I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I LOVE CO-OP!!! There is just nothing like beating a good game with one of your gaming buddies. Whether it’s online or local, it makes a good game that much better. I believe co-op to be a great way for gamers to interact with others and make sometimes anti-social people a bit more social.

It looks like the guys at computerandvideogames.com agree. Check out this really good article they had in PC Gamer magazine. It’s a good article with some interviews with developers who have made use of good co-op in their game.

I thought that Cliffy B’s comments where pretty good he said,

“It is difficult,” he admits, “but if you want to have a multi-million selling shooter you have to have a great singleplayer and a solid co-op mode. I think there’s a huge gulf between casual and hardcore players, and co-op is a way to bridge that.
“You can have a husband and wife, with one player leading another through the game. She might feel less intimidated with her husband’s help. It’s this kind of stuff that will bridge that gap.”

As I played through GOW single player, by myself, I couldn’t help but think about how great a co-op game this is. As I had to replay a few parts over and over because Dom kept doing stupid stuff and getting himself killed, I yearned for someone with a real brain to control him.

I’m playing Mass Effect now and I’ve thought, how great would it be to have 1 or 2 other friends controlling the other members of your squad? Each having different weapons and biotic’s they can use. Of course ME is already a huge game so I’d imagine co-op for a game like it would be tough. It would be pretty amazing though.

This year already looks strong for those of us that like co-op, Army of Two, Left 4 Dead, and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 are all coming soon. I know that AOT is getting pretty abused by everyone and it does look a little crappy. But just the fact that it is totally built around co-op makes it a game I’m interested in.

Please game makers, PUT MORE CO-OP IN YOUR GAMES IT IS GREAT!