EA Reveals Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel

EA shown the first gameplay footage of Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel at Gamescom.

The game is being developed by Visceral Montreal using the Frostbite 2 engine (used by other EA games including Battlefield 3 and the forthcoming Medal of Honor: Warfighter). And it looks impressive, and has the same impressive level of destruction. The level that was demoed focussed on Alpha and Bravo, two private military contractors who find themselves in the middle of a Mexican drug war.

The demo saw the duo slowly working their way through a dilapidated building, picking off enemies. Environments were impressively detailed – walls are elaborately painted with intricate graffiti. But as with other games that take advantage of the Frostbite 2 engine, the game looks its best when it's tearing those environments apart. Pillar, walls, doors – it all break and blows apart amid the furious gunplay. And it's all punctuated by the same thunderous sound that you associate with Battlefield 3.

The short demo also showcased the game's new Overkill mode (activated by pressing LB/L1), which allows players for a short but "incredibly satisfying" period of time to unleash massive destruction on the world around Alpha and Bravo, including the enemies, of course. This was most gruesomely demonstrated when the duo split up, with one of them manning a gatling gun in a helicopter. The gatling gun literally tore enemies apart, removing their limbs and revealing sticky sinew. It's potent stuff.

Like its forbears, it seems the game embraces the core mantra of 'survive together'. For instance, the player watching his partner from the helicopter can make things easier for his buddy on the ground by strategically blowing up gas tanks dotted around the rooftop, killing enemies and carving a path for him. The demo ended, in true buddy cop style, with one of the duo falling over the edge of a building only for his partner to catch him at the last minute. When a helicopter appears, ready to fill them both with bullets, the game slows down time, allowing Alpha and Bravo to draw their sidearms and kill the pilot in stylish slow-motion. The helicopter crashes, and from cloud of smoke and fire, the spinning rotor blades fly towards Alpha and Bravo. The demo ended abruptly, but I'm pretty sure they survived.

Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel is coming out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360n March 2013.

Source : ign[dot]com