The way things are going I don’t expect to see a full co-op CoD game any time soon, it is like the digital camera mobile phones, they had the technology years ago, but each year they bring out an higher number of megapixels.

I have been pointing out all the bad things about the CoD games, but I am really just being picky. CoD6 is a great game and with the record sales (7 million in the first day) it has achieved I am sure the multiplayer will keep us entertained for a several months.

If you are like me and love co-op here is a breakdown of the features it has and the ones I wish it had.

- Co-op mini missions
- No co-op campaign
- No 2-player Xbox Live
- No widescreen co-op play (like the smaller screens of WaW)

The beloved co-op!

If everyone is raving about it why are the game developers still leaving out any sort of co-op play? Recently Brothers in Arms : Hells Highway has left this out. The developers of Earth Defense Force 2017 got it right, a simple game that was boosted into the good books after I found the 50+ co-op missions.

Some games have co-op online play, this is good if you have xbox live, but if you dont it can be devastating when you find out that your new game is only single player. There is a list of 360 games made with co-op capability found here. Online co-op can be great, the CoD3 version had the right idea but, the game play was too shabby to be called a great game.

Hopefully more games will make co-op missions available. Coming soon: Halo 3: ODST, Borderlands and Left 4 Dead 2.

While many look at the genre of games to determine their next game, for me, split screen co-op campaign or on-line is one of the key factors when choosing my next game. As my partner and myself are both avid gamers and love gaming with each other, as opposed to watching, it makes it an extremely important factor.

Of course, we do still play single player campaigns and multi player, but it isn’t the same. Call of Duty 4 for example, great as it is, would have been even better with at least one split screen option (apart from custom games). So naturally, Gears of War, Halo 3, Unreal Tournament 3, are games we play frequently.

Rainbow Six Vegas and other games have been tried as well, so I have a fair amount of knowledge and experience of co-op split screen games. With the release of Gears of War 2, again naturally, this was a game we had to have as we love shooters and it offers split screen play.

It’s clear from the first few chapters, that this game was made for co-op and even split screen. A lot of thought went into the co-op campaign.

With other co-op games, I’ve believed it was more of an added option as well as a lot of fun. Gears of War 2 raises the bar on co-op campaign. You really have to work as a team in this game. As you progress further in the game, this becomes clearer. From moving in time and with co-ordination to carry the explosives to the security door, to driving together. With one driving and the other on the gun, team work is a must to complete the chapter with it becoming more difficult when the lights go out.

With missions like that, where working together is essential, it makes the co-op campaign so much better than others I’ve played. Gears of War also offered the same type of experience, however, Gears of War 2, in this gamer’s opinion, blows it, and every other game, out of the water in this area.

We’ve just finished Act Three, and I can’t wait to see what other missions are ahead, Gears of War 2 doesn’t fail to impress with such enthralling game play.