Back @ E3 last May, EA unveiled a highly ambitious project.  That project was Army of Two…a new IP (Intellectual Property) from EA Montreal that had the media drooling at the mouth from what little was shown of it.  It’s not everyday that EA unveils a new IP so this was something to pay attention to.

EGM has a special edition preview of the game in their recent magazine release due to hit stores tomorrow, July 18.  But I wanted to give you the scoop early.  You can head over to the official site tomorrow as well as it will release the same day. 

Army of Two Official Site

I just finished reading the preview and the game sounds interesting to say the least.  Co-op combat may never be the same after this game!  Army of Two is built to be played only one way….Cooperatively!  In fact, in the article Senior Producer, Reid Schneider says that you should not be able to complete the game just doing your own thing and if you do, then they have failed.  The story centers around 2 contractors in a private military corporation (PMC) out to make some money…or the bling.  The word around town is not to confuse these ‘contractors’ as mercenaries or there will be hell to pay.

In reading the article, the biggest feature of the game is its spin on cooperative play.  You’ll have to assist your buddy, fight back to back, help him up during combat, heal him and an assortment of other ‘buddy’ tasks.  What I found interesting was that there will be voice commands to shout out at your partner.  And these won’t be the same run of the mill scripts.  The voice commands are extensive.  The game is all about teamwork.  Each mission will demand specific coordination between both players in order to successfully navigate the game.  You may have to snipe 2 guards at the same time as an example so one of them doesn’t trigger the alarm. 

The AI seems intuitive.  Your buddy (if playing alongside AI) will track the successes and failures of your actions.  So if you elect not to help your buddy in a fight or you shoot him, he’ll supposedly take into account all of this and react accordingly to you.  And in such an event you’ll have to earn his trust again.  Sounds weird but I’m looking forward to see if it can be pulled off.

I made mention of the bling they were after.  Well at the end of missions etc you’ll be awarded cash and with this cash you can buy new weapons or modify your existing weapons.  You can attach a shotgun to your sniper rifle among other nifty mods.  (yes that was an actual example used)  I can see the Marketplace calling for something like this.  Custom weapons being sold to friends over the Marketplace would be ideal for what was once hinted…user to user transactions.

Yes there is multiplayer in the game.  As it stands now, you’ll be able to play via split screen the entire campaign.  This is to help both players keep track of each other.  Key highlights

• main characters - Tyson Rios & Elliot Salem
• new co-op play including extensive voice commands/interaction
• weapon customization
• split screen co-op via online (it works for what they describe)
• hyperreal physics

Keep your eyes pealed here as I’ll have a lot of information on Army of Two in the coming days/weeks.  Army of Two is slated for a 2007 release on PS3/Xbox 360.