A story of linearity in more sense than one, Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel possesses fleeting moments of fiery excitement, but in reality very rarely deviates from absolute mediocrity.

Neither frustrating nor compelling, the latest in this mercenary shoot-em-up is enacted at a bare minimum and consequently is a totally uninspired experience from start to finish.

Cooperative by both name and nature, The Devil’s Cartel is no exception to the Army of Two rule, meaning that the game is most enjoyable whilst with a partner. Unfortunately, that second set of eyes is less required than ever. All of the covering fire and cooperative awareness required in previous titles seems totally superfluous this time around. A big gun and enough patience is all that is required.

From start to finish the title equates to little more than a series of shooting galleries. The formula has never been this simplistic and at times stupid. The large proportion of the vast weapon selection feel flimsier than a Fisher Price product, with no real weight or impact to speak of. Once the Light Machine Gun is at hand, the game does begin to hit a stride of relative pace, with the two interchangeable mercenaries dishing out the pain to the army of faceless baddies.

There is a rather impressive weapon customisation system that fits in with the mercenary theme extremely well. Completing missions, which are sizably smaller and more frequent than in previous iterations, yields money and money buys upgrades for guns, armour and the undeniably badass masks. This ‘Pimp my Mercenary’ attitude to upgrading is a nice hook and is arguably the most fun aspect of The Devil’s Cartel, which speaks volumes about both the depth of the customisation and also the weakness of the main campaign.

As for the narrative, the idea behind this instalment boggles the mind, not through complexity, but stupidity. The previously established characters, Rios and Salem from the first two games, are mere side acts for two new protagonists, who for the most part are genuinely referred to as Alpha and Bravo. Yes, really. That is the Army of Two’s commitment to encapsulating what it means to be generic. Which is a real shame, because whilst Army of Two: The 40^th Day wasn’t exactly a grand masterpiece, it was good visceral fun with a dollop of well-executed bro-humour. As the aforementioned names would suggest, the new protagonists possess about as much charisma and humour as a partly decomposed cardboard box. It must be said however that they’re not helped by some distinctly poor writing, which includes the intellectual heights of several ‘your mum’ jokes.

Visually the game is passable. The character models are relatively well executed and animation is also acceptable. The enemies whilst animated similarly are not as detailed as our heroes. There must have been some kind of stock liquidation sale at the local face shop recently, because the entire entourage of all the thousands of enemy soldiers slaughtered in the game, have 3 or 4 different faces between them. The series has never been anything close to ground-breaking on any level, but this is distinctly worse than the last effort, which at this stage in a console generation isn’t acceptable.

The ‘agro’ system the game uses to split enemy attention between the two mercenaries, is still well implemented and a nice tactical addition to an otherwise bland shooting system. The system means that the more overt one is in his attacks, the less attention the other receives. This means that if one meat-head fires off enough rounds, the other can sneak by relatively undetected. The system works well when coordinated with a partner and is closer to what the Army of Two series is actually about.

This title feels minimalistic and not in an intentionally refined manner. The back-to-back cover and car door shields of previous iterations have been stripped and replaced by nothing. The Devil’s Cartel feels like a game in this franchise, but with all of the core components removed, which will evoke very little other than total indifference. It isn’t that the game is bad or broken by any means, it just feels like a watered down, rushed version of the previous game with no real passion injected or deliberation over content included.

Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel is a thoroughly uninspired usage of a previously ascending series. Wading through hoards of identical enemies is gratifying enough for the initial proceedings, but grates quickly because of the poor motivation given by the paper thin narrative. The Devil’s Cartel is rarely below average and equally rarely above average; it sits firmly on the fence and is consequently totally forgettable. An interesting customisation system and coop hook may attract for a short duration, but these features aren’t enough to sustain any kind of genuine longevity. This distinct step backwards for the Army of Two franchise is evidence that in this genre, two heads are not always better than one.

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