…and by that I mean video game wise. Although by this point I’m ready for Spring weather wise as well. (thankfully out of the major recent snow storm areas atleast…for once Buffalo pulls some luck)

First things first, I’m quite excited that Alan Wake FINALLY has a release date. It was recently announced for May 18th this year. Another game that I had been following for god knows how long (atleast as long as I had been waiting for RE5, probably longer). I also took a look at the Collector’s Edition today and it looks quite tempting I must say. Not that it’s that hard to tempt me with them, as I’ve always been into the collector’s editions. Also coming out this day will be Lost Planet 2, which should serve up some good ol’ co-op action if the demo was any indication of the final product.

Even earlier in April, Splinter Cell Conviction will finally (I say finally because this one was also delayed quite extensively) will be hitting stores on the 13th. The most interesting thing to me about the newest installment is the co-op prologue campaign, which you can currently grab a trailer of as well. Hope they get it right. Closing out April will be Red Dead Redemption on the 27th which, if you’ve been watching the trailers as I have, might just have you as excited as I am for it.

In the meantime we have the first Resident Evil 5 add-on this week (YAY!), Heavy Rain next week (demo out now if you didn’t go for the pre-release one), Perfect Dark for the XBLA sometime in March (thank god…remember the winter ’09 release estimate? I do), and another RE5 add-on in early March (double YAY!) to look forward to as well.

– DGM-payne

Cooperative video games, to me they’ve always been much more rewarding to play than any other form of  multiplayer. Working with a friend or family member through puzzles or the adversity of waves of enemies is just plain fun when formed correctly. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy competitive gaming sometimes. The occasional deathmatch, capture the flag, search and destroy, etc. is entertaining but to me it gets old after awhile. I never get tired of playing Co-op. That’s why when I heard that they wouldn’t include Co-op, but only regular multiplayer, in the newest Wolfenstein game I was quite disappointed. Co-op was a good part of the Xbox version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein and I would’ve liked to see it return. A Cooperative mode (especially offline AND online) is a major plus in my book. Let’s take a (somewhat brief) look at some of the Co-op modes of recent years…

• Gears of War 1 and 2 – First of all, the campaigns on both games were pretty epic (excuse the pun) with Co-op. I’d recommend going Co-op anyways if you plan on tackling insanse difficulty, it’ll save some time. Even better, Gears 2 added the Horde mode that allowed up to 4 people to get together to whoop wave after wave of locust. It can be quite a challenge even on lower difficulties  to get up to wave 50 and offered plenty of replayability. There’s also some achievements for Horde, especially now since the new map packs came out. Also, the “deleted scene” is inbound with the dark corners map pack later this month to offer even more co-op and new achievements.

• Marvel Ultimate Alliance  – If you’re a fan of Marvel comics AND Co-op gameplay then there’s no reason not to atleast try this one. It’s the perfect combination of both worlds and one of the first Xbox 360 (multiconsole, version I bought) games that I truely had a great time playing with friends. Tons of marvel characters, beat ’em up action, and up to four player Co-op online/offline…what’s not to love? What really gets me excited is that there’s a sequel on the way. Sign me up!

• Call of Duty : World at War – First of all, the main campaign is up to 4 player Co-op, which is pretty cool I guess (though I rarely play over 2 player myself). There’s also challenges that can only be done in Co-op to raise your XP in multiplayer. A downside though, and I’m sure I’m speaking for my cousin here, is that the achievements were almost entirely built for single player. Which is alright if you wanna  go through the whole game by yourself on the hardest difficulty (which I did) but alot of people probably want to tackle it in Co-op. There’s also the competititive Co-op (still sounds like a huge oxymoron to me) mode where you compete for the highest scores in campaign. Finally though, what I really wanted to get to, is the Nazi Zombie mode. You face up against waves of zombies with up to 3 friends (or strangers) until everyone dies. The first map that came with the game, Nacht Der Untoten, was kind of MEH because it was pretty limited in movement and weapons but it was a start. The next map, Verruckt (might be spelling that wrong) that came with Map Pack 1,  was when things really started to get interesting with the perks machines and electric barriers. The latest (and most hectic map), Shi No Numa from Map Pack 2, puts a new spin on the mode with Japanese zombies and Hell Hounds, a new trap called the Flogger and electric weapon (which I’m not even going to attempt to spell in german, but we like to call it the “wonder waffle”), and 4 new characters that can be quite funny in their sayings. Not only is the newest map even bigger and replayable than previous but it also added new acheievements that further added to the experience. My cousin and I have spent plenty of hours playing the various zombie maps and probably even more time than regular multiplayer, which we did play quite a bit at the beginning but Nazi Zombies still takes the cake. I really must hand it to Treyarch for creating a downright fun game mode in Nazi Zombies. Right now I’m just looking forward to what Infinity Ward will do with Co-op in Modern Warfare 2 (since the first one lacked in that department). Anyways, I think I’ve trailed on enough…let’s continue.

• Resident Evil 5 – I’ve been a long time fan of the Resident Evil series and I was quite eager for the arrival of the first Co-op adventure, so much so that I followed every trailer and news for years before the actual release. When it finally came it was quite the experience and I only wished it would’ve lasted longer. It’s the kind of game that you just NEED to play with a friend to get the whole experience in the bosses, puzzles, etc. (see my last posts about Resident Evil 5 for more). AI Sheva can be alright, but if you want to tackle this on Professional difficulty and get all the achievements  then you should really be playing along with someone else.

• Castle Crashers – The creators of Alien Hominid have done it again! This time offering us great and cartoony multiplayer beat ’em up action (with plenty of humorous characters and situations, as expected of behemoth style). Join up to three friends offline or online to take on the ridiculous bosses and save the princesses. There are playable characters, weapons, and animal helpers galore. My only beef with the game right now is with the online portion, which seems to be having some problems with 2 people starting up a game together (kicking both players before the game even starts). It’s a known problem that many have been having and hasn’t been patched yet as of this posting. Why? Don’t know but it seems like a pretty big problem to me…

• Rainbow Six : Vegas 1 and 2 – Next to the Splinter Cell series these are my favorite Tom Clancy games. Not nearly as stealthy as Splinter Cell, but tactical in it’s own way with team-based action. If you’re playing single player then you get to boss around 2 teammates, in Co-op you still get the teammates but only the first player can boss them around. Which is probably a good thing because we wouldn’t want the AI more confused than they already are. Speaking of which though, I noticed the AI teammates were a bit more annoying on Co-op for whatever reason, being more unresponsive and getting in the way more than usual. Playing on Realisitic difficulty with Co-op is a pretty decent way to rank up, unlock new weapons, and get some easy achievements atleast.

• Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles – A bit of a refreshing change of pace from the usual Resident Evil, Umbrella Chronicles not only gave us good arcade shooter action (along with the Wii Zapper) but also some back and in between story of the series never seen before. To me it was one of the best Co-op titles to hit Wii thus far. It’s also no surprise that the sequel Darkside Chronicles is on it’s way to fill in some more gaps around Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica (and maybe more? Time will tell).

Well, there you have my opinion on it…

What do you think about Co-op gaming?

Let us know on the Forums.

– DGM-payne

P.S. – Top anticipated of 2009/2010 coming up next…keep watching.

• Last DVD watched:: Predator
• Last movie watched in theaters:: X-Men Origins : Wolverine

Both add-ons for Resident Evil 5 Versus mode and Banjo-Kazooie : Nuts and Bolts Lost Challenges came out today…which is awesome, but not really what I wanted to mention.

I’ll be doing another Riskening’s highly anticipated game releases list SOON.

It’ll be that time again, just you wait.