My favorite Co-op experience has been tackling the enemy AI in the co-op campaign of GRAW 2. Using the meet-up thread here, every Friday night was just fantastic.
We'd start the match, choose our loadouts, and talk strategy as far as what to expect from the enemy and map's layout. Aside from the fact that the maps never change in reagrds to how the enemy fights. It was a great experience to have 8 people on and devise ways to achieve victory.
rinichanraar
I love co-op because it allows me to play games I love with other people who enjoy them as much as I do.
My favorite co-op experience has been playing Gears 2 (particularly Horde mode) with my friends from here and Colony of Gamers. Beating wave 50 was a fun achievement, but it's the specific moments leading up to the win that made it enjoyable for me. It's always exciting when your teammates are down, and it's up to you to revive them while somehow battling off what seems like an unstoppable onslaught of Locusts. Or the frantic moments where you rush over to save someone from a Mauler, only to be downed, but then someone else saves you and gets downed, and this keeps on happening (all while some jerk Mauler is swinging his mace at everyone) but you miraculously all come out alive and beat the wave. (Phew! Long sentence!) I'd have to say that those are the most exciting moments for me.
justabaldguy
Too many to recall them all! Here are a few.
1) GRAW2. I bought this game ONLY because the fine folks here assured me it'd rock, and it did. We did the first ever meetup thread on the Co-Optimus boards for this game, and for several months had awesome sessions every Friday night. For me, that solidified this site and co-op gaming as the only way to go from now on. Playing with a friend here in Houston and several others from all over was (and still is) amazing.
2) Mercs 2. JG and I rolled through Mercs 2 in about a week, and we hit it almost every night. It was a lot of gaming and we got on each others nerves a bit, but it really was a blast to have one designated partner who wouldn't advance the story without me. Halo 3 and Gears I played with people who already beat them, so this was a new experience and I really enjoyed it.
3) L4D/Gears 2. I'll merge these two titles together because I played them with more folks from here. Biohzrd451 and his wife are now on the top of my co-op list, and we've rolled through both of these several times. L4D is the pinnacle of teamwork in gaming: either work as a team, or die screaming. After a few rough attempts at first I figured out how best to be a good teammate. The promise of DLC keeps me salivating for more.
Gears 2 would be even better with more than 2 for the campaign co-op, but the Horde mode or the miscellaneous vs modes against bots makes it a frequently played title. Working together against the computer/A.I. is my favorite since there are no hurt feelings and I'm not getting slaughtered by a 14-year-old boy streaming profanities at me.
ShadokatRegn
Really, the games were all a lot of fun, but the best/worst time I had online was with Ryo_Strife on Left4Dead with 2 AI characters.
I will have nightmares of Bill disturbing the witch for the next month, and Francis steals health packs like a punk - we're nicknaming this the Leroy Jenkins syndrome.
SwissyJim
hmmm... co-op! I've gotten to the point where I only buy a game if it supports co-op! I'm tired of the deathmatch crap with 12 year olds screaming in my ear over being 'Powned' or whatever the hell they say. And the language... good grief I'd have eaten a few soap bars had I talked like that at home!
My best co-op experience has been staying in touch with my best friend who was transferred out of state. But we've stayed in touch with game nights, usually twice a month. He's only a computer user, but we still get after the bad guys in Rainbow Six games, Ghost Recon games, and a few others like IL2 Sturmovik and SWAT. A nice glass or two of scotch, good conversation and killing bad guys... what more could a guy ask for? :lol:
Recently I've started adding Xbox gaming friends and I have to say, playing CoD:WaW Zombie mode is my new favorite. Trying to survive the waves is a blast, and trying different strategies to see what works (and what doesn't!) is way too much fun. That may rank a new best... I need to get into some more game nights or meetups to get some more gaming in!
Biohzrd451
Two come to mind.
1) I remember downloading the Left 4 Dead demo and playing it with my wife. Now let me tell you nothing quite beats the feeling of being swarmed by zombies and having your wife next to you freaking out while unloading her auto shotty into the crowd mowing them down... now that my friends is pure win. I remember playing the Blood Harvest movie line and getting to the finale on expert, it started out easy enough but the corn field crescendo turned out to be a pain to get through, when we finally got to the farm there were sighs of relief we made it we thought now we just have to hold on long enough. We loaded up on ammo, scrounged any pipebombs/moltovs we could find and set up shop in the barn... but as we all know someone has to call the army and what better person than Bill.... yea I was Bill, so I hit the button have a nice little chat with the guy at the other end and make a dash to the barn with such speed that I put runners to shame. We held down the Barn with a fury killing anything that dared come after us, and when the vehicle finally arrived not everyone made it, Lacey got snagged by a smoker, JG met up with the tank, and the other guy got killed by zombies.... which left only me staring at the carnage from the safety of the APC.... my only words "Someone has to make it."
2) The coop night for Gears 2 was simply amazing, get a bunch of us co-optimus folks in the same game and things get a little crazy. Baldy, and JG were a blast to play with especially with the comments we were making back and forth. Just so you know if you ever want to know where the enemies are coming from... they are to the north.
hedgehogaj
Mercenaries 2. I'm not sure if it was using a helicopter carrying a fishing boat as a mobile platform of doom, or the 3 drive-by artillery strikes we used on the tankers while we were planning it out.
Also Castle Crashers. But that goes without saying. ;)
oleschoolgamer
I've been gaming since the atari 2600 and the first co-op game that I really enjoyed was Super Contra for the SNES. It was short and fun and my cousin and I could finish it around 20 minutes without dying (sometimes). We'd play that over and over so to this day I'd rather games be fun and short rather than too too long.
In college, I had a blast playing NBA Live 95 with my roommate on the same team. Golden State Warriors with Sprewell, Weber and Hardaway was team we would always use.
After college, I didn't play as much and if I did it was only on single player. I'm a late adopter to the Live experience only joining recently, and I'm so glad I did. It makes gaming fun again for me. I've only played GOW2 online so far, but it never gets dull anymore. Very first time I played online was with Horde on Day One map, and we got to level 47, in spite of me. I thought it was easy after that, but soon discovered it is so hard to even break level 20 anymore. Still haven't passed the 50 levels yet.
Thanks to everyone for your contributions, not only to this article, but to the site as a whole! This site has grown and become what it is because of all you. Here's to co-op gaming, and to a co-op community!