Monday, July 20, 2015

The Death of Two Player

Now this post is going to be slightly more intimate, and I'm back, I'm not Yafisz. So, it was recently announced that Halo 5: Guardians would not have couch co-op. Now, I have a few problems with that statement and I am taking issue with them right here and right now. I never had an Xbox or an Xbox 360, but my friends did and one time, when they rented (yes, renting games used to be a thing) Halo 3: ODST we played it all night. Whether we couch co-op'd the story mode or couch co-op'd the multiplayer maps of Halo 3, we were couch co-op-ing. Now, all of a sudden, the next Halo game doesn't even have couch co-op. I once built up my entire gaming part on this blog simply to show off the couch co-op capabilities of Halo: Reach, I called it Halo Hunter back then.

Here is the thing, though, back then, there was no such thing as "couch co-op". You know what there was? Two player. Back then, simply playing in the same room as your friends was two player or three player or four player. Now there is online and there is couch co-op. There is no more two player, but you know what, I'm going to refer to it as two player anyways. As soon as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released and the sales of that game rocketed, there was a sudden shift of focus from the story to the multiplayer. Honestly, nobody plays Call of Duty for the story, the just want zombies or online. That is the entire truth. As soon as that happened, a focus came on how to get people to play online rather than together with two player. Yes, it had already happened on the Xbox 360 with the Halo series, but that was more niche and people still obsess about the story of that game as much as they do online.

When I got my PlayStation 4 I got the Destiny bundle. Silly me thinking I'd be able to play Destiny with my friends who are in the same room. The only PS4 game of mine that does let me do that? WWE 2K15. Yes, Diablo 3 exists out there and has an epic two player mode and I might get it. Other two player games for the PS4? LittleBigPlanet and Rayman. There are definitely more, but none that really have a valuable mode for two player. Sword Coast Legends looks like it might, but I would only get that if it is like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and not too confusing with the D&D stuff they always thrust into those games. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End will probably have two player modes to supplement online like they did for the last game. One thing to note, though, it will be supplementing online and not really have emphasis as a feature of its own. Honestly, I guess this is just a small message saying that I miss the days of two player and wish that they come back, properly and without the requirement of a Wii U.

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