Couch Co-op – Almost Retro

As mentioned in previous posts I have always dabbled in nostalgia and couple that with playing the new Tony Hawk game I am on what you might call a nostalgia trip. This couch co-op serves as an homage to the weird and wonderful games a friend and I have indulged in. Each of these games gathers a plethora of gaming memories and each one of them is unique in its own way. So I thought it would be good to put on the rose tinted glasses and take some of my favourite games to play.

Although these games are old they aren’t quite old enough to be called classics but have been out long enough to have faded faster than a cheap band t-shirt you bought at that gig last year; you know what top I’m talking about. It seemed like a good purchase at the time but a few weeks later the notion passed and you never quite looked back. The t-shirt barely survived its second wash and now slumps on a pile at the back of your room much like some of the gems I plan to present to you wonderful people.

The first of which is Deathrow. The game is based on a futuristic sport called Blitz, the aim of Blitz is similar to that of basketball but you have a disc in a hoop instead. While the aim of the game is to score points there is an alternative way of winning a match: to bludgeon the opposition with every fibre of your being until they lie motionless and bloody on the ground in front of you. The game is as brutal as it sounds. When playing with whatever team you choose, you usually find that the majority of your games are spent pulverising the other team into submission while occasionally scoring a point or two. Multiplayer is unbelievably fun: the sadistic satisfaction that you get from ganging up on the opposition with up to four friends.

With four friends in tow, you can all pick a team and climb to the top on a pile of bodies. For four player games Deathrow is fantastic, a simple play style and objectives ring bells with all kinds of players but the nature of the game does attract a more mature audience. If you can catch a copy before it’s too late this is a must buy for those looking to play a unique multiplayer game, especially for fans of Blitz: The League and Dead Ball Zone.

Another game I have some fond memories of is Kung Fu Chaos, a third person platformer by Ninja Theory. Kung Fu Chaos allows up to four players to indulge in what can be a hilariously stereotypical Asian director’s madcap adventure. Each level had a crude, rude and unbelievably funny name, like “Legend of the Drunken Bastard”. The characters are based on awesome clichés, caricatures and parodies of movie stars. In between levels there are also some awesome mini-games that provide endless amounts of fun for you and your friends. If you are willing to ignore some off the cuff cursing and a bit of comic violence it is great fun for those looking for an alternative party game to sit down and play with friends and family.

Both games were released early on in the life span of the Xbox and may need the original console to play them but if like me you have access to one you might just be able to impress your friends by busting out these two awesome games.