 | | Never experienced System Shock 2 in co-op mode? Sort it out |
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Drinking game alert! Down a shot every time I say the word "co-op" from here on out.
Before I get on with the list though, let's run through exactly what I mean by the term "co-op". After all, aren't all online team games co-operative by definition? Perhaps, but in particular I'm referring more to those games that let you play through their single player modes with a buddy in tow. There's just something untouchably brilliant about teaming up with your mates to take down the computer in a vicious battle of man versus machine that I adore.
Clan battles of humans vs. humans are fine and all, don't get me wrong, but I think ultimately the reason I find co-op to be a much more enjoyable style of play is the fact you get to experience genuine storylines and missions. No mere capture the flag or "blow the gun" bollocks, co-op gives us full-on adventure and excitement, yet one you can experience alongside a buddy. That's always been exciting and magical to me, even going back to the NES days.
Co-op comes in many forms though. Sports games let you play alongside friends and family for instance, with FIFA and Pro Evo coming up trumps as some of the very best fun to be had with your best mate, outside of confused blindfolded mutual masturbation.
Heck, many of the MMORPGs of today could be considered 90% co-op experiences if you think about it, with you and your guild mates teaming up to tackle NPCs and argue over loot for hours a day.
Putting those grey areas aside though, the following 10 games are unquestionably the most fun I've personally had in co-op mode over the years. Some you may know well, others you might have missed, but all deserve a blast...(if you have at least one friend).
SWAT 4 (PC)
 | | Such a recent release, but unquestionably some of the best multiplayer action of the year |
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Kicking off with a recent semi-classic that (if we're lucky) could signify a return to co-op gaming long since abandoned these days. SWAT 4 is a nice enough single player game - one with pleasing graphics and immersive missions - but as with many on this list, once one (or three) buddies join up it becomes pure gaming gold.
SWAT's genius method of randomising enemy and hostage locations each time you play means the missions feel completely different every time. In fact you can happily play the same scenario 10 times in a row for a completely unique experience.
The use of gadgets and equipment like spy cams and smoke grenades goes perfectly with the co-op style, positively ripe for tag-team cover, fire and manoeuvre tactics. What I truly worship about this game in particular though, is the ability to flick on a mini helmet-cam of your team mates' view. No, "Arghhhh I'm lost...where are you guys?" bollocks, now you can simply look up and glimpse everything your squad mates see. It's like Aliens meets 24.
With the right guys at your side, the result is a deeply realistic squad experience with quality co-operative action to rival the very best...
...but who am I kidding? The real fun is shooting your team-mates in the back with a taser.
Smash TV (Arcade)
 | | Time hasn't treated old Smash too well, but it's still got it where it counts |
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"Big money! Big prizes! I loooove it!" One of my favourites of all-time, so much so that I'm almost afraid to give it a go these days in case it fails to live up to the memory. The inventive control method of two joysticks and no buttons allowed you to run and shoot in independent directions, and was an ancient forerunner to the dual analogue control system used in modern day console games.
As a mere child at the time, it was the mature slant which always drew me in though. Chicks flashed flesh, enemies exploded in fountains of blocky gore, and just the fact you were fighting for your life on a damn
game show gave it a satirical Running Man-vibe that was hilariously dark.
Chucking a team mate in though, Smash TV developed into a way of life for me. There was little logic and tactical value to the game, but it more than made up for it in pure fucking fun and classic one liners.
Zombies Ate My Neighbours (SNES Genesis)
 | | Classic name, classic game. Fuck the Megadrive though, the SNES version was the one |
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One of the latter day SNES titles I remember getting my claws into before flogging the machine and regretting it ever since.
The gaming equivalent of a horror movie spoof, it was your job to storm around American suburbs at night time, blasting monsters, demons and ghosts with a pistol full of holy water while trying to save your neighbours in the process. It was cartoony, funny, beautifully presented and featured the most classic of "spooky" soundtracks ever.
Sure enough, in single player mode it soon became repetitive, monotonous and a little boring, but plugging that second pad in and hitting the streets with a pal, it sprung to life.
LucasArts' and Konami's Zombies was the textbook case of co-op brilliance, and (at its time) a fantastic update to the old Gauntlet formula.
Quake II (PC)
 | | For all that is holy Raven, don't leave co-op out of Quake IV... |
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Quake II gets a lot of flack for its supposedly lame single player game, but for me there's seldom been one better. Still, if battling Stroggs with railguns and gatling canons did little to rev your engine, linking up to a buddy made the experience infinitely cooler on all fronts.
The epic hub-based design to the levels was ripe for splitting up and regroup tactics, and the deeply immersive architecture and atmosphere was improved with a mate yelling out enemy positions amidst the howls of, "trespasser!".
It speaks volumes that as fun as all this was, iD chucked in a truly amazing deathmatch and capture the flag component on top of all this.
Co-op was where it was at for me though, and if you never gave Quake II a whirl with a friend back in the day, it's a great excuse for the haters to dig out this old classic and give it that second chance.
Chaos Theory (PS2 Xbox Gamecube PC)
 | | Them sexually awkward crotch rubbings - all part of the job |
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Truly some of the most inventive, deep and enjoyable co-op action out there.
Chaos Theory works so well because you simply can't survive without each other. There's no one man doing all the work shenanigans here, it's pure unconditional team work all the way. You're constantly boosting each other over walls, lowering your buddy down ventilation shafts and even chucking each other into unsuspecting enemies like a pair of WWF ninjas.
This coupled with the fantastic gadgets and strategic puzzle elements that make
all Splinter Cell missions work so well, afford Chaos Theory one of the greatest of co-op modes. It's just a shame there weren't more levels.
This game is way too much fun to be legal, and along with SWAT 4, kudos must be sent its way for still delivering the co-op experience in this day and age when so many can't be fucked.
Halo (Xbox)
Halo's a game you either hate with a passion, or devote your entire being to, but there's no denying whatever side of the fence you fall on, the co-op mode is one of gaming's all-time high points. Even the most jaded of Xbox haters find much in the way of laughs battling the Covenant forces with a friend, and with good reason too.
 | | A game so choc-full of quality moments, everyone has their own Halo stories to tell |
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Whether it be seeing your mate go flying across your screen as a grenade blows him to hell and back, or just watching him drive effortlessly over a cliff while you sit helplessly in the passenger's seat, the game constantly reels off hilarious, classic spontaneous moments on a regular basis...one in a million memories that make it such a joy to play. In fact, I wrote a massive
spiel on exactly this back when the site launched.
Ridiculously, the PC port neglected to bother with the co-op mode, leaving many PC owners wondering what all the fuss was about, but it's the Xboxers who had the last laugh with some of the best two player action around.
Yeah, the sequel kept the co-op game alive, with an even more solid emphasis placed on multi passenger tanks and the like, but for me the first game is where it's at.
In a distant runner's up spot on the Xbox along that same vein, is the recent port of Doom III. A somewhat dull and monotonous PC single player game some would say, enjoyed a whole new lease of life in online co-op mode for its Xbox release. The levels were shortened and tightened up, the action was considerably more dense and vicious, and the annoying flashlight switching become a thing of the past, thanks to turn-taking.
Definitely one to check out for a different take on the Halo FPS formula.
Ghost Recon 2 (PS2 Xbox Gamecube)
 | | Another recent bad boy, it's just a shame PC owners will never get to saviour its fruits |
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The first Ghost Recon for the PC had some decent online co-op action, but it always played second fiddle to Operation Flashpoint for me. This console follow-up was a whole other beast though.
In fact I think the night-time hill top mission with you holding off invading forces is possibly the greatest slab of co-op action ever made. The endless mortar barrages, the relentless swarms of troops, the constant switching between machine gun posts and primarily just the fact nightvision is a sheer
necessity, all culminate in a realistic, gritty and disorientating feeling of panic...my god, it's a ride and a half. This is made all the more special by the ability to play with up to a whopping great 15 players alongside you.
Admittedly split screen it somewhat fails, but online and over system link, it's the shit. The PC port was recently shit-canned unfortunately, and while that's a travesty of epic proportions, at least it frees Ubi-Soft up to concentrate on Ghost Recon 3 - a next-gen title that promises greatness.
Fingers crossed they keep that co-op action firmly in tact.
ToeJam & Earl (Genesis)
 | | No more tugging at opposite ends of the screen |
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Similar in style and from around the same era as the previously mentioned Zombies, is this slower paced and more explorative Genesis classic ToeJam & Earl.
TJ&E had an ingenious split screen feature that popped in and out whenever you strayed too far from each other. It was one of the first co-op games I ever played and similarly remember it well.
There was a recent console update which attempted to recapture the feel of the original, but with their new found voices, ToeJam and Earl become insta-not cool.
Rose tinted specs, perhaps, but either way the original ToeJam & Earl still holds some warm feelings for me. Good times all round, on a long-missed system that shined in the co-op department.
Streets of Rage (Genesis)
 | | Fuck Golden Axe...this was the one |
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And here's another example of why. In actual fact I had a hard time picking between this, The Simpsons arcade game and Turtles in Time - all fantastic side scrolling beat 'em ups of the early 90s, even if they were essentially the same exact game with a facelift.
All were great, but Streets of Rage (and its sequels) are the games I ploughed way more hours into throughout my youth. It's tough to recollect too much about the series in fact, as it's been so long since I whipped 'em out, but these games unquestionably marked a high point for the two-player hack 'n' slasher of that golden era. A long lost classic from a genre that - with the odd exception - has somewhat disappeared these days as far as co-op goes.
One such exception however, is the recent Return of the King on consoles and PC, and it's worth checking out for a fantastic modern day update to that same Streets of Rage style. It's a genre that suits the Legolas and Gimli mowing down of orcs stupendously.
Operation Flashpoint (PC)
Topping off the list though is Op Flash, arguably the most ambitious game ever created. A brutally true to life war simulation that covered everything from being a grunt, to commanding a squad to flying airplanes over enemy territory. It strived to achieve so much, and despite failing in one or two areas (noticeably with visuals and online infrastructure), it still remains one of the most stunning works of gaming art ever created.
 | | Four years old and still the best of the bunch. Truly unmissable |
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But while the online modes lacked hugely in terms of presentation and performance, one area that more than made up for it was the co-op experience. Op Flash was the first online co-op game I played with more than two players; my old clan the 26th Airmobile used to host 5 man co-op games for hours at a time where we'd redo the same mission over and over in an attempt (and repeated failure) to find that winning tactic to finally better it.
We never did, of course, but my lord was it a riot. The epically large playing area coupled with the ease of adding new mods and missions was what gave Flashpoint its wondrous shelf-life, and always meant there was a new challenge and adventure to get stuck into with your buddies.
One hit and you were out, sitting there twiddling your nob for half an hour 'til the next round...and yet somehow it worked. The co-op experience proved to me that beauty is only skin deep, and what a genuine classic this title truly is. The thousands of times me and my mates set up those roadblocks and held those outposts will remain with me 'til the day I die.
There are supposedly two new games from the Flashpoint crew currently in development, including an official sequel to this beauty. Sadly early shots show little improvement on the visual side, but if it captures just a fraction of this magic, I'll be a very happy bunny.
The Rest
 | | Doom had great co-op for its time, even if the internet wasn't quite ready for it |
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I could go on forever though guys. Neverwinter Nights is another good 'un with a friend...as is Rebel Strike on the GameCube...Contra III on the SNES...or Sunset Riders...Lethal Enforcers...Vietcong...the original Doom...the list goes on and on.
That's not even counting the various third party co-op mods for games like Half-Life and even Deus Ex that have sprung up over the years.
It's a bizarre hypocrisy mind you, that in a time when co-op appears to be all but dead, two games on this list still came out in 2005.
In a perfect world, the mode would came as standard on
all multiplayer games. Ubi-Soft aside, why are developers so reluctant to include the beauty that is co-op...arguably the most underrated feature ever?
Until that day comes, back to Halo I guess.
