The Beginning

Army of Two: The Fortieth Day starts out exciting. The game opens with an explanation of the storyline, which follows a terrorist attack on Shanghai. I was then dropped right into the action with your partner as an army of two American soldiers who plan to save Shanghai by personally taking down all of the terrorist militia. The first few tasks of the game introduce the controls and give the player a feel for how to control the characters as well as how to use different weapons and stances. The first thing I had to do was plant a locater beacon, then I used a gun for the first time to shoot some alarm boxes, and then planted a second locater beacon. After planting the second beacon I was bombarded with terrorists, which I naturally destroyed. I was then given my first moral choice of the game: kill the informant who taught me all of the controls or spare him. Sparing him nets me little but the knowledge I'm a better person, but capping him will reward me a cool $7,500. I will have to play the game multiple times to tell which is the best longterm decision. It will be interesting to see what other moral decisions I'm presented with as I save Shanghai from complete ruin.

Game Selection

I chose to do some research on a videogame for PlayStation 3, Army of Two: The Fortieth Day, and as a result have decided to play this game throughout the semester. I will blog about my experiences each week as they relate to the readings and teachings of EDUC 222. This week I did some background research on The Fortieth Day before I even opened the box. This third-person shooter game was designed for two players to cooperatively take down terrorists in Shanghai. As I begin to play the game next week I will have a more detailed description of the game's plot. The online gameplay seems intense and allows up to ten players to battle via the internet accross the globe. Though playing online will probably be more entertaining, the cooperative play will probably be more educational. In co-op mode, the game allows the player to make decisions that will affect the future gameplay for that player and his/her partner. For example, one may choose to eliminate the hostages once they have beend saved, but this will subtract from that players "morality" in the game. I am excited to begin saving Shanghai and see how my decisions affect my experience of The Fortieth Day.