On his farewell address to the American public, outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower famously warned of the military-industrial complex, the inevitable dovetailing of war and business to create the burgeoning private military sector we have now. Eisenhower’s rhetoric was steeped in patriotic fervour and a fear of misplaced power centres and spheres of influence, but even when delivering his impassioned speech he probably knew that the rise of the PMC was inevitable.

And, in an industry dominated by action titles with war and combat as their primary focus, it was likewise inevitable that videogames would pick up on the exponential increase in public awareness of privately fought conflicts and look to explore this unbelievably complex subject.

Well, some developers chose to explore. Kojima’s take on the subject with Metal Gear Solid 4 is far from the definitive videogame representation of the subject, with its base in magical fantasy storytelling and grumpy old men with moustaches, but at least its focus on the competing business interests of its myriad PMC’s and the moral ambiguity of war for profit was something.

The original Army of Two however, was anything but exploratory. For all the claims of verisimilitude and of being shaped by meetings with various real-world private military operatives, the game itself was nothing more than a functionally and mechanically poor one-dimensional shooting gallery. Sure, the masks the leads wore were pretty cool, but this game that purportedly drew inspiration from Mogadishu, 9/11 and Iraq was a tonal and thematic mess that garnered more criticism for its crass nature than praise for anything it did well. Which wasn’t much.

So it is with great relief then that, with the sequel, EA has realised that the inherent dichotomy of shoehorning the colossal shades of grey of the PMC world into a gung-ho action shooter was never going to work. Gone is the borderline offensive and ignorant politicking of the original, much to everyone’s relief. Replacing the piecemeal globetrotting of the original with a more coherent, exciting setting in Shanghai, EA Montreal has wisely decided to forgo political commentary.

Instead the Montreal team has placed the two operatives, Salem and Rios, into a mess not dictated by the original’s paper-thin mercenary motives. Trapped in war-torn Shanghai as the city literally falls to pieces, the titular army have to fight their way out one bullet at a time. This change to the videogame setting du jour (as seen in Splinter Cell: Double Agent and the upcoming Kane and Lynch sequel) is a welcome one, replacing the drab colour scheme of the original and introducing the action to one of the most vibrant cities on earth.

And ‘action’ is the key word. EA Montreal has realised that their series isn’t offering any socio-political insight in any capacity, and instead have chosen to pursue the Bruckheimer approach to the nth degree, a wise choice. The enemy force now look like they’re working for Cobra, and whereas the original had a few set pieces that thrilled (the USS Constellation sinking with you on it’s deck comes to mind), the 40th Day has more wow moments than you can shake a golden M4 at, and isn’t afraid to use them. Whether it’s an entire building ripping in half with you in it or a jumbo jet crashing five yards away from the duo, Shanghai is a playground of destruction and genuinely exciting to be in at times.

… continued