The term "co-op", when pertaining to video games at least, might carry a few ambiguous connotations but generally always means two or more people helping each other to reach the game's conclusion. Whether this actually involves a second human player or an AI partner is something that's become increasingly left to the player's discretion, as AI behavior has grown more sophisticated as newer generations have improved on the technology. A game like Army of Two, for instance, is a co-op game regardless of whether you have an actual friend in the room to virtually fist-bump or not. The level design and the manner in which you progress through the game is largely unchanged, and still requires that your partner assist you to proceed and vice versa. Singularity and Enslaved, as well, are games in which a second human player is not an available option, but the player is still assisted by an AI partner whom is required to proceed. Then you have games like The Lost Vikings, in which you're switching between multiple playable characters, and the definition of "co-op" starts to get a little obfuscated.
For the sake of simplicity, we'll just go with "two independently-controlled characters helping each other across obstacles" as our definition of a co-op game, either as two human players or a single human player with an AI companion. To that effect, the three games I've played this week take wildly divergent approaches to this co-op dynamic, and in lieu of anything else that could link the three games in question I'm just going to roll with it. Sure, a blog about subverting the co-op experience. Sounds fun, right? Yeah it does.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Melancholy almost to a fault and stunning to look at, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a puzzle-adventure game in the mold of ICO or Heart of Darkness which superficially seems like the archetypal co-op experience. There's two brothers, and there's a whole mess of puzzles and obstacles that the player must figure out how to solve or avoid using both. The subversion in this example comes from how both characters are controlled simultaneously with two halves of the gamepad: most of the puzzles are built around this system, with numerous instances requiring that the player react as both brothers at the same time to progress.
It's not a game where switching from one to the other could necessarily work, and to make one of the brothers entirely automated would drastically change the entire game to a detrimental and unrecognizable effect. this control scheme does lead to a few problems - if the elder brother, the one controlled by the left side of the gamepad, is in on the right side of the screen the resulting left/right confusion can be too jarring to resume the game with until he's moved back to the left side where he belongs. Most of the game's puzzle instances make special care to always ensure that whenever the brothers are split up, they remain on "their" sides of the screen for the sake of accessibility.
Still, though, while Brothers has fantastic visuals and a moving and dialogue-free story, it lives or dies on this unique simultaneous control gimmick. It's remarkable more for its subversion of the usual tenets of the co-operative puzzle-adventure game than for its otherwise stellar presentation, and the effectiveness with which it pulls it off might well come down to an individual player's (in)ability to acclimatize to it. It's not like there's much precedent for a control scheme like this, barring a few multiplayer games with odd controller-sharing options.
Gunpoint
Astute readers might have already wondered aloud about what co-operative elements Gunpoint is supposed to have, and you smartypants types are absolutely correct: Gunpoint is not a co-operative game in the slightest. Richard Conway works alone, and always will. Rather, Gunpoint felt (to me) like a modern adaptation of the old Sega game Bonanza Bros., which also features gameplay focused around being hired to break into a well-guarded building and finding clever ways to elude the security. I mean, there are earlier 2D stealth espionage games (Impossible Mission, Spy vs Spy and Elevator Action immediately spring to mind, among others) but nothing with the sort of clever planning strategy and spatial awareness that Gunpoint shares with Bonanza Bros. Bonanza Bros., technically speaking, is not a fully co-operative game either but it's certainly a lot easier with a second player watching your back. Well, unless he's trying to get to the loot first anyway.
Unlike its possible spiritual ancestor, Gunpoint does not have a second character to lend assistance. Rather, the player is sold a device that allows them to tinker with electronics remotely, giving them a semi-omniscient presence in each stage's location that allows them to set traps and make preparations before they even have to enter the (least secured) entrance into the building. So in that sense, the game subverts the co-operative experience by removing its necessity entirely.
Of course, it's entirely conjecture that Gunpoint takes anything from Bonanza Bros. I'm not sure if Tom Francis, Gunpoint's sole designer, has ever said anything official regarding the source(s) of Gunpoint's inspiration. It's possible the similarity between the two games was mine alone to acknowledge. There's also the fact of the matter that Bonanza Bros is considerably less complex than Gunpoint, without any of its electronics-rewiring or camera dodging. That game is... well, it's mostly hiding from guards. But in a very deliberate way through several cutaway floors of elaborate 2D buildings while chasing multiple objectives, I'll hasten to clarify. You can also stun guards by opening doors into them in both games, which might've been where all this "huh, that's kind of like a Sega game I played years back" comparison business started.
Even so, Gunpoint may have easily been one of those cases where a field agent is being helped by some hacker back at an off-site location, or at least someone standing next to a switch somewhere, but is cleverly designed so that the player is required to do everything in order to inconspicuously move towards whichever computer needs to be hacked or gizmo needs to be stolen. Switching to the electronics hacking mode, which comes complete with a different screen filter and a subtle music change, sometimes feels like you're controlling a separate character. It's a co-op game that isn't, if I haven't said something along those lines enough times already. It's also pretty good, has some amazingly detailed pixel art and is self-deprecatingly funny, so you guys should probably buy it if you haven't yet.
Bioshock Infinite
Bioshock Infinite's minimal co-operative elements, which is to say Elizabeth throwing you shit occasionally, isn't really a notable example of the type. Rather, I've just played some Bioshock Infinite this week and am already curious about where they're going with Liz. She's clearly the most important character in the game, the few questions I have about Booker notwithstanding (I guess it's the nature of Bioshock to have somewhat nebulously defined leading men), but it seems Infinite is really all about "the Girl in the Tower". Whatever, I guess I'll find out. I somehow managed to avoid hearing any spoilers during the GOTY deliberations, which is why I'm in somewhat of a hurry to complete this blog and get further with the game. If there's more typos than usual this week, then... well, that's probably the excuse I'm sticking with.
I'll tell you something about Bioshock Infinite that others have been saying that I didn't believe I'd be concurring with: I liked it more before all the violence started. I dunno, maybe it's because I played Dishonored between now and the last Bioshock, but I think I prefer these games when there's a less aggressive route. For now, it seems that the game decided to have enemies fly in whenever and suddenly turn it into a full-on FPS game for a bit. I'm otherwise loving running around looting trashcans like a reprobate, listening and watching the various goofy voxophones and kinetiscopes, marveling at the game's overtly self-aware anachronisms and wondering where that particular element is heading towards, and simply enjoying the sights and sounds of this amazing early 20th century cloud city. All the racism and evangelism is a little much, but I guess it's an easy if trite way to convince me to kill a bunch of innocent policemen and the assholes they work for. There's definitely stuff I'm liking and disliking about the game so far, to put it in way fewer words.
But hey, if you have to force a bit of an AI companion/co-op partner business into the game, I'm glad they're keeping them out of danger and letting them toss a few power-ups my way now and again. Not to be flippant about the role of a female deuteragonist that's entirely passive and subservient, but there's nothing wrong with a game that allows a defenseless character to play to their non-combative strengths. Unless it's nothing but making health-restoring sandwiches for the hero upon command, in which case a line has no doubt been crossed somewhere.
So there you have it. One game with a weird co-operative element and two games with significantly less going on in that regard that I've nonetheless shoehorned into the topic. Writing blogs is fun, you guys. But wait, dear readers, I have one more co-op-related thing to talk about this week:
Awesome Games Done Quick
For most of the past week, the Speedrun Demos Archive people have been putting on their biannual show (or should that be showing off? Thank you, thank you. Be sure to give your waitresses tips, as they're so close to a sub-30 minute run of Super Mario World and could use the advice), completing games really quickly and not necessarily in the way the original game designers envisioned. I've always been awestruck by how quickly and efficiently these players are able to completely obliterate these games, but it's become clearer as I observe these runs where their true strength lies: in co-operation.
Not the sort of co-operation where two players are playing the same game and helping each other, though I did note that the Secret of Mana run made a few interesting uses out of a second player at the controls. Rather, every trick, every glitch, every time-saving maneuver and risky gambit came about from a community of these dedicated gamers testing the limits of their chosen games and sharing everything they learned with the rest of their cabal. With each year, more and more skips and glitches are gleaned and employed by the communities at large, and the resulting total playtimes on the leaderboards get shorter and shorter. It reminds me of Olympiad Dick Fosbury, the guy who invented the method of jumping backwards in the High Jump, who discovered and shared a way for everyone to reach new heights (so to speak) in the event. (And not just because there's a Mazda commercial in the UK based on it that always seems to be on.)
Obviously, one could also consider these charity events themselves to be massive co-operative efforts to raise money to beat cancer. A room filled with speedrunners and their supporters, from evidently all over the globe if my limited ability to place an accent is anything to go by, are demonstrating everything they've learned and drawing massive crowds of impressed and magnanimous onlookers. I've been watching as much of it as I can between Vinny's Dark Souls streams, Jeff Green's Dark Souls streams and Patrick's Dark Souls streams (I might, might be watching too much streaming Dark Souls) and every year it's been exceptional fun to marvel at. I'm honestly surprised I've managed to play as many games as I have this week, given how many more I could be watching getting completely dominated with every coding mishap being exploited for all its worth. If you haven't been watching, stop by the Explosive Runs Giant Bomb community stream hub and make astonished noises with us in chat.
So all right, now I'm drawing this business to a close. Thanks for stopping by, folks. Maybe next time I'll have some actual co-op games to talk about, but probably not. I'm thinking it'll be more Bioshock Infinite, the Stanley Parable and possibly an RPG of some kind. Stay tuned to see what kind of weird thread I'm able to contrive to connect them together!
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