Team Talk: What TV shows and films would make good co-op shooters?

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With last week’s announcement of Aliens: Fireteam re-igniting our love for the co-operative shooter and more media being streamed into our eyes than you can shake a TV Licence at, we wondered what other shows or films might make for a half-decent game tie-in.

It’s a delicate balance of course, as you need characters you can latch onto, but none that are clearly overpowered, since that would upset the team dynamic. Do you have any ideas? Leave them in the comments.

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by James Michael Parry

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@James_Parry

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by Team PTC

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@pass_controller

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Liam | Starship Troopers
 
Bar Alien: Isolation, one of the most common complaints levelled at Alien games is that they reduce what is supposed to be a big, terrifying and highly intelligent apex predator into mere cannon fodder.
 
This wouldn’t be a problem in a Starship Troopers game, however, because that’s essentially what the bugs were. I am of course talking about the bugs made famous by the series of films, not the book (those were a lot more intelligent and even carried weapons). Yes, they were big, scary and, occasionally, highly intelligent, but they also had a penchant for charging en masse into gunfire.
 
They would make an excellent enemy for any co-op focussed shooter. They’re numerous and mindless enough to be cannon fodder, but also boast enough variety to keep things interesting by introducing new enemy types, such as the flying Hopper bug and the hulking Tanker Bug that sprays liquid fire from its head.
 
The latter type would make a perfect mini boss. Players could stumble upon them as they search hostile planets, periodically taking down nests with mini nukes (after exploring them, of course), with levels ending with a big showdown against a Brain Bug that can be killed or captured.

There's a Starship Troopers RTS currently in development, but no co-op shooter.

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James | The Boys

While the recent track record with superhero games isn’t great (Marvel’s Avengers left me a little lukewarm) there’s another way to go about it, enter The Boys.

There’s still a hint of superhero magic, but not so much that you get overwhelmed by it, as in The Boys the superpowers are on the opposing team. Not to mention, they are actually a team, albeit a dysfunctional one (like most online co-op games I’ve played, honestly).

The best co-op shooters manage to give the individual characters just enough character, without everyone wanting to be one. Take Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher, he might be a crack shot with a shotgun, but perhaps he lets his temper get the better of him now and again, making him unreliable, so using him is a bit of a gamble.

There’s certainly some balance issues to bear in mind. A flat out fight between a ragged band of ne'er-do-wells with the odd baseball bat isn’t going to do much when there’s superpowers to contend with, so perhaps a bit of Hitman-inspired infiltration will be the name of the game. Imagine sneaking into Vought Tower and pulling off a synchronised attack... 

Every fight's a boss fight when you're going up against superheroes.

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Sam | Creepshow

There’s a definite trend for bringing back old horror franchises as multiplayer and/or co-op games right now. An ideal candidate to join the growing roster would be Creepshow, the 1980s anthology series recently revived by AMC streaming service Shudder.

Every episode features two standalone, tongue-in-cheek tales of terror. Its constantly rotating cast, locations and antagonists would make for a completely bonkers and incredibly varied gaming experience spread across separate levels.

One minute players would be battling suburban ghosts at Halloween, next werewolves and Nazis in occupied France, then shrinking down to battle murderous miniatures in a doll’s house. The madness wouldn’t end there, either, with regenerating aliens, trickster genies, a world-eating blob and more left to eliminate.

It’d be an excellent candidate for DLC expansions, too. The developers could be endlessly creative and run with almost any idea they had. As levels would be standalone, there’d be no need to worry about how to sustain the seed of something special. Lots of promising plans end up on the cutting room floor because they don’t fit a conventional story arc, which wouldn’t be an issue here.

A miniature co-op shooter actually sounds quite fun.

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What franchise do you think would make a good co-op shooter? Let us know below.