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Post by Muramasa on Sept 9, 2007 22:59:45 GMT -8
Some of you may know how I feel about competitive gaming, and honestly, I'm not totally against the idea at all. Heck, I played Mario Party with some of ya, and I had a blast (Though I think the series on the whole is kinda annoying). Competition can be fun. But there is just something magical about the idea of coop. You and a buddy against the world kicking ass and chewing bubble gum. I personally like the idea of groups of people setting aside their differences to come together to do awesome things, I guess that's how the concept appeals to me.
So, I've been engrossing myself into a nice little sub-genre that has been slowly regaining steam nowadays. The Co-op First Person Shooter Genre. When I think back, the only real alternative we had at the time was Sven-Coop. First person shooters seem to be generally known for their competitive play. And before anyone argues that Counter-strike, Team Fortress, and the like is cooperative, I'd like to say this: technically, they're right; one side is working together to go against other side. But what do we get in the end? A bunch of morons screaming at each other and the occasional good match with cool people. But, put a bunch of morons against a common foe, then wonderful things can happen.
What? You're telling me that the result is the same except that the morons are shouting at AI? Well, good sir, that's the point! People together playing games enhance the gaming experience! Hell, that's Nintendo's basic marketing ploy with the Wii. And when they're working together, everybody wins if things go right.
Ok, I believe that some of the best moments I've had playing video games is while playing Coop with someone else. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sven Co-op, Runescape, Diablo II, Contra, and many others, we've seen alot of cool stuff, and we've seen alot of horrible shit together. And somehow it's created fond memories. Runescape needs no introduction. Anyone remember grenade basketball? Anyone remember double jumping issues? Anyone remember yelling an important order like "move!" or "ohshitthat'sabigmonsterlet'sbackoff" only to see your buddy stand in your way uselessly and get both of you killed? Under normal circumstances, that's pretty annoying. But with friends, it's a priceless moment that becomes spread like King Arthur's legend.
Before I stray too far off, I'd better get to the point. The mod scene for Half-life 2 seems kinda dull to me. Nothing really seems to catch my interest, as they seem like Counter-strike clones with a new theme. With the exception of Gary's Mod, I haven't seen anything too interesting. And the coop? That's hardly been too much of a presence in FPS genre in the first place. I'm still waiting for Sven-Coop Source to come out, and the last time I checked their update, they were looking for more staff members. Since 2003. Their staff turnover appears to be 100%. I'm not holding my breath anymore.
So, I've been kinda just hunting around for Coop games to play. In fact, that's kinda the reason why I got the Nintendo DS. So I could play some multiplayer coop with ya'll. And in this particular thread (phew, that took me a while) I plan on doing some rather short reviews on Coop games that I've played. These reviews will contain the generals of any game review; graphics, gameplay, yadda yadda yadda. Some of these games will need to be broken down into several reviews, such as the case with Obsidian Conflict, as it's individual maps really need to be reviewed on their own.
As usual, if you have your own Coop game you wish you review, the please feel free to post as well. I'm doing this because I enjoy cooperative play, and really had this wicked urge to write about it. Don't you hate that?
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Post by Muramasa on Sept 9, 2007 23:14:32 GMT -8
-Obsidian Conflict- This particular mod for Half-Life 2 was a bit disappointing. Well, let me cut and past some text from the website itself. Obsidian Conflict is a cooperative modification created for Half-Life 2. It is a community based mod with focus on fun, cooperative, and physics-related puzzles. The mod has an open story, but is still set in the Half-Life 2 universe. Sounds awfully fun, doesn't it? Well, unfortunately, the second two sentences do not really exist, and what we get is a cooperative based mod for Half-Life 2. I'm not sure what the "official" levels for it are, so basically, it's another form of Sven-Coop in the end, which is cool. The quality of this mod will ultimately be determined by it's individual maps. And since it is a coop mod, nobody wants to make maps for this game, so there's very little to review. Just a few things about this mod: Basically, some modifications to the Half-Life hud, other than that though, is just Half-Life 2 except you can bring your buddies in tow. Yeah, apparently it supports coop for Half-Life 2 up until Nova Prospekt. I'll try that out later. -You basically get a selection of models that were used in the Follow Freeman episode of Half-Life 2. Not a bad selection I suppose. In addition, a player can customize his flash light color. This doesn't really add much to the game, but it's a cute feature, and allows for makeshift rave parties if the map gets too boring and pointless. -Interesting selection of server options. You can actually set the amount of lives a player can have, increasing the difficulty. Incidentally, you can also change the difficulty, though I'm not sure what values are actually getting effected. You can also "force teams", which separates the players into two factions, Red and Blue. These two teams must complete the coop map whilst trying to gain more points than the other team. How it adds to the coop, I'm not sure... -Some new weapons that weren't included in the original Half-Life 2 game are now usable. At least, I assume they weren't included the in original Half-Life 2 or Episode one. These include Slams, Sniper Rifles...and I think that's it :/ And that's really all about it. I'll work on reviewing the maps when I get some screen shots. This'll probably happen next week hopefully. |
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Post by Kuat on Sept 10, 2007 6:21:07 GMT -8
Heh, we should get some level reviews going, as we can't forget our buddy Joescoma, not for a while at least.
Maybe also compile a list of co-op games. What I personally want to try is the Oblivion Coop mod, as it seems there are definite cooperative possibilities there.
Anyway, nice start, I'll inject my own experiences later on as well.
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Post by Muramasa on Sept 10, 2007 10:38:52 GMT -8
Ah yeah, I forgot that Oblivion had a multiplayer. Can it be used with other mods as well? I need to make my people not look fugly.
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Post by Kuat on Sept 10, 2007 12:37:09 GMT -8
Ah yeah, I forgot that Oblivion had a multiplayer. Can it be used with other mods as well? I need to make my people not look fugly. The plastic surgeon mod, but it will cost you... ... nah, I think we're stuck with what we got. |
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Post by You probably can't touch this. on Sept 10, 2007 13:45:04 GMT -8
The last coop I played, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, was a friggin blast. Chockin out some fool while you partner puts the finishing touches on the hallway light can be surprisingly fulfilling.
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Post by Muramasa on Sept 11, 2007 2:05:55 GMT -8
My memory of Splinter Cell coop:
Agent Andy: Hey, maybe you should shoot me, then revive me. That way, we'd both continue on with full health.
Agent Daisy: Good idea.
(Aims for head)
Agent Daisy: Hmmm...
(Slowly moves crosshair downwards)
Agent Andy: Wait, NOT THERE!
(Aims for crotch and pulls trigger)
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Post by The Dankness on Sept 11, 2007 2:47:19 GMT -8
Oh man, Splinter Cell coop was good times. Oh and as for my input for this thread, all I have to say is this:  In fact, I'm gonna give it it's own thread. |
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Post by Captain Galaxy on Sept 12, 2007 15:45:16 GMT -8
There's a lot of co-op games that I'm planning to get, so if you want to play em when they come out, that'd be cool.
I'm talking about titles like:
Army of Two
Halo 3
Kane & Lynch
Too Human.
I forgot what else.
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Post by Muramasa on Sept 15, 2007 16:29:34 GMT -8
 - Super C - Speaking of Contra games, Super C is a Contra game I haven't had a chance to play until recently. I'll make this particular review brief, because most of us have played this game. Super C is just like any other contra game where you play as some dude shooting at things whilst dodging alot of bullets. I can't remember if you play as Bill Rizer this time around, but really, it never mattered that much. The power up system hasn't really changed much from the first Contra, so spread shot is kick ass weapon. (At the very least, The Dankness was demonstrating it's effectiveness proficiently).  In Contra games, the cooperative modes increase the difficulty of the game, but not necessarily for the obvious reasons. Instead of sending more enemies and bullets, it's more of a struggle to keep up with your partner/stay with your partner kind of game. This is apparent in some levels in which vertical movement is required, and moving too quickly results in the death of a partner. MW calls them, "Scrolling your partner dead too fast" levels or something to that effect. Another thing to watch out for is moving to far ahead, which forces a partner to catch up, resulting in the possibility of a stray shot to the back. Overall, I had as much fun with this game as I did with Contra 3: Alien Wars. I think the only real gripe that I had with this game is having the power-ups fly 80 feet into the air before landing. |
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Post by You probably can't touch this. on Sept 15, 2007 21:30:21 GMT -8
Killed to death... sounds like a band name, Murder By Death to be specific.
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Post by Muramasa on Sept 17, 2007 0:43:39 GMT -8
- Synergy Mod -
In my Obsidian Conflict mini, I mentioned Synergy as one of the few coop mods that exist for Half-Life 2. A few of us have played this one already, and really, there is not much to say. It practically keeps the Half-Life 2 interface, and for the most part, it's like playing Half-Life 2 with a buddy in tow, except that you can edit the color of the light that your grenades emit. A few things that Synergy offers is a refined class system (which is really for mappers, so it depends on the maps), multi-passenger vehicles(Kuat and I have yet to see any), and a weight system, which limits the weapons a player can carry. Once again, a mod like this is dependant on the maps that are available.
When Kuat and I first started playing this, we were rather impressed with the first few maps that we experienced. They were pretty well done, and it felt like playing a decent Sven Co-op map. Then we got the mighty fine idea of downloading a map pack for Synergy, which had practically every map made for the mod at the time. Big mistake. I won't bother to write a mini report for every retarded map we play, but I may be inclined to show you the good ones, and a few of the bad ones. And because I only have screen shots for this map, I guess you guys get to experience a bad one first. How exciting!
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Post by The Dankness on Sept 17, 2007 13:35:11 GMT -8
Killed to death... sounds like a band name, Murder By Death to be specific. Though I think the actual quote was "Scrolling your partner dead too fast." It was very late, and I was very sleep-deprived. |
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Post by Inaaca on Sept 17, 2007 17:48:34 GMT -8
Killed to death... sounds like a band name, Murder By Death to be specific. Though I think the actual quote was "Scrolling your partner dead too fast." It was very late, and I was very sleep-deprived. Yes yes, that is the correct quote. |
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Post by Muramasa on Sept 17, 2007 22:49:02 GMT -8
Edited...for historical accuracy?
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Post by Kuat on Oct 31, 2007 5:29:33 GMT -8
Synergy again...
Mura and I got a game of synergy going, why I can't say. We went through a few levels, and here are some mini reviews. Mura may add more. Names may be edited 'cuz I'm in clinic w/o my level notepad:
Syn2_big_cs: Reccomended players: 2. Nice level, we didn't get around to finishing it because we both died. Setting is a desert with a factory, a mountain inbetween spawn and the goal. Good atmosphere, interesting level setup makes for good gameplay. Enemies do a great deal more damage, although their health is not souped up (thank god). Horrid, horrid English in the level though.
Syn2_bleu_beta: Reccomended players: 3+. Another level with good atmosphere, apparently by the same author if we go by the pidgin English that is used. Start off on a helicopter platform versus fatality-copters. The other enemies are ok, but the start is a real pain. Oh yeah, can't forget the lupin-policeman-esque combine soldiers. Hordes and hordes from a tiny ass area. Would be fun in a larger group (read: possible). Still in beta, so the ending isn't quite finished.
Syn2_tricks_traps: Reccomended players: 0. no tricks or traps here. Just zombies and headcraps with shoddy gameplay. We quit this one before finishing it due to bad level design. Do not play.
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Post by Muramasa on Nov 3, 2007 17:10:41 GMT -8
Mugen Team Coop
Yeah, I felt like a crazy bastard and decided to try to download Mugen again. I can't find the huge pack that I had last time (if you remember my reviews of the mugen characters, there were about 700 some-odd characters in that thing). Instead, I opted for the Capcom Vs SNK Ultimate Mugen Final edition. It was basically a collection of some of the better made Capcom and SNK characters for Mugen. Probably the most interesting of the bunch are the characters from NeoGeo Battle Colloseum. It really has been a while since I've checked with the emulation scene.
In any case, Team Coop in Mugen consists of both players fighting two other CPU opponents at the same time. One can kinda guess that this is both an awesome thing, and a terrible, terrible thing.
One of the great things about coop in fighting games are cool combos a good team can pull off. Most of the time was spent trying to coordinate some decent looking super combos together. Also, we practically had to watch each other's back the entire time, getting surrounded ment certain death.
The downside, two bosses at a time. Yeah, that got pretty annoying...
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Post by Muramasa on Nov 27, 2007 15:52:31 GMT -8
Diablo II (Hard core)
Yeah, it's been a while since I've played Diablo 2. I figured since I haven't touched it in that long, I put my Mephisto running days behind me.
Me, Vivi, and Kuat (this board is only viewed by us, but for whatever inane reason, I still use our online names. Must be habit I guess) recently began a game of Diablo 2 in hard core mode. For those who don't know what that means, basically death in your character results in that character's deletion from the Battle.net server. So yeah, death is a big thing. A similar attempt was made by Kuat, MW, and I. Unfortunately, MW's character met his fate at the end of act II (I'm certain you guys must've heard the story a bajillion times, so I'll spare ya'll). Now that I'm playing the game again, I'm starting to realize what I missed about the game.
Ok, it wasn't really much, but I guess I just missed building characters. No, it's not even at an RPGish type level, where I create backstories for my character and what not. There was something particularly fascinating about creating a theoretical a build, and seeing it work. While Ragnarok Online was far from a perfect game, that idea of stat and skill juggling was kinda the reasons why I liked it. Same thing certainly applies here. Even if it was something as simple as a dual weapon barbarian, or a frozen orb sorceress, it was still kinda fun to plan out the build in the begining, and then see it work after a certain amount of play time.
My favorite part of this particular adventure is just the way Kuat, Vivi, and I are trying to build our characters to make them work together. We haven't gotten far yet, so I don't know how they'll do, but I guess I could really care less. When you come down to it, Diablo II isn't that fun of a game from someone outside looking in (really, try to explain why the game is fun to someone who hasn't played it before) But, I think it's the character building system which really makes it kinda fun. It's kinda like raising a character and seeing them grow, your decision directly affects their success in the future. It's a heartbreaking experience when your character is gimped, but really cool when an uncoventional build works out.
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Post by Inaaca on Nov 28, 2007 0:33:24 GMT -8
Indeed, it didn't take long at all for my past Diablo II addiction to resurface. I like how as time goes by, our three hardcore characters are getting better and better fleshed out and defined as to how their roles work and how our 3-piece puzzle fits together as seamlessly as possible.
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Post by You probably can't touch this. on Nov 28, 2007 21:55:55 GMT -8
Finally got my laptop running again and have been playing Diablo II. Currently in Act II with a paladin, Act I with a necromancer. I tried to play Diablo II online with Sean and Brian but HEY didn't work. I also had to install the whole game because I was on my roommate's computer, etc, etc, etc. I'll see if I can install the multiplayer on this.
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