Aliens, Mutants, Zombies? No problem, we're in this together.

December 3, 2009 8:48 AM

My spouse and I like to play PS3 games together. Keeping in mind that we've run through Resistance: Fall of Man 5 times now on Superhuman and are getting bored with it, what are your favorite PS3 games which allow COOPERATIVE local play (2 or more players)? I've checked previous threads, but not seen PS3 recommendations. Thanks, hive mind.
posted by misha to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (22 answers total)

Resident Evil 5
posted by ghharr at 8:49 AM on December 3, 2009

Best answer: Little Big Planet has good local co-op. The buy-it-online Bomberman is great. But this is a market just aching for more options.

Saints Row 2 has really, really great co-op, but it's online only.
posted by rokusan at 8:52 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2 has a pretty cool local split screen co-op mode, my brother and I had a blast with a bunch of the levels the other day.

Zombie Apocalypse is a short sort of mindless game with up to four player local goodness, and it's rather fun.
posted by Grither at 8:55 AM on December 3, 2009

Oh, also Little Big Planet is a lot of fun, and you can play through the campaign that came with the game, and then move on to player created content, some of which is fantastic, some of which is totally lame, it's kind of a crap-shoot.
posted by Grither at 8:58 AM on December 3, 2009

call of duty
posted by Eicats at 9:06 AM on December 3, 2009

Left 4 Dead, and its sequel.
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:12 AM on December 3, 2009

I don't believe Left 4 Dead is available on PS3
posted by ghharr at 9:14 AM on December 3, 2009

Best answer: Borderlands was fun; my roommate and I played through it several times.
posted by Ziggy Zaga at 9:16 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

I have Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 and you can do 2 player local split screen. LittleBigPlanet is also pretty cool.
posted by kenbennedy at 9:29 AM on December 3, 2009

Haven't tried it, but ISTR that Katamari Forever has coop multiplayer.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:37 AM on December 3, 2009

Rock Band and its sequels are expensive but worth it.
posted by permafrost at 9:50 AM on December 3, 2009

Best answer: This site is basically a database that collects information on the co-op components of current-gen games, along with user ratings. (Here's the PS3 section.)
posted by Prospero at 9:51 AM on December 3, 2009 [2 favorites]

Going through the list of things I have from the PSN store:

Super Stardust HD, PixelJunk Eden, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Gunstar Heroes (yes, the old 16-bit Genesis game), Topatoi, and Trine all seem to have coop multiplayer, although some of those games make you unlock it by playing through a chunk of the singleplayer content first.

I haven't tried any of them in coop because I don't actually like other people, but still, it's there.
posted by Limiter at 10:17 AM on December 3, 2009

My fiancee likes co-op games, but won't play FPSes or sports games. We've gotten good mileage out of LBP (though we gave up on finding worthwhile community content, the official campaign was still worth the price of the game) and a couple Lego games. We just got Trine (PSN store, $20, has a demo but it's only for singleplayer). Looks like it has a lot of potential but we haven't played enough to say for sure how long it'll last.
posted by valadil at 10:32 AM on December 3, 2009

I asked a similar question recently and got some great answers from the MeFis.
posted by bearwife at 10:46 AM on December 3, 2009

PixelJunk Monsters has resulted in the two of us planning strategies over dinner and debriefing before bed. It's a great little tower defense game and available at the PS store for $10.
posted by charlton at 10:58 AM on December 3, 2009

Seconding Borderlands - it's different in that it's an open-world, quest-orientated (although there are story quests that lead you to new areas/boss battles) shooter with RPG style stats and millions of slightly different weapons, rather than your usual linear, level based FPS which has 8 different weapons in total. A bit dull on your own but really fun in co-op.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:13 PM on December 3, 2009

Best answer: Rainbow 6: Vegas (1 & 2) is cool too if you're more into the linear modern-day shooter. Nicely made with decent graphics.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:15 PM on December 3, 2009

Eternal Sonata is co-op. I don't recommend it unless you a) like JRPGs or b) like making fun of JRPGs.
posted by NoraReed at 12:19 PM on December 3, 2009

My wife and I enjoy Buzz. You have to like trivia though. ;)
posted by purephase at 12:57 PM on December 3, 2009

What Prospero said, and echoing Little Big Planet and PixelJunk Monsters. I also enjoyed Burn Zombie Burn off of the PSN store in co-op.
posted by togdon at 1:28 PM on December 3, 2009

Echoing Modern Warfare 2's local co-op, but there's something else you should try. Call of Duty's online multiplayer is actually a fine way for two people to game. You alternate rounds, cheer each other on, yell out when you see a baddie, and strategize your loadouts. It's really quite enjoyable and you alternate quickly enough so that nobody gets bored.
posted by Doctor Suarez at 10:57 AM on December 12, 2009