Outriders: Making Co-Op Games Fun Again (Review)

dude i'm dying here i need i'm here dude where are you i'm dying over here dude dude dude it's the good old days where you were blissfully ignorant of every problem in the world and split screen games ruled the lands sadly even in this age of massive tvs local or couch co-op games have sort of fallen out of fashion over the last decade sure co-op games still exist but they are mostly about the gimmick now more than anything and most games with multiplayer seem to have that added in mostly as an afterthought so what does make a good couch co-op and is it even possible to have one in these modern times well the recently released outriders game has somehow managed to capture this classic couch co-op feel to it and it gives me happy little flashbacks to the before times it borrows heavily from well-known games like dears of war mixed in with a little diablo and a dash of destiny all of which do have co-op or multiplayer elements to them this makes it the perfect example to talk about when discussing what makes a great modern day co-op game for context the gist of the outrider story is that it is set in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world you are an outrider and man do people want you to know it so what is an outrider who knows but you are one you are also an ascended which is basically a god and you get to choose your flavor of god powers from the traditional fire ice earth and skin melting time bender and then go off killing waves and waves of anyone and anything that gets between you and the next cutscene that's it that's the game but like i said what's most striking about outriders is how much it reminds me of playing local multiplayer with my friends back in the good old days before i became a jaded and isolated adult it has the soul of a couch co-op but what does that mean well it's a game you can play solo but really and i hate this phrase it is much more fun to play with friends many other games have multiplayer elements but they often feel tacked on to the original design as something that the marketing department just wanted to have in there because it's cool what these multiplayer elements amount to most of the time is just having another body around outriders is the opposite the game feels lacking when you play it alone not only is playing solo more difficult it's also a more trimmed down experience because that's just how well the multiplayer works well isn't a good co-op game just one you can play with your friends i hear you ask to which i would say close but not quite what you really need in these games is teamwork and not just that you have to encourage teamwork yeah duh but no really it seems so simple but this is something that is lacking in a lot of air quotes co-op games what this means is you shouldn't have any mechanics that would encourage your players to play against their team things like keeping track of kills or even total damage output are fine as personal benchmarks for success but what normally ends up happening when you track these things is that people tend to play for the biggest and best numbers on their team which usually means avoiding teamwork unless it's absolutely necessary and while outriders does have a mechanic like this you have to beat the entire game before it shows up and when it does it's in more of a time trial mode so it makes a little more sense another way to encourage teamwork is to avoid forced team compositions no one should be forced into a role they don't want to play because it has to be part of the team they won't enjoy playing that role and everyone else probably won't enjoy having them as support because they don't know what they're doing let people play what they want finally and most importantly a great co-op game should make it fun to have other people there it adds something to the game other than just having another character running around in outriders you can easily coordinate with your teammates to pull off some very satisfying combinations with very little effort like here when one person traps enemies in a time bubble and then the other just rains absolute death down upon them so many of the skills that are given to you work in such a way that they complement each other when executed and they make everyone involved feel like a badass part of what makes this work is the well-designed class system classes don't need to be wildly different from one another and even the same class just needs minor customization options in order to add noticeable variety in the play style between two people who might end up picking the same one but choose to spec them differently as a bonus giving a class a reason to play differently from the other ones is also a huge plus outriders once again excels here by having your classes healing tied to how you do damage or how you kill enemies and is one of the most clever ways i've ever seen this pulled off in a game sure games like outriders can have balancing issues when it comes to classes as some might have it easier than others but who cares this isn't a game where players are playing against other players so worrying about balancing shouldn't be an issue just make things fun and have that the main focus so please stop nerfing my favorite character outriders is the type of game i can imagine spending an afternoon with my friends playing on the same tv sadly that's not really a reality anymore pandemic aside there are a lot of reasons split screen local co-op games don't work anymore there's too much information on screen at one time visually it would be a nightmare because of the aspect ratios and cutting down your field of vision in an action game isn't a great idea in the end outriders is not a perfect game typical launch issues aside like connection problems the game is pretty basic in its design it's just you moving from one shooting death pit to another the map is 100 trash and some boss fights are just trials of patience rather than actual fun there's also some other minor stuff like who thought this sound was a good idea but this is a perfect game for right now at a time when most people are cooped up in their homes and looking for a way to hang out outriders is a fantastic option it's nothing fancy and it doesn't do anything wildly new but it is a good example of how to pull off a successful co-op experience you just have to make it fun to play with your friends that's it but before i go skits at the start of the videos yes no cringey not crunchy enough let me know for now i've got some more gear to go grind so thanks for listening me talk gaming

Channel: Talk Gaming To Me

Views: 912

Rating: 4.1999998 out of 5

Keywords: Outriders, Out Riders

Id: 7m3xb2_mhEo

Length: 6min 51sec (411 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 22 2021