A year or so ago 'Army of Two' was being billed as the next big thing on the 360.

Then its release was delayed and, when it eventually hit the shelves, it was not the Haloesque big bang that seemed likely just a few months ago, but a much more muted launch.

One gets the impression that whatever high hopes EA had for 'Army of Two' early on took a knock somewhere along the line.

After a few hours of the high octane gunplay, one starts expecting the reason for this: behind the overblown, often humorous, surface of the game, there lurk the remnants of what was supposed to be something serious, like a 'Halo' or a 'Gears of War'.

Instead, rather than a failed attempt at greatness, they've took a solid wack at going slightly B-rated and middle of the road.

The hook that all this is hung onto is the game's infamous co-op system. As the title suggests, it is a shooter designed to be played by two. Not surprisingly then, that the single player campaign is rather half-baked.

In this mode your partner is played by a bot, which turns the whole thing into a rather shallow take on squad-based shooting — something that causes the single player campaign to fall into a no-man's-land between genres.

After all, if you want squad-based shooting, something like 'Rainbow Six Vegas 2' is far more satisfying — and if it is just straight shooting you are after, even 'Gears of War' still packs more of a punch.

Some noise is being made about the game's "agro" system. Basically that means that the more you shoot, the more visible you become to your enemies. Let your partner do all the shooting, and you become virtually invisible.

It all sounds very good at first, but when you think about it, this is pretty much what one would expect decent AI to be doing anyway. The game overplays the "agro" bit though, making it an unrealistic, though fun, part of the gameplay mechanic.

Here too the difference between single player and co-op becomes clear — whereas there is certainly something special in shouting to your buddy to keep the enemy busy while you sneak around the side and attack from behind, going through the same manoeuvre with your bot-comrade obviously doesn't cut it.

All of which is to say that 'Army of Two' is virtually exclusively made to be played cooperatively — no doubt this is where the game comes into its own. So, if you are hooked up for that kind of thing it is certainly worth checking out.

Visually, 'Army of Two' is fairly impressive. From the funky menus, to the highly detailed character models and some stunning environments, there is very little to complain about.

Some slightly silly voice-acting and twists to the storyline fleshes out a high quality presentation, although it has to be said that somewhere along the line one feels there was a decision to use humour to cover up some of the game's weaker points.

As one would expect from a game where the protagonists are two rugged members of a private military corporation, violence, swearing and blasphemy is of the highest order.

Put it all together and 'Army of Two' is a rather curious beast — on the one hand it tries to push the boundaries, and on the other it feels terribly familiar. Its saving grace, however, is that it doesn't take itself too seriously.

As a single player game, it might not stand up to scrutiny. But then, that is not what it was meant to be. If you are ready to go co-op, there certainly is fun to be had here.