Anyone else miss the absolute peak 360/PS3 era coop?

[SfcoAwol]

recently replayed the original Army of Two (and a bit of The 40th Day), and man... It is an absolute breath of fresh air compared to the modern shooters we get flooded with today.

Everything now is either a bloated open-world checklist, a tactical simulator where you die in one hit, or some live-service battle royale trying to sell you weapon skins. Going back to a completely linear, over-the-top action game felt so damn good.

The biggest thing that stood out to me is just how much unique gameplay flavor we’ve lost over the years. The Aggro System is still Solid. One guy gears up, loud-as-hell LMG to draw all the enemy attention while the other slaps on a silencer and flanks them from behind. Why don't modern games do this anymore? It actually forced you to communicate. And don’t even get me started on the dynamic mechanics like the Back-to-Back segments where the camera goes slow-mo and you’re spinning around defending each other, or literally using a car door as a mobile riot shield while your buddy stacks up behind you. It’s pure, beautiful couch-coop cinema.

But I have to admit, one thing took me completely by surprise, and it made me realize how much modern gaming has sanitized itself: the suicide bombers.

I totally forgot they were a major enemy type in the early levels. saw a guy sprinting at us rigged with explosives, It completely threw me off because you never see that in modern AAA titles anymore. I hadn't even consciously noticed their absence in recent games.

It really made me miss that late-2000s era of gaming. Salem and Rios fist-bumping after playing rock-paper-scissors in the middle of a warzone might be peak "bro-shooter" cheese, but it had so much personality.

Are there any other titles from that era you guys think still hold up visually and mechanically compared to today's stuff? I'm Open to new suggestions.

Let me know what you think!

[Valknor]

I missed everything after Nintendo 64 growing up, and switched over to PC gaming. Still, the co-op experience on the N64 was great. I especially enjoyed playing Mario Kart 64 with my father.

I believe the modern obsession with photo-realism is a dead end. What matters are mechanics, and how the game feels to play. Sure, for a few minutes it's a little jarring to see the low-poly characters on the N64, but within 15 minutes I'm so immersed I don't care about the graphics.