Let the great debate begin! It's that time of year. The end of 2012 brings about another round table discussion by the Co-Optimus staff on what our Cooperative Game of the Year should be. You, our beloved readers, have already made your voices heard in our community polls for Co-Op GOTY and Indie Co-Op GOTY.
We've been having feverish discussions on the topic ourselves. Well, it's more like lighthearted chat room banter, until someone (Jason) posts something nonsensical and borderline offensive. Then the debate quickly devolves into a race to post the stupidest thing one can find on the internet. We've learned a lot about each other in these talks... probably too much.
Today we put forth our thoughts on some of the biggest cooperative games of the year. Each staff member selected their favorite games from a list of Co-Optimus's highest scoring titles of 2012. We then offered up our thoughts on the game, and why it should be considered for GOTY. The seven following titles received the most attention. In no particular order (I'm lying, it's alphabetical) here are the staff's thoughts on the GOTY contenders. Our official Co-Op GOTY and Indie Co-Op GOTY will be posted on Monday. Enjoy.
(PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)
Co-Op Review
"The first Borderlands was one of the best co-op games of this generation, and Borderlands 2 is even better. With more story, character classes that are designed to synergize, and a crazy amount of content (with more to come), I can see this being a co-op staple for some time." - Mike
"For reasons I can't fully described, Borderlands 2 scratched my loot grinding/finding itch in a way Diablo 3 couldn't. I think it's the over-the-top humor and fantastic script that gave this game more appeal for me. The DLC has been steady and good, and the raid bosses at the end bring even more cooperation into an already great cooperative title." - Jason
"This game has some of the best polish, storyline, graphics, items, characters, and the best dialogue I ever heard in a video game since Portal 2. ...this game was worth every penny and I will be playing this game for a long time to come." - Chris
"Gearbox got all the co-op features right, added some new features, and spewed loot all over Pandora. They probably could have sold me Borderlands with a "2" sticker on it, but I'm glad Gearbox poured so much love and effort into making Borderlands 2 an even better game." - Eric
(Xbox 360)
Co-Op Review
"While the campaign is top notch and always a blast with a friend, Spartan Ops fell a bit short to put this in the upper echelon of co-op Halo titles." - Nick
"I'll admit it: I'm a Halo fanboy. But most of my experience with the series has been in games without Master Chief. I never really understood what the big deal about John-117 was. That all changed by the time I was finished with the prologue in Halo 4. The campaign is challenging, with brilliantly realized locations and new enemies that kept things fresh. Spartan Ops really steals the show for me, though; serialized, story-based missions are a good fit for DLC and will extend the lifespan of the game dramatically. Easily the best console game I played this year." - Marc
"After five years of Halo games without Master Chief and Cortana, it was time. The pair came back with an engaging story and a flood of emotion packed into a Cortana sized data chip. Spartan Ops may not fill the void left by Firefight, but it is still a lot of fun to run through the bite-sized missions with a few buddies. Earlier in the year I stated I was a bit worried about where Halo would go in 343's hands; I was foolish to worry. They did a fantastic job." - Eric