Co-op Blocked

TDrag accepts the fate of her cooperative gaming future and decides if 4-player is really the new single player.

Twitter delivered the most disappointing gaming news of the year for me. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 doesn’t have co-op. Not real co-op at least. Scratch the anticipation of playing through the future GOTY with hubby. I’ve been CB’d.

I get it Mr-InfinityWard-twitter-dude-FourZeroTwo. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare had one of the most hair-raising, powerful, single player experiences of any game that I’ve ever played. I understand the rationale in preserving that experience by not diluting it with cooperative play. But get this- enjoying a game with people I like is usually higher on my list. If Modern Warfare 2 doesn’t live up to the now extra-uber-high expectations that you’ve set, I’m going to be disappointed. (Oh, don't get me wrong- I’ll still play the shit out of MP).

Add to this dollop of old news a quote from the biggest douche in my clan, “four-player is the new single player,” and I got to thinking about the role co-op modes have played in forging my gaming identity.  Maybe he’s right (doubtful). Or maybe... I’m not really a gamer?

I played Resident Evil 5 four times with Dean. It’s a mediocre game in every sense. I wouldn’t think of playing that solo. I played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a superior game by leaps and bounds, one and a half times. Fuck "Veteran" difficulty. Die. The difference between the two? Cooperative play.

Most of my memorable gaming experiences are hardly related to the games. I enjoy the banter of my teammates, the ridicule of timmies, and the feeling of hanging out with friends – even if they’re my “internet friends.” Dean and I enjoy spending a Saturday together solving puzzles, comparing achievements, and tag-teaming boss battles.When I get home and decide how I’m going to spend my leisure time, I look for a few people online. Is my *Italian Diva, *Stalker, *Swass Ass, *CrankCaller, or *Sweet Stache face online? Sweet. I’m in. If not, I better have a top-of-the-line single player game on hand or I’m going to watch a movie or read a book instead.

I don’t play crap. I don’t play stupidly difficult. I don’t do repetitive. I don’t like cliche. Every game I’ve finished was inventive, unique, easy fun, or just damn good. I have a shelf of half-played games that never made that cut.

Dean couldn’t have a more opposite gaming identity. He hates multiplayer and will play complete garbage. It doesn’t matter how repetitive, stupid, poorly designed, difficult, or un-fun it is. He plays a much wider variety of games and finishes them. He’s an original gamer born in the day where “save games” didn’t exist. You used up your lives and you start over. I’m a new gamer. I don’t put up with that antiquated bullshit. Gaming is a platform for fun. I have a fairly focused set of what I like, and that’s what I play. And the company is equally important to my gaming experiences. Does that make me a gamer? Are you a gamer if you’re a snob about what you’ll play and you don’t enjoy the hobby for its breadth and diversity? Are you a connoisseur of art if you only like one painter? Am I just an XBL socialite?

Nope. I’m not a socialite. I don’t even really like people all that much, just certain select ones. I’m a gamer – whatever that means. Beneath  the chit-chat, I’m competitive. I enjoy the personality of my clan-mates and I’m envious of their superior K/D ratios even if they achieve them rolling with juggernoob. I like to win and stomp timmies face in the mud. I pay attention to my K/D ratio and try to keep it positive. Damn drunk-playing.

But is “Four-player the new single-player?” I wish that were the case. If I look around my gaming cabinet right now, I can’t make that claim. In the last month I’ve picked up Prototype and inFamous – two games that would have been awesome cooperatively. I’ve got Ghostbusters and Overlord 2. Two more games that have a “cooperative mode," but the main story is still single player. Jamming in a “mode” doesn’t cut it. It smells like an afterthought and is usually not as enjoyable an experience. I haven’t played the cooperative modes on Ghostbusters and Overlord 2 yet, so I could be wrong. But sub-par cooperative play has generally been the experience with games that aren’t built from the ground up for co-op.

This November, I’m going to make another noble attempt to get Dean into multiplayer. I just tell him that’s he’s gotta play CoD right when it comes out so he’s not so far behind in maps, perks, and weapons. I’ll probably fail. He’ll get pissed because “he keeps dying” and quit on me. But until a steady stream of good cooperative games come out, I’ll continue to bribe him with Chipotle for a couple hours of multiplayer.

*Names have been changed to protect the identities of the juggernoobs.