Looking for co-op games (PC)

[Cornstalk]

Preferably playable through a free link up service (akin to blizzard's battle.net) or better yet just a LAN or Direct IP connection.


I'd really like to play more games -with- my friends, not against them. I also would like to avoid playing with/against random other people.

I know, this is making it a little difficult... it gets worse.

We'd like to avoid RTS (real time strategy games) and MMO's (mostly because they require too much of a time investment).

First Person shooters are okay as long as it's a team of humans vs. an AI with mission objectives. Frag fests get tedious.


Diablo 2 has been, unfortunately, played to death. Games similiar to it would be a wonderfully comfortable thing to jump in on. Kinda the same thing for Civ4, though that's more of a play style issue (I'm an early warmonger, one friend is a modern warmonger, and yet another is a religion and culture nut, which makes for awkward and unbalanced 'comp stomps').


I only ask for advice because it's a rather difficult genre to find games for because there isn't much of a market for it and I've had zilcho for luck trying to search the web for something like that. Any suggestions would really be appreciated. I've missed hooking up for good co-op play with my buds for the last year.

 

[vbraun]

If you happen to like building a bunch of railway and watching trains move around, OpenTTD is probably one of the better co-op games. Though if you haven't played TTO/D before, it has a bit of a learning curve.

 

[Xanikk999]

Final fantasy XI is a MMORPG that RELIES on cooperation unlike WoW, because you cannot level past lvl 10 solo usually. Oh and theres no PVP (WELL there is but its a pain in the ass).

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

He said no MMO games.

I've actually been looking for a good co-op FPS for me and a friend as well. Best we've gotten so far is Battlefield 2, or Counter Strike. We tried a co-op mod for Farcry but it, well, failed somewhat.

For RPG's, I could recommend Neverwinter Nights 1/2 for a good co-op game. Myself and a friend played the second game's campaign together for about a month. Didn't get it finished, but it was an enjoyable experience

 

[Rheinmetall]

System Shock 2 with the multiplayer patch. Pick the hardest difficulty from the start and teamwork becomes essential.

 

[Captain Carnage]

Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear and/or Raven Shield. These are tactical FPS games.
There's a mode in it called Terrorist Hunt with up to 40 AI Terrorists.

You could also try Operation Flashpoint.

 

[Maniacal]

Lego Star Wars 2, according to Tim Buckley has fun co-op.

http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/news.php?i=1213

I havn't seen the game in stores though.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Worms World Party
Heroes 3

 

[t0mme]

Lego Star Wars 2, according to Tim Buckley has fun co-op.

http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/news.php?i=1213

I havn't seen the game in stores though.

OOOO, that's a great co-op game. Even the single-player is heaps of fun. But you can finish it in under 10 hours. And not every level is that much fun that you're willing to play it over and over again to score a perfect 100% (especially the vehicle levels are worthless).

But in the good and fun levels, you'll just keep on smiling

 

[Till]

Few FPSs sport an AI that can cope with a single player, let alone a team of humans. Rhein's suggestion sounds very interesting, though. I had no idea that System Shock 2 had a multiplayer mode! (Or was it added by the patch?)

Luckily, there are a quite a few recent Diablo 2 like games available:

Titan Quest, which is the newest i can think of, but which i haven't played personally. I understand it is set in ancient Greece and its gameplay is said to be quite faithful to Diablo.

Then there is Sacred, which is a few years old (there was an expansion recently, though). It has quite original classes and includes new features over Diablo, such as horseback combat. The game was quite bug ridden initially, but i think this has since been addressed by patches.

Dungeon Siege would be another alternative. I only played Dungeon Siege 1 and found it rather easy. The game is steamlined to the point where it almost plays it self. Mind you, this applies to DS1, maybe DS2 is an improvement in this area.

If you don't mind older games, this list could be expanded considerably and more genres be included!

Preferably playable through a free link up service (akin to blizzard's battle.net) or better yet just a LAN or Direct IP connection.


I'd really like to play more games -with- my friends, not against them. I also would like to avoid playing with/against random other people.

I know, this is making it a little difficult... it gets worse.

We'd like to avoid RTS (real time strategy games) and MMO's (mostly because they require too much of a time investment).

First Person shooters are okay as long as it's a team of humans vs. an AI with mission objectives. Frag fests get tedious.


Diablo 2 has been, unfortunately, played to death. Games similiar to it would be a wonderfully comfortable thing to jump in on. Kinda the same thing for Civ4, though that's more of a play style issue (I'm an early warmonger, one friend is a modern warmonger, and yet another is a religion and culture nut, which makes for awkward and unbalanced 'comp stomps').


I only ask for advice because it's a rather difficult genre to find games for because there isn't much of a market for it and I've had zilcho for luck trying to search the web for something like that. Any suggestions would really be appreciated. I've missed hooking up for good co-op play with my buds for the last year.

 

[Knowze Gungk]

Armed Assult. Both vs & co-op missions range from short & simple to Epic (note the capital E).

Just bare in mind, this is not your run of the mill FPS, this is a military sim, which means it's not suitable for cry-babies, & CS players. You can download the demo from the website linked, but it's only got three missions, an 8 player co-op, a 16 player CTF and a 60 player Capture The Island mission (2 teams battle amongst each other & AI [hostile to both teams] to gain control of all the checkpoints [or atleast all the ones the other team hold]). Also the demo has quite a few bugs that mainly effects the CTI, but rarely effects the co-op & CTF.

The full game is 500% better than the demo

 

[Tykinruoka]

Here's more games that haven't been mentioned. Played in co-op mode and enjoyed:

FPS:
-Vietcong(co-op missions)
-Quake 2 (co-op single player)
-Unreal (co-op single player)
-Swat 3 & 4 (co-op missions)
-Descent 3 (co-op single player)

3rd-person:
-Rune (co-op single player, via co-op mod)

RPG's
-Baldur's gate 1&2
-Icewind dale 1&2

Icewind dale is a great co-op, if you do not use the full 6 character party. Take 1 char for each human player. I've played both games through with my brother many times and it's a blast.

Dungeon Siege would be another alternative. I only played Dungeon Siege 1 and found it rather easy. The game is steamlined to the point where it almost plays it self. Mind you, this applies to DS1, maybe DS2 is an improvement in this area.

As Till mentioned Dungeon siege isn't very good in co-op. The most annoying thing is the damage based experience system. If you play with a melee fighter and your buddy with a archer/mage, he will be left behind in level eventually. His efficiency in battle decreases exponentially since his character is always doing less damage as the time goes by.

Dungeon siege 2 is a great game in co-op, since the story, world and gameplay has been improved. The experience system has been changed and the game awards experience always equally between characters. DS2 is best when played only with human controlled characters, do not take AI party members. Pets are a different thing however, a great help and a way to plan new strategies.