Recommend me some good two-player co-ops! (Please!)

[Wrestlevania]

HAIL THUMBS

 

I am on the lookout for good two-player co-op gameses for the IBM-compatible Personal Computer, to play with a dear friend of mine who lives many miles away. Alas I am somewhat out of touch with what's good in this department, and so I would greatly appreciate your recommendations!

 

Something action-orient(at)ed would be brilliant, but I would love to hear of anything you've enjoyed playing with another person over the Interwebs. Ideally, said games would be playable in bursts of a couple of hours, once or twice a week - we both have kids and partners, you see - so stuff like Civilization would be just too slow to be satisfying I think.

 

I shall thank ye in advance!

 

Small note on the action games side of things: most recently, we tried to play Resi 5 over Game for Windows LIVE, and it was without doubt one of the most dispiriting and frustrating gaming experiences I've ever had. So we've already crossed that one off the list, then burned the list and flushed the remaining ashes down a particularly smelly toilet. Anything else is gravy.

[Roderick]

If you're up for a golden oldie, how about Jazz Jackrabbit 2?

 

 

Lots of fun with a buddy, though you might have to work to get connected: http://www.jazz2online.com/7/multiplayer-faq/node.php?title=multiplayerFaq#qa1

[Sententia]

Sounds like a Lords Management would fill your hole right up, I recommend LoL or Dota 2.

 

edit: oh idle thumbs you sly sly dog

[Joewintergreen]

Max Payne 3 has a two-player co-op horde mode thing you can pay extra for now. It is really good.

[Ucantalas]

What about Minecraft? I find it to be a much more satisfying experience when I'm playing with friends.

...although if neither of you have played before you might want to look up some common crafting recipes so you arent completely helpless.

[Nappi]

You have probably considered these already but Monaco, Renegade Ops, Diablo 3, Portal 2, etc. should fit the bill.

[melmer]

The Chaos Engine (is probably the last time i played coop on a PC)

 

Its a shame the new gears of war isn't on PC, its pretty sweet

[TychoCelchuuu]

Trine + Trine 2, Orcs Must Die + Orcs Must Die 2, Men of War + Men of War Assault Squad.

[toblix]

How about Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light?

[tegan]

You could always join up in an MMO. I used to dungeon crawl with a friend in Spiral Knights and it was great.

[dibs]

Oh man. I forgot to play Lara croft with everyone! That game was a whole lot of fun.

[dibs]

Also Magicka, but their online stability is shit.

[Justin Leego]

The Third: Saints Row
Streets of Rage Remake

Dungeon Defenders

Diablo II

[Hermie]

The Borderlands games. They're games that are exactly engaging enough to be fun to play, with good shooting and interesting leveling, while still being brainless enough in the plot department that you can chat idly on voicechat about whatever.

[elmuerte]

The Ship

[miffy495]

I had fun playing EDF with you and others last year, so if your buddy is down for that kind of dumb and you're up for more, I know you've got that in your steam library. Otherwise I've been trying to finish off Mass Effect 3 lately to get that game off my guilt pile, and have found playing the multiplayer with a buddy to boost my "readiness rating" has been surprisingly fun. Maybe give that one a go, if you're not too Origin-averse?

[Wrestlevania]

Thanks, Thumbs! You remain fully awesome.

 

We played Portal 2 and Diablo 3 when they came out, and had some fun with those. Portal was brilliant, but we both got bored of Diablo's overwrought story in the end.

 

The lords management idea is a good one--hadn't considered that, and I've a fistful of unwanted Dota 2 invites still I think. Also the variety of characters and tactics will make up for the lack of story (we usually enjoy stuff with some kind of narrative progression).

 

Horde mode games are an interesting one, too. Will have to have a look at that. Shame I just missed the Max Payne sale, but I'm sure it'll come round again soon enough.

 

Magicka I've played a few hours of with a group of people, but it hasn't clicked for me. It just feels like busy-work and memory tests, rather than about having fun and pushing forward.

 

EDF we've rinsed already, but I'm definitely up for some more, Miffy--and anyone else who'd like a blast!

 

Lots of other great suggestions, thanks very much! It's good to know there's loads out there; I'm spoilt for choice already.

[elmuerte]

Have you tried Renegade Ops like Nappi suggested. It's fun action.

[Justin Leego]

BroForce isn't online multiplayer yet, just local right now, but the dev notes suggest it will be: BroForce

[Wrestlevania]

Have you tried Renegade Ops like Nappi suggested. It's fun action.

 

I've played it through a few times with some friends. It was fun, but I'm pretty much done with it.

[malkav11]

Torchlight II. Also, Titan Quest, Path of Exile, Sacred Gold, Sacred II Gold. If you've already played the first two, perhaps try again with mods.

 

Neverwinter Nights (skip the original campaign but the expansions are good) and Neverwinter Nights II, with attendant hail of mods.

 

Fear III (also known as Fathrir).

 

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days (it's a mediocre shooter but has a lot of style and the levels of fucked that the protagonists reach get pretty hilarious)

 

Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II (mostly the expansions, but the original campaign's okay)

 

Keep an eye out for Divinity: Original Sin's release.

 

Orcs Must Die 1 is not multiplayer and Trine 1 is not internet multiplayer, but the sequels work well.

 

Dungeon Siege III is much, much better than it's been given credit for and supports two player coop, but the way it's implemented can be frustrating - you're locked onto the same screen even if you're playing online (and the rubberbanding is occasionally problematic), and there are a few other niggles (e.g., if you own the DLC you can't host for someone who does not). Plus all character data is saved to the host's game, which makes playing coop with random internet denizens effectively pointless, but in my experience isn't really a big deal when playing with a single specific person on a consistent basis.

 

And yeah, if you like MMOs, certain MMOs can be rewarding for dual-player exploration. I'd say SWTOR or The Secret World would be strong candidates, although SWTOR's basic gameplay outside the story missions isn't terribly exciting, and TSW sometimes forces you into solo instances without warning.

[Brannigan]

the last splinter cell had a pretty solid co-op campaign.

[Zeusthecat]

Rainbow Six Vegas. Terrorist hunt on the hardest settings is so much fun with a friend.

[Wrestlevania]

How about Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light?

 

In the end, this is the first game we went for. And what a huge amount of fun it was!

 

We played on PC over Skype, and while not as great as being sat next to each other, we still had some of the best gaming fun I've had in years.

 

What makes Guardian of Light special is just how well considered the co-op elements are. You really can't do much without working together constantly, whether that's helping each other cross the same seemingly-impassable chasm, or just covering the other player's back whilst they work on completing a puzzle. The game is littered with clever, delightful, essential little touches, not least the brilliant grappling hook mechanic.

 

The level design is also extremely well thought-out. It lets you explore in complete freedom, encouraging you to experiment, take risks, and enjoy just messing around together, without ever punishing you with heavy-handed restarts or distant checkpointing. For example, if you die and the other person is still alive, you can spawn in again next to them after just a few seconds. If you both die, you simply restart the current encounter or puzzle. So you never lose more than a couple of minutes' of play.

 

The game's careful design also has you constantly learning how its systems work in many different ways. More than once we passed something earlier in the game which seemed unreachable, only for a later puzzle to introduce a new approach to play we hadn't considered before. Going back to earlier levels with this new knowledge, after completing the game, and hoovering up the leftover collectibles we'd missed was also really satisfying.

 

Guardian of Light also has one of the most compelling high score systems I've come across in quite some time. It's no more complicated than having three high score tiers per level, with each one unlocking a new weapon, artefact, or character outfit. It adds to the gameplay in a meaningful way, because you both start to work that much harder in fights, focussing more, working harder to protect each other and preserve your precious weapon overcharge meter; this meter slowly fills up as you collect gems or kill enemies, and when full makes your gun much more powerful, but empties if you take a single hit.

 

I loved this game. It's a proper playground, hugely fun to explore, and also beautiful to look at. Thoroughly recommended—thanks for the suggestion, toblix!

 

Up next, we're thinking we might go for Torchlight 2.

[toblix]

I played it with Lu, but I still had a good time! Torchlight 2 seems like it could be fun if Diablo 3 didn't already burn you out.