Chris Ferriera Talks Army Of Two’s Gameplay and Philosophy

Chris Ferriera tells Gamasutra about the gameplay and Philosophy behind EA’s upcoming title, Army of Two. Not only was Army of Two designed for cooperative play from the concept to execution, it all has a political message that suffuses the game to it’s core. Ferriera gives gamers a look at agame that casts a critical eye on real world mercenaries and is designed to draw casual gamers into co-op play. Ultimately, Army of Two is the beginning of a new shooter franchise for EA.

Army of Two pulls no punches in it’s criticism of mercenary organizations.

What we’re trying to do as we advance though the story in the game, we start with the characters. We take them from their days in Delta Force, and their days as Navy SEALs, and their start as PMCs and how they get trained. We unveil the corruption behind the military privatization, and we explain the problems that poses to society and to America, and the world, when you have a gigantic organization that does nothing but operate for corporations and for money.

Ferriera sites the biggest challenge involved in developing Army of Two is to re-teach people how to cooperate.

It’s two dudes versus an army. You’re not going to survive it if you go it alone, and if you don’t play with your partner, if you don’t communicate. We have to teach that. That’s the toughest point. We have a pretty extensive tutorial and we’re trying to simplify the way things come across, and try to keep it to one to two button presses to get into everything you need.

Players can go online for co-op or play split with two players on one console. If you don’t have a buddy to play with or Xbox LIVE, have no fear. Players will be able to play single player with an A.I. partner.

To find out more about Army of Two, from the use of the Unreal engine to the downloadable content read the full interview on Gamasutra.