Let's start with Rock Band. I did finally get hands on with the game, playing bass on "Wanted Dead or Alive" with a few of the game's developers. It was fun. Not mindblowing fun, but fun. Not even Guitar Hero fun. But still, fun.
The issues I had with the game after seeing it at Microsoft's press event are just as annoying as I thought they'd be. The interface is lifeless and a bit confusing, for one, and it just doesn't engage the same way Guitar Hero does. There was also a problem with the timing. I've heard reports of similar issues with certain television screens and Guitar Hero, but I'/m suspecting this issue is more endemic to the game than that.
It took me a full two minutes to get the hang of playing Rock Band and I was failing miserably - even on medium - until I discovered that notes needed to be hit about a half second before you'd normally want to. After I did that mental arithmetic though, it was all roses. But still, not Guitar Hero fun.
I'm also concerned that playing Rock Band may require a more consistent skill level form one's friends or online companions than one can normally expect from such groups. In Guitar Hero when you miss a note, you still hear music and lyrics, just no guitar. What would a session of Rock Band sound like if everyone was off? Considering most of the public demos at E3 were given by three employees of Harmonix plus whoever was playing, I suspect it will be some time before we find out.
After rocking out Rock Band, I took a look at Army of Two, the game built from the ground up for co-op action. It's a fun romp with a nice mix of realism and Hollywood boomage. Plus you can heal your teammate by shoving a tampon into his bullet wounds. How many games offer that as an option? None, to my reckoning, which in and of itself makes this one unique.
The game also features an agro component, making it possible to focus the enemies attacks on just one player, while the other enters a stealth mode, running around slitting people's throts from behind. You can also go into overdrive mode, doing massive damage and taking a ton of damage yourself without falling., You can also play dead, and then surprise your enemies. You can also use car doors as riot shields, and then have your fellow player get behind you, picking off enemies from movable cover. And you can also ... and you can also .. and you can also ...
You get the picture. If you have at least one friend, and your tastes in military shmups run toward the more fantastical (and approachable) like mine, then you should enjoy it. Particularly the slightly homoerotic part where one player steers the parachute while the other, in tandem, picks off enemies as the two of you sail down into a hornets nest of enemies.
