Splitscreen vs online co-op
In the good old Mario days you had to play together on one screen, the battle between Maro and Luigi in Super Mario bros 3 is almost legendary to me. I played that with a friend all night, it was just so much fun. Later I did the same with Goldeneye 64, there you had a splitscreen it was a lot of fun! These days you go online and play with random strangers, even when you play with friends only you have the whole screen to yourself. Which is of course nice, seeing things smaller doesn´t make it easier! But I do miss playing with someone I can see and punch when they´re messing with me, something I kind of miss in the online co-op. Like having a friend that constantly blows you up with a rocket launcher, I can´t imagine that you don´t want to have a little bit of revenge after that. But it´s more than that, it the fun that you share when you´re sitting next to eachother, it´s more personal than hearing the voice of a friend (or stranger) through your headset. But that´s the future I guess, we get more distance between eachother and yet the person sounds like he or she is right there with you. It´s a nice trick to fool people that they´re social but at the same time I feel like we´ve all just become a bit less social.
What´s so special about a splitscreen? Well not much really, the fact that you can´t see as much as someone that has a full screen can really work against you. But in some games it works out nice, they give you optimal view for a splitscreen and the good thing is that the other has to deal with the same amount of screen. When you work against eachother it might be less helpful, because the other can see where you are. But when you work together it might actually help as you can watch eachothers backs and then the other can see on the upper (or lower, depending which player you are) part of the screen if there is something attacking you. Online you´d have to be clear in the communication and when someone lost the other on the map then it can be trouble to find eachother again. Of course that doesn´t have to be so but it does happen. A fun game to play with splitscreen is Black Ops 2 zombie mode, it actually works pretty good there and you get a lot of room to see for a splitscreen. A bad example of splitscreen is Resident Evil 6, you don´t have much visibility and it makes spotting and aiming at enemies a lot more difficult then it has to be. The plus side of a splitscreen that it is more personal, but on the other side it does take away some of your screen so maybe not perfect for games where you´d probably wish you had the full screen for your character.
Is online co-op the future? It´s not a secret that a lot of people play games online, not only against eachother but also working together to complete missions or objectives. Sometimes games will only support an online co-op so that kind of forces you into playing online with a friend. I guess you can´t escape it and why should you? It might not be as much fun as playing with a friend on your couch but isn´t it still fun to play with your friend(s)? It´s also a bit more healthy when you´re messing with your friend that he can´t slap you, I mean there is only that much you can take before you feel the urge to hit someone out of frustration! Playing online with others also gives you a chance to make new friends or enemies, I guess not everyone is always that friendly. But there is a whole world out there and a lot of those people are looking for other people to play with, maybe because they don´t have friends that play games or friends that don´t like the games that they like. It´s also fun to play with people from another continent, if you met people from America, Asia or Australia then you can play with them online. Though the time difference might be making it harder the further they live away and the connection isn´t always that good either, but at least you have the option to do so.
How much has co-op changed over the years? Well quite a lot, in my opinion co-op has moved from the Mario vs Luigi days to beating the crap out of eachother in an online match. But it´s much more than that! When you at first took a friend with you on your adventure through a game on one screen, now you can take three friends with you on your adventure with everyone having their own screen. A good example of this is Gears of War 3 or more recently Gears of War Judgement. As much fun as it can be to play co-op with a friend next to you on the couch, I bet it´s more fun when you play with three friends online. Maybe this will change even more in the future, play in even bigger groups and take entire groups of people with you in your adventures. I think Rockstar made a good step in that direction with GTA V, where you can be with many people in a lobby a they already showed in GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption. The lobby would be an open world where you can unwind a bit and shoot the shit out of your friends. As far as I know this is how GTA V will be but probably bigger and better. I guess we can only hope. Whatever it is you prefer, I think we can all agree that it´s more fun to play games with friends than always play games alone!
What´s so special about a splitscreen? Well not much really, the fact that you can´t see as much as someone that has a full screen can really work against you. But in some games it works out nice, they give you optimal view for a splitscreen and the good thing is that the other has to deal with the same amount of screen. When you work against eachother it might be less helpful, because the other can see where you are. But when you work together it might actually help as you can watch eachothers backs and then the other can see on the upper (or lower, depending which player you are) part of the screen if there is something attacking you. Online you´d have to be clear in the communication and when someone lost the other on the map then it can be trouble to find eachother again. Of course that doesn´t have to be so but it does happen. A fun game to play with splitscreen is Black Ops 2 zombie mode, it actually works pretty good there and you get a lot of room to see for a splitscreen. A bad example of splitscreen is Resident Evil 6, you don´t have much visibility and it makes spotting and aiming at enemies a lot more difficult then it has to be. The plus side of a splitscreen that it is more personal, but on the other side it does take away some of your screen so maybe not perfect for games where you´d probably wish you had the full screen for your character.
Is online co-op the future? It´s not a secret that a lot of people play games online, not only against eachother but also working together to complete missions or objectives. Sometimes games will only support an online co-op so that kind of forces you into playing online with a friend. I guess you can´t escape it and why should you? It might not be as much fun as playing with a friend on your couch but isn´t it still fun to play with your friend(s)? It´s also a bit more healthy when you´re messing with your friend that he can´t slap you, I mean there is only that much you can take before you feel the urge to hit someone out of frustration! Playing online with others also gives you a chance to make new friends or enemies, I guess not everyone is always that friendly. But there is a whole world out there and a lot of those people are looking for other people to play with, maybe because they don´t have friends that play games or friends that don´t like the games that they like. It´s also fun to play with people from another continent, if you met people from America, Asia or Australia then you can play with them online. Though the time difference might be making it harder the further they live away and the connection isn´t always that good either, but at least you have the option to do so.
How much has co-op changed over the years? Well quite a lot, in my opinion co-op has moved from the Mario vs Luigi days to beating the crap out of eachother in an online match. But it´s much more than that! When you at first took a friend with you on your adventure through a game on one screen, now you can take three friends with you on your adventure with everyone having their own screen. A good example of this is Gears of War 3 or more recently Gears of War Judgement. As much fun as it can be to play co-op with a friend next to you on the couch, I bet it´s more fun when you play with three friends online. Maybe this will change even more in the future, play in even bigger groups and take entire groups of people with you in your adventures. I think Rockstar made a good step in that direction with GTA V, where you can be with many people in a lobby a they already showed in GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption. The lobby would be an open world where you can unwind a bit and shoot the shit out of your friends. As far as I know this is how GTA V will be but probably bigger and better. I guess we can only hope. Whatever it is you prefer, I think we can all agree that it´s more fun to play games with friends than always play games alone!
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