Need a fairly simple co-op FPS

[SunnyD]

My wife isn't a gamer. Her idea of gaming is PopIt and such. However I have gotten her to play UT in the past, and she has watched me play Counter Strike (against bots) several times and mentioned she's somewhat interested in it.

I've been dreaming of the day where my wife and I could game together on something other than Wii Sports (okay, we've been married 12 years, so I've been through the gamut of games). I'd like to find something that will at least let us work through some sort of story together rather than just mindless fragging.

The catch - it has to be fairly simple as far as controls. Even in Counter Strike (which is arguably simple), the multitude of weapons and buying things and whatnot is a bit much of a trial on her patience.

Any suggestions?

 

[PingSpike]

CS is kind of a bitch since you have to quick buy all that stuff in the beginning, plus the heavy death punishment is a detriment to new players. There are games less friendly to n00bs...but there certainly are also more friendly ones.

I'm in kind of the same spot as you...the easy to pick up games are kind of boring to me now as I've become pretty experienced and like something more complicated these days. But I acknowledge they are not a good choice to try and bring my wife into the fold.

Unfortunately, co-op is stripped out of PC games many times now. Developers seem to think we don't want it, despite cries for it being pretty common. Given that co-op modes are usually available for the same title on consoles, I have to assume there is some behind the scenes dealing going on to make it a console only feature.

Anyway, we did play System Shock 2 for some time...which is more a RPG/FPS hybrid. Its co-op mode was kind of fun, despite the dated graphics, as you could make characters with skills that complimented each other. She hacked things, I repaired damaged weapons for both of us. She used fire arms and I tried to use energy weapons.

 

[Wooden Badger]

I you own Halflife 2 this is a pretty good co-op mod http://synergymod.net/
play it with my kids all the time.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Day of Defeat maybe? No buying, just classes, spawn with weapons, capture flag, die, respawn (maybe has a death match mode?) and she can always just pick assault as her class everytime. You probably have a license for it as well being that you own Counter-Strike. There are plenty of bots for it around if you want to play against the PC on the LAN. My father and I used to just play against bots in counter-strike 1 back before broadband was available in our area.

 

[Lonyo]

Serious Sam/2.
Pick up weapons, point crosshair at enemies, click fire.
You can also adjust the difficulty of the enemies if you need to make it easier.

It's mindless fragging... with a story!

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Since you already have UT, give Thievery a try. Great game, and there is a newer version in the works for UT3 called NightBlade. They are stealth based games and have co-op modes.

Another co-op game you could try is Operation Na Pali, which is another UT total conversion mod. Gameplay is similar to the original Unreal.

For UT2004 you have Alien Swarm, or for Half-Life 2 you have Alien Swarm - Infested. Unique top-down cooperative gameplay.

 

[EvilComputer92]

UT is one of the best coop games there. Several excellent coop mods for it include Xidia Gold and it's sequel 7 Bullets

If you also have the original Unreal, that can also be played through fully in coop.

 

[JTsyo]

Halo? Not sure if Halo had co-op for the PC.

 

[bunker]

I'll second Lonyo and say Serious Sam 1/2.
Can be made easy, funny, and tons of stuff to mindlessly blow up.

 

[jtvang125]

Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2 if you have the rigs to run them. It's all close quarter so it'll take a lot of working together to get through.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: bunker
I'll second Lonyo and say Serious Sam 1/2.
Can be made easy, funny, and tons of stuff to mindlessly blow up.

Agreed. Awesome simple games.

 

[tk149]

I like Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter. You can play multiplayer mode against bots. Each mission has definite goals, although you won't really get a comprehensive storyline in multiplayer mode. You only get a few soldiers per map though, so if you die too often, you can't finish the level.

The original Ghost Recon had an arcade mode where you could have infinite player deaths. I prefer this mode.

I'd like to know if there are "less realistic" FPS coop games with gameplay like Quake (fast and furious, with players able to take multiple hits before dying).

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2 if you have the rigs to run them. It's all close quarter so it'll take a lot of working together to get through.

I've played through the story mode with a friend and we regularly play terrorist hunt together and it's a blast! It can be pretty damn hard and frustrating because of the magical insta-spawns that happen when you reach certain points, but its still pretty damn fun.

 

[Canai]

Synergy and Serious Sam get my votes.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Canai
Synergy and Serious Sam get my votes.

link to synergy? i can't find anything about it.

 

[katank]

Ever try SWAT 4? Insanely frustrating but can be fun in coop. It takes a heck of a lot of coordination to get through a level with reasonable score.

It's way harder than the two Rainbow 6 games but should run way better on even previous gen hardware.

 

[QueBert]

having a non gamer play Swat 4 would be horrible, I have been gaming hard core since Zonk (Pong knock off) and Swat 4 had parts that made me SO UPSET. It's the most difficult FPS I've played, aside from maybe Operation Flashpoint. And it's made that much harder by the enemies being completely random every time. Hard as hell when you can reply a level 50 times and memorize it is one thing. but when every time you play it's basically a crap shoot what will happen.

If he puts his wife on Swat 4 she will hate him, I love the game but it's not for a n00b, I wouldn't even suggest a person who wants to get into FPS play it until they've played some easier ones.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: QueBert
If he puts his wife on Swat 4 she will hate him, I love the game but it's not for a n00b, I wouldn't even suggest a person who wants to get into FPS play it until they've played some easier ones.

That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid. QueBert hit it right on the head - my wife by no means is any sort of gamer save maybe tetris and bejeweled. She has played a couple of FPS's before with me and actually had a little fun doing so, but the fundamental problem is "What do I press to use ...."

I don't really care much about a story line. Just simplicity. With that said, I will probably look into Serious Sam.

 

[QuantumPion]

Serious Sam
Serious Sam
Serious Sam
Serious Sam
Serious Sam 2

 

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: QuantumPion
Serious Sam
Serious Sam
Serious Sam
Serious Sam
Serious Sam 2

Amen.

Also, try the older rainbow six games like raven shield. Cheap, low PC requirements, and you can do terrorist hunts easily. Just have her pick a default loadout that has a decent main gun, and you just go walking around.

That was the first FPS my wife played and we loved it - the slow pace helps a ton.

Serious Sam has some dumb platforming areas and it may feel overwhelming to start with, but is very satisfying

Nat

 

[derdrache]

Gears of War is now free for PC online play. Even though its demanding at times, i find that with a mouse, that whole cover system almost makes it too easy.

 

[lupi]

Saw thread title, serious sam.

 

[SZLiao214]

I'm a huge friend of Serious Sam. Its a lot of fun with 2-4 people

 

[BATCH71]

Yes on Serious Sam!

I held a 4 man lan party years ago and we played the game from beginning to end in one night. It was very very fun. In fact my father was there and stayed til' 3 AM to help us finish. He is now 72

Dave