Co-op fans can be hard to please. Really hard. We know it, and developers know it. Does your game have two-player co-op? Make it four-player co-op. Does your game have splitscreen co-op? Make it splitscreen online. Does your game have co-op side missions? Make it a co-op campaign.
Well, two out of three ain't bad, right? The co-op campaign in two-player online/splitscreen title Splinter Cell: Conviction is being developed with a writer on board whose sole purpose is to make sure the storyline is solid.
Far Cry 2 writer Patrick Redding is tasked with ensuring that the co-op gameplay in Splinter Cell: Conviction moves in sync with a story, giving all of the game modes some type of story-based objective.
"Using all the same tools they're using in Conviction and seamlessly weaving narrative into it meant that it was really going to be heavily about the characters and what their relationship is like."
"I think that the critical lesson that we were able to apply was that - especially with the co-op gameplay - you want the players to feel as though they are playing that story and that they are experiencing the implications of that story at a fairly low level for the mechanics of the game."
It looks like Ubisoft is bringing their A-game with this title. A high-profile, hotly anticipated game with only co-op modes en lieu of versus multiplayer could be a huge push for the co-op community (and Co-Optimus in particular). By all accounts, it seems that the developers are doing it right.
But, hey, Ubi - for the next Splinter Cell game, make it four players.