Army of Two: The 40th Day

After a dalliance with a safari tour train-ride, a tide of heavy armour washes over the scene, however, and it's no longer safe to stare at the walls. The basics of the game are the same as before - co-operative shooting, sniping and grenade tossing - and also as before, if one of you draws more aggro from the 40th Daysters then the other is freed up to do clever stuff like flanking. Army of Two's signature co-op moves have also returned, although can now happen whenever you feel like it rather than at heavily delineated points in the level.

Stuff like Back to Back and Riot Shield are still in there - but now that enemies have their own agendas, and won't necessarily be expecting a fiery death, a few more sneaky/stealthy options have also been opened up. An unsuspecting enemy can be grabbed as a hostage, for example - or one of you can walk up and do a mock surrender while the other readies a volley of bullets. Another neat trick is for one player to sneak forward to get a visual on an enemy who's hiding behind a wall - meaning that he becomes a visible outline on the other's screen. If a sniper rifle is equipped and the wall is one that you can knock holes through, that's a neat headshot on its way.

There's a slight button control revamp to bring the game more in line with the Gears of Wars of this world, and when you play there are also subtle improvements to the mechanics - you can track enemies with your weapons more readily for example, while sniping feels snappier and more satisfying. The weapons themselves are endlessly customisable. It's being sold as 'LEGO with guns', and that essentially translates as being able to splash earned cash by mixing and matching any gun barrel, silencer, stock, telescopic sight etc. until you get your preferred balance of aggro, handling, precision and damage. You can then, if you so choose, have it painted in zebra stripes or plated in Army of Two's trademark gold bling.

All in all, then, a decent turn from Salem and Rios. We are now off the fence and into the realms of cautious optimism. In all honesty the graphics aren't mind-blowing - but the action is solid, and the disaster-hit Shanghai setting looks to create some pretty interesting places in which to perforate terrorists. Importantly, we have recorded evidence of producer Matt Turner stating "no more enemy missile silos, bunkers or box factories". A policy we'd vote for in an instant.

The most disappointing and glaring omission from the game, however, and specifically for the Shanghai Zoo level, is the inability to shoot giant pandas and other rare animals. One of gaming's greatest pleasures is being denied to us. On top of this, when Rios and Salem get to the zoo not only are the hippos and rhinos already dead (and lying in their enclosure at strategic cover-points) but both species are in the same enclosure. This is a clear breach of basic zoological principles in terms of animal habitat and co-habitation. "We want to stay away from the animal murder because people don't like that," Turner explains while lining up a headshot. "And I think maybe the rhinos were dragged in there? All this weird stuff is happening. It resonates everywhere. You don't know how they got in..." Case closed.