Army of Two: The 40th Daywas a third-person shooter developed and released byElectronic Artsin early 2010. The game stars Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem, apair of self-employed mercenaries, and serves as a sequel to 2008’sArmy of Two. InThe 40th Day, Rios and Salem take a job in Shanghai that forces them into an encounter with a villainous organization called The 40th Day Initiative and its leader, Jonah Wade.
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TheArmy of Twogames are characterized by their cooperative gameplay as well as the camaraderie between Rios and Salem, but there’s more to these games than just those elements. What more is there to discover in Army of Two: The 40th Day?
10Another Nolan North Performance
This is among the easier facts to discover aboutArmy of Two: The 40th Day, but it’s still an easy thing to miss. Fan and industry-favorite voice actor Nolan North provides the voice of the smart-mouth mercenary, Elliot Salem. This is a one-off thing though, as Josh Ryan voices Salem in the firstArmy of Two, and Joe Flannigan takes over inArmy of Two: The Devil’s Cartel.
Other popular voice actors who make an appearance in The 40th Day are Jonathan Adams, Tracey Rooney, Eugene Kim, Steve Blum, and Troy Baker.
9Alice Doesn’t Make It
It’s left somewhat ambiguous as to whether or not Rios and Salem’s mission intelligence specialist, Alice Murray, dies in Shanghai inArmy of Two: The 40th Day. She’s in a helicopter thatgets shot downby the 40th Day Initiative near the end of the game. This provokes Rios and Salem into forgoing any chance of escape in favor of getting revenge on Jonah Wade.
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It’s confirmed inArmy of Two: The Devil’s Cartelthat Alice Murray didn’t make it out of Shanghai. It’s mentioned almost in passing once the villain of the game, Elliot Salem, reveals himself. It’s believed to be one of the reasons for Salem’s spiraling mental health and eventual betrayal of Tyson Rios.
8The Importance Of The Moral Choices
The morality choices were one of the new additions thatThe 40th Daybrought toArmy of Two, and the mechanic didn’t come back forThe Devil’s Cartel. There aren’t many inThe 40th Day, but these choices play a big part in the gameplay and are one of the things that make this entry feel like such a big departure in the series.
The morality choices themselves are impossible to ignore, but the importance of them is easy to miss. These choices help flesh out Rios and Salem and depart from the opportunistic killers that they seem to be in the first game. It gives them an internal logic and a thought process beyond survival and getting paid. It’s a strong element of characterization for Rios and Salem going forward.
7There Are Two Endings
That leads to the ending ofArmy of Two: The 40th Day, which actually has two endings. Jonah Wade claims that he has a bomb that will wipe out Shanghai if Salem and Rios kill him and his men. However, if either Rios or Salem kills the other, Jonah won’t set off the bomb.
If Rios and Salem decide to kill Jonah, the bomb will be revealed to be a hoax. However, that means there is no one to call off the 40th Day Initiative’s attack on Shanghai. If Rios or Salem decide to be sacrificed, the attack is called off. However, the surviving partner will be scarred from the experience, and the player gets a monologue from Jonah.
6The Name Inspiration
“The 40th Day” definitely is a distinct name choice for a video game title, and, for some players, it may be a mystery as to why this installment of theArmy of Twofranchise is named as such.
The reason is revealed in passing by Jonah Wade in the “Act of Sacrifice” ending monologue mentioned above. It refers to the flood in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. On the 40th day, the torrential rain stopped, and Noah’s family is finally able to leave the ark and return to dry land. They rebuild the world from there. This is what Jonah Wade hoped to do in Shanghai – destroy the world in order to rebuild it as he saw fit.
5Clyde’s Return
Clyde is the most memorable antagonist from the originalArmy of Two. He is a smart-mouthed, bitter, and ruthlessly violent mercenary with a weak sense of humor. It’s his first meeting with Rios and Salem that coaxes them into leaving the Army Rangers and becoming private military contractors. After Rios and Salem are betrayed by their superiors at SSC, Clyde is sent to kill Rios and Salemwith an RPGbut dies in the attempt.
Clyde is dead for good, but his spirit lives on inThe 40th Day. Players can customize Rios and Salem’s ballistic masks, and one of the choices is Clyde’s mask from the firstArmy of Two.
4Salem Is In MySims: Sky Heroes
This isn’t something fromThe 40th Dayspecifically, but it’s relevant to the game and a very strange piece ofArmy of Twotrivia.
Elliot Salem is an unlockable pilot in the Nintendo Wii port ofMySimsSkyheroes. This is a cutesy big-headed rendition of Elliot Salem thatcan be used as a pilot in multiplayer mode. There’s even a trailer for this in theMySims Skyheroesstyle where Elliot sneaks up on Tyson Rios and scares him,and it’s still up on the EA YouTube channel.
3There Are Two Fan-Designed Weapons
BothArmy of TwoandThe 40th Dayheldcontests for weapon designsto submitted by fans. InArmy of Two: The 40th Day, there are two weapons that won the design contest.
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The first is the “Grand Pinger” Sniper Launcher designed by Uberblargh. The other is the AS-KR1 “Ass-Kicker” Rifle by none other YouTube star Angry Joe.
2The Comic Book Art
Whenever a morality choice is made, the consequences of the player’s choice are shown in a comic book-inspired sequence of art panels. This coincides with the more over-the-top story inThe 40th Day.
What players may not know is that the art comes from two prominent comic book artists. The first artist is Chris Bachalo, who has a long and storied history with both Marvel and DC Comics. The other is an artist known as Jock, who has worked for DC, 2000 AD’sJudge Dreddcomics, Image Comics, concept work for movies likeBatman BeginsandX-Men: Days of Future Past, and poster art for several films includingThe Raid,Dredd,The Dark Knight Rises, andIron Man 3.
1There Is A Canonical Ending
While there are two choices for the ending toArmy of Two: The 40th Day, there is a canonical ending that leads toArmy of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, and it splits the ending to its predecessor somewhere down the middle.
Instead of either Rios or Salem dying or one of them killing Jonah, Salemmakes the sacrifice play and is shot. He’s shot by Rios but survives. This contributes to Salem’s declining mental state and his increasing distrust of Rios. Salem reveals all of this inThe Devil’s Cartelat the same time he confirms Alice’s death for the player. All of this built up to him having a mental break, abandoning Rios, and becoming the crimelord, El Diablo.
