Dream projects are the blessing and the curse of the creative mind. Dream projects aren’t just things you want to do; they’re ideas that keep coming back to you over and over again. Ideas that get the heart and mind racing. Ideas that call to you like the setting sun, that promise a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment like no other. Ideas that make you go, “If I can do this, I’ll have done something.”
As with most creators I know, I have more dream projects than I have time left on this planet to do them. From original concepts to licenses I long to realize to beloved properties I feel are ready for revival, I am not lacking for ideas when it comes to dream projects.
That said, some of those ideas stand taller than others. Those are the special ones. The ones that get the ol’ mind factory working overtime. The ones I would throw down my tools to help bring into this world.
One of those ideas–one that has a nasty habit of preoccupying my hippocampus for long stretches of time–is rebooting Army of Two.
Army of Two is a cooperative third-person shooter that megapublisher EA put out back in 2008. Unlike a lot of coop shooters, “cooperative play” wasn’t just a bullet-point. It was the game’s raison d’etre. From the Aggro system of drawing heat away from your partner to special coop moves like the one featured in the image above to impromptu roshambo in the middle of the battlefield, the game’s driving premise was clearly evident.
Army of Two was born of the same initiative that gave the world Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space. It was followed by two sequels, The 40th Day and The Devil’s Cartel, as well as graphic novels, action figures, and other tie-ins.
I was so stoked for the original Army of Two to come out. I hung on every preview. I remember racing to GameStop to pick up my preorder and having the game taunt me all day on my desk until I could go home to play. I finished the campaign numerous times. I recall staying up way too late with the DLC trying to get every achievement during the alternate Dalton boss fight ending from the Veteran Map Pack.
I remember advancing one room ahead on my save and locking my coop partner from getting into my game. An event that became a running joke (I hope?) for years to come.
I was just as excited when the sequel got announced and I have so many fond memories of the fictional Shanghai from running out of a towering inferno to racing through the zoo. It really ramped up the sense of urgency and adding moral choices where players made decisions that had interesting (if shallow) ramifications.
The third game changed things up by replacing the main characters of Rios and Salem with player stand-ins codenamed Alpha and Bravo. Running through the streets of a wartorn Mexico felt more like an arcade shooter with after-action reports between levels.
I absolutely love all three games. Though they share a common core as coop-focused third-person shooters, each stands apart from the globe-hopping origin story of the first to the growing tension along the midpoint to the tragic reveal at the end of the last game.
It’s been eleven years since the world has seen a new Army of Two game. During that time, the gaming paradigm has shifted but, with the successes of campaign-based cooperative shooters like The Division, the new Ghost Recon games, Helldivers 2, and the venerable Gears series, I think there is more than enough space for a reboot. And, to be absolutely frank, I would love to lead the effort. Keeping the core concept intact while bringing in learnings and innovations from the past decade-plus, I think a new Army of Two could be something truly special.
Alas, the fate of Army of Two is not mine to decide. The folks at EA need to make that call. I hope they do. If not me, I hope they find someone just as passionate as I am to lead the effort. I hope it satisfies us long-time fans while bringing in a new generation of folks who are down for a dark yet funny, gritty yet flashy cooperative shooter that puts cooperative on the same level as shooter.
