Army of Two

Army of Two, commonly abbreviated as Ao2, is a video game developed by Electronics Arts, released on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on March 4, 2008 in North America. Army of Two is a third person shooter game focusing on the fictional story of two private military contractors (characterized as mercenaries) "fight[ing] through war, political turmoil, and a conspiracy so vast it threatens the entire world" in a timeline spanning from 1993 to 2009.
Focusing on cooperative strategies, Army of Two's highlighting feature is the necessity to use coordinated teamwork to accomplish the game's goals. While the game is meant to be played with another human as your partner, a "Partner Artificial Intelligence"(PAI) is also included and programmed to follow the player's strategies in suit. Dependence on your partner (whether human or PAI) is so pronounced that most objectives are impossible to complete without it.

Plot

The story begins in 1993 in Somalia when Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios (the protagonists of the game) are still in the U.S. 75th Ranger Regiment. They are tasked to work with Philip Clyde, a private military contractor with the Security and Strategy Corporation (SSC), to carry out an assassination. After this mission, Philip Clyde, on behalf of SSC CEO Ernest Stockwell, invites Lieutenant Colonel Richard Dalton (commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment) to join the company for a desk job. He agrees, asking to bring Salem and Rios with him as contractors, and in the following year, the three enter the private sector. Salem and Rios begin work as mercenaries. Over the course of a decade and a half, they are caught up in a complex scheme to privatize the military, and see to the plot's downfall. At the game's epilogue, we see the two protagonists start their own firm — Trans World Operations, or TWO.

Customization

The game allows weapon customization, bought with money earned as the game progresses. Guns available for customization include: pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, rocket launchers, light machine guns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers and assault rifles. Such elements as stocks, under-slung grenade launchers, suppressors, grip handles, extra-large magazines and new barrels, can be swapped out to give the weapon a unique look and superior statistics. Other modifications include gold and chrome plating--also known as "pimping" in the game. Pimping weapons will raise your player's aggro meter drawing more attention to you. The player can also upgrade their armor to make it better and stronger but these can not be purchased and are unlocked as you progress through campaign mode. A firing range feature was proposed that would allow the player to test out their newly customized weapon, however it was removed as it did not meet the developers' standards. Besides customizing the weapons and armor, the player can also purchase new face masks that the main characters wear.

Online Multiplayer

Multiplayer allows up to four players, two on each team similar to the co-op structure of the main campaign. Both teams will compete over objectives on the map such as assassinating a VIP or destroying an objective in order to earn the most money for their side. At the same time, they will also be forced to deal with the opposing team in order to secure their objectives. In the interview, the developer has stated, "The biggest challenge was to convey the co-op experience in a multiplayer match. We didn't want to go with the typical deathmatch mode. We have a variety of modes that really capture the essence of co-op gameplay. You'll have to watch each other's backs and work together to defeat the opposing team. "Character customization is not possible in the multiplayer portion of the game but you can buy preset sets of weapons, upgrade your body armour and amount of ammo you can carry. Players need to be careful while shopping though, since the team with the most cash in the end wins.There are 3 multiplayer gametypes: Warzone, Bounties and Extraction. In warzone the objectives are randomly generated and they may vary greatly. For example team might need to get to a certain place and defend it, while the other team tries to destroy it, shoot down the chopper, blowing up a jeep with gunner, transporting wounded soldiers to extraction point, assassinating V.I.P's etc... Extraction is basically Warzone but with rescuing V.I.P.'s to a safe location only. There are currently four maps total, and each are filled with hostiles native to the location. Also every map contains cases of intelligence documents that the player can seek out for extra cash.
Multiplayer for the game is currently region-locked. Players with the European, American or Asian version of the game cannot play with each other. This is not common for online multiplayer games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. On the May 27, 2008 edition of X-Play from G-4 TV, it was announced that two new maps would be available for download on Thursday, May 29, 2008. These maps contain 2 new Co-op maps and an alternative ending to the game. Along with 6 extra achievements.