Gamervision Hands-On Army of Two: The 40th Day

Gamervision: "At an EA event yesterday, I sat down with Alex Hutchinson, Creative Director for Army of Two: The 40th Day. Before picking up a controller, we discussed the faults of the original title. While it enjoyed moderate critical success, most agreed that the game's tone was twelve kinds of immature and the cooperative gameplay often felt forced. The core principles of a great shooter were in place, but needing to cooperatively snipe or spin in circles in slow motion always felt forced, and got in the way of the game feeling smooth. Alex agreed with all of these points, and cited his experience at Maxis and work on Spore and The Sims as his hearthstone for working on The 40th Day. The situations and stories people enjoy the most are the ones they help create, and that was the goal in the sequel to Army of Two.

They've learned from their mistakes, Alex explained, and have built the game in response to criticisms of the first title. One thing he said resonated to me: they want to "embrace the way people already play.""