I wish games had more co-op campaigns

Over the past few years now, I and a friend have played through some games together that feature co-op gameplay for a very good reason as well – at least for me. Most of them are ones that we had not played and as the option was there we thought why not play together…

Yes I know this is Saints Row 4

Whilst I broke the first rule (I had played Saints Row The Third in single player already and I admit I actually got a non legitimate copy), when my friend Dan LV remarked he hadn’t played this crazy game I bought him and myself a legitimate copy from Steam so that we could play through it together.

It was shortly after a Steam sale, which resulted in us getting all the DLC for a pittance. Then over the course of a few months, the pair of us put in a combined 90+ Hours towards completing the game, the associated DLC’s and for him, the majority of the achievements (achievement whore that he is)

This tiny step started us on a long path to seeking out other games that had co-op campaigns. This was a bit hard at first, mainly because we need online co-op to play together, but was thankfully not too impossible..

The most common games to feature co-op follow the standard 4-player choose a class gameplay. In this I mean games like Borderlands and Dead Island. These types of games while certainly fun when played with a friend they tend to follow a similar theme of go here > beat mob > level up > go there > fetch 10 of x item > level up, which can get old over time (especially when more and more fetch quests are introduced).

This is not to say these games are bad, far from it. Heck me and Dan have just started a True Vault Hunter run through of Borderlands 2 whilst we wait for the DLC of Borderlands The PreSequel to drop in price. After that we have Dead Island Riptide to play through among a few other similar titles. The gameplay just gets a bit samey which can quite quickly lower the enjoyment -There is a good chance this games list may completely change.

Games like Saints Row make co-op campaigns a near perfect experience, they don’t penalise you for not have a co-op partner to play through the game with but the craziness of the action and the story line are just that much better when enjoyed with a good friend. Sure we faced bugs, not least in the DLC for how the Saints saved Christmas where Dan couldn’t get in a box in one part, then in the main game where cutscenes wouldn’t play for the person who didn’t trigger them. These bugs were minimal and never really interfered with the enjoyment, for me at least.

Dammit Dan! get in a box

Only one of the glitches we saw broke the game in any way meaningful (it required us to just relaunch the game) and made it something to laugh at.

In two player one of the more tedious tasks of collecting collectables on the main map had its time reduced greatly, with both Dan and myself taking up each end of the map to speed through the various items.

To put simply I wish that games had more co-op like Saints Row. I said earlier there are games like Borderlands and Dead Island, which cater for up to four players tackling the main story. I generally like these games as well but a lot of the time the missions consist of fetch quests which are I admit are similar to the above collectible conundrum above but are far more infuriating, even if they can be completed twice as quickly. They oft send you to desolate parts of the map which you never travel to afterwards and seem like they are just there as filler.

I have to admit there are games where adding a co-op campaign just wouldn’t sit right or even be possible and I guess Saints Row and games like it are just ones that lend themselves really well.

The addition of individual character creation at the start of each game, that is unless you import one from a previous game, gives a playthrough that added bit of yourself to the game. Easing your ability to put your own mark on the game.

I admit it may seem like an inconsequential feature to add to a game that already has a decent enough story or is already otherwise complete. However playing through with a friend can change the dynamic of the game and in my opinion offers an improved playing experience to playing alone.

In the end I can’t force developers to do this, but as more and more games are becoming so multiplayer focused I just wish for something with a campaign that I can play through with a good friend while having a few drinks…..without fetch quests.

What do you think?