I played the original Army of 2 when my friend rented it and came over one day, it was a fun experience but the whole game also lasted a pathetic 4 hours. Throughout that game it was basically one of the biggest power fantasies I've ever seen in a video game, two mercenary friends who mow down all other forms of soldiers with ease, guys who take grenades to the face and are more or less fine, you go "back 2 back" and kill everything in sight while in slow mo, and worst of all you "bling" out your guns by encrusting them with diamonds and replacing basically every part with gold or platinum. It was pretty much the most brain dead thing I've ever played, but it was forgivable because the game knew and accepted what it was, a stupid quick fps that you play with a friend and just blow everything up in.
And then I heard that the squeal will have points with morality..... WHAT? I couldn't believe it when I first read the article, I actually thought the writer was pulling some cruel joke on us. But no, the BACK 2 BACK, BLING OUT YO GUNZ, while mowing down everyone who isn't you is going to be taking on the hard issue of morality.
Pictured: Video games for the cool kids
Has morality become nothing but the cool new thing for mainstream games to dabble in? Maybe the Army of 2 Gears of War crowd is secretly starved for the contemplation of the mortality of the modern man as they chainsaw aliens in half. Or maybe the success of a game like Bioshock in the mainstream has simply caused big publishers to think "hey, we can do that too!" I know that's how capitalism works and all, if something gets money then do it more, but is this really how weak the video game forum is? When we finally get something that at least tries to take the depth of games to a new level (I know most people dislike how it's been implemented so far though) it gets turned into a cash cow at the slightest hint of the possibility of money? I guess the short answer to that is "of course" but either way in my opinion this doesn't say great things for the future or games when it comes to that whole "games are art" debate.
You could say "hey at least they're trying" but they're not really, it's just a new fad, and somehow I doubt that "Army of 2: The 40th Day" will bring any new levels of depth to the inclusion of morality in video games.
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I think that mainstream games will never truly embrace moral choices- I think the lack thereof is why we play games in the first place. There will continue to be be terrific exceptions, such as Bioshock and KOTOR, but for the most part, games will continue to be virtual playgrounds and nothing more. We deal with enough moral ambiguity in our daily lives to have our games start judging us.
And seriously. Army of Two? This is a game that allowed you to BLING OUT YOUR GUNS WITH GOLD AND DIAMONDS. Of all the franchises that can benefit from any sort of moral choice system, this one definitely isn't one of them.
But publishers are already pushing the morality systems into mainstream games, InFAMOUS had it and Sony hailed that game as the reason why mainstream gamers should buy a PS3.
I agree that they will never truly have it in the mainstream, but more of a watered down version for the mainstream games to praise as a big part of the games. Basically things like morality seem to be becoming nothing more than buzzwords to get more attention because it's a "big thing right now".