Army Of Two: The Devil's Cartel is coming from Visceral Games...

...and it's a series reboot, and due in March 2013.

EA has announced Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, the third title in the co-op shooter series due for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in March 2013. Currently in development at Visceral Games, Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel "resets" the series with a "more intense, mature and grittier tone". The game follows two new characters, Alpha and Bravo, who find themselves on the streets of Mexico while working for Tactical Worldwide Operations (T.W.O.), a PMC outfit that "drops them in the middle of a drug war conflict for an assignment full of corruption and deceit". Contrary to rumours, The Devil's Cartel will not feature four-player co-op, instead sticking with "intense" online and split-screen two-player co-op gameplay.

The game also features a deeper customisation system over its predecessor, EA says, and will be powered by Frostbite 2. "We wanted to refresh the Army of Two franchise for a new generation of action gamers, and at the same time, stay true to the core concept that really made the first two games fan favourites," said Julian Beak, executive producer, Visceral Games. "With meaningful, seamless co-op gameplay at its core and explosive new tag-team features, gamers will have to work together tactically and strategically as they push through a city dominated by one of Mexico’s deadliest drug cartels." Steve Papoutsis, general manager of Visceral Games, added: "Our goal with Army of Two The Devil's Cartel is to apply our key design principles – immersive, challenging gameplay, intense narrative and focus on quality – to help improve a franchise we feel has always had a lot of potential." A third Army of Two game has long been rumoured to be in development at Visceral. Industry whispers, however, suggested it would be called 'Army of Four'.

In addition to The Devil's Cartel, the studio is also developing Dead Space 3. Expect more on Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel during tonight's EA Summer Showcase.

Sourcey.

I'm excited as fuck. I really loved The 40th Day, though I recognized its B-game-ness and ham-fisted "shocking" decisions. I'm a bit sad that Salem and Rios won't be returning, as I did enjoy their characters, but I see the need the reboot the series, after the way The 40th Day ended. And customization will be coming back even better, which was one of the main components of my love for The 40th Day.

Visceral does great work, and their transition into Dead Space 2 is what makes me trust they're doing good things with this game.

Jeff and Alex have been talking about it on twitter, they've known about it for a while.

Jeff Gerstmann ‏jeffgerstmann

alex_navarro Do you still play as the sons of the original two bros?!?!!!?!? burningquestions

the only problem with these games to me is they are short and the multiplayer (besides the co-op of course) is lame. so i cant bring myself to buy them. I really liked beating the original with my friend but when it ended we were both like, "well that was $120 that was over with quickly and really no reason to play again"

I liked the first Army of Two, not so much the second. Shame it wasn't that popular but I get why.

I'm not really digging the sound of "more intense, mature, and grittier tone". I liked it because it was goofy, and kind of silly. To many games these days trying to take themselves seriously.

With just this announcement I am currently feeling I will be skipping this one.

@CornBREDX: Same here. I didn't like the second one much because it took away a lot of the goofiness of the first, which I was also a big fan of.

It kinda makes sense for them to reboot it after the end of the second game where SPOILER! One of them has to die. I quite liked 40th day, it was a lot better than the first and even then that wasn't a bad game. I'm mildly interested to see what a third game would be like.

@Rmack: Don't you remember the bit where one of them jokes about fucking a panda?

@Napalm said:

Visceral does great work, and their transition into Dead Space 2 is what makes me trust they're doing good things with this game.

Is it actual Visceral though? IIRC, Visceral is now a brand EA's slapped on a bunch of it's studios (like they've done with Bioware). I think one of them was EA Motreal, who made the original Army of TWO games, so it might just be the same dev team.

I remember really enjoying army of two at the time. Playing it recently though made me realise that game has not aged well at all.

@BlackLagoon said:

@Napalm said:

Visceral does great work, and their transition into Dead Space 2 is what makes me trust they're doing good things with this game.

Is it actual Visceral though? IIRC, Visceral is now a brand EA's slapped on a bunch of it's studios (like they've done with Bioware). I think one of them was EA Motreal, who made the original Army of TWO games, so it might just be the same dev team.

I dug around a bit more and it seems you are partly right. It looks like the studio has been rebranded as Visceral Montreal, but it looks like actual Visceral guys are on the team. I highly doubt it is the same exact team, as the Game Informer reveal video indicates Visceral is working on the game.