one of these factors were present in the lead-up to the launch of Army of Two:TDC. I try to not let such things affect my reviews, but I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting much from this latest Twosome – in fact, I was flat out expecting a bad game.

My expectations may have been sufficiently lowered by the factors leading up to this game’s launch, so I was waiting for my private two man war on a Mexican drug cartel to hit a seemingly inevitable wall. As a result, I’d prepared myself for something game breaking – be it some shark-jumping or horribly off-putting difficulty spikes – but I didn’t come across anything that would do this in any major way. But Army of Two: TDC is distinctly more fun with a friend.

Don’t get me wrong – The Devil’s Cartel is far from perfect. Boss fights are disappointing and rarely feel as grand in scale as some of the surrounding set pieces that explode in all of their Frostbite 2-powered glory. Also, as I suspected in my recent preview, you’ll find yourself fighting against the game’s cover mechanic. This led to me making unintended life-threatening errors even right up to the final level. However, even if you do get downed by an enemy, it is more than likely that your AI/human teammate will come to your rescue, which removes much or all of the annoyance of deaths that would otherwise frequently occur from the result of taking cover on the wrong side of an object or from a suicidal dash across a busy battlefield resulting from one mis-placed tap of the A button.

The basic game mechanic of tag-team killing fields of foes is plain, simple fun and the (at least semi-) self-aware scripting of The Devil’s Cartel‘s main protagonists, Alpha and Bravo, seems comfortable with you laughing at, rather than with, them. This new Tactical World Operative partnership replaces the series’ former lead characters Salem and Rios, but they remain as integral characters in the plot of The Devil’s Cartel, which, despite its very obvious major plot twist, was generally much more engaging and well presented than I had expected. The story continues at a fair pace and does a reasonable job of establishing motivations to compel you to exacting righteous revenge.

Levels are frequently well thought out and well presented, with environments giving lots of opportunities for flanking manoeuvres and explosive environmental kills largely thanks to the plentiful supply of every gamer’s best friend – Red Barrels™! Judging by this game, Red Barrels™ are popular all over Mexico. Once you add in the ability to trigger your Overkill power – which slows down time, makes you invincible and grants you unlimited ammo for a short period– to the basic gunplay, The Devil’s Cartel starts to slip into the land of guilty gun-fest pleasure – in a good way. Overkill also compliments the co-operative action core to the game, as the length of time that the power can be activated is dramatically increased if you and your bro-in-arms use it at the same time.

Playing The Devil’s Cartel in solo player feels a bit bare, with no reason to explore environments once combat is finished. This is actually a positive when playing co-op, as you are not left waiting for your partner to stop messing around – except if they’re a bit slow in the occasional section where you must travel on separate paths. Your ammo is refilled at the often oddly timed mid-mission checkpoints, meaning there is little or no need to scavenge the fallen for ammo runs – it’s much easier to just head straight to the next section, as your currently designated loadout of primary, secondary and explosive weapons will get replenished. At least your AI teammate is generally helpful in single player, especially as you can order him to lay down suppressive fire while you make your move or instruct him to use his Overkill power or grenades. The AI can occasionally get downed at sticky moments, but generally only enough to give you the chance to be the hero coming to the rescue, rather than being a source of annoyance. The animation that sees you helping your partner back to their feet also, rather usefully, makes you immune to incoming damage for the length of time it takes to get them back up and into the action.

All of the weapons in The Devil’s Cartel are customisable and upgradeable with the usual range of military-grade tools of destruction, ranging from underslung grenade launches to laser sights, with other more uncommon additions such as ballistic shields and shotgun silencers. All of the upgrades on offer add function to or improve stats of your weapons and, in some cases, do both. All guns can also be given a paint job and once you have achieved a high enough rank, and have enough cash, you too can have a weapon of gold! Alpha and Bravo’s armour and masks are also customisable, but offer no additional benefit to character stats – other than fashion sense (or a lack thereof) – although your heroes do seem happy to be decked out in a neon glow of sponsorship, even if that makes them stand out like a Candy Skull branded Christmas tree.

The split-screen multiplayer option is welcome, but is sadly limited to a horizontal split-screen with black bars on either side. It would have been nice to have had the option of a vertical split or to be able to use the black frame to display HUD information. Although the split screen in The Devil’s Cartel is functional, it’s not ideal and you will get a much better visual experience playing co-op online thanks to each player having their own dedicated screen.

There are optional extra missions that appear in each area as you complete levels – but I had a hard time working out how these fit into the structure of the game or if there was an easy way to access them without having to replay entire sections. It would have been nice to see some sort of co-op “horde mode” variant with waves of bad guys to face – in some ways, this may have been a more suitable structure for the entire game. As much as I liked elements of the story and its presentation, it does seem like the one remaining factor that can get in the way of the steady flow of otherwise constant action.

I would like to see the basic parts of the Army of Two formula applied to something other than the current military setting, like a 80/90’s buddy cop movie. In my opinion, it would work better if my partner and I were Tango, Cash, Marcus or Mike rather than the well-worn military masks of Salem, Rios, Alpha or Bravo. Sadly, The Devil’s Cartel may be the last we see of Army of Two and, if that is the case, the franchise has not exactly gone out with a bang – despite the abundance of Red Barrels™.

I originally thought about about giving this two separate scores – with a point being deducted if you’re playing The Devil’s Cartel solely as a single player game or added if playing co-op online, but decided on an average of three. When discussing this game on the BRB UK podcast I was asked (despite my best efforts to avoid the question) if playing this game in solo player was akin to self-pleasurement and, whilst that’s a slightly crude analogy, it’s perfectly apt. The Devil’s Cartel is fun on your own, but will almost always better with a willing second player – unless they have no idea what they are doing with the controls and spend the entire time staring at the ceiling and spinning in circles.

Tags: Ao2: TDC, Army of Two, Army of TWO: The Devil's Cartel, Red Barrels