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Army of Two Getting a 'Mature, Gritty' Reboot for Some Reason

The Devil's Cartel will still feature cooperative dude merc-ing, this time amid the drug wars of Mexico.

Game Informer's upcoming cover image. Yep, that looks about right for an Army of Two game.
Game Informer's upcoming cover image. Yep, that looks about right for an Army of Two game.

Oh Army of Two. Has there been a franchise in recent memory more incapable of making good on its potential than this one? The first game, while not a disaster, never quite managed to pull off its attempts at irreverence amid cooperative mercenary combat. The second one...well, let's just pretend that game never happened. Now EA has announced a third Army of Two game, and it will be the "more intense, mature, and gritty" reboot of the series that I'm not sure anyone was actually asking for.

The game, titled The Devil's Cartel, is in development at Visceral Games' Montreal studio, and will employ DICE's Frostbite 2 engine. It stars Alpha and Bravo, two mercenaries under the employ of Tactical Worldwide Operations who find themselves in the middle of Mexico's unfortunate war between drug cartels. This may rightfully give you some really bad flashbacks to the painfully unpleasant tone of Call of Juarez: The Cartel, but according to the press release, as well as this cover teaser posted on Game Informer's website, The Devil's Cartel will attempt to take its setting a good bit more seriously than its predecessors did.

My question is, does anyone want that? I always wanted to enjoy the Army of Two games, but my problem with them wasn't that they weren't gritty or serious enough. My problem was that save for a few moments of legitimately creative levity, most of the series' limp attempts at comedy fell flat. This one seems like it's targeting those who were more focused on the co-op shooting than the story, so maybe this'll work just fine for them. I can't say I would be terribly excited for a jocular take on the Mexican drug wars, anyway. Fist bumping over the bodies of innocent victims of drug violence just feels, I don't know, slightly inappropriate.

You tell me. Does the idea of a more serious business Army of Two sound like something you'd want to play?

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mrpandaman

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Edited By mrpandaman

If they're going to have fist bumps, it'd better be like Double Fine's Trenched... yeah Trenched's, saluting system. I want to a different fist bump with every different mask I can put on.

I always liked the idea of the cooperative-based third person shooter, but Army of Two was never what I quite expected it to be.

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chilibean_3

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Edited By chilibean_3

Who keeps thinking this is a good idea over there?

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VincentVendetta

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Edited By VincentVendetta

No one cares about Army of Two. Seriously.

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CTS_1987

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Edited By CTS_1987

@mustachioeugene: hahaha, hell yeah and don't forget to pack ur smiley face mask and m14 EBR.

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bacongames

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Edited By bacongames

@Ghost_Cat said:

They should have taken a Saints Row 3 approach instead if you ask me. Explosive fist bumps, gold everything, jacked-up physics, and a really stupid story.

I can already tell you I would rather play that than anything Army of Two ever again. Going "gritty" just feels like some people in a room couldn't come up with better ideas to sell to the publisher about how to reboot the franchise they've been working on for years.

I get it, games are hard and I don't lament them making this but damn if they've got way more work than they realize selling this game both in quality and marketing to us anyway.

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mustachioeugene

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Edited By mustachioeugene

@MarkWahlberg said:

@mustachioeugene said:

only the grittiest of high fives and fist bumps.

Maybe they're talking about actual grit this time? Like, all the dirt and sand in Mexico that gets kicked up during firefights gets inside their masks and gives them serious chafing problems.

Has there ever been an in-game chafing mechanic?

Wait, -I dont think I want to know...

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c_rakestraw

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Edited By c_rakestraw

Two games in and already they're going the reboot route, eh? That's gotta be a new record or something.

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Ravenlight

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Edited By Ravenlight

@rebgav said:

it wouldn't have taken much to push it over the edge into complete and utter homoerotic murderboner lunacy.

That's probably the best phrase I've seen in the past week.

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wsowen02

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Edited By wsowen02

Jesus, EA is just DESPERATE for its own Call of Duty or Gears of War

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ascagnel

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Edited By ascagnel

@Godlyawesomeguy: Remake != reboot. Reboot implies a change of direction in terms of style (see also: Pierce Brosnan's Bond movies vs. Daniel Craig).

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louiedog

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Edited By louiedog

Finally, a military shooter that takes itself very seriously. That's what video games have been missing.

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veektarius

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Edited By veektarius

The most mature way to address the drug wars in Mexico is to make a game about shooting everyone involved.

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d715

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Edited By d715

@OtakuGamer said:

The only redeeming factor about Army of Two was that it wasn't serious. Why would they remove that?

Because EA likes loosing money.

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Klei

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Edited By Klei

I heavily disliked the first Ao2, and I liked the second one much more. The setting was really, really cool. Also, I really like the whole '' entirely covered in kevlar '' thingy. It makes things much more credible to me.

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deactivated-59123fe38ab28

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What if it's totally awesome? What if it's the best game ever? You can't dismiss a game just for following the money a bit. If I was EA and had failed with both my attempts at carving out something unique that people like, I would try to make it more like whatever people do like, even if it means sacrificing what little character the game had going for it.

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BasketSnake

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Edited By BasketSnake

Give the player bows.

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rjaylee

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Edited By rjaylee

Army of Two Reboot: Now with 50% less bro'ing out, and 200% more skull masks and curse words.

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Clonedzero

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Edited By Clonedzero

why not just make a new IP?

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cornbredx

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Edited By cornbredx

I mentioned this in the forum thread that was up before this, but I am not looking forward to this. I was more interested in the goofy humor of the first, not really interested in this being a serious thing.

I don't have a problem with making light of Drug Cartels or whatever, either- if written well that would not necessarily be a problem. There's probably something sensitive I don't know about though. Ehh...

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iamjohn

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Edited By iamjohn

@chrismafuchris said:

What if it's totally awesome? What if it's the best game ever?

Do you actually believe that this has a chance of being totally awesome and the best game ever, or are you just playing Devil's Advocate for no reason whatsoever?

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Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

Yep. That one time I played Army of Two, all I could think was "Guys, this isn't SERIOUS ENOUGH."

Sigh.

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gaminghooligan

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Edited By gaminghooligan

yo bro let's go back to back on this completely open elevator!

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Lukeweizer

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Edited By Lukeweizer

The word "reboot" has lost all meaning to me. It just means "We need a reason to release more games/ movies."

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eccentrix

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Edited By eccentrix

Who do they go to when making these decisions? Who did they have saying the game was too light and jovial?

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Draxyle

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Edited By Draxyle

Is there still anyone who gets excited over a game being described as "more intense, mature, and gritty"? And I'm sure by "mature", they mean more decapitations and cursing, as is what usually passes for "mature" in the industry.

Call me pessimistic, but it's not like EA has done right on any of their franchises in the last 5 years. These press releases have become almost predictable in their "we want more mass appeal" diatribes.

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DaBuddaDa

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Edited By DaBuddaDa

Shocked a multiplatform game this late in the gen isn't coming to PC too.

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Krakn3Dfx

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Edited By Krakn3Dfx

Intense, mature, and gritty...so this is a dating sim that revolves around meeting older women?

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Rowr

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Edited By Rowr

Ahhhh Army of Two, the franchise that proves all you need to do is release in the middle of a game drought to make money.

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Phatmac

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Edited By Phatmac

Yeah, no interest for this game at all. The only thing that sucks is that my GI cover will mostly be about a game that I won't play.

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louiedog

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Edited By louiedog

@chrismafuchris said:

What if it's totally awesome? What if it's the best game ever? You can't dismiss a game just for following the money a bit. If I was EA and had failed with both my attempts at carving out something unique that people like, I would try to make it more like whatever people do like, even if it means sacrificing what little character the game had going for it.

That would be great and I'm sure most people would love for it to turn out well. The problem is that this is the 3rd game and they announcement is basically, "We're trying to make it more like other games that many of you are sick of." There are expectations to manage.

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hbkdx12

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Edited By hbkdx12

this franchise gets a lot of hate for some reason that i don't understand.

Regardless of how I may feel about a reboot, Army of Two provides a very solid co-op experience that i've constantly and immediately recommended to anyone looking for a co-op centric game.

I refuse to call it the best franchise in the world but geez, the tone of this article just shits all over the franchise

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Packie

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Edited By Packie

Another Army of Two game but no Mirror's Edge 2....... :(

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OTTO14

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Edited By OTTO14

Why?

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Scodiac

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Edited By Scodiac

I don't really care about the story in these games but I really enjoy playing them with my brother so I welcome another one.

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DasUberOgre

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Edited By DasUberOgre

Fuck all these haters. As a Mask Aficionado and a lover of Bro-Op games I am down with anything Army of Two.

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Edited By HydraHam

Some of the most fun i have had with games this gen has been with this series so i welcome a reboot, sequel, prequel or whatever they want to do.

Criminally underrated series.

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deactivated-5c7ea8553cb72

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@ascagnel said:

@Godlyawesomeguy: Remake != reboot. Reboot implies a change of direction in terms of style (see also: Pierce Brosnan's Bond movies vs. Daniel Craig).

You are absolutely correct. While I am aware of the distinction, I misspoke in that post.

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r3dt1d3

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Edited By r3dt1d3

Because making something that wasn't popular to begin with more like everything else is a sure fire way to get more attention...

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jasonlblair

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Edited By jasonlblair

@DasUberOgre said:

As a Mask Aficionado and a lover of Bro-Op games I am down with anything Army of Two.

*fistbump*

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firecracker22

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Edited By firecracker22

So...they're 'Batman Begins'-n Army of Two?

Okay....

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D_train_lives

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Edited By D_train_lives

am I the only person who thought these games were ok? I didn't mind chillaxing playing through these with a buddy

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TaliciaDragonsong

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Is that Smoke from MK in the image?

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beard_of_zeus

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Edited By beard_of_zeus

Duuuumb. There's no need for more super-serious "gritty" games. EA, if you want to make a sequel, maybe send some Mirror's Edge 2 our way?!?!

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Pink_o_mat

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Edited By Pink_o_mat

Can't they make Army of Two - Seagal VS Lundgren and set it in 1985? Go full stupid action flick with this franchise! I don't want "realistic" shooters.

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Zlimness

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Edited By Zlimness

@beard_of_zeus said:

Duuuumb. There's no need for more super-serious "gritty" games. EA, if you want to make a sequel, maybe send some Mirror's Edge 2 our way?!?!

Be careful what you wish for. Mirror's Edge might be the next game to get the "gritty reboot" treatment.

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moethirteen

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Edited By moethirteen

What I liked about AoT is that it focused of two player combat and that I could play it with my friend who was in the same room with me on the same TV. Sheeeeet that's all I need.

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hsvlad

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Edited By hsvlad

I hope this has Kinect support, but only in the form of high fives, fist bumps and hugs 

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InternetDotCom

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Edited By InternetDotCom

If anything Army of Two should have swung in the other direction and been completely off the rails silly.

Or you know, just don't make another Army of Two game

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koolaid39

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Edited By koolaid39

@Animasta said:

@Kuchucka said:

They probably should have just abandoned the Army of Two IP for something completely new instead of trying to salvage the PoS that Army of Two was. Call it Bromance.

I would play a TPS called bromance, not gonna lie

I would play an RPG called Bromance starring the two dudes from Scrubs.