In the spirit of gender-twisting, I’m a gamer, and Mr. Athena is not. He continually tells me he’s going to play “one of these days” and stands over my computer watching me at times. He even has a WoW subscription - he’s had it since the game came out - yet hasn’t played for more than 2 or 3 hours.
I’d really like to find a game we can play together, one that we’d both like. After reading the above thread, I’m wondering if console games are the way to go. I’m purely a PC gamer, so I know next to nothing about console games. But something tells me that if I could find a 2-player game that would involve sitting on the couch next to each other - as opposed to in separate offices by our PCs - I might have a winner.
Oh yeah, hubby has told me he prefers games where we work together as opposed to hunting each other down. He doesn’t want to hurt me, even in a video game.
So can this be done with console games? Which titles? Which system? Can I play 2-player Fable (I really, really wanna play Fable.)
The Dynasty Warriors series is good for co-op as well, it is both on Playstation 2 and Xbox.
The Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance series is also 2 players, and very fun for that. X-Men Legends is a game that allows up to 4 players in a co-op situation. I believe both games are available on multiple systems.
I suggest going to Gamespot and seeing what console games have a cooperative mode. Among the titles it returned for me: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike, Halo 2, NCAA Football 06, Darkwatch, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, WWE Day of Rekoning 2, Tom Clancy’s Spinter Cell Chaos Theory, Madden NFL 2005, Burnout 3: Takedown, Star Wars: Battlefront, The Sims Bustin’ Out, Halo: Combat Evolved, and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance.
If you want something REALLY offbeat, pick up We Love Katamari (the sequel to Katamari Damacy for the PS2. It’ll be out on September 13, according to GameFAQs.com.
The single-player mode has you controlling a katamari using the two analog sticks like you’re driving a tank. The two-player cooperative mode has player one controlling the left side, and player two controlling the right side. Going anywhere requires great communication skills as well as the usual hand-eye coordination.
I’m kind of concerned about how well the Coop mode is going to work since most of Katamari required split second decisions about which object to move after next while keeping your momentum. Working with another player to move the Katamari sounds just about impossible…
We’re a multi-console household, and a lot of games are purchased with an eye to “Can we play it together”? (I’m not a very good competitive player, I get a bit serious and shouty G Hubby then says I’m no fun.)
If you’re after a shooter, then Halo’s probably the best. If you like running-around roleplaying stylie, then you have to get your hands on X-Men Legends (Best on the Xbox). There’s some parts that are singleplayer, but for the most part you’re playing one of four X-men and running around doing missions and bashing badguys together. I second the call for Dynasty Warriors, and specifically for Dynasty Warriors 4. You can make your own character or use one of the created ones, and level them up either in story mode or free mode.
Even if you’re not a driving fan, I’d seriously suggest giving Burnout 3: Takedown a try. You have a co-op crash mode, where the point is to cause as much damage and get as many bonuses as possible in a crowded intersection, or there’s race and “Takedown” modes, where your point is to destroy your opponents as many times as possible without getting your own car smashed to hell in the process. Even after a few months, we keep coming back to Burnout over, and over again because it’s just so much fun.
There’s also a couple of Dungeons and Dragons and Baldur’s Gate ports for the Xbox and PS2, if you really like the roleplaying stuff like WoW.
Your best bet is probably to head to EB first (or BestBuy, or whatever you’ve got in your area) and look at what range of games they’ve got. If you can see a few you like, your local video store should be able to rent you a console and some games for a week or so. If you really like 'em, then return 'em and head to Electronics Boutique or Best Buy or whatever and buy them for yourself
I echo the recommendation for Halo (the first one, dammit! ;)). I’ve logged more hours playing through Halo’s cooperative mode on Legendary difficulty than probably all of the rest of my Xbox games combined. It’s extremely challenging, without being frustrating, as the difficulty arises out of the excellent AI programming combined with particular situational twists as much as the standard ramping up of the damage that enemies deal. The game really forces you to work closely with the other player; because your respawns are tied directly to whether your partner is engaged in combat or not, neither player can just run off and blow stuff up independently.
I have yet to find a coop experience that matches the massive, three-sided outdoor battle near the end of Two Betrayals.
I’ll second Lego Star Wars , it’s what immediately came to mind when I read the OP. It’s a short game, but it’s great fun to go back and play your favourite levels again and again with different characters. The controls are really easy to pick up too so it’s ideal for someone who doesn’t play games too often.
I like RPGs, and to a lesser extent, shooters. For example, the games I play a lot are WoW, D&D type games like Neverwinter Nights. I also really liked Thief 3. I like Splinter Cell, too, but something about army-guy games doesn’t grab me as much as medieval settings. KOTOR was good, too.
Shooters are fun as well, although they have the army-guy stigma. I spent many hours on Far Cry, and Doom 3 was good.
I also like strategy games. Before I met Everquest, I considered Civilization the most addictive game ever made.
As to what the hubby likes - who knows? He’s never spent more than 2 hours looking at a game.
I live in the middle of nowhere. We have no EB or Best Buy or anything like that. Wal*Mart has the biggest PC game selection in town. So I don’t think I can rent a system or try it out or whatever. Unless… does Blockbuster rent out systems? Hmmm, we have a Blockbuster…
So true, so true. I fifth Halo or Halo 2. In the Prefect house we have 2 Xboxes on the network and we will play with me and the Fordette clone vs. Mrs. Prefect and the Ford clone in glorious combat. A family that kills each other together, stays together.
For the X-Box and PS2, you may want to consider the Return of the King. They have a two-players mode where you can go about and whack Orcs and Goblins and beat the creep out of Gollum at the same time.
In the same vein, you may want to get Hunter: The Reckoning, if slaying zombies and staking vampires are more of your style. You may want to hunt down vertical shooters, though I can’t recall if Gradius (for PS2) is 2-player. There’s Ikagura for the GameCube and it is a terrific (and terribly hard) game.
Xbox tends to have more “family console games” - check out their sports selection. For Ps2, there’s the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors where you can pair up and conquer China/Japan respectively.
I haven’t seen it mentioned yet, so I’ll suggest Mario Party for the Gamecube. It’s not really co-op, except in mini-games where you may end up on the same team, but it’s not one where you’d be trying to hurt each other either, at least not in a violent way. It’s really just a slew of mini-games with a board-game tying them together.
