Army of Two is a game which means different things to different people, EA Montreal’s Alex Hutchnsion revealed to That VideoGame Blog.
“Everyone at first kinda thought it was a Gears of War clone,” he noted, “but I really don’t think that it is. I think the reason it sold well is that the core fantasy is very strong, the idea of you and me against the world, you and your best friend.”
While similar to Epic’s Xbox 360 blockbuster, it was the focus on cooperative gameplay which helped it to stand apart. “I don’t have 40 friends to go on a raid with, or play a big online game with,” Hutchnsion said. “But I have 1 best friend that plays the game and for me that intimate experience is really powerful. I thought they were brave to go after that in the first game.”
“Originally the idea was to make a buddy cop kind of game, so for me this was a kind of spiritual successor to Contra. It was cheesy and this kinda 80’s vibe to it,” he admits. But unfortunately, Europe didn’t seem to get the joke, leading to less-than-stellar sales.
“The problem was that America understood that it was a joke,” he said during Friday’s developer session at Eurogamer Expo 2009, “and Europe thought that everyone was being serious. They thought it was an earnest comment on mercenaries, when in actual fact its two best friends shooting the crap out of things.”
As a result, the tone of the sequel is going to be changed a little bit to appeal to both sides of the Atlantic. And the core of finding this balance?
Fist-bumping.
That VideoGame Blog notes:
A lot of the attitude and dialogue that Salem and Rios produced in the first game was reflected in the moments where the player would have them clash fists, or annoy each other for a laugh. This kind of interaction was completely optional however, and the folks at Montreal have embraced that for the sequel. This means that if you continue doing these things in The 40th Day, then the pair will keep up their banter as usual. If however you’re not bothering to slap hands every time you land a headshot, then the game recognises that you’re more of a serious player, and cuts the chat out in favour of a more serious tone.
That’s… actually quite brilliant. This, plus the two-player split-screen and ability for two players on the same console to go online should help further push the game in sales when it comes out on January 12th next year.
