Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel 'resets' the franchise, coming in 2013

Electronic Arts' Army of Two franchise is being rebooted. Coming next March is The Devil's Cartel, a game that "resets the series" with a "more intense, mature, and grittier tone."

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Electronic Arts' Army of Two franchise is being rebooted. Coming next March is The Devil's Cartel, a game that "resets the series" with a "more intense, mature, and grittier tone." The game is being developed by Visceral Games (the studio behind Dead Space) and will utilize the Frostbite 2 engine (the engine behind Battlefield 3).

The Devil's Cartel has players returning as Alpha and Bravo, two operatives working for Tactical Worldwide Operations (T.W.O., get it?). They will be dropped into Mexico in the middle of a drug war. "Players will need to work together as their objectives unravel, allegiances begin to blur and they face off against a ruthless opposition," EA's press release describes.

"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 favorites," Visceral Games executive producer Julian Beak said. "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."

Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel will be available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in March. Here's a first look at the game, courtesy of Game Informer:

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
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    August 2, 2012 9:00 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel 'resets' the franchise, coming in 2013.

    Electronic Arts' Army of Two franchise is being rebooted. Coming next March is The Devil's Cartel, a game that "resets the series" with a "more intense, mature, and grittier tone."

    • reply
      August 2, 2012 9:07 AM

      Better still be a High Five button

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      August 2, 2012 9:34 AM

      Hopefully they do the right thing and just make them straight up homosexual; after that raining men trailer, it's the only thing that would make me want to play this game.

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      August 2, 2012 9:47 AM

      2013 is the year of reboots.

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      August 2, 2012 9:49 AM

      First two games were great (except for the game-breaking bug in #2 where the co-op partner lost all weapons they had bought...wtf). Hopefully the third adds in more cool co-op stuff and less 'takes 2 to open a door' crap.

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        August 2, 2012 9:52 AM

        also, how about removing the part where you can't get the best weapons in the game if you don't make certain choices (like with the kid and the sniper rifle in part 2).

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        August 2, 2012 10:00 AM

        I finished 1 co-op. The checkpoints were fucking retarded and, I dunno, it just wasn't a great game. Definite disappointment.

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          August 2, 2012 10:08 AM

          Yea, the checkpoints were stupid but it was nice to have a fresh co-op IP to play. We play them on the hardest difficulty to make it seem more worthwhile so the checkpoint nonsense really hit home.

          The franchise needs more team-work moments in terms of strategy/cover fire/puzzles. Yes, I like killing bosses but it got easy once you realized how to flank/distract...it then degenerated into having enough ammo. This might sound stupid but the boss battles and even 'trash' mobs should be more MMO-ish in their design. Complex mechanics that involve weapon type, environmental hazards, CC, etc. That is out of the box for this genre but it would be fun. MMO only as an example of complexity of NPC difficuilty but RPG elements would also be nice. Gun and performance mods bought with experience gains. Blah, too much coffee.

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            August 2, 2012 11:42 AM

            The final boss was fucking shit. A single rocket took him out, then you kill him, and the bad dude CEO, in a cutscene video. Fuck you EA Montreal.

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      August 2, 2012 10:45 AM

      I like how they feel they have to reboot it. No one gives a crap about the franchise never mind the story

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      August 2, 2012 11:26 AM

      Finally! A dark and gritty cover shooter!

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      August 2, 2012 11:39 AM

      hahahahahaha

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      August 2, 2012 6:14 PM

      Give me the awesome gun customization expanded even more and I'll buy it for the fun couch co-op experience. I enjoyed the first two, though neither was perfect.

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      August 3, 2012 6:06 AM

      I don't get the hate for Army of Two.

      I really liked the first game despite it's shortcomings. I liked the light-hearted vibe, the varied scenarios around the globe, the gunplay with the neat aggro-system, the coop-systems (drag and shoot), and yes, I also liked the fist-bumping, the gun-pimping etc.

      Some people, especially from the gaming press, took it way too seriously. It's the equivalent to an 80s action movie. Switch off your brain and shoot the bad guys, that's all. And if you didn't like the way they handled the controversial "PMC" issue... here's a spoiler from the first game: it turns out the PMC guys you were working for are the bad guys. So there's that.

      The second game, 40th Day, in comparision, was way too grim-dark and serious for my taste. And this reboot looks even more serious and way too similar to the current crop of military shooters. THIS is why I'm pissed about this announcement. I wanted an even more bro-fun and ridiculous shooter. That's the direction they should've taken with this franchise instead of making it even more "mature" and "gritty". Who wants more of that?

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