By Matthew Scott Hunter
‘Army of Two: The 40th Day’ (M)
A game to play, not watch
****
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360
If “Army of Two” were a movie, I would probably award it zero stars. The action scenes are repetitive, usually involving the rescue of hostages, hostages and more hostages. The story is a lame excuse to watch countless explosions crumble Shanghai to the ground. And the two over-adrenalized heroes spout a never-ending stream of macho one-liners that even Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme would be ashamed to utter. It would be painful to sit down and watch this. Fortunately, this isn’t meant to be watched. It’s meant to be played.
As a game, “The 40th Day” has taken ridiculous excess and elevated it into sublime art. You actually have an on-screen gauge that tells you whether the enemy is more pissed at you or your partner. If your partner is the primary target of their wrath, they’ll largely ignore you, allowing you to easily pick them off until they begin to hate you the most instead. The game also dabbles in wacky moral choices. Saving a child might seem like the de facto “right thing to do,” but comic book-style cut-scenes showing the long-term consequences of your actions might prove otherwise. These bizarre touches keep the game feeling unpredictable. Factor in an absurd amount of weapon customization and the ability to play Rock, Paper, Scissors over the corpses of your foes, and you’ve got a really stupid movie that makes a really awesome game.
‘Vancouver 2010: The Official Videogame of the Winter Olympic Games’ (E)
**1/2
Sega
Xbox 360
The best thing this thin collection of winter sports has going for it is an impressive sense of speed. If it was just a tiny bit faster, you might’ve been able to reach the bottom before noticing the lack of variety in both courses and controls. As they are, ten of the fourteen events feel too similar to one another to keep you interested, and without any solid career mode, the events seem disjointed. In the end, it feels more like a light collection of mini-games rather than a unified campaign to win your country the gold.
‘Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces’ (T)
***1/2
Namco Bandai Games
Wii
As flight sims on Wii go, it doesn’t get much better than “Sky Crawlers.” The style is more arcade than strict simulation, but since this is a story about genetically engineered, ageless pilots fighting a corporate war in an alternate reality, the stylized flourishes are appropriate. Dogfights can be fought with either the Wii remote or a standard controller, but the latter is the most forgiving. And since a few special maneuvers can be mapped to the D-pad and pulled off automatically, even novices can manage some slick moves.
‘God of War Collection’ (M)
****
Sony Computer Entertainment
PlayStation 3
The only thing keeping this disc-ful of masterpieces from a perfect rating is the fact that two games can hardly be called “a collection.” And since there are only three “God of War” games altogether, the absence of “Chains of Olympus” means a big chunk of the series is missing. Why the PSP game wasn’t included with its PS2 brethren (especially for fans who’ve never had the hardware to play it) boggles the mind. But even a console generation later, these are still two of the best games ever made.
