Good co-op games

[frogbeastegg]

I'm looking for a good game to play cooperatively with my boyfriend. He's not much of a gamer; most of his gaming time has been spent with Wii Sports and Super Stardust HD.

I like: RPGs, strategy games, almost anything with a good plot, good platformers and action games are ok. I hate boss battles, and can't stand mindless fighting.

He likes: big explosions, killing baddies, good(!) Wiimote controls, heroes, boss battles. He's not particularly interested in games which take a long time to get going, or which take a lot of sitting about doing things before the action starts. He says if he's going to do that sort of thing he'd rather play chess, not Civ4.

No sports games, and preferably no FPS. Doesn't matter much what platform; I have more consoles than sense so I own something most games would play on.

[Kekvit Irae]

Pong

[frogbeastegg]

Sports game

[UltraWar]

What about Guild Wars?

[econ21]

The games my son and I have enjoyed playing co-op together are:

Ghost Recon 1: A fairly cerebral tactical shooter - quite realistic (one shot, one kill), with a good variety of maps.

Neverwinternights: Especially the two expansions.

Heroes of Might and Magic III: Flavorsome fantasy strategy game with decent AI.

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade: About the only RTS I can bear.

BTW, I think TinCow started a thread on this topic a month or two back.

[frogbeastegg]

If you could play with 2 people on 1 PC that would be good. He doesn't have a PC of his own

EDIT: That was in reply to UltraWar's suggestion of Guild Wars.

Econ21, of those I'd be happy with NWN and HOMM, but I think he'd lose interest before he learned how to play them.

[Fragony]

Warioware has this cool jumping game, one gets the wiimote and the other the nunchuck, couch riot.

[Xiahou]

River City Ransom.

Neverwinternights: Especially the two expansions.

I was actually going to mention that one too. My wife and I had a lot of fun playing user-created content together. If you wanted something more brainless, Diablo2 would be a possibility as well. Both depend on access to 2 PCs though...

Edit: X-men Legends was pretty fun too, imo.

[Kekvit Irae]

Dynasty Warriors is pretty fun on co-op mode

[frogbeastegg]

Found Tincow's thread. There's nothing suitable there as it's for a 2 PC set up. Oh well.

Something like Diablo II would suit provided it could be played offline and on one PC/console.

X-men Legends, I'll look that one up as it's not a title I know.

Warioware ... a rental, perhaps. It's still a ludicrus £39.99 here.

Ah, good old Dynasty Warriors. I'm surprised I didn't think of that - I played number 3 for hours when I first got my PS2. Have any of the recent ones improved the forumula?

[Craterus]

Good topic, but I can't think of any that aren't shooters.

[Zenicetus]

I guess this won't work since said you only have one PC, but I'll still second the idea of Neverwinter Nights. My S.O. and I had a blast playing that game, especially the expansions and the better user-made modules on our LAN. This was in pre-WoW days, and we had previously LAN'd other games like BG, IWD, even System Shock 2. Hey, there's another suggestion if you can get another PC... SS2 is a fun co-op game, if you can stand the dated graphics. But I think NWN is still the best for your situation. The original game and the expansions start you off slowly, with easy battles, so he'd have time to learn the combat system and character design/leveling system. In co-op mode most battles aren't very tough, and the best NWN modules have great storylines.

Another PC title, but... isn't Hellgate about to come out, and doesn't it have a co-op mode? Or is that a full online MMO setup?

I don't know anything about consoles, so that's the best I can do.

[Ferret]

I hate to say it but most of the best co-op games are shooters. It sounds like he would enjoy halo 3 :).

[Fragony]

Warioware ... a rental, perhaps. It's still a ludicrus £39.99 here.

No, it is not a rental, it is a must have. Everybody will adore it, and it is packed with so many fun minigames, and the 'story mode' is absolutily hilarious despite it's short length, traditional fun when you have visitors but more fun.

[Xiahou]

No, it is not a rental, it is a must have. Everybody will adore it, and it is packed with so many fun minigames, and the 'story mode' is absolutily hilarious despite it's short length, traditional fun when you have visitors but more fun.

I agree it was a great game, but I also think the price was too steep for the content it offered. It's great fun when playing with friends/family though.

Another MP game that may not seem like it's right up Froggy's aisle, but is truly great would be Excite Truck. Amazing graphics for a 1st gen Wii game, great controls, and fast paced fun action. It's definitely not your typical racing game.

[Veho Nex]

Ah, good old Dynasty Warriors. I'm surprised I didn't think of that - I played number 3 for hours when I first got my PS2. Have any of the recent ones improved the forumula?

#4 by far the best so far (dont by Xtreme legends or empires waste of cash)

#5 blew big time but interesting story/characters

[Kekvit Irae]

DW5 is the best of the series. Empires blows, so don't bother with that. Get DW5 and DW5:XL together. DW5 has your musou mode, whereas XL has Legends mode and Xtreme mode (VERY fun in co-op), along with plenty of PvP challenge arenas. Use both of them so you can play with the XL-unlocked stuff in musou mode. Also, some of the unlockable weapons and items are made much easier with two people.

Another great co-op game I suggest is Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Same game engine as X-men: Legends, but with a wider range of Marvel heroes and villians to play with. Grab the 360 version so you can download the extra heroes and villians.

[TevashSzat]

If you don't have two PCs to go online/Lan with, I'm afraid that will wipe off basically all of the more modern PC games which means that you should look towards console games

[Vuk]

I'm looking for a good game to play cooperatively with my boyfriend. He's not much of a gamer; most of his gaming time has been spent with Wii Sports and Super Stardust HD.

I like: RPGs, strategy games, almost anything with a good plot, good platformers and action games are ok. I hate boss battles, and can't stand mindless fighting.

He likes: big explosions, killing baddies, good(!) Wiimote controls, heroes, boss battles. He's not particularly interested in games which take a long time to get going, or which take a lot of sitting about doing things before the action starts. He says if he's going to do that sort of thing he'd rather play chess, not Civ4.

No sports games, and preferably no FPS. Doesn't matter much what platform; I have more consoles than sense so I own something most games would play on.

Boyfriend! lol! I always thought that you were a guy. :P That came as a shock. :P

lol, the best coops ever are the older ones, but there are some good newer ones also. Deus Ex, UT (the original), BF1942, BF Vietnam, BF 2, and a few others. EDIT: How could I forget AOE II? I play those with my girl and my family all the time.

Vuk

P.S. I pre-ordered Barbie Island Princess.

[Geoffrey S]

It's a shooter, but not first person; is Gears of War co-op any good?

[Fragony]

It's a shooter, but not first person; is Gears of War co-op any good?

Quite fantastic actually. Not my type of game but coop is great.

[frogbeastegg]

Excite truck: Not my kind of game but I do find I keep on coming back to ponder it because of the semi-legendary fun factor. Rental, perhaps.

Dynasty Warriors 4 V 5: Didn't 4 have a very different character growth system to 3? Something about weapons gaining stats with each level up instead of being discovered on the battlefield with random stat bonuses. I didn't like the idea of that; it cut down on the potential for customisation. Did 5 return to the system of picking up weapon and item boxes during battle?

What about the two Samurai Warriors games? I hear they mix the formula up a bit.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance: IIRC from the thread we had here, it plays somewhat like Diablo II. That could work. The superhero theme should appeal to him. :marks it down as a possibility: I shall see what he thinks.

Halo 3 and Gears of War: I can struggle through a FPS as long as it's got a solid storyline and - most importantly! - it's playable by frogs. I'm a good shot but I can't dodge to save my life (har har). I'm so good at jumping and strafing into oncoming fire that it must be a skill. That's on a PC. On a console I tend to run about with my view alternating between the floor and the sky, cursing.

My BF's never played anything like a FPS. Which would be the most newbie friendly? And the most incompetent idiot friendly, since I'll be playing too ...

[Kekvit Irae]

I've never played Samurai Warriors, because Japanese history doesn't interest me.

DW5/XL still has the random stat weapons, but also has the ability to obtain stat increases in Legend and Xtreme mode to customize your weapons.

[Bijo]

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

[Kekvit Irae]

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

I can never get Bob & Steve out of my mind thanks to that game and G4.

[Ferret]

My BF's never played anything like a FPS. Which would be the most newbie friendly? And the most incompetent idiot friendly, since I'll be playing too ...

halo 3 is very newbie friendly, most of the time you only need two buttons, move and shoot.

[Kekvit Irae]

Console FPS are extremely unforgiving to newbies to the genre. Having to control both analog sticks in tandem just to move and turn would make any newbie want to curl up and cry.

[frogbeastegg]

Having to control both analog sticks in tandem just to move and turn would make any newbie want to curl up and cry.

Then he wouldn't be able to laugh when I jump face first into a grenade and die!

I'll show him the list of titles this thread has collected and see if any interest him. Thanks

[Kekvit Irae]

We <3 Katamari also has fun co-op. Trying to figure out who's controlling which side of the Katamari and when is always fun, especially while drunk.

[econ21]

Econ21, of those I'd be happy with NWN and HOMM, but I think he'd lose interest before he learned how to play them.

Realising you have only one computer, NWN is a no-go anyway.

You could try to entice him with the Homm3 "Battle of the Sexes" map. It is slow, so he'd probably lose interest. But at least you might get a laugh from some of the writing. If he likes Tolkien, try the Battle for Middle Earth (allies) map you can get off the internet - it's a work of art.

Good luck and do post any gems you uncover!