COD and Battlefield may be the all time best selling IP’s but they’ve made us forget how important a story is…as well as gaming weekends in with your mates, surrounded by beer and pizza!
Co-op games are THE best way to experience both multiplayer and immersing story lines. We’ve played quite a few and have made our very own list of the top co-op games you MUST play. Read on, invest and make sure the pizza dude is on speed dial!
Please Note: This list is not final as more games will be added regularly (with possible changes in positioning).
1) Borderlands Co-op
Many may be surprised at this games position on our co-op list due to average scores across major sites. This was mainly due to such a huge gaming world that would have been intimidating to a single player. However, get a buddy to co-op with you and Borderlands suddenly becomes an epic journey through waste lands and relentless enemies with all the weapons you could ever wish for!
Tons of weapons, masses of enemies and co-op throughout the entire solo campaign, make Borderlands the best value co-op game currently available
Many FPS games struggle with weapons. They either sound terrible, look pathetic or are simply in short supply throughout your quest. Borderlands however, takes the very heart of an action FPS and injects it with pure adrenaline! You’ll never experience an FPS with so many weapons and weapon types (well, until Borderlands 2 is released!) and you’ll constantly spend your time looking forward to the next awesome pick-up. No other co-op game will keep you hooked as long as Borderlands will. It’s a huge game (yes, even in co-op!) and when the credits rolled…we wanted more!
2) Halo Series Co-op
Halo enters our co-op list as a series because it offered the same co-op experience throughout Bungie’s reign. Was this a bad thing? Certainly not. The Halo games were among the first to offer true single player co-op in an FPS. Challenging enemies, superb environments and rechargeable energy shields kept the fast paced action flowing. The renowned ‘Legendary’ mode also added an increased level of difficulty not just in the enemies strength, but in the punishing checkpoint system. How, you may ask? Simple…because there wasn’t one!
As well as complete solo campaign co-op, Halo also offers a unique sense of tactical team work, forcing you to spread-out and use the environment to progress
While Halo games never encouraged such shoulder-to-shoulder team work like Left 4 Dead, (due to players keeping distance to take advantage of the player respawn system) the difficulty, environments and weapons still encouraged strategic team play in order conquer the harder game modes (especially the Legendary difficulty mode).
Left 4 Dead 1&2 Co-op
Team work is really the essence of co-op play. If other players are constantly moaning at you to “slow down” and “stick with the group” maybe co-op isn’t for you? But if it is and you thrive on the thought of covering your team mates as you steadily progress while watching each others back, you won’t get any better than the Left 4 Dead games.
The ultimate in co-op gaming! The Left 4 Dead games offer the most realistic team based FPS action we've ever experienced. Stick together, keep checking your six and you'll get through it in one piece!
Many FPS games now use co-op modes with realistic military issue weapons, explosives and even the added element of horror and suspense. But no game offers the co-op play like Left 4 Dead does. Leave your team and you’ll meet a fast and embarrassing end. Ignore your team mates and you’ll be held responsible for your teams demise. Teamwork doesn’t get any more intense and realistic than Left 4 Dead!
4) Kane and Lynch 2 Co-op
The game may have suffered heavy criticism due to its short campaign (but the challenging difficulty never really made it feel that short) but Kayne and Lynch stands as the most intense third person co-op action game to date! You thought Gears of War made cover your home…just wait until you’re taken through the relentless streets of Shanghai with Kane and Lynch!
Unique, intense and surprisingly brutal. Kane and Lynch 2 will put you in the middle of a lead storm, like no other co-op game can!
The sequel offers more than just hard lead flying in your direction. Kane and Lynch 2 blends a unique sense of realism with a documentary style that takes Gears of War’s ‘Rodie Run’ camera-style and uses it to give more of an intense and immersing feel throughout the game. You’ll never feel as exposed, as desperate for cover and as grateful for a partner as you will when playing Kane and Lynch 2.
Kane and Lynch 2 is intense, strategic and brutally dark in places. The short campaign and dark story may have stopped critics from dealing-out respectable scores, but don’t give-in to everything you hear! Kane and Lynch 2 is engrossing, unique, currently available at a budget price and definitely worth your attention!
Keep it here for regular updates to our top co-op games! Is your best co-op game missing from our list? Drop us a comment and let us know!
Borderlands was my fav too. Can’t wait for Borderlands 2. They said it’s got more guns than every 360 fps (including the 1st Borderlands) PUT TOGETHER!!!!