Offline co-op games

[M0rp43vs]

Some of my fondest memories of gaming have been inviting a couple of friends over, distributing the controllers, putting on a co-op game, blame one other for bringing the whole team down, immediately dissolve into a brawl(Best advantage of Offline gaming: any trolls are punching distance away), swear never to meet ever again and repeat.

So what's your recommendation for a fun offline Co-op game? Can be of any genre, on any system, e and even of any small value of "cooperative" that can be played by more than one idiot who can't be arsed to set up online.

My first recommendation is a recent one: Dragon's Crown.
For all it's controversy surrounding it, it is still a very fun, very solid, extremely beautiful looking Beat-em up. Neat characters with fairly unique play-styles, Really amazing boss fights, and fairly tight controls (once you get used to the item system). Minor gripes include how the game handles saves and that story mode starts rather slow for each character, but once you get into the continuous adventuring mode, the game truly shines.

 

[krazykidd]

I always suggest Diablo 3 ( on console ). It's a really fun game...with a friend. In my opinion the console version fixed most of what was wrong with the pc version.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Rockstar's The Warriors for the PS2 is a pretty fun offline co-op game. It's like a more streamlined version of GTA (not much of a sandbox to explore in between missions) but it's fun as hell since gameplay feels like a droog simulator - ganging up on victims/enemies, shoplifting, vandalizing. The combat is lifted off Bully, a series of vicious grapples and beatdowns, which I always found very comfy and intuitive.

Borderlands is a merely OK game but the fun warps up incredibly if you're playing co-op. Same with Resident Evil 5. In the case of RE5 you're always splitting the loot and trading weapons/ammo. Some people may find it tedious but I love a game that puts emphasis on teamwork and collaboration. It also encourages players to specialize on different kinds of weapons, resulting in an augmented sense of duty, if you will.

I'm a little torn about ObsCure. It's survival horror, it's fixed camera angle and both players share the same camera. That's nifty.

And by far the worst co-op game I can think of is Destroy All Humans! 2. The game is buggy to begin with, and even though there's a split-screen the game forces players to stick within a certain distance of each other. If either steps a bit farther from the capricious radius, the other one is teleported next to him. So it becomes a very annoying game of tug-of-war.

 

[Exhuminator]

I've done literally hundreds of hours of offline co-op in the last few years, mostly via co-op campaign. I find it difficult to recommend anything without OP specifying number of players wanted and preferred platform. However, here are some resources I've found useful to find co-op games:

http://www.co-optimus.com/games.php

http://www.gweep.net/~rocko/coop/

http://pccouchcoop.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cooperative_video_games

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Probably the most splitscreen fun I've had has been with SC: Conviction. It's not quite as good as its predecessor in terms of having two players work together, but it's still fun. The maps are interesting and often present different ways for players to approach, has different weapons (though since the Five-Seven and MP5-S are pretty much objectively "the best" there's little tactical choice), gadgets and can be quite challenging on occasion.

Dynasty Warriors games are also generally quite good fun with a friend. The game remains the same of course, just that now two people can enjoy all the slashy goodness at once, coming to each others rescue, fighting over boss drops, etc.

Borderlands is *only* playable in co-op, be it online or off, with friends since random people generally detract from the experience, not add to it. However, the pacing is terrible and there's frequent stretches of boredom and nothing to do, in between the shooty parts.

I realise that the OP is talking about offline specifically, but I will mention Saints Row 3 online coop only because it's so much damn fun that it would be remiss not to. Causing mayhem, driving each other around, sometimes while under fire and the other fires back, especially with a friend who's just up for having fun...all make it an enjoyable experience.

Honourable mentions as well for L4D2 and Portal 2 as being good fun with a friend, online or off.

 

[zegram33]

dynasty warriors has a vote from me too
or perhaps (hear me out here) Aliens colonial marines. its been patched to be...actually pretty stable/decent, having a mate along "fixes" any silly bugs left because you can laugh together, and...well, you can get it for like £2.99 on ebay.

my vote though? wait for a while, and get "EDF 2025" when it comes out next month.
looks to be a showstopper.

(yeh, in case you didn't guess, I like B-movie type games)

 

[Yopaz]

I'm going to suggest Resident Evil 5. I don't like that game solo, but on co-op I think it's great fun.

There's also the entire Tales series. Co-op during battles there can really make things quite fun. It wasn't as good in Tales of Symphonia since it only focused on the one who was player 1, but it was still fun in boss fights.

 

[EyeReaper]

The New Super Mario line is usually a blast with more people. Especially 3d world. Some of my other favorites (In no particular order) are:
Rayman Origins/Legends
Lord of the Rings: War in the North
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Balder's Gate: Dark Alliance
And finally, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2

Really, If you ask me, Platformers and Beat-em-ups make for the best co-op, with Rpgs close behind. It's too bad that couch co-op seems to be dying out to be replaced with only online multiplayer.

 

[The_Great_Galendo]

Of any system? In that case, Secret of Mana for the SNES. Up to three people could play if you had a third controller and an adapter-thingy, and an already fun game got a lot more fun if you had a someone else to play with. Good single-player game, great multi-player game.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Rockstar's The Warriors for the PS2 is a pretty fun offline co-op game. It's like a more streamlined version of GTA (not much of a sandbox to explore in between missions) but it's fun as hell since gameplay feels like a droog simulator - ganging up on victims/enemies, shoplifting, vandalizing. The combat is lifted off Bully, a series of vicious grapples and beatdowns, which I always found very comfy and intuitive.

Damn straight. Being able to 'accidentally' flying body splash each other is a nice touch. You can also steal hats, and walk around with a boombox on your shoulder.

 

[Frankster]

Oh how I do soo like my coop games.

My choice would go to Team Buddies, an old game for the ps1 playable by up to 4 players.

The game pitted 2-4 teams against each other with the goal being of blowing the enemy teams bases.
What made this game particular is you had to stack "boxes" that fell out of the sky and assemble them to make weapons and vehicles, leading to super tanks or planes crewable by multiple players.

Oh this game is one of the forgotten coop gems :')

 

[CellShaded]

Since I live with my partner who is also a gamer, I spend most if not all of my multiplayer gaming time locally on the couch, and after scouring all the typical co-op sites (co-optimus in particular), I can say that Lord of the Rings: War in the North is one of the funnest local co-op experiences I've ever had. Second place going to Borderlands 2. If you have more than two people, my pick would be Diablo 3 for the consoles. So much love for those two.

Honorable mentions go to Battleblock Theatre, Awesomenauts, and FEAR 3.

 

[Carl The Manicorn]

I love playing co-op games. I don't have internet at my house, so my little brother and I have bonded/grew to hate each other by playing together.

Our favorites are:

Borderlands 1 and 2
Dead Nation
Foul Play
Gears of War 1,2, and 3
Halo (any one of them)
Madden
Call of Duty Black Ops 1 and 2
Left 4 Dead 1 and 2
PORTAL 2
The entire Forza series (Horizon and the first one excluded)
A lot more...

Portal 2 is my official selection. It's the best co-op game I can think of. If you haven't played it yet, do it. It will force you to work together. Also, it's good for a fun laugh.

 

[porous_shield]

I had a lot of fun with Pixel Junk Shooter, Castle Crashers, Trine 1 and 2, and Rock of Ages local co-op/splitscreen.