Cooperative Multiplayer Games

[TinCow]

My wife and I are both game addicts. Our office is setup so that our machines are next to one another and we upgrade them simultaneously to allow us both to play the newest games without one person being jealous of the other's computer. (Well, they're not precisely the same. Hers is .2ghz faster than mine at the moment. )

Unfortunately, we seem to spend a lot of our gaming time playing different games because we can't seem to find good ones to play together. Competitive multiplayer is fun, but only when we have relatively similar skill levels. When it comes to strategy/tactical games, I am simply much better than she is. This means she loses regularly and doesn't enjoy it very much. We are at about the same skill level for FPS, but there's not much fun to be had in 1 v 1 FPS matches.

The only place we have ever found any long-term multiplayer entertainment is in cooperative strategy games. With cooperative play, variable skill levels mean next to nothing and it becomes a very social experience. We've found success with HOMM3 and the Baldur's Gate series, but the vast majority of our cooperative gaming has been spent in Civ 4. It's perfect and we have had a great time doing it. However, we both like variety and there are times when we want to play together, but don't feel like Civ.

So, help us out. We need to find new (to us) gaming options that allow for cooperative multiplayer modes. I know Gears of War is coming out for PC soon with a coop mode, and we are looking forward to that. I already know about Doom, Doom 2, Quake, and Quake 2 coop. What else is there?

[FesterShinetop]

Well, SWAT 4 has great coop... and I enjoyed the coop in Raven Shield (Rainbow 6)... both FPS coop but also a lot different to the FPS games you mentioned!

[drone]

UT2004 has some great teamplay modes for co-op play, if you don't mind AI teammates as filler.

Most RTS games allow for co-op teamplay AI comp-stomps. Most should also have enhanced AI mods to make them even harder.

[Whacker]

Warcraft 3 vs. the AI is ok, but the only reason I played WC3 w/my friends is because I hate myself and my existence (I turtle, hence suck at most RTS's)

Starcraft also, but it's even worse because you'll die in about 10 seconds unless you rush yourself.

Rune Coop can be pretty fun, but it's different in a number of ways from the normal game. Rune is also one of my favorite original UT engine powered games.

GTR2 is moderately fun for a driving game, but we kinda questioned the physics implementation in it.

Some of the Doom3/Quake4 mods are good, like Last Man Standing, but they don't last very long in terms of replay factor IMO.

Playing BF1942 coop against the AI can be funny, the modern combat mod is great. It can be incredibly hilarious if you do stupid stuff, like try to crash into your friend/wife who's trying to drive a tank around with your jet/helicopter. It can also be a pretty decent challenge if you stack the odds enough in the AI's favor.

Jedi Outcast/Academy is ok for some interesting multiplayer, but that's going to be vs.

Mechwarrior 4 Mercs with the Mektek patch can be some good fun, but there isn't a whole ton of options in terms of replayability against the AI. If you collect some of the mods/addons out there, there's some good replayability at least for awhile. Mech3 on modern PCs does NOT work very well at all, in terms of MP and/or actual mechanical control, so I wouldn't recommend this.

Dungeon Siege II isn't... too bad of a dungeon crawler. You might try the demo and see if you both like it.

Diablo II was great back in the day, but the utterly ruined the game IMO with the 1.09 patches onward.

Titan Quest isn't bad either, but their network code is schloowww.


Will post more if I can think of any.

Edit - Consider yourself lucky too. My wife hates gaming. "That was gross! I can't believe you made that guy's head explode! EW is that intestines!??! GROSS JASON!"

[econ21]

My son and I enjoyed playing Dawn of War co-op, although the fact that we are already Warhammer collectors probably has a lot to do with it. I think the AI provides much more of a challenge in coop matches than solo, because it cooperates better than humans do (you often find yourself in a 2:1 battle if you are not careful).

I enjoyed playing Ghost Recon1 cooperatively - there is enough variety and tactics in the missions to make it rewarding.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

If you have a 360, Gears of War is really good.

[Husar]

I wonder whether you had a look into the World in Conflict beta topic, that game is based around coop and there are also 1vs1 and 2vs2 servers available now, usual servers are 8vs8, you might want to give it a try, as along as it's beta it won't cost you anything anyway.

[Fragony]

Besides Serious Sam? Best coop shooter ever. Skip the second, sucks.

[TevashSzat]

If you're both equally good at FPS, then go for Battlefied 2 or 2142. They both offer large ai support and you will be playing on teams so it should be pretty fun unlike 1v1 FPS

[TinCow]

Wow, lots of suggestions.

For FPS games, we have played BF1942/2/2142 to death. I ran a ranked server for over a year and it was fun, but we tired of it. Plus, it has the major flaw that other FPS games have - it requires other people in order to be really fun. The BF AI is decent, but not fabulous and the game really shines with Teamspeak and a good squad, not bots. Same problem with the UT games (which my wife is really, really good at btw).

For a FPS game, I was hoping to find a game where we could coop through the usual single-player campaign. That's why Gears of War is on my list. I never thought of Serious Sam, so I'll definitely check it out, thanks for the suggestion. Ideally, I would love if Painkiller had a coop mode through the SP game. Does that exist?

We have also done Diablo/Dungeon Siege and their sequels. They were great coop games, but we've also played them to death and have lost interest.

RTS games have been successful for us, but I never really liked WC3 as much as other people did. Dawn of War was a huge hit in our house, thanks for reminding me of it. The AI is very decent. Perhaps we should break that out again. Now that I'm thinking about it though, Company of Heroes might be a possibility. My wife hasn't played it, but I thought it took all the strengths of DoW and eliminated most of the weaknesses. It also has an expansion coming out soon. I'll definitely have to suggest that one to her.

Keep 'em coming people, this has already been very useful. You all have my thanks.

Edit - Consider yourself lucky too. My wife hates gaming. "That was gross! I can't believe you made that guy's head explode! EW is that intestines!??! GROSS JASON!"

Haha. I've been a major gamer since the Atari 2600, so having a wife that enjoyed it as well was important to me. She actually didn't play games when I met her, but I made it my mission for several months to get her addicted. (Does that make me evil?) I found RPGs worked very well for this and I started her off with the entire BG saga. After that she was hooked on RPGs and I kept feeding her classics. After she was into those, I introduced her to FPS via Half Life, which she ate up. She had HUGE problems with the controls for a long time, especially climbing ladders, but eventually it clicked. She then took to the UT series on her own and got really, really good at it. She even joined a clan and did a few competitive matches. Strategy games are my favorites, but they've taken longer for her to get into. The HOMM series, the Civ series, and Dawn of War have been the only ones she's liked in any serious degree. My ultimate dream is to get her hooked on Close Combat so that we can have full campaigns against one another, but my first attempt at that was the worst failure in 'game introduction' that I've had since I've known her. I think she actively despises CC now.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

Well instead of BF, you could try RO. It's great teamwork for example attacking an interior building together, however alot of times you would be on opposite sides of the battlefield.

RO is a realistic game so run-and-gun players will have to adjust, and it takes time.

(RO= Red Orchestra- Ostfront 41-45)

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

or how about AA?

[drone]

RTS games have been successful for us, but I never really liked WC3 as much as other people did. Dawn of War was a huge hit in our house, thanks for reminding me of it. The AI is very decent. Perhaps we should break that out again. Now that I'm thinking about it though, Company of Heroes might be a possibility. My wife hasn't played it, but I thought it took all the strengths of DoW and eliminated most of the weaknesses. It also has an expansion coming out soon. I'll definitely have to suggest that one to her.

If you haven't already, install the Dawn of Skirmish AI mod for DoW. It adds much better build orders, dancing, and just better overall decision making to the AI opponents. Version for DoW:Dark Crusade can be found here:
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=153009

They also have versions for vanilla DoW and Winter Assualt.

[ElectricEel]

Recently, I got and have been playing Patrician III, which can be played in multiplayer cooperatively. A bit different from your usual choices, it seems - it is a trading game, set in Northern Europe in the heyday of the Hanseatic League. I think this short review gets across the idea of the game pretty well. I would add that due to the open-ended nature of the game, it is very possible to cooperatively work towards the goals you have set yourself in multiplayer.

I have no idea if you two would like this kind of game at all, but if you think it might be interesting, a quick googling revealed time-limited (but apparently, feature-complete) trial versions available here and here.

Links to a couple of other reviews:

Gamespot
IGN

[Papewaio]

For an FPS Gears of War is aimed first at 2 player co-op and secondly at single player. Great game, with fairly decent AI... although fairly linear paths (you should still deviate from the straight line to get the COGs).

Use crossfire to your advantage and cover, cover, cover.