Complex: How many people will make the most of the game and actually seek out a partner to play through the co-op mode?
Reid Schneider: We solved that in a couple of ways. The game has a core single player component where you can play with partner AI. But the goal of the game, if you remember playing Double Dragon or Contra you remember standing in front of the machines at the arcade. For us it was, how do you recreate that feeling when you were a kid playing Double Dragon.

C: Gamers kind of romanticize classic arcade games. When you played Double Dragon to get a feel for co-op games did you ever think to yourself, “This game really, kind of sucks.”
Reid Schneider: You know I think it's funny. We have these memories of these games as these amazing, amazing play experiences. And you go back and play them and it's not exactly what you remember. We did go back and play Contra and those things. We basically wanted to keep those memories intact and recreate for Army of Two what those memories feel like to you on more of a meta level.

C: Were there any particular elements of the game you would have changed now that the game has shipped?
Reid Schneider: At the end of the day you're going to have some people that like the experience and some people that won’t. On the team side we're proud of what we accomplished. You always want to put more stuff in, you want to do more. But this is the first next-gen game to come out of EA Montreal and one of EA's first, new homegrown IPs. We have a lot of ideas for what we want to do with it in the future and we're just going to go from there.

C: Did you pull anyone from Blackwater or Aegis to consult on the game?
Reid Schneider: Yeah, we got one guy who is a consultant for us. He's a PMC contractor and he has worked for a lot of the larger PMCs. We can't really mention which ones by name but the ones you've mentioned aren't bad guesses if that's the best way to put it.

C: It's a small list out there.
Reid Schneider: It is a small list. And as you get deeper and deeper into this stuff you learn how it really…when you start hearing about this you realize how deep and dark it really goes.

C: In reality or are you talking about your game?
Reid Schneider: In reality, all in reality. They get a contract and then they sub-contract that to somebody else who gets subcontracted to somebody else. It's sort of this huge long trail of contracts some of which are public some of which aren't. It's really this fascinating and interesting world that these guys live in because they really are modern-day mercenaries.

C: How do you feel personally about paying guys a bonus to dole out bullets?
Reid Schneider: With Army of Two we're not making a political statement. It's an entertainment product. We want to put this out there as a topic. It's a great set piece for the game. We've had people say that they want to do more research or learn more about this world after playing the game. For us that's a huge win and that's cool. I wouldn't feel comfortable and I don't think the team would feel comfortable if we were getting up there and getting preachy and saying, “This is bad,” and, “This is good.” That's not the goal. The goal is to present these characters in the world they live in and let people make their assessments from there.

C: Were there any debates over whether or not to include the cut scene depicting 9/11?
Reid Schneider: Yeah, there is a brief shot of 9/11. There was discussion about it. We didn't just drop it in there casually. It is an important turning point in the rest of the story and development of the game. I think it's important. There had to be something to sort of push you. In the game we start you as a Ranger and then we flash forward and you go through a tutorial where you meet up with a PMC contractor in Mogadishu. There's a cut scene involving 9/11 that spurs the game forward. We needed something that was sort of like, I hate to use the term, but almost like a tipping point for what propels you forward into the action of the rest of the game. That's something that everyone knows about and is relevant. As long as its handled responsibly, it's really not graphic and we're not making light of it. There's a place for it in the product.

C: Have you gotten any brush back or has it flown under the radar? Depicting an event of that kind of magnitude in a game has to draw some bitching.
Reid Schneider: Not so much actually. If we were making a game where that was the core focus we would have gotten more tension for it. But the way we handled it in the game, it's depicted in a mature way. We've had people ask questions about it, but because it's part of the game and not the game it makes people understand.

C: Who got Mastodon to cover “One” for the game commercial?
Reid Schneider: I have to credit the marketing and the publishing people for that one. What'd you think of it?

C: I said, “Yes, Mastodon.”
Reid Schneider: It's funny. I didn't even know Mastodon until they brought this to us. And I was like, “Cool, it's different.”

C: Not a metal fan?
Reid Schneider: Not the biggest. There were some guys on the team that are huge metal fans. For them this was way cool. But there's no way I can come out and say that was my idea because it wasn't. The credit goes to the marketing and publishing people on that side.

C: What was the inspiration behind the masks?
Reid Schneider: They came from the team. What's interesting about that is that it's real world technology only no one customizes them like that. It's actually based on real-world technology ballistic masks that you can buy on the Internet if you were so inclined. They're not cheap, they're not something you would wear around every day but they are real world tech and people use them in the field. We thought they would make the characters kind of iconic, almost an anti-hero because you wouldn't expect your heroes to be running around wearing that kind of mask. But in the game that's what you have.

C: They're not looking like Captain America running around out there.
Reid Schneider: Years ago James Bond represnted what was cool. If you did that now, a guy in a tuxedo, people would say, what's that? That would have no appeal. We're almost looking at things like, with social networks, that level of customization. That's what interests people these days. When you have those masks on the characters and the way the characters have the masks tricked out it shows they aren't the standard army guys. It shows they are doing their own thing. And I believe that is appealing to where youth culture is in America and the world these days.

C: How long have you worked on it?
Reid Schneider: Two and a half years. It's exciting, stressful, all that rolled into one. We're excited to put it out there and play with people we don't know. I think most importantly is that the team is excited. A lot of the time in the industry we think it's one person, but games are such a team effort. One thing I think is really, really important is to emphasize that this is the work of a lot of people and they really deserve the credit for it.

C: Are you nervous at all or do you think this thing has a pair of balls on it and it’s just going to roll?
Reid Schneider: We're excited about what we're putting out there. You can always look back and say you could have added something. No one with the exception of maybe Miyamoto releases a game and says they did everything they wanted to do. But for us we're excited about what we're putting out there and what we've done. Ultimately it's up to the public to decide but we're proud of what we're putting out there.

You can start deciding today. Army of Two is on sale now.