Llyranor

Shut up, he's friends with people who worked on LittleBigPlanet!

While it's true that crappy games can be more fun thanks to co-op, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're worth playing anyway. With the richness of (online) co-op gaming we've had these last few months, it's pretty easy to pick and choose the good ones. Co-op may be a prerequisite, but it isn't in and of itself enough anymore.

Hahhahahahhahahhahaa, CoDwhat?

Horde horde HORDE

Yeah, Kaftan, get some help. Your IQ must be 12, like your age lololol!!!

If you can play it co-op, you should definitely play both. It's a great splitscreen experience.

I think you may have missed the point.

We learned early that we could shoot through our teammates and it'd still hit the zombies. Hence why we really haven't needed to crouch much.

A few times. But they've all been my fault. It's a platformer. If don't time your jumps right, you WILL die. I haven't felt like the game's being cheap so far.

Got the game today. Finished chapter 2. Not sure how long it took me, but it wasn't too too long. No trial and error stuff so far. You look around, assess your environment, try to locate your goal, and think up the best way to go there. It's pretty intuitive. I'm really liking the core gameplay. The rush you get as you're being chased by baddies with guns and running at full momentum is pretty stirring. I've been mainly going the obvious conventional paths the game throws at your. The beauty of the game is how it has many shortcuts you can take and be a lot more efficient. I've played the first time trial, and the mode is a lot of fun. This will have a lot of lasting value for me. I think, ultimately, people just wanting to go through the game once will find the game too short or something. For those more interested in learning the levels, finding shortcuts, trying to shave a split-second here and there, it's looking to be a good investment. The demo gives a good idea of how the main game feels, at least the early parts.

We could do expert with a good team of 4. The problem is really our counterparts, and Nick setting off alarms and shooting the Witch all the time. Moron. I finished the first level on expert in one go with randoms. Then I got disconnected on the second run! We should also do more crouching maneuvers, not only for better accuracy, but also to allow the back row more room to maneuver their shots.

I wouldn't touch Gears singleplayer. I'm still in Act 2, but the co-op campaign is pretty great (a bit easy on hardcore, maybe?). Very nice environments, and numerous color palettes! Horde mode is arguably the best thing to happen to co-op gaming, though. 5p co-op, including online splitscreen, and waves upon waves of incrementally more difficult enemies. Every 10 waves, enemies get a stat boost (eg. double hp, double accuracy). The pacing and increase in difficulty is well-done, and having to fend off multiple enemy attacks from all fronts, retreating when needed, setting up defenses via proximity grenades or planting shields, etc. is all so very frantic. Not to mention that every map supports it.

The only thing I care about in Res2 is the 8p co-op.

Hey Nick, do you know which game has lowered the bar for co-op? Do you? Guess what doesn't have guesting.

Morrowind.

You should try the demo before writing off the game. (is the PC one out yet?) This is the first I've heard of excessive trial-error during the platforming. Could be true, or could just be that the reviewer sucks at platforming. There was none of that in the demo, but it was pretty easy there, so who knows. Hopefully that's not how the game is designed. Rather than being very strict re: jumping, they should be more flexible. Player 'skill' should allow for the player being faster and more efficient in doing a particular run, rather than being a jump or die approach, which would be pretty frustrating if you couldn't make it. That's the appeal of the time trials - going through the same courses in an attempt to improve oneself through the gameplay, finding shortcuts, cutting off seconds from the time. Done right, could be pretty rewarding. I'm expecting it so based on the demo.

Gears1 was my GOTY 2006 and completely justified with the 360 purchase for me. Gears2 has far FAR exceeded all my expectations. I'm not too far into the campaign (ending Act 2), but it's been very nice (and gorgeous - I think this may be the prettiest next-gen game I've seen). One downside is that it seems a tad easy on hardcore. Hopefully insane will be a good challenge. Haven't touched PvP, and don't even know if I'll ever be bothered to. Wingman does seem like an interesting mode, though. The real highlight of the game has been Horde Mode. This has arguably provided some of best (if not *the* best) co-op experience I've ever had. Given how much importance I attribute to co-op play (a top priority for me), this pleases me greatly. Even on hardcore, our team has only made it to wave 27 so far (it really depends on the map as well, it seems - though we've only played a few). It's very hectic, as you get overwhelmed by large numbers of enemies from every direction. Defending different flanks, going for ammo runs, falling back and bringing our mobile defenses with us (shields, proximity grenades), finding good defensive positions. It's all so very awesome. I also appreciate how every map really dictates different tactics, given the defensive properties of the terrain. With this mode, I'll definitely be supporting any map pack Epic gives us. In any other given year, this would have *easily* been my GOTY. However, given how fantastic the Left4Dead demo was, I'll give that game a good spin first before I make any decision (if any). This may be my favorite co-op game ever. By extension, possibly my favorite game ever. It may be the new game shine talking, but Epic really went above and beyond what I expected of them. /hyperbole

Maaan, Horde. Haha, with Gears2 and L4D being as awesome as they are, CoD5 is completely out of the horizon until sometime next year.

Man, Horde is so good. Nice session, Kyle.

It's always been a full price buy for us.

Spotted the type, Krooks. But yeah, you're right. Horde might very well be the best multiplayer mode ever. We'll see what L4D delivers. We made to wave 20, Bok! We didn't survive it, but we made it there.

Actually, Nick and me are going to mess around with the L4D demo for a bit. Get on the box a little while later and we could Horde.

Nick should be back within an hour, apparently.

Half-Life doesn't matter because it has co-op. Left 4 Dead fixes that glaring problem.

You apply at the same site.