Developer: EA Montreal
Publisher: EA
Rating Guide: How I Review Games

Review:

Well we know there has been a well publicized delay on this review and hopefully with good reason.  You see our experience with this game has been nothing short of rocky.  With a shared enjoyment of EA’s first offering in the Army of Two series it’s safe to say that we came into The 40th Day with heightened expectations

The game takes place in Shang-Hai or what’s left of it at least.  Which makes for a nice taste of foreign destruction especially in places you would never think of being in firefights.  Our main characters Salem and Rios are tasked with getting the hell outta dodge 3rd person shooter style, while facing a plethora of moral decisions along the way.

Will you be a tree hugger or a wicked cut-throat badass with an attitude?

Graphics Gameplay and Sound

Improving on the first Army of Two is not a question, the Graphics have shades of brilliance in areas but are mainly more of the status quo.  Destructible environments always make for added fun and while playing, the sound score supports the situation well as expected.  Tip: You can tell if everyone is dead when the music stops.  The gameplay is fun in coop mode and provides entertainment value for your dollar, with a few prevailing issues. The A button is featured in just about everything you do and is touchy to say the least and the Checkpoint/Saving system is flawed at a core level. Be careful about choosing when to customize your weapons.

If you die before the next checkpoint, you will need to do it again, and again, and again. Irish and I found this out the hard way.  We ran into some lag issues that seemingly smoothed over time and generally staying close to your partner is recommended to ease any choppiness. Graphics B+, Sound A-, Gameplay C+

Prik-n-Lex’s Pros and Cons

Our favorite section is put forth with heavy hearts.  We struggled to find things that set this game apart from the first. In fact at times we found ourselves thinking we liked the first game better.  That’s not to say this game isn’t fun. We played it on contractor difficulty and paid the price.  The game is very linear and at times we felt trapped in open areas. While being prominent in most of the game there are sections of freedom to calm those of you who may be Closter phobic.  A big plus is the ease of game setup, a convenient x button invites your existing party to the game and the Host side is pretty straight forward and easy.  It provides a dual difficulty selection although neither of us tried changing one and were unsure how playing on two different difficulties would work.

We came up with damage levels being increased or decreased for your character as a possible, let us know if any of
you give em a shot.  A plus for us was the banter between characters makes a good attempt at humor and succeeds at points which helps to move the game along well.

On the negative side don’t forget to sign the EA Terms of Service agreement…haha oh that’s right you can’t forget because you can’t play the game without doing so.  And finally the biggest downer for us was the contractor level achievement did not unlock after we completed the game on the hardest level.  So if you’re gonna represent and whoop the game on Contractor don’t be surprised if you get jilted out of 100 Gamerscore.  Score?  Let’s just say the pro’s didn’t win or even come close.

Xbox LIVE Extras

Perhaps the saving grace of this game is the multiplayer.  Allowing players to destroy their friends is always a good way to get out those campaign based aggression issues.  Something we couldn’t see that also may effect a final score could be horde like multiplayer mode Extraction.  Extraction pits a team of four players against a series of unique enemy waves as they move from point to point in the ruined city.  Players must “strategize” as a unified team to combat waves of 40th Day Initiative forces while trying to get out alive.

In order to reach the extraction point players will have to survive through four battle zones in a series of four multiplayer maps, but it won’t be easy!  The difficulty ramps up as players progress, and ultimately it’s exceedingly difficult as players face insurmountable odds.

The mask editor that’s available online is also fun to play with, and in a limited software graphics setting allows any number of unique designs for your screen capping pleasure. My FA – Q mask will forever be filed on my hard drive along with the U360 Custom Mask I rock in the attached video.

Conclusion

Popping heads with the sniper rifle and watching your enemies skull disappear in a spray of fragmented blood and brain matter is nothing short of rip roaring fun.  But and it’s a big but, gameplay mechanics hold this title back evertime you think it’s getting better.

Irish’s conclusion…

“Aside from a prettier aesthetic look, The 40th Day is a noticeable step backwards from what was an overall solid gears clone.  The generally bland and linear level design coupled with hair pulling gameplay mechanics create a competent cooperative 3rd person shooter which is neither innovative or ground breaking.

Add in a 5-6 hour campaign and this title could easily get lost in the shuffle of what is arguably one of the greatest first quarters that the industry and gamers alike have ever seen.”

*this review was written by Pilex and IRISH

Video Footage