Finished: Army of TWO

I don't like paying $60 for games. Even the triple-A, blockbuster titles. So when games of new, unknown franchises come along and demand such a price, I'm pretty skeptical.

But when a friend and I saw the game coming down the production lines, we perked up a bit. The promise of tightly knit co-op mechanics had a good sound to it. A brand new game taking an idea of total communication to progress and succeed, to sneak around your enemies while their concentration was elsewhere, was worth our attention.

Sadly, the game being made by EA spelled out a bit of bad news. The polish that EA puts on all their games makes them all share the same taste. And while EA doesn't have much competition in the sports games, their other games, like shooter games, have much competition. And since I consider EA to be a non-innovator in the industry, I shouldn't have been surprised that Army of TWO had such a familiar flavor to Epic's Gears of War.

But the commonalities aside, when you focus on the differences, the good don't end up being good enough and the bad are just like lemon juice in the open wound. And while it's hard to say that TWO is an average game in a genre that is so small, the lack of innovation and copying are going to keep TWO from staying in my collection after I milk some Xbox Live achievements from it.

I'll sell it on eBay and use the money for something else. Some upcoming game? GTA IV in April most likely. If I pick up a Wii for my parents, I'll get mine back and spend some time with Super Mario Galaxy again and Metroid Prime 3, games that really do deserve my full attention, but were meet with Call of Duty and Rock Band as gaming combatants -- all innovators in their perspective fields.