Hoo-wah! Yeah! Whoo! Alriiight!

The original Army Of Two represented EA Montreal's attempts at designing a pure, two-player co-operative experience – and in many ways it succeeded. The central idea of you and a friend taking on the world was a compelling one, and for many, the notion of working with said chum (or AI, for the socially inept), either via split-screen or online, tapped into hazy, nostalgia-drenched recollections of Eighties buddy-cop movies.

However, the resulting game was a mixed bag, left lacking in a number of areas; teamwork often meant you and your partner helping each over a wall, weapons and blind firing were somewhat over-powerful, undoing the thought process behind the ‘aggro' flanking system, and some gamers would argue the action and environments got a tad repetitive as the campaign wore on. It was the testosterone-fuelled protagonists themselves that divided opinion the most, however. Salem and Rios were – how shall I put it – far from politically correct, in a kind of ironic and faintly homoerotic way. Apparently, we Europeans were among those that found it all a bit much, but on my trip to see the sequel over at EuroGamer Expo, the development seemed to have taken the feedback from the first game and improved the engine for The 40th Day.

Of course the fundamental concept of a co-op third-person shooter featuring two muscle-bound mercenaries remains, and for those that actually found the banter in the first game refreshing, some of those elements will remain. The first thing to note is the sequel's new visual style, which depicts our lead pair in a colourful Shanghai as the city turns into a disaster zone. Rather than just wisecracking and fist-bumping their way through the action, Salemescuderia mollerusacredit card poor credit and Rios will find their personalities significantly shaped by gamers' actions this time round.

An early level set amid a block of Shanghai skyscrapers also introduces one of the sequel's new concepts – the couch debate. Moral decisions, or ‘co-op choices' as the game's producers called them, enable you to approach scenarios in multiple ways. Your approach may be good, bad, easy or difficult, and you may or may not be rewarded for a particular course of action making for a far from black-and-white gaming world. With such a range of options the designers hope to get you and your real-life co-op partner to talk through your course of action (hence the term ‘couch debate') before executing. Of course, it could also turn into a couch argument should one of you jump the gun.

From the off I was faced with one of the game's numerous hostage situations – you can run in all guns blazing indiscriminately shooting bad guys and prisoners alike, or co-ordinate a more considered attack, taking the enemy leader hostage and causing his men to drop their weapons, while your partner goes around incapacitating them one-by-one. Such tactics can often prevent a perk, such as a new weapon, from being locked away out of sight, but these decisive moments often carry no incentive, regardless of whether you choose the ethical or morally suspect route. EA Montreal told us that the co-op choices will be varied enough to discourage players from lazily employing the same tactics every time, and hinted at one scenario involving a defenceless animal which promises to tug at the heart-strings.

I also played through the previously seen zoo level in co-op, which demonstrated a much-improved feel over its predecessor; tighter shooting mechanics, movement and AI made for a far less frustrating experience than before, while the sprawling but subtly linear level design offered plenty of opportunity for incident. Enemies still aren't the most tactical bunch, but demonstrate pleasing intelligence levels, which the dev team are calling ‘mirrored AI' – this means you'll see NPCs doing similar stuff to you and your partner, whether through use of cover, or even their ability to heal each other. The cover system, so vital for progressing through most firefights, is now more fluid, blind fire less effective than before, and a dedicated melee button makes it easier to perform close combat, as well as finishing off any downed enemies.

I also saw the new heavily armoured enemies, who provide boss-style challenges at certain points through most levels. The Shanghai zoo featured two that I encountered: the first, a heavy gunner, blocked our progress but was relatively simple to dispatch – his helmet was the chink in his armour and a few headshots later he was down. The grenadier was trickier, however; appearing on a ledge above me, he proceeded to bombard the open area I was in below. As I made strategic use of cover, our partner sniped his ammo bags – which slowly caught fire – and eventually he exploded. Your aggro bar is still a useful way to divert attention from your partner – as you draw fire, he gains a level of ‘invisibility' enabling him to flank the enemies firing at you. I was shown a third heavy – sporting a flame-thrower and stalking a laundry room – and aggro proved integral to taking him down.

Army Of Two: The 40th Day also features plenty of customisation options – modified weapons are back, albeit with even more licence to create an outrageous-looking super-gun (the tool can be accessed at any point during the game), and, brilliantly, players will be able to design their own masks, before wearing them in online multiplayer fights. Ah yes, online. The development team took the concerted decision early on to carry the campaign's co-op experiences into the multiplayer modes, and after a substantial session putting multiplayer through its paces, I can't wait to play it again. The modes I got our hands on – co-op deathmatch, control point and extraction – all focused on a different style of co-op play.

Deathmatch was as you might imagine, except you and your pal need to stick together against up to five other pairs running around the map. The reasons for this are simple – your combined score is what counts each round, you can revive each other (as in the campaign) and you can also grab an extra grenade from his backpack. Obviously it raises plenty of tactical options as well, and we had a (literal) blast running aroundmobile phonesphone anwering service a counter-strike style map – a tower block still under construction – with a rocket launcher as our partner spotted for us.

Control point is a more conventional four-vs-four waypoint mode, which requires your team to hold three parts of the map – it was fast, hectic and a lot of fun, and the co-op elements are expanded to your three team-mates. Extraction will initially be pre-order only, and is EA Montreal's take on the wave modes that have become so popular in the genre. It feels more meaningful in The 40th Day, though, as your team of four beats wave after wave of AI enemies before moving to a new point on the map – the ultimate objective is to reach the end of the map and escape on the awaiting chopper.

Army Of Two: The 40th Day is certainly shaping up to be a slick, value-packed package, and one that actually aims to offer you and a friend a brand-new experience whether side-by-side in split-screen or across a network. It's looking an impressive step-up from its predecessor, and even I'd happily high five to that.

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