Last night I excitedly picked up Army of Two. This may be surprising for most but this was one of my most anticipated titles. Strangely the original was a contender for my Game of the Year in 2008.

The old game was far from perfect. The controls feel clunky compared to Modern Warfare. The graphics are great but a little more cartoonish than expected. The whole demeanor of the characters (constant fist bumping, air guitaring, etc) was over the top. Even with all that being said, it is great fun. Hopping in a co-op match with a buddy and playing through it is immensely fun. Laughing out when they guys do a Bill & Ted impression after destroying a small army is fun. The game just oozed fun.

I started writing this up because of something Allen said to me. He mentioned that he loved the original game but hated this demo. To be honest, I didn’t play the demo. My pile of shame is huge and I don’t play demo’s if I know I’m buying the game. I love Ao2 so much this was a must-purchase. I’m not sure what Allen saw in the demo but if you liked the original, you’ll like the sequel. Ao2 : 40th Day is more of the same. The fist bumping has been replaced with brotherly hugs and games of rock-paper-scissors but the fun is still there. You plow through waves of bad guys. You scream when your friend runs miles away from you but needs to be saved. You laugh at each other. It’s just fun.

I wouldn’t recommend this unless you have someone you are planning on playing co-op. Co-op it’s a great game. The one caveat is that the learning curve on the controls is giving me headaches. It’s not that the controls are bad, I’ve just been playing too much Modern Warfare 2 and L4D2. Those are similar but this one isn’t.