Once again, the co-op issue.

[Argitoth]

Anyone played single player demo of Crysis? Well, the opening gameplay has you and the other computer characters chatting to further the plotline as you run around the map, just like all the new-age games. Now,bear with me here, this is going to sound like the craziest idea ever... WHAT IF..... ... .. what.... if... the computer characters in crysis were replaced by real people doing a four-way online co-op!!!? OMG SO CRAZY IDEA!!!

Ok, you get the idea. On a serious note, just think about it. What if a game, like crysis, was centered around co-op? There would be just one computer player, the guy that tells you your mission and drops you off. Then it is up to YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS TO DECIDE HOW TO FREAKEN SOLVE THE PUZZLES, COMPLETE THE MISSIONS!

Seriously, why hasn't co-op of this nature been explored? Ok, maybe it has, but I am going to tell you that the way crysis was designed, the mission system, the soldier AI, the sizes of the map, the vehicles, the weapons, etc. would allow for such a great sandbox for friends to work together and come up with original ways to complete the mission.

For example, you look at your map, you say "I'll go here, you go there, we'll meet up here, split up here, destroy this, get a vehicle here and drive there, pick you up, get ammo there, etc." Instead, we have to play with boring computer character and we never get to have any say in when we should split up or stick together. Crysis is really great because it doubles as a survival horror and a general FPS.

Personally, a game of this nature I think should have an interesting respawn system. Player is dead until you find, recieve, unlock, or call for "backup." (Maybe limited number of calls are allowed per ____ (blank).)

[Dhsu]

Ghost Recon?

[Argitoth]

Ghost Recon?

Never played it, and last time I started a co-op thread it was never mentioned whatsoever. I'll go look it up now though. However, it would be good if you could explain why Ghost Recon is/would be a great co-op game.

Edit: Another thing I want to mention is the idea of Player VS Environment. That is a common phrase with MMORPGs. Too bad MMORPGs will never have as fun co-op as a FPS since MMORPGs have so many limitations in ACTION-BASED PLAY as opposed to turn-based.

[Kenobio]

Though it isn't a FPS, you might be interested in the upcoming game Army of Two. I don't know a tremendous amount about it so I'll just quote Wikipedia:

'Army of Two (AO2 or Ao2) is a co-op third-person shooter with a focus on cooperative and coordinated strategies. Players will join up with either the game's built-in "Partner Artificial Intelligence" (PAI) or other players "to fight through war, political turmoil and a conspiracy so vast it threatens the entire world."

Co-op maneuvers

Expected multi-player maneuvers include:

Boost: One person stands up against a wall and holds his hands out while the other person gets lifted up. Second person can then reach down and pull first person up.

Rapelling: One person holds a rope while the other one scales down the side of a building or a large wall.

Back to Back: Both players go back to back to cover each other's non-armored backsides.

Makeshift cover: Players can tip over tables, and other objects to create cover. Players can also pick cover up and carry around with them. For example, car doors can be ripped off to provide a shield.

Death: Player that died will have to run away from "the light" while the other player goes through a button-mashing sequence to perform CPR.

Driving: All vehicles need one player to drive and the other to man the turret. Known vehicles are hovercraft, fork lift, jeep, buggie and a boat.

Ammo: If one player runs out of ammo, the other player can give him part or all of his magazine. Also players can trade guns at anytime.

Emotes: Both players can do a range of emotes from slapping each other to playing air guitar. Also characters will communicate a lot and talk trash to one another. For example when Salem was healing Rios, Rios said "Where did you learn first aid, butcher school?"

Healing: When one player is injured, the other player must run over to him and either drag him to a safe area or heal him in that spot.'

[Argitoth]

Though it isn't a FPS, you might be interested in the upcoming game Army of Two.

Just watched gameplay trailers of Army of Two and Ghost Recon. Ghost Recon is not Player vs Environment gameplay. Army of Two didn't seem like a good sandbox environment that Crysis would provide. Personally, I feel that a co-op gameplay needs a good survival horror element similar to Crysis, Half-Life, or STALKER, as well as a general FPS element. This provides many different experiences. With games like Ghost Recon and Army of Two, you're killing the same thing over and over again. The co-op aspect of the game in this case would become boring.

[Argitoth]

And I want to add that Army of Two is not a PC game, that potentially means you can't co-op online, that means everyone has to be in the same building every time you want to play. On top of that, every co-op console game I've ever known about suffers from the same problem that a co-op PC game usually doesn't have: monotonous experiences due to the level design being extremely 1-dimensional (unlike an island like Crysis where you can totally explore). Halo comes to mind.

Half-Life 2 can be catagorized as a 1-dimensional level design, but the environments varied greatly.

[Dhsu]

Just watched gameplay trailers of Army of Two and Ghost Recon. Ghost Recon is not Player vs Environment gameplay. Army of Two didn't seem like a good sandbox environment that Crysis would provide. Personally, I feel that a co-op gameplay needs a good survival horror element similar to Crysis, Half-Life, or STALKER, as well as a general FPS element. This provides many different experiences. With games like Ghost Recon and Army of Two, you're killing the same thing over and over again. The co-op aspect of the game in this case would become boring.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Do you mean you want co-op physics puzzles? I don't really see a point in that...I don't think it would provide nearly as much variation as you think it would.

But other than that, Ghost Recon is pretty much exactly what you described: a co-op squad-based tactical game. You get a map at the beginning, you explore it, you use the terrain to your advantage, you argue with your teammates over voicechat how you're going to capture a point or dispatch an enemy. A squad can consist of any given combination of classes, so the way you deal with each situation will be different every time.

Man...makes me wanna play Ghost Recon again.

[Trygon]

And I want to add that Army of Two is not a PC game, that potentially means you can't co-op online, that means everyone has to be in the same building every time you want to play. On top of that, every co-op console game I've ever known about suffers from the same problem that a co-op PC game usually doesn't have: monotonous experiences due to the level design being extremely 1-dimensional (unlike an island like Crysis where you can totally explore). Halo comes to mind.

Half-Life 2 can be catagorized as a 1-dimensional level design, but the environments varied greatly.

Have you played any console game online within the last two generations? I'm gonna guess not, because that post was ludicrously out of touch with reality. Consoles are the forefront of the sort of co-op you describe (halo 3).

Didn't one of the farcry games have co-op? You may want to look into that.

[Kenobio]

And I want to add that Army of Two is not a PC game, that potentially means you can't co-op online, that means everyone has to be in the same building every time you want to play. On top of that, every co-op console game I've ever known about suffers from the same problem that a co-op PC game usually doesn't have: monotonous experiences due to the level design being extremely 1-dimensional (unlike an island like Crysis where you can totally explore). Halo comes to mind.

Half-Life 2 can be catagorized as a 1-dimensional level design, but the environments varied greatly.

This isn't really important, but just to note Army of Two will have online play. And although it has not been confirmed, it wouldn't surprise me if it also made it to PC eventually.

Anyway, it really just sounds like you need to make your own co-op game, seeing as how none satisfy you. :S

[Schwaltzvald]

Have you played any console game online within the last two generations? I'm gonna guess not, because that post was ludicrously out of touch with reality. Consoles are the forefront of the sort of co-op you describe (halo 3).

Didn't one of the farcry games have co-op? You may want to look into that.

QFE & T~!

Are you THAT hard pressed for Co-OP play..? The closest relatively good one I've played had been Sven CoOp on the PC. As far as Coop "puzzles" the only thing that comes to mind to me would be Residentl Evil Zero, and that's a Single Player game

Give single player games on the consoles (via emulator or VC) a try, or are you THAT lonely you'd need Co-Op games that bad..?

[Argitoth]

Yes people, I've lost touch with the reality of console games. I think consoles suck, but I haven't tried any 360, PS3, or Wii

[Schwaltzvald]

Yes people, I've lost touch with the reality of console games. I think consoles suck, but I haven't tried any 360, PS3, or Wii

Protip: Try the more older varieties such as snes, nes, sega genesis/megadrive, GBA(VBA), PSX(on the PC), N64 (not perfect but no better than the emulation used by the Wii)

No need to buy xbox360/PS3/Wii if you're not satisified with the titles available on them, but do at least try older systems especially since a majority of them have incredible titles as well as readily available for emulation.

Also you need to leave behind that myopic view that old stuff=shitsucks when it comes to games; in particularly console games... It's that kind of mentality that keeps you from enjoying alot of games especially when just about a majority of opinions on them come from gamers who've grown up along with the games (whether good or bad is up to you) and can agree they are as awesome when played for the first time.

There's a huge variety of games that you can't just pass up simply because it's older than 2 or 3 years > without at least trying them before making an definitive thought/opinion...