Looking for Co-op Games to play with Girlfriend!

[Michael Jennings]

My girlfriend has expressed an interest in playing games with me and so I am looking for
fun, interesting games to play together. Sadly I am trying to stick clear of anything "deathmatch" like that would discourage her from playing as I am an avid gamer and she is brand new.

Any suggestions?

 

[Fappy]

Kirby Superstar! It fun, easy and the best co-op game I have ever played!

 

[K84]

These are two my girlfriend likes to play co-op,
which are not deathmatch games.

- Dead Nation (DLC game, zombies, 2 player co-op)
- Scott Pilgrim VS The World: The Game (DLC, up to 4 player, classic!)

 

[JesterRaiin]

Trine.

http://www.cdprojekt.pl/upl/2009_39/galleries/2494548.jpg

Just grab some decent controllers and you'll be surprised how good it is.

Also, try some racing games and let her win only by a little. It's priceless.
Dirt3 or early Need for Speed games come to mind.

Edit : if poor graphics isn't a factor then you can also try some old, SNES side scrolling beat'em up games like AD&D, Aliens Vs Predator, or The Punisher. They are easy to play, co-op, fun.

 

[surg3n]

Test Drive Unlimited 2 - Pretty good fun to drive around a sandboxy city, racing, cop chases, seeing who can get the coolest car. You'd need 2 xboxes tho.

Borderlands - Might be a little hardcore for her, but it's a good shooter, and is fairly light hearted, co-op is great on that, and on 360 it'll be split screen.

Portal 2 - Co-op mode is great. It's split screen on consoles, fascinating and challenging, and she might even like the single player mode.

Little Big Planet 2 - If you have a PS3, really theres no end of fun. If you get bored with the levels, just find some shark survival or bomb survival, days of fun with that game.

Minecraft - It's fairly straightforward to setup a LAN server, and all the different aspects might appeal to her, like building and surviving - would be fun I think as long as you take your time and show her how to play properly.


If all else fails, theres always retro - maybe some MAME arcade roms, if she's more into casual games then arcade roms are great.

 

[Apollo45]

Borderlands is a spectacular co-op experience. Might be a little hardcore for her, as the above poster said, but you rarely feel like you're getting outstripped by someone better than you because half of it comes down to the type of weapons you have. Be sure to give her the best guns and you'll be golden.

 

[Tzekelkan]

Thanks for letting us know what console you have. It's always great when people are specific.

I'd suggest New Super Mario Brothers Wii or Kirby's Epic Yarn.

 

[Paul_kir]

Terraria is a fun game you can play together and it's 50% off right now on steam but you could wait to see if it becomes a daily and go down even more.
Also one of my friends plays Left 4 Dead 2 with his GF so that could be good.
Dungeon Defenders is also a fun game you could play together.

 

[Fiskmasen]

Like someone above me suggested, I'd give Castle Crashers a try if I were you. Used that game to introduce my ex to gaming in those long forgotten happy days. Within a few weeks she called me up and announced that she had just beaten Bastion on her brother's 360. I won't lie, I shed some tears of joy.

 

[Nouw]

And for the third time, Castle Crashers. Lots of replayability, lot's of fun. Funnest adventure hack 'n' slash RPG I've played.

 

[yuval152]

You should try N+,or castle crashers.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

The lego games! Great multiplayer, and as you can't lose all lives or anything like that, she'l never get the feeling that shes fucking up the game for both of you if she dies a lot!

-(I'm basing that off of the experience I had with my sis! Shed die all the time on other games, and we'd both get penalised, but on there she really enjoyed herself because death didn't matter, but there was still some challenge!)

 

[Michael Jennings]

Sorry for not being too terribly specific on what systems or games I was looking for, I actually was interested in having you all throw out ideas no matter what. Like I said, pretty avid gamer and so if I don't have the system I'm prolly getting it at some point.

Thanks for all the suggestions, if anyone has anymore please feel free to drop the ideas.

Currently we are playing Dokapon Kingdom, attempting Borderlands and Left 4 Dead.

I'm curious to have her start her own game of Mass Effect as I think she would fall in love with the story.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Sadly I am trying to stick clear of anything "deathmatch" like that would discourage her from playing as I am an avid gamer and she is brand new.

I suggest you don't, unless she has told you she doesn't want to play any games like that. Rule number one is that you never assume a taste in certain games, get a selection of all of them.

Modern Warfare 3's Special Ops mode is really good for co-op. You can go for survival if you want to play by your own terms but as a team or you can go for the missions where you have to rely on each other to get through it all. Failing that, the online has multiplayer where you can get your soldier on, it'll be great if she's competitive. Halo and Gears of War both offer their story mode as co-op if she prefers to have a story with her killing. None of these are particularly complex so she can grasp them really easy.

Lego games will be great if she wants something casual and funny with some great gameplay to go along with it. Go with her taste in films and get a game you can both enjoy playing while having a laugh.

I like surg3n's idea of setting up a LAN game of Minecraft for you to play. The building aspect alone will set you two away for days or weeks building something you can both look over and admire. Then the shared destruction of it will be awesome. Nothing says love like Minecraft arson.

I'm curious to have her start her own game of Mass Effect as I think she would fall in love with the story.

If you're thinking of going for solo games then I would definitely suggest Skyrim over Mass Effect. It has a great setting and story, accommodates all play styles and ranges from slaying dragons to reading books and learning alchemy. I think, regardless of who you are, Skyrim is a great game to get yourself immersed into.

 

[sage42]

Fable 3, my girlfriend was the same way and she had a blast with Fable 3.

 

[Emeli]

My husband and I played resident evil 5 through about four times, we found the shotgun/semi auto combo to be super effective.

We also enjoyed the Halo games, the wide variety of weapons means she'll probably find one she likes, and the environments and enemies are colourful and varied enough that the gritty brown shooter scene won't turn her off. Also, this and RE5 are probably a little slower-paced than modern warfare etc, easier for a learner to settle into the pace.

A few for super-novices would be co-op katamari damacy, little big planet or super mario galaxy (hubby and I alternate levels between who's playing and who's collecting stars).

I'm trying out Army of Two this week... seems like it could be fun.

I wouldn't start her on Mass Effect, it's one of my all time favourite games, but the first time I played it I found the story slow moving and the navigation confusing and obnoxious. It took a really dedicated effort to get me into it, even though I love it now. Dragon Age has the same kind of in-depth story, but starts of much faster and has more character customisation, it'd probably be a better bet. (Also, Alistair <3)

But I'm definitely bookmarking this thread and returning to it when I want some more co-op ideas. Thanks for starting the thread and thanks everyone for commenting.

 

[Fleetfiend]

I've seen others suggest it already, but Castle Crashers in my number one suggestion. I also think the co-op campaign in Portal 2 was really fun for my boyfriend and I to play together, even though it took us about an hour to complete one of the levels. xD