E3 06: Army of Two

As a member of a privately held, incorporated military force, it's up to you to take the toughest jobs and blast your way through them. Our private viewing of Army of Two brought us into the bipolar world of tactics times two.

Based strictly on a premise where two warriors are better than one, Army of Two is all about teamwork. You and a friend (or EA's "partner artificial intelligence" that can sub-in for a pal) rapid-fire your way through contemporary settings in hotspots that conventional, government-run military simply can't handle.

We got a chance to watch the team-of-two get inserted into a situation on a besieged aircraft carrier. Unsurprisingly, awesome and shiny water effects were backed up by droplets of salt-spray that accumulated on the camera as the pair of mercenaries approached the huge carrier. While the dude in the back of the boat identified threats through a scope, his buddy took 'em out with a massive machine-gun.

When it was time to pull out, the two extracted themselves via a helicopter. The now-flaming carrier began to list to one side and jets and cargo containers slid towards the mercenaries, threatening to smash them flat while simultaneously pushing them and their crushed bodies off the deck. Our heroes dodged the incoming wreckage and managed to catch a rope dangling from the helicopter with one hand, enabling them to strafe the ship with gunfire as they were airlifted to safety.

May 12, 2006