Great Games with Cooperative Modes, anyone?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Some of my greatest experiences playing computer games were playing ones that had cooperative modes of play via LAN or internet. I'm thinking primarily of shooter type games, but I'd be interested in anything with a good coop mode really.

For me, fond, fond memories:

Playing player created ".pwad" levels for the original DOOM via LAN and modem with one of my best friends...

Playing Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear antiterrorist missions with one or more friends over the internet.

I've heard that Quake II, Operation Flashpoint, Swat 3 etc. have had good coop modes too, but this type of gameplay is largely neglected, and I think it would be possibly the most fun way to play a challenging shooter, to play through the whole campaign and experience it from start to finish with close friends, spouse, etc.

Right now I'm deeply immersed in Far Cry which I consider really challenging, in a very fun way... I'm in the gigantic, and awe inspiring "Rebellion" level and just thinking how I'd LOVE to tackle this with a bud...

I guess the difference between coop and the current, standard deathmatch and capture the flag type multiplayer modes, is that in the standard modes, you just have the environment, and the actions of the players. In a sophisticated single player campaign, there are often scripted events and AI actions that have to be synchronized between all human players and it might be more challenging... but it has been done, and this is a whole, deeply desireable dimension to gaming that is sadly lacking from the current offerings.

I've played and enjoyed a lot of deathmatch (DOOM I and II, Quake II, Duke Nukem 3D etc.), but for me it just feels played out, and not just because I'm not "leet" with skills, just not that interesting to jump around blow each other up with rocket launchers and grabbing armor powerups etc. after a while.

To experience a well written story, adventure, with different ways to solve problems, cooperating with your friends to save each other's necks, is just a whole different type of thing than blowing each other up...

Any one else like me who yearns for high quality coop games? Know any good ones that exist?

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

1. Aye!

System Shock 2 added a co-op mode with their only and only patch that wasn't great. But it was there! That's more than you can say for a lot of games. (Good luck finding the game anymore.)

Serious Sam is supposed to be really fun in Co-op mode, as they ramp up the sheer number of monsters with each new player. I haven't played it, though, and it's hard to find that game anymore, too.

I just re-installed No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In Harm's Way. It's kind of like an Austin Powers 60's spy spoof game with really sharp, funny writing, and an amazing main character in Cate Archer: UNITY's (the good guys) first female spy. She's rendered rather magnificentl, which for three years ago was an amazing thing.
They also included a co-op game that was actually a counterpart to the main storyline: you did missions that filled in some of the blanks in that storyline. Very clever, I thought. But alas, this one came out over two years ago, and also is probably hard to find.

I know of few others. The people who made SVEN Co-op for Half-Life is supposedly working on making a co-op version of Half-Life 2. But there's no indication as to when they'll be done.

FarCry co-op would be amazing, I think

[Ready4Change]

2. Maybe Diablo 2?

If you haven't played it, link up with 1-3 other regular players and play it through. Some of the most fun I've had was working with others to figure clever ways to defeat bosses. (Best was a way to defeat the Butcher in the Original Diablo, though.)

Used to be a game called Air Warrior were you and buddies could all man guns on a B-17 together. I think Warbirds still exists and provides that.

[The Revolution]

3. Coop is great

Its too bad that there aren't more coop games around these days. I especially like coop that allows more than just two players. I'm trying to think of some really good recent coop games, but I'm having trouble. :)

Guild Wars can be fun with a group of friends (kind of an mmorpg but not really). Neverwinter Nights is a D&D RPG that can also be a lot of fun. Timesplitters 3 on the x-box doesn't allow more than 2 players for the story coop, but you can team up with your friends to do assault, capture the flag, team deathmatch, etc against bots. Team-based shooters like counter-strike can be a lot of fun, since these combine coop and competitive gaming.

[jayfish]

4. HALO Co-Op Is Very Good.

A friend of mine, who owns an XBOX, never played HALO until we played a couple CO-OP levels of H2. He ran out and bought H1 & H2 the next day. The early, planet-side, levels of H2 are especially good.

Jay

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. Trouble is I heard the PC version of it omits the Co-op. I don't do

console shooters. I tried playing Half Life and Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PS2 and find the controls so inferior to mouse and keyboard that I refuse to do it.

[jayfish]

6. It Is A Difficult Change WIth FPS's.

GTA is just a bad control setup period.

Jay

[SlavesandBulldozers]

7. now you're talkin.

(i knew I had to respond when I read your dead-on condemnation of console shooters).

The best PC co-op shooter I've played is, as you've already mentioned, Operation Flashpoint. Whoever told you that knows what they are talking about (in my <ahem> humble opinion of course). The reason its the best is because of the sprawling maps in which you can roam freely (an overall draw of Flashpoint), solving the mission in whatever way you determine to be the best, and the overall challenging nature of Flashpoint which is probably the most realistic battlefield simulator to date.

Drawbacks would be load-time, an overall clunky multiplayer interface, and sub-par (by 2k5 standard) character modeling.

It has no equal, though, in terms of realism, atmosphere, and difficulty.

[lazarus]

8. news on the horizon about that

Apparently, the PS3 is going to have USB ports specifically for a keyboard and mouse so you can actually aim when playing an FPS.

[Guy Fawkes]

9. Sven-coop for Half-Life...

Many a lan was spent on that particular mod. I look foward to Sven 2.
www.svencoop.com