I’ve got a friend coming over tonight to sit around and play hours and hours of XBOX 360. I also have a large credit due me at GameStop. So what co-op games should I pick up?
We have already played through the Lego games (Star Wars, Batman, and Indiana Jones). I have heard that Harry Potter is just a new skin on the same game (as the other two were after Star Wars).
I can think of a bunch of good competitive games, but co-op? Hmm.
I too sometimes struggle to find a good co-op game in my XBox library. I often end up with Rainbow Six Vegas, since I’m tired of driving games like Project Gotham Racing.
If you like FPS’s Halo ODST has some fun co-op modes where you defend against wave after wave of enemy soldiers. Splinter Cell Conviction has a well done co-op mini-campaign and Modern Warfare 2 has some great co-op with it’s SpecOps missions. And if you like sports games those almost always have both versus and co-op play. Some friends and I had a blast this past weekend playing together on FIFA World Cup 2010.
Left 4 Dead 2 and the original Left 4 Dead. In co-op campaign, you and your buddy will be two members of a team of four survivors (AI will control the other two) of a “zombie apocalypse” (actually, humans infected with some sort of super-rabies-type virus). You’ll use various firearms and melee weapons, pipe bombs, molotov cocktails, and some other items to make it from safe house to safe house, until you finally reach rescue.
Team playing is an absolute must; there are many “special infected” that can incapacitate you in an instant, and your teammates will have to rescue you. If you’re injured severely, you’ll be on the ground until someone helps you up. The campaigns are pretty short; you can easily finish some in less than half an hour. But the game changes up quite a bit; some of the maps even change with each playthrough, opening and closing some paths to the end. The game is controlled by a “Director” who constantly evaluates your performance and screws with you. So, especially when you play with other people, replayability is pretty high.
Online, you can play co-op campaign or Versus, in which teams take turns playing the Survivors and the Infected against one another on the same map. You can play Versus one-on-one with splitscreen, too.
Gears of War 2: specifically Horde mode.
I recommend Halo 3’s Campaign, second Halo 3 ODST, and maybe Army of Two if you are into that. Don’t forget Guitar Hero or Rock Band as awesome co-op/competitive games. Marvel Ultimate Alliance/Forza 2 might be fun too and it is uber cheap since it was a system pack in for awhile and can be had cheap used at gamestop (be sure to buy the two disc combo pack).
Lego Harry Potter has a lot of neat spells. I didn’t really get the feel that it was just a new skin on the same game.
I cannot recommend playing co-op Borderlands enough. Even my wife loved it.
ETA: If you have not yet visited this site, go do so now: Co-Optimus - Your Prime Source for Co-Op Gaming - Listing of all Co-Op Games
Seconding Borderlands. I’ve been playing through it with my son and it is a blast. It’s like Halo and Diablo had a kid together, in beautiful cell-shaded carnage.
Late to the party here, but I encourage anyone with an interest in co-op 360 titles to check out Protect Me Knight! in the XBL:Indie section. Grab the demo. Play the demo. It will give you a very accurate impression of the gameplay. The game itself costs like $3. Strongly recommended. As long as you’re not too graphically fixated, anyway.