Survival co-op: good, bad? In between?

Now, I enjoyed the co-op aspect of RE5, in fact it brought me back to the game and adds a nice touch to replayability. But RE5 did lack that sense of dread and fear that loneliness seems to.
I like co-op but in survival horror I find it takes the horror out a bit and ramps the game more into an action horror sort of game. And while RE has opted the co-op I quite liked the fact that one of large survival horror players had remained distinctly solo: Dead Space, but we all know that co-op is also being introduced in that.

I believe it was the director (or possibly producer) who made a comment to a magazine that todays gamers don't like survival horror, hence for the push in RE for more action oriented play.
I think he is wrong, there is still a market out there for survival horror. I'd like to see a bit of diversity, instead of all developers conforming to a single consensus based wholly on profit.

As consumers, more and more developers are taking us for granted in what we like and it's refreshing to see a developer show a bit of individuality. I love COD, but I don't want every FPS to be a COD clone, just like I love RE but don't want every other survival horror to be an RE clone.

ALL GAMES SHOULD HAVE CO-OP.

Prince of Judah wrote:

ALL GAMES SHOULD HAVE CO-OP.

Not every game. In a game like shadow of the colossus it would only ruin the lonely atmosphere.

In my personal opinion, co-op and survival are opposite terms because I think that you ahve to be on your own to survive.

@Mcghie: come on dude, that's too fucking long to read

Prince of Judah wrote:

ALL GAMES SHOULD HAVE CO-OP.

Subjective...not every game needs co-op Resident Evil 1/4 never had co-op and they sold and played perfectly, outbreak had both offline and online co-op again worked perfectly.

Did RE5 need co-op? no not really they just tacked that on to make it more gears of evil more than anything and hell did I hate co-op(dumb AI is one of the reasons.)I prefer single player games because I can enjoy the game more than if I had 7 other people on mics spewing abuse at each other, Dead space 1 and 2 never needed co-op and now it has for 3.... that would be like taking Mass Effect and shoving a co-op mode on that it would ruin the entire experience. If I want co-op I want it local not online only something that capcom should have really done for RE5....

I don't really mind co-op in games like RE. I do, however, only play the campaign co-op splitscreen and use online strictly for minigames. RE6 is really shaping out to be a great title, not only because it's long but also because it garners to all kinds of fans. Campaigns based on action and horror seperately BUT also with that one solo campaign. They really overdid themselves with this one. I'll propably co-op Chris and Jake scenarios and leave Leon, and Ada of course, as single player experiences.

You mentioned Dead Space being a large survival horror title that has kept itself as strictly solo, at least till 3, but there is a couple of more actually big horror series that have kept themselves as solo. As I'm actually accustomed to RE being co-op and less horror now, I go to games like Project Zero, Siren and Silent Hill for single player horror. There actually is two SH titles with multiplayer but those are only spinoffs so... yeah. Haven't played them either, sadly.

Too bad that out of the series I mentioned Siren has kinda vanished after three games and a movie. The production team, Project Siren, does still exist and they even released a new game this year.


Addendum: I do prefer multiplayer on zombie survival games. It's always fun trying to make the best of what you have and survive with your friends and random people. Games like Left 4 Dead, Dead Island, DayZ, Dead Nation, Dead Rising and even the CoD zombie mode come to mind.