First let me say that this game is not going to win any awards for originality, character design, script or story. In fact every one of those elements is trite and simplistic at best. Rios and Salem (insert any gay jokes here) are visiting Shanghai when a terrorist group begins to destroy the city on a comic scale. They seriously try to raze the city and the rest of the world (including CHINA) just kind of sit and watch... oooooookay. And that's about the extent of the plot. Our boys are two overgrown frat boys who exchange mediocre banter about "boning" endangered species (I wish I was kidding), and reminiscing about the good ol' days where they were outnumbered and killed everything. *yawn* All of these elements would give the game a 'D' at best.
HOWEVER, having beaten every aspect of Borderlands with DH, we decided we needed another co-op splitscreen shooter and seeing as they are still a rare breed, we rented AoT on a whim. And I have to say -- while not as much fun as Borderlands -- it was a damn fun time. I can see how the game would be infuriating if having to wait on the AI, but if playing with another person, it's a freaking blast. DH and I knew we had chosen wisely when one scenario had us running down the side of a turned-over building, taking cover behind the myriad of chest-high walls (yeah, yeah, yeah), and bouncing aggro off one another.
Which brings me to the aggro system. This is one of the rare unique gems of the franchise and I gotta say, I wish more games had it. For those unfamiliar the aggro system is quite simple: Player 1 shoots a person and gains aggro (as indicated by the convenient red bar on the side of the screen). Player 2 is then "invisible" and can sneak around the map and descend from the rafters like a bat to kill, say, a mounted gunner who is impeding progress. Player 2 then has aggro, and Player 1 can run around and sneak up behind folks. It's an awesome system that allows you to simultaneously hone your sneaky-ninja skills and your brawler devil-may-care skills. Loved it. Though this is another item that I think would necessitate 2-player action. I can't imagine waiting around for the damned AI to figure out what you want it to do.
Another aspect of the game that we enjoyed, and some reviewers have complained about, was the "morality" system. On one hand, this is nothing new; games have been making us make decisions for awhile now, and the decisions are almost always the difference between Mother Theresa and Stalin. The morality system here is not much different, and the choices are almost always "kill" or "let live." However unlike most games, AoT delivers a quick comic book style glimpse into the repercussions of your decision making. Granted they have more twists and turns than a Hideo Kajima game (insert Robot Chicken's M. Night Shyamalan's "What a twist!"), but it's still a sort of dog biscuit for making a decision. **Mild Spoiler** For instance the first decision is to either kill or spare a fellow mercenary in the beginning of the game. If you choose to kill him, Rios proves to be the worst executioner in the entire world by planting a bullet in the back of the merc's head, only to have him turn around and attack Rios. Oye. They knock him off the building and gripe about it. If you spare him, you are rewarded with a scene depicting him shedding his arms and armor, finding a huge stash of cash and going to retire on a tropical beach somewhere. Aaaaaaaaand then a commando jumps out of the water and kills him. Which definitely begs the question of whether or not they just wanted you to kill him initially. **End Spoiler**
The action is intense, the weapon modification borders between cool and chintzy, and overall it provided hours of good fun for us as a couple. Overall I give it a 'C,' because while it's great fun to play co-op, I'm not sure it would offer much for single-player.
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