This is followed by Mercenaries 2 (PS3, Xbox 360), Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PS3, Xbox 360), Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, and Command and Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath (Xbox 360) on November 9th. Onrush’s servers shut down on November 30th, while Mirror’s Edge, NBA Jam On Fire Edition, Gatling Gears, and Shank 2 will lose their online services on January 19th, 2023.

The publisher stated, “The decisions to withdraw particular features or modes of certain EA games, or to retire online services relating to older EA games are never easy. The development teams and operational staff pour their hearts into our games, their features and modes almost as much as the players, and it is hard to see one retired.

“As games are replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the games that have been live for some time dwindles to a level – typically fewer than one percent of all peak online players across all EA titles – where it’s no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping the online services for these games up and running. We are also committed to constantly updating and improving the features and modes to keep in our games to ensure they remain exciting to play for as long as possible. That commitment to great gameplay sometimes means that we need to remove outdated features and modes.”

Some games are still playable offline, and features like “players’ inventory of virtual currency, and/or in-game items may continue to be used,” even if the in-game store has been disabled. As such, removing online support for older titles and DLC isn’t too surprising. Ubisoft announced in July that several titles would lose online functionality before backtracking on the same after extensive backlash.

Given the relative age and popularity of many of Electronic Arts’ titles, it’s unlikely the decision will be reverted. Nevertheless, stay tuned for updates on the same.

The first game came out in 2008 and got middling reception from critics. As the title suggests, the game has co-op and unique ways of utilizing team play to take down enemies.

The co-op mechanic in The Devil’s Cartel is a highly polished version of the one found in the previous games.

The game is made by Visceral Games, the developers of the Dead Space franchise. The game was released on in North America on March 26th 2013 and March 29th 2013 in Europe for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. [reference]

There are some new preorder incentives in place where gamers can receive the Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel Overkill Edition, which features new weapons and 3 “Overkillers” Contracts, besides some sweet Day of the Dead guns and masks. [reference]

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay
• 3. Story
• 4. Media

Development

Julian Beak, Executive Producer, Visceral Games revealed that they are going on a new direction with the game.

“With Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel we wanted to take the series in a new direction while also leveraging the aspects that made the first two Army of Two games unique.

“We knew coming out of the gate that meaningful co-op gameplay, customization and over-the-top action would be key pillars for us, and we’re bringing these elements to the next level by presenting them in a setting that is more serious in order to dial up the intensity.”

The game has been confirmed to run on the Frostbite 2 engine, and it will be interesting to see how the developers pull this off since EA seems to be giving the game a big budget this time around.

Walls, barriers, and buildings bow to the explosive power of your weapons, powered by the bombastic Frostbite 2 engine that powers Battlefield 3. [reference]

Gameplay

The game is a third person shooter where co-op is one of the main characteristics of the game.

Not much can be discerned right now, except that the trademark explosions and action-packed gameplay have returned. The game looks as great as ever, with a level of destruction and detail unseen till now in the series. [reference]

Even the storyline appears terribly interesting, like a Bad Boys flick done right (somehow), with just the right amount of F-bombs.

As a member of one of the world’s most elite private military companies, you and your partner will be armed to unleash colossal amounts of destruction. As you lay waste to the enemy, you’ll build up Overkill, an ability that briefly makes you an invincible engine of absolute destruction. [reference]

Whether you’re performing flanking maneuvers, creating diversions to take the heat off, or even giving him one last shot of adrenaline when things get a little too chaotic.

Working together as a single engine of destruction is the key to laying waste to your surroundings and taking out enemies with overwhelming force.

The more effectively you work together, the more cash you make and the more destruction you’ll cause.

Story

You work for an organisation called T.W.O and now you take on one of the most vicious cartel in the world called La Guadana, which is supposed to be a ruthless criminal organization based in mexico. [reference]

The cartel is sort of menacing like any other cartel and rules through fear, violence, and intimidation, killing without remorse and corrupting the government for their own sadistic ends.

You can your partner Alpha and Bravo need to go into Mexico and clean up all these people. It won’t be easy but you have an arsenal of advanced weapons at your disposal.

Media

New trailer and screenshots were revealed by EA and it shows the two lead protagonists in action. [reference]

This wiki was last updated on 2nd, January 2015. 

Game Overview:

Army of Two The Devil’s Cartel re-sets the series that pioneered the co-op experience, balancing the over-the-top blockbuster action the franchise is known for with a narrative tone that is more intense and mature. Players will find themselves on the deadly streets of Mexico as Alpha and Bravo, two operatives working for a Private Military Contract outfit called Tactical Worldwide Operations (T.W.O.).

The game was developed by Visceral Games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

You will shoot a lot of people here, and I mean a lot of them. There’s mindless violence and gore, and considering the target demographic for this game, EA couldn’t have wanted anything less. That feeling you get when you use the shotgun with Dragon’s Breath attachment and blow away groups of enemies, is a sublime and exhilarating thing to witness i.e. if your brain is wired to enjoy things like that.

It’s a shooting game at its core and that’s what you will do here througout the campaign. Everything else is forgettable to simply awful. The production values aren’t that great, with screen tearing, bugs and glitches galore. There’s a 1.5 GB HD texture pack you can install when you boot up the game on Xbox 360, and it’s highly recommend you do that as it improves the visuals quite a bit.

I have to admit that I was expecting this game to be really bad; devoid of content and soul, but it managed to surprise me. I had a blast playing this with my friend and the game most definitely lives up to its title. It is quite lengthy too, and it took me approx 11 hours to clear it on the normal difficulty.

The protagonists of the last two games–Rio and Salem–play a side role here but they are vital to the story. The new guys do not have any personality and are poorly written, but I guess even the developers didn’t want to waste too much time with these guys. The masks are there for a reason, you know.

You face off against a cartel called La Guadana and the game is set in Mexico. The entire motivation to mow down hordes of bad guys that come in all shapes and sizes isn’t that strong, but when you dismember people with a shotgun, you don’t need any solid reason to shoot them. There’s kind of a sadistic pleasure in shooting a guy rushing at you with a knife.

The co-op mechanic is pretty simple as I mentioned above. You don’t interact with your partner much except when you need him to open doors or climb a ledge, and in a way, that’s a really disappointing thing as they could have at least made it interesting. It would have been cool to share ammo or even the mechanics from the first game could have been included here.

The game looks decent visually, and the HD texture pack does make a difference on consoles. It also runs on the Frostbite 2 engine but it kind of looks like a generic Unreal Engine game in places. The destruction on offer here is quite good and really does enhance the whole shooting bit. Nothing like spamming bullets down a hallway killing tons of bad dudes. It also makes you feel like a bad ass, and I guess this is one aspect of Frostbite 2 that really stands out in the game.

It’s colourful, too, and you mostly progress in a linear fashion, breaking down doors and facing groups of enemies at regular intervals. You can customise your loadout and gear, and they will be shown during cutscenes as well, so that really makes your character stand out quite a bit.

The netcode is very good and I hardly faced any lag–even during scenes with a lot of action. However, the framerate did drop to single digits during some cutscenes. It’s not an issue during gameplay as it maintains a decent framerate till the end.

There isn’t a competitive multiplayer mode, however, you can replay the campaign at higher difficulties to make more cash and buy whatever you need–weapons, gear, tattoos and other things.

My save file was corrupted for some reason and was reset to level 1 after beating the final boss. Apparently, disconnecting from Xbox Live while the game is saving can do that. It also did manage to kill my motivation to replay this game, though.

The checkpoint saves are also really annoying as a disconnection means having to replay the entire thing after the recent checkpoint again. There’s a chapter select option which is a life saver during co-op for people with flaky connections.

The co-op mechanic is the only saving grace of the game, but it’s still not enough to justify full price. There’s definitely some fun to be had here, but one has to wonder why this game was made in the first place.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

That being said, the singers do provide some wonderful BGM to scenes of cracking Cartel skulls, vehicular explosions, turrent sequences and stabby melee play. The game will follow two new operatives, Alpha and Bravo, as they venture into Mexico to take on the dangerous cartels inhabiting it.

Oh, also a mysterious masked man who shadows them at every turn. Surely he can’t be related to the series in some way, right? Right?

Army of TWO: The Devil’s Cartel is set to release on Xbox 360 and PS3 on March 26th in North America.

Available for Xbox 360 and PS3, the demo allows for co-operative play as Alpha and Bravo work together to wipe out the deadly Cartel. And while they’re not busting stereotypes, the Cartel members are at least as dangerous as they come. Expect plenty of close-calls with machetes and more.

Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel takes place in Mexico as the T.W.O. operatives work to free the city from the vicious gangs and a mysterious new foe (it’s Salem, by the way) who has it out for them. Along the way, explosions galore and tons of gun fights. Also more explosions.

The game is set to release on March 26th 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The demo features a missions wherein the two mercenaries will need to rescue a politician while simultaneously attending to a hostage situation. Sounds simple (or as simple as it can be).

However, in between rushing through a drug lab and tons of suicidal gang members, one player will need to provide cover via helicopter mini-gun while another runs inside the high rise to rescue the civilians in peril.

Sounds compelling enough, and it should serve as a great taste for the action to come when Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel releases on March 26th for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Check out the snazzy new trailer for what to expect.

As the remaining T.W.O. operatives, Alpha and Bravo are tasked with fighting the Cartel in Mexico along with an odd nemesis-like character (speculated to be Elliot Salem) who seems to have it in for them at every turn. The number of bullets, wanton violence and witty retorts necessary to complete these goals of course makes most modern games blush.

Despite Dead Space 3 being criticized for more action and less horror, Visceral Games is spot-on with Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel thus far. Hopefully it will revamp the troubling cover mechanics from The 40th Day. Check it out when it releases on March 26th in North America and March 29th in Europe for PS3 and Xbox 360.

This video shows what happens when you do get trapped when a brute charges at you, and what happens when you flank properly killing the brute’s backup and taking him on.

In this week’s “Meet the Cartel” episode, Bravo finds out that it’s better to bring a partner against the Elite Brute than to get blown up by going in alone. It’s double or nothin’ against the Devil’s Cartel!

The game will be released this week for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

EA and Visceral Games have revealed a new trailer and 8 new screenshots for their upcoming co-op third person shooter, Army of Two: The Devil’s Csrtel.

The video’s got plenty of gameplay footage in it (well, duh), so those of you who’re interested in buying the game might want to check it out. There’s some military humour thrown in to spice things up.

The screenshots are given below. Have a look.

Click on images to view full size.

Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel releases on 28th March next year for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Stay tuned for more info, we’ll keep you updated. Till then, tell us what you think of the trailer in the comments section below.