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Columns > LongShot > #112: The New Co-op Trend
Before 360, it really wasn't about playing together. But rather about beating each other, killing each other, crushing each other under the heel of a boot.  Rapper P. Diddy is synonymous with one of the least impressive bits of marketing for the original Xbox. The closing line for these ads, that stuck around long after the first one aired, was "It's good to play together." This mantra of the Xbox faithful references the Xbox Live online gaming service. For $50 a year, you can play all your online enabled games, have a list of Friends whose status on or offline can be monitored and play with or against them. On Xbox 360, this has been taken a little further with the addition of Gamerscores, the Live Marketplace, Live Arcade and many more little fiddly bits that make the $50 fee worthwhile. The Live service has been around for about three and a half years now. During that time, most of the online gameplay was of the competitive type. Hop into Halo matchmaking and take on a team of Master Chiefs with your group of friends and acquaintances, hoping for digital glory against the faceless hordes across the world. Jump into free-for-all matches of psychic knifing in Phantom Dust where no one is your friend. The emphasis has mostly been on competition, meaning it really wasn't about playing together, but rather about beating each other, killing each other, crushing each other under the heel of a boot. Microsoft's marketing used the wrong words to convey the experience of playing online, wisely you could say, since most folks expected some tolerance and courtesy but instead often found anger, hate and conflict. With Xbox 360, that seems to be changing. In a trend that will hopefully continue throughout the life of the system, game makers are suddenly offering the one thing PC gamers have clamored for ever since DOOM: Cooperative Gameplay Modes. Good ones. The most recent example is the game I've been playing the most since Wednesday, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. UbiSoft's latest in the Tom Clancy lineup is essentially two games in one box, with the single player and multiplayer portions of the game developed by entirely different teams. The solo missions are a graphically rich jaunt through Mexico City that I've only spent the briefest amount of time with thanks to the superb multiplayer flip side of the game.
 Multiplayer is overflowing with options. Hop into ranked games where you fight alongside and against random folks from across the world. Set up public games where you control the options for fairly standard shooter game types. Or best of all, grab a few pals and start the Mission mode with default settings where you take on South American troops of varied levels of competence across four excellent maps with solo game-like goals and only one life to give for your country! Completing these maps unlocks Achievements, those carrots that every 360 game dangles in front of you--some in much better ways than others--and add to your Gamerscore when you achieve them. This cooperative multiplayer is probably the best game type of all when playing online. Even though humans tend to be a lot more unpredictable than the AI, there's nothing quite like working with your buddies as a group to beat the computer and finish all the mission goals. The story that runs through these missions is simple and doesn't feature much exposition, with only a few verbal comments on what to do next and what's happening that come straight from your commanding officer. But it's more than enough to put you right in the role of soldier, working with your soldier buddies, to stop the bad guys and win the day. Compelling entertainment is the result, with teamwork and coordination the tools of success. Sure, after playing these four missions enough times, you'll know everything that can happen and where all the bad guys are for the most part, but then you can turn to speed runs for new goals and the ever present entertainment of working together with your friends just keeps on giving. It's almost a given that new missions will become available on Xbox Live Marketplace or through an expansion of some kind. Ghost Recon isn't the only 360 game that's got co-op. Perfect Dark Zero is improved some by featuring that gameplay mode too. Kameo: Elements of Power also has a co-op feature. It's gotten to where Microsoft now has it as an official bullet point entry on some game boxes if the game has the feature. Upcoming THQ game The Outfit--the demo of which is superb--also allows players to go through the entire single player game with a friend, either online or off. One of the biggest complaints from PC gamers throughout the last ten years, since first-person shooters became big business and started out with co-op as a part of that, has been the lack of cooperative game modes. People really want to be able to play games with friends on their side rather than dueling against them. Real-time strategy games in particular are good for co-op fans because you can always team up against the AI instead of pounding on each other. Given that player skill levels are often all over the map, especially among personal acquaintances, having the ability to work together is the best option to foster interest in online play without alienating anyone along the way. Competitive online gaming will always be exciting, easier to implement and entertaining, but co-op provides more of those "stories" about awesome gaming action that gamers like to tell their pals. Let's hope this trend continues and the Xbox 360 is fondly remembered for supplying so many different games for playing together. It's not too late for Microsoft to make good on that marketing promise. They're off to a great start on 360.
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