Cooperative games

DArtagnan said:

Hey peeps.

We're some guys who take trips to a summerhouse, every 6 months or so. We do this, basically, to drink beer and play computer games. Not bad, eh?

Anyway, usually - we have no trouble finding shooters or RTS games. That's great, but some of us are more into other genres, and in particular - we enjoy games that take longer and which can be played cooperatively.

Now, I know of the vast majority of PC games out there, but since I haven't actually played that many cooperatively - I'd love to hear some suggestions for what to get.

Since we're usually 5-6 guys, at least, I need the games to be able to carry that many players.

So…. What's your favorite experiences with "modern" cooperative LAN games?

Oh, and I don't mind if some of the games aren't strictly cooperative - but rather just LONG and involving, like Civilization or similar. Games that can be played at a relaxed pace, where the experience isn't quite so intense and competitive.

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I mostly have experience of RPGs. NWN1 is solid as you know, NWN2 has too slow loading times, BG is good but will leave players waiting for the protagonist all the time. IWD is better for coop but still a bit slow.

I got good coop milage out of two very flawed games:

Dungeon Lords. It takes forever to finish, but you can jump right in at any time. The game allows up to 8 players IIRC. The game is fugly but the action is fine. You can try the playable demo to get the feel of the game. I wouldnt call the game relaxed though.

Lionheart. Character building might be a bit too complex for non-RPGers, and the Barcelona start has the same "problems" as BG.

Looking at my HD most of the other long MP games are TBS titles, and they would suck with 6 players waiting for their turn. I'll still list them thouhg: Master of Orion II (civ in space), Imperialism I & II (these might allow you to issue orders simultaneously, but they are even more grognardy than EU), and Spaceward Ho!

On the realtime front I have Railroad Tycoon 2, various Paradox games (grognardy and with stability issues), Capitalism II (great if you enjoy business sims), Seven Kingdoms (a slightly different take on RTS with espionage and morale), and the Patrician/Port Royale economic sims (too hardcore for most).

Looks like MechWarrior 4 can do 5 player co-op. And you can get it for free (?).

It seems to me that the clear answer is that the five of you must kill one person from your group to even out the co-op problem.

Korplem said:

It seems to me that the clear answer is that the five of you must kill one person from your group to even out the co-op problem.

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Wouldn't that be considered LARPing?

I'd second Dungeon Lords: CE, if you can relax your "relaxing" qual, and put up with a bit of connection flakiness. Had hours and hours of fun with that one in my group.

I'd also second AoW: SM. Shame you can't choose to play out the battles on the tactical map when doing MP, but a very good game none the less. Be sure to get the latest community patch. Lots of fixes and improvements.

And there's always board games for relaxed-but-competitive MP, of course. ;-)

Thanks for some great suggestions guys.

I hadn't considered Dungeon Lords at all. I think I have the CE somewhere, but that's just one copy.

I have a feeling I will be covered in vomit if I force them to buy it, because it's not really the kind of game most people will be impressed by. So, I'll have to plan for this to persuade them

Fortunately, we're not going until October - so Civ 5 will be out by then, and it looks to be everything that Elemental wasn't.

But - Dungeon Lords is the best suggestion yet

NWN1 - I love, but it's so old and ugly by now - that I bet half of them won't be willing. If I could persuade them, I think the "Lord of Terror" mod is absolutely fantastic.

I highly recommend it, if any of you are the cooperative sort

What about the Serious Sam games? I would think these would fit in well with a couple of beers.

Another thought, Alien swarm is free on Steam. Steam can be started in off-line mode but I'm not sure if this will prevent a game like Alien Swarm from working. Just something to consider.

dteowner said:

Wouldn't that be considered LARPing?

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Well, no, if they're playing hardcore rules then it's murder...

Lara Croft & The Guardian Of Light maybe ? I just read it shall be cooperative, too.

And Worms, maybe.

And Trine, possibly, too.

Okay, these are not RPGs ...

stealth said:

What about the Serious Sam games? I would think these would fit in well with a couple of beers.

Another thought, Alien swarm is free on Steam. Steam can be started in off-line mode but I'm not sure if this will prevent a game like Alien Swarm from working. Just something to consider.

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Thanks for the suggestions, but SS isn't really for me. Too mindless and I need to find a game that "evolves" somewhat. RPG elements are great for that.

Alien Swarm, I haven't heard about. Is that the Alien Breed clone?

Freelancer was fun in Co-Op mode if you are in for some deep space exploration, don't remember how many players it supports though.

There's a very useful list on Co-Optimus for some inspiration.

I didn't play too many, but my most favorite were, in no particular order:

Diablo 1+2, NWN 1+2, Serious Sam 1+2, Freelancer, Battlefield 1942 + Addon, System Shock 2.
And yeah, MMOs too (Tibia, WoW).

edit: Ah, one honorable mention: LotR - Battle for Middle Earth. It's one of the few strategy games I played. Not really CoOp IIRC, but my fried and I played together against the AI. Lots of fun in Christmas time.

Anyway, good luck and be sure to keep us updated. Good LAN capable co-op games are and always have been sparse.

Arhu said:

Freelancer was fun in Co-Op mode if you are in for some deep space exploration, don't remember how many players it supports though.

There's a very useful list on Co-Optimus for some inspiration.

I didn't play too many, but my most favorite were, in no particular order:

Diablo 1+2, NWN 1+2, Serious Sam 1+2, Freelancer, Battlefield 1942 + Addon, System Shock 2.
And yeah, MMOs too (Tibia, WoW).

edit: Ah, one honorable mention: LotR - Battle for Middle Earth. It's one of the few strategy games I played. Not really CoOp IIRC, but my fried and I played together against the AI. Lots of fun in Christmas time.

Anyway, good luck and be sure to keep us updated. Good LAN capable co-op games are and always have been sparse.

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Thanks for that great link, that's really helpful!

It's not quite up-to-date though, and I can see something like Arma 2 is missing from it.

But still, very nice to have.

I did play Freelancer back in the day, and it might be an idea to suggest it. It was pretty fun.

I'm considering Evochron Mercenary when it's released this month. I'm just not sure if it's LAN capable, because we won't have internet access up there. I do have my mobile broadband - but it won't cut it for six players in any modern game, that's for sure.

Ooh Freelancer as coop? Can you play the main quest or just run around in space? At any rate, Freelancer does have a lot of potential in a sci-fi crowd.

Maylander said:

Ooh Freelancer as coop? Can you play the main quest or just run around in space? At any rate, Freelancer does have a lot of potential in a sci-fi crowd.

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You can't coop the main quest. However, the community does have persistent servers running with a variety of huge mods.

Some mods add hundreds of ships/weapons/etc. - and I think it's worth checking out, if you're a fan.

www.moddb.com and look up Freelancer.

Ah yes, I remember. You can do missions CoOp style in Freelancer, like the freeform parts of the single player story, but not the main story itself. But still, you can explore the galaxy with your buddies, and you have to slowly build up your ships and make money to be able to fly to the more dangerous parts of space. That's lots of fun too.

"Let's check out this nebula!" -- "Roger that." -- "Ooooh... Eerie." -- "Careful, there's a pirate base!"