Competitive Coop
\WARNING/ THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING GAMES: Splinter Cell Conviction coop mode, FEAR , and talks about the coop feature in the upcoming FEAR 3
The last mission from SC Conviction’s coop campaign had to be the hardest one of the game. After reaching some kind of hangar, my partner and I had to deactivate the security system, run to the airplane and finally escape, while at the same time fighting off waves and waves of enemies. Stealth had pretty much jumped out the window at that point. It was more of a Gears of War type kind of game, with less health and ammo.
“Throw a grenade!” I yelled at my team mate, sitting right next to me in real life.
“I threw my last one five minutes ago!” he replied hectically.
I started to think about the best way to reach the controls we had to deactivate, as I flashed back to the beginning of the game. My friend had never played a Splinter Cell game before. Granted this one is a lot less focused on stealth, but it was still a challenge for him. The only games he had ever played were platform games, and a couple of racing ones. It took a lot of convincing to finally get him to try it out, but as soon as he got the hang of the intuitive controls, he was hooked.
The game started out very slowly, showing him how to kill an enemy from behind, use him as cover, and also one of the key features of the game: mark and execute. The more stealth hand to hand kills a player racked up, the more his execution bar would fill, until he could point at two or three enemies in a room, and instantly kill them with a press of a button in a very smooth fashion. The added benefits of the coop were that the two players could combine their executions and get the job done faster. If one of the player was down, he could play dead until his team mate came and revived him, provided he did within the time limit. The game was fun and felt rewarding. You could play the solo campaign if you wanted to be alone, but here you had to have your partner’s back and vice versa.
I realized I had one grenade left. A well placed explosion later, we made our way to the security controls where we had to both push a button and finally get on the plane, our objective. We eventually did, but that’s when something interesting happened.
A cutscene played, where I was alone in the cargo section, when I got a very simple email: kill my partner. Was it part of the story? That’s when I realized he probably got the same one asking to kill me. The game turned into a very intense death match, and all of the skills I had taught him were now being redirected towards me. After what seemed like forever, he got me and I fell down to the floor.
That part of the game was really unexpected. The game turned from being cooperative to being competitive in the blink of an eye. After working hard together for so many hours, we had to finish each other off. This practice is not very common in video games, and felt really refreshing to be honest. Even if it lasted a few minutes at the end of the game, the fact that you had been helping each other since the start made it seem much more interesting, than say online death matches where you spawn, kill, repeat.
Another game that looks to be implementing cooperative and competitive gameplay at the same time is the upcoming FEAR 3. You play as either the main character with his ability to slow down time, or Fettel (who got shot by Point Man in the fist game) with his telekinetic abilities. Both players share the same health meter, and have to revive each other when one falls to the ground. The maps have also been designed to make the best use of both players, assuring gamers that it’s not just a run and kill thing. The interesting competitive feature, which has been done in some games before I believe, is that both players get points for kills, the goal being to outnumber your teammate. Quoting from MTV Multiplayer Blog:
“The gist, though, is that you’ll be scored based on your performance in a mission, and those points can be used to upgrade your character. For example, you can increase Point Man’s slow-down meter. This makes the co-op a bit of an uneasy truce between the two brothers, and it often encourages players to think for themselves rather than the group. Unfortunately, if one brother dies, so does the other (they’re psychically linked or some such ridiculousness), so you can’t be a total jackass to your partner. Just a partial jackass.”
This could lead to very interesting sessions where players feed for themselves, and only play together when they really have to: an uneasy truce. This raises concerns in other places, like can a game still be scary when playing with someone else? That’s a topic for another day, but it could be interesting to look at how this competitive aspect can be used to enhance the scary parts of the game. For example, separating the players, and making them do a actions that benefit one (One player turning the light on…) and at the same time impacting the other (…turns the light off for the other player).
There are not too many competitive coop games out there, as in games that truly blend the two, but it could be a refreshing way to tackle the multiplayer side that a lot of games come with today. Let’s not make it a thing though: after all coop means cooperative.
[Review] King of Fighters XII
King of Fighters 12 is the 3rd fighting game to be released this year which I am proclaiming as the year of the fighting game comeback. As with the death of American arcades the death of the console fighter was imminent and 2009 is proof that fighters can prevail in the HD gaming world of FPS and MMORPGs. KOF12 is the 3rd major release behind king SF4 and BlazBlue. As with the earlier 2 fighters, KOF12 offers great depth of gameplay, stunning visuals and replay factor engraved in the online arena.
EVO2K Coverage
Evo (short for Evolution) is the worlds largest fighting game event. Going on 10 years, Evo is the must-attend event for fighting game fans and competitors all over the world. Over three days, Evo hosts a variety of fighting game tournaments, exhibitions, and a free-play area where gamers can compete, meet up, and generally have a good time.
And we are covering the event! We will try to bring you what;s hapenning in Las Vegas right now, as soon as it happens!
Check out the schedule right here.
[Preview] List of games coming in 2009 and 2010 (plus a surprise!)
2009 was looking so good. So many games coming out on the PS3 this fall. It really seemed like one of the best line up ever! I guess reality hit us, and hit us hard…So what games are coming this Fall? Read the rest of this entry »
[Review] Fight Night Round vs UFC 2009: Undisputed
Two of the best sports games that I have played in a long time, UFC : Undisputed 2009 and Fight Night Round 4 came out within a month of each other. Both games offer plenty of game modes, stunning graphics and most importantly cringing knockouts. In real life UFC has taken boxing’s spot in America’s heart as our favorite blood sport but has it done the same in the 3D rendered world?
Final Fantasy Gaiden: new screens released
The upcoming Final Fantasy Gaiden, by Square Enix, just got new screenshots! The game will be on the DS, and displays a very interesting (and new in the Final Fantasy franchise) art style!
Acoording to IGN, “expect dragons and crystals to play a major part in the story. […]The game makes use of a turn-based battle system, requiring that players simply select a command with the stylus (it’s unclear if the game is exclusively stylus-based). Regarding the game’s Crown System, said to resemble the FF series’ Job System, this allows you to set abilities with your characters, which then appear as panels in a command panel area of the bottom screen. To execute cure and other spells, you simply touch one of these panels.”
Is it me, or are there more and more games under the Final Fantasy title but look less and less like Final Fantasy games?
Prestige Edition, God of War, Midway studio closing!
Yesterday we announced that the price of the Prestige Edition of the upcoming Call of Duty was $149.99 Well it is now available for pre ordering at Amazon, along with the normal edition and the Hardened edition (which is pretty much the Prestige Edition minus the night vision goggles and the molded head, at $79.99).
What do you think? Is it going to sell out? I have a feeling it will.
In other news, the popular God of War game will soon be adapted into a series of books! For now, two books have been announced that will be published under Del Rey. The first one will come out at the same time as the third game, expected in Spring 2010 (limited edition anyway? Maybe..). Looks like this is franchise not ready to die, with a third game, books, and a movie adaptation! Let’s hope for the best quality.
As a final note, the Team would like to give their moral support to the employees of Midway Castle, who are now out of a jab (80 staff members!). The studio was not able to be bought, and had to close down. This is the team responsible for games like Wheelman and Necessary Force (the latter now for sell). Best of luck in your future!
Prestige Edition priced!
This is an update on the limited edition of the upcoming Call of Duty game! Please take a look at our previous story to get up to date on the situation and watch the unboxing of the special package!
In case you do not know, the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game has a very special bundle that will be released if you are ready to put down the money: the Prestige Edition! In a nutshell, the edition contains: night vision goggles, an artbook and more!
And a price has finally been revealed: $149.99 !!! Talk about expensive.
I don’t know about you guys, but I am actually tempted. I mean, nightvision googles!! What do you think? Decent or not?
Coral Sea live on Battlefield 1943!
I think this tweet from the official Battlefield 1943 tweeter account says it all! Congrats to all players!
Resident Evil 4…on the iPhone?
Yep, that’s no joke! According to multiplayer, the game was accidentally released on the japanese iStore (how do you do that??) and then taken away, but some people were able to download it!
A very good port as you can see. You will be controling Leon and playing through the normal RE4 story line. All I can say is, thank god it is not another rail shooter!
Thank you MTV for this information!
But what do you think? Is this a good idea, or is it stripping the game out of its main purpose: scarring you? Comment below!
FreeStyleLance! 