I must put my foot in the door, as a Xbox 360 game tester I have seen this increasing trend of violence, shooting, and a first person perspective ( in some mixed berry fashion) overwhelm the gaming industry. It isn’t anything that hasn’t already been said but I think along with some of these trends entering video games I also think that expectations are being lowered. Originality can be considered a game taking a third person perspective as a change of pace. Instead of looking beyond the idea of military shooters, sword swinging fantasy, and tons of blood, we stick to the basics of what sells to all the frat kids who buy Xbox 360’s.
Which brings me to Gears of War Jr. or Army of Two. I may seem like Gears of War with a middle eastern make over but it has it’s own things to offer to make you stray far enough away from the similarities. The thing that I found to be quite irritating is the game is based on co-op, either multiplayer or single player, and that is far from the truth. Well, yes, the game has co-op but to consider the small nuances between players a big step ahead or something innovative is like saying Ashley Simpson is a musical savant, even if she might carry a few autistic qualities.
Using one player to carry a car door while the other shoots cover fire is barely a reason to take a fresh breathe of artistic. Of course I am not saying that Army of Two is a bad game, I just wish that they would take a note from the Nintendo Wii console and package all these Shooting games on one disc. Just like Nintendo’s minigame packages, it would be a bunch of slightly varying shooter games where to can get a head shot in a variety of ways. Or we can just wait for Portal 2.
