EA Forced To Tone Things Down In Army Of Two Sequel

Army of Two: The 40th Day

Army of Two: The 40th Day came out this week and most critics will tell you it's significantly better than the original.

EA certainly heard the complaints concerning their first Army of Two effort, saying they "were able to piss off a lot of people." But they weren't causing offense due to a lesser-quality experience; many viewed the original setting and premise as offensive. In speaking to VideoGamer.com, EA Montreal boss Alain Tascan admitted to getting "carried away" with the first title, which arrived during a tough time in the country's history. Too many soldiers were dying overseas and the idea of killing terrorists for cash in places where real troops were dying...well, it didn't go over well. He said, "the reality is, you can laugh off everything but not with everybody." Basically, when you downed a terrorist in North Africa (and followed it up with a nasty one-liner) or other places where US soldiers were losing their lives in real life, people got miffed. So, despite the addition of "moral choices" in this sequel, EA Montreal toned down the over-the-top craziness of the two main characters, Salem and Rios. Said Tascan:

"We needed to correct that, because it was taking away from what the game was. Some people focused so much on that they didn't see the game. They just thought, how can you do that? My brother is in Afghanistan and in Iraq, you cannot do this kind of thing. We got carried away. The reality is we have real recordings from mercenaries in the field, and let me tell you, we took ten percent in the first game of what was said in war.

But is not like in the movies, it's not appropriate. What we're discovering, now that we're a mass market entertainment medium, is, like movies, we have to filter. What would be the reality via our medium? And things evolve. Television evolves and movies evolve. We have to respect that, and we've learned good ways to do that. The new one I feel is still very funny, but at least it's more Bruce Willis funny than Steven Seagal funny."

It's an interesting conundrum for any designer in any entertainment medium, especially in a time when just about anything can be considered offensive to someone. And we can tell you that The 40th Day is set in Shanghai and while things are "toned down," the game is much better than the first Army of Two.

Related Game(s): Army of Two: The 40th Day

1/13/2010 9:02:37 PM Ben Dutka

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