Suggestions for good 2-player action/shooters for PS2?

[Lady Jaye]

I'm looking for a good action/shooter (not a schmup) for PS2, with 2-player simultaneous play. I looked at my library of PS2 games, and most of them are 1-player only, and the few games that I have that are 2-players, aren't what I'm looking for (even though they're great games in their own merit). The game doesn't have to be a recent release, but it has to have good gameplay and be, of course, a North American release.

Any suggestion?

[davidbrit2]

Hmm... What about Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal? I don't think it's got a co-op 2 player mode, but it's definitely got split screen multi-player.

[Lady Jaye]

Ratchet and Clank isn't really what I have in mind... but thanks for the suggestion.

[mdk]

Champions of Norrath for sure...X-Men Legends 1/2 are great for multiplay as well. You unfortunately don't have too many options.

[Lady Jaye]

Champions of Norrath isn't what I'm looking for, besides I already have it.

I checked on Metacritic's alpha list for PS2 games and I came out with the following list (I selected only those 2-player games that garnered a generally high score):

Half-Life
James Bond: Everything or Nothing
James Bond: Nightfire
X-Men Legends
X-Men Legends II
Contra: Shattered Soldier

Any thoughts on those games?

[FantasiaWHT]

If you're considering Contra: SS what about Neo Contra? I thought that was better than SS.

[Lady Jaye]

I looked at the general scores on Metacritic (the advantage of Metacritic being that it gives a global idea of reviews instead of the review of just one or two sites/print sources), and Neo Contra scored lower than Contra: SS. Contra: SS got an average score of 78, while Neo Contra got an average of 65. The biggest complaint about Neo Contra seems to be the length of the game, which is considered to be pretty short.

[downfall]

Contra: Shattered Soldier is the original reason I bought a PS2. It's hard - if you thought the original Contra was hard, then same goes here, if not moreso. But if you like the original Contra games, then you can't go wrong - it's a modern, heavy metal, full speed ahead version of the original Contra - and if you ask me, they couldn't have done it any better - nor could they have done the series any more justice.

Yeah, it's short. Yeah, it's hard. But it's Contra through and through - and is the perfect update of the series. It retains the formula that made the classic Contra so much fun, and yet manages to expand upon it without detracting from it in the least.

Just a fantastic game!

Neo Contra on the other hand. Eh.

[klausien]

I looked at the general scores on Metacritic (the advantage of Metacritic being that it gives a global idea of reviews instead of the review of just one or two sites/print sources), and Neo Contra scored lower than Contra: SS. Contra: SS got an average score of 78, while Neo Contra got an average of 65. The biggest complaint about Neo Contra seems to be the length of the game, which is considered to be pretty short.

I think Neo Contra is much better than Shattered Soldier once you get past the short learning curve. It is still hard as nails, but is definitely more fun. I would recommend that one wholeheartedly. I don't think it will run you more than $15 either.

I just looked through my list and really couldn't come up with anything to add. Sad really. Most of the best action titles are one player. Though not shooters, the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors games are all fun multiplayer games I guess.

Capcom Classics Collection is full of fun ones, though none of them are "current gen" as we all know.

[Ed Oscuro]

I was about to say Spy vs. Spy...turns out it was Xbox only here in the US. Still worth a mention.

[Lady Jaye]

Nice try, but I don't have an Xbox... :P

[njiska]

If you're considering Contra: SS what about Neo Contra? I thought that was better than SS.

Fuck Neo Contra and it's isometric, lack of jumping gameplay. Sorry but that game really pissed me off. It reminded me of the crap Contra games of the PSX days.

Shattered soldier is pure Contra, it's REAL Contra and it's what you should be playing.

[FantasiaWHT]

Enjoy whatever wou want, there's no need to be rude about it

[WiseSalesman]

I was really looking forward to Shattered Soldier, being a big fan of the original Contra, so I bought it on release day. I still haven't played it for more than an hour or two. I think it's awful. Just my two cents.

[RJ]

Well, since no one's yet jumped in about Half-Life, I will.

The PS2 exclusive game is called Decay & involves 2 female research assts in kind of a side story to the main plot. It's almost req. that 2 people play as a team, although it CAN be done solo w/ some fuss. I tried once & got bored & blasted an NPC to quit. You cant save in it, & once you die you have to start over.

But HL also has deathmatch play, w/ 10 areas & 6 different chars IIRC. I havent tried DM, but for an older port of a PC game the game itself got high scores. I got a USB mouse (which HL supports) recently & hope to play it that way eventually.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Lady Jaye]

Finally, I settled for two games. I got James Bond: Everything or Nothing, and X-Men Legends. There were no copies of Contra at EBGames, and the X-Men Legends 2 disk was MIA.

[Poofta!]

how about the 3 Metal Slug games?!


i dont know any better 2 player shooters than those!

[Lady Jaye]

Well, I chose my two games, and that's that. Maybe some other time, but what I got is enough for what I need.