Posted on 28th Mar 2013 at 5:00 PM UTC

Army of Two The Devil's Cartel review: All Killer, all filler

Frostbite breathes life into banterous bro-op

"Watch those red barrels", says Alpha (or Bravo) to Bravo (or Alpha). "They explode." "They can't all explode", quips Bravo (or Alpha). "Heh, you're obviously not a gamer", replies Alpha (or Bravo) to Bravo (or Alpha)

Army of Two: The Devils Cartel Screenshot
Such exchanges exemplify a game in reckless pursuit of fun. Characters are interchangeable and bodies are expendable like bullets, both dropping thick and fast in destructible levels built on Battlefield 3's Frostbite 2 engine. A loose story bridges them.

Set in Mexico, Devil's Cartel tasks players with assaulting desert compounds, luxury villas and inner city strongholds to end the reign of bloodthirsty Mexican cartel La Guadaña (Spanish for "The Scythe"). Alpha and Bravo replace Salem and Rios as your new playable operatives, but the switch is inconsequential. Everyone here is distinct in so much as everyone's got a face.

Army of Two: The Devils Cartel Screenshot
In fairness, the mid-level co-op tasks diverge quite nicely, veering from the dull (push cars/ boost buddies over ledges/choose to flank either left or right) to the dramatic. The most memorable jaunt took place in a construction yard, where we grabbed a sniper rifle and hanged off the side of a chopper while our teammate below provided suppressing fire with a souped-up grenade launcher.

Later, choosing whether to drive a truck or shoot its turret down a festive Mexican street, toppling stone arches on groups and exploding multiple rows of parked cars, came a close second.

Army of Two: The Devils Cartel Screenshot
You can revive each other too. Adrenaline-filled syringes are an inexhaustible resource, but AI partners in singleplayer are so hopeless you might find yourself doing all the medic leg-work. Meanwhile, tag-team gestures are history; no longer can you make spontaneous celebratory fist-bumps. They're good enough for Portal 2, so why not here?

Behind its co-op stylings lies standard cover-shooting fare, with turret-manning and on-rails vehicle bits being the brightest of dimly lit ideas. It may sound crude, but what elevates Devil's Cartel is its sheer bloody carnage. Fizzing grenades constantly kick holes in walls and abundant red barrels ignite at the slightest bullet knick. In one cut-scene, Alpha (or Bravo) chucks a grenade at a convoy conveniently parked in the middle of several. For everything the story lacks, the game tries to make up for in explosions.

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Comments

21 comments so far...

  1. Report this post Reply with quote
    StonecoldMC on 28 Mar '13 said:

    Two lost boys in the lost town, two lost girls in the lost and found
    I'll find you out when you hit the ground
    Don't stop moving girly, dance around

    It's all filler, no thriller!


    I thought the Demo was honking!

  2. Report this post Reply with quote
    brookie_2001 on 28 Mar '13 said:

    This week you have a game like Bioshock Infinite with this beautiful colourful world. Then we get this brown mess.
    Ok don't get me wrong, i wasn't expecting depth like Bioshocks world but maybe a more varied colour palette.

    If this game isn't an example of dumbing down for the masses. I don't know what is.

  3. Report this post Reply with quote
    NEO_SUPERMAN on 28 Mar '13 said:

    Why release this a week after Gears?

    Are they mental?

  4. Report this post Reply with quote
    roland82 on 28 Mar '13 said:

    Extra stuff to do will come as DLC then?

  5. Report this post Reply with quote
    Fr33Kye on 28 Mar '13 said:

    You know what, this might only exist because new ip's are EA' s greatest fear and they'd prefer to keep pumping out things that follow trends, but i hope people have fun with this. If this game just aims to be fun, that's fine. And if people have fun with it, great. Maybe i should play the demo?

    This game is really good looking though....

  6. Report this post Reply with quote
    Imaduck on 28 Mar '13 said:

    Brook. Care to find me a colouful desert? :) Or just a non-brown one?

  7. Report this post Reply with quote
    Gambini on 28 Mar '13 said:

    This will be sub £20 in no time. To be fair, the demo was not bad so I'll pick it up eventually.

  8. Report this post Reply with quote
    TheLastDodo on 28 Mar '13 said:

    Based solely on my demo experience, I'd disagree, strongly.

    Again only my demo experience, but it was without a doubt the most unnecessary game I've played in a long time, nothing about it screamed 8.1, actually that's a lie it deserved an 8.1 for being bloody good at being generic, boring, cliched, bog standard, why does it even exist, me too, toss.

    I guess it was just one of those bad demo for a good game deals :lol:

  9. Report this post Reply with quote
    richomack360 on 28 Mar '13 said:

    Brook. Care to find me a colouful desert? :) Or just a non-brown one?

    Here is a picture of a colourful dessert
    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CGDhgDisTCE/T3iBc6lxmwI/AAAAAAAAGlA/ACZOeIPiCRM/s1600/aa%2Brainbow%2Bpastel%2Bruffle%2Bcake%2Bbubble%2Band%2Bsweet.jpg

  10. Report this post Reply with quote
    MJ-Thriller94 on 28 Mar '13 said:

    Based solely on my demo experience, I'd disagree, strongly.

    Again only my demo experience, but it was without a doubt the most unnecessary game I've played in a long time, nothing about it screamed 8.1, actually that's a lie it deserved an 8.1 for being bloody good at being generic, boring, cliched, bog standard, why does it even exist, me too, toss.

    I guess it was just one of those bad demo for a good game deals :lol:

    Out of curiosity, did you play the demo alone? If so, then your playing it wrong. Tis a co-op game after all. Each to their own though, can understand what you mean by generic. And Spec Ops had a real s**t demo, but it's one of last year's best games (imo of course) :D

  11. Report this post Reply with quote
    TheLastDodo on 28 Mar '13 said:

    To be fair, yes I did play it solo but having said that most games are better when played with others, I've got enough co-op games to satisfy my needs anyway.

    Hope everyone else enjoys it.

  12. Report this post Reply with quote
    sammikid on 28 Mar '13 said:

    To be fair, yes I did play it solo but having said that most games are better when played with others, I've got enough co-op games to satisfy my needs anyway.

    Hope everyone else enjoys it.


    The demo gave me a choice of partnering up with someone online, still didn't stop it from being a brainless/boring/generic shooter. I have nothing against shooters if they're done right and are somewhat engaging. I just didn't find any of it remotely interesting or fun.

  13. Report this post Reply with quote
    karkify on 29 Mar '13 said:

    Eurogamer gave this a 5, not exactly for being a bad game, but because it is generic to the absolute max, which leaves me wondering, how did this get an 8?

  14. Report this post Reply with quote
    richomack360 on 29 Mar '13 said:

    Eurogamer gave this a 5, not exactly for being a bad game, but because it is generic to the absolute max, which leaves me wondering, how did this get an 8?

    Difference of opinion between the reviewers ?

  15. Report this post Reply with quote
    BlueScorpion91 on 29 Mar '13 said:

    Eurogamer gave this a 5, not exactly for being a bad game, but because it is generic to the absolute max, which leaves me wondering, how did this get an 8?

    Difference of opinion between the reviewers ?


    come now, you know that ain't aloud on the internet.

    I played the demo and just thought it was too much like the first and then turned it off.

  16. Report this post Reply with quote
    KK-Headcharge78 on 29 Mar '13 said:

    Just a question but if 'generic' makes a bad game how the hell did Mario do so well?

  17. Report this post Reply with quote
    wiesniak1 on 29 Mar '13 said:

    What a lie,CVG!!!I am disappointed....very disappointed.The game is just BAAAAAD.It has ragdoll physics from ps2 era,AI is from NES era,level design from,god only knows,which era.The same thing over and over again,every location looks samey,when you blow a hole in the walls-they all are the same shape and layout inside(cut and paste AD 2013),enemies are sooooooo dumb,that when you stand in their way....they just run around to hide,going past you 3 times,before shooting from behind cover,because the game was designed to use Frostbite engine physics-covers can be blown.What a shambolic release from EA.If it was somebody else`s game,probably would have finished their careers,but being EA`s baby-people will get paid to write nice reviews,so it sells.Think I`m wrong??Here`s an example-when you shoot any vehicle with your ak-47 it doesn`t take long before its blown all the way to hell.At some point,you`re supposed to hide behind a farmer`s truck and push it towards guy mowing you with MG.Guess what??????Car stays untouched despite taking hailstorm of bullets from freaking MG!!Not to mention that many times I shot guys in their backs,legs,arms and got message-HEADSHOT!WTF???And the dissapointment???CVG-you are my favourite website.HOW you gave it 8.1??????I will never understand.

  18. Report this post Reply with quote
    wiesniak1 on 29 Mar '13 said:

    oh,and one other thing-it makes you install 1.5gb data of hd textures to make the game look better.....i don`t want to know how it looks without it,because it just looks crap after the install.time for next gen.

  19. Report this post Reply with quote
    Imaduck on 29 Mar '13 said:

    Learn to opinion dude. Also well played Rich :)

  20. Report this post Reply with quote
    billysastard on 29 Mar '13 said:

    really enjoyed the demo but its EA so no way on earth will i be buying it new, guess i'll pick it up preowned in a few months once the price has crashed.

  21. Report this post Reply with quote
    HelloLadies on 30 Mar '13 said:

    really enjoyed the demo but its EA so no way on earth will i be buying it new, guess i'll pick it up preowned in a few months once the price has crashed.

    The Piratebay has a sale on right now.