It’s something I’ve been craving for years, and yet no one seems to want to give it to me. Shooters like Gears of War and Halo have it. Arcade games like Castle Crashers have it. However, when it comes to the world of sports games, it is non-existant. I’m speaking of online co-op in franchise mode.
The premise seems simple enough. Start up a franchise, connect to the internet, and have a friend or friends be able to play on your team against the CPU. In a world where Fifa and NHL can have FULL squads playing simultaneously, why is something that sounds like it could easily be implemented into the game not even a consideration?
The only game I’ve ever seen that appears to have implemented this to a lesser degree, is NBA 2k11. The servers are no longer functioning for this game so that’s out the window. I’m not a fan of the NBA, so I never really gave this game a second look.
Let’s start with games that could benefit from this.
Madden: Football is probably the game that has the least benefit to online co-op. However, I’d love to see this option. It offers 3 vs. 3 currently, but only head to head online. Besides, think of the strategy of running your own plays and discussing specific assignments for each player.
NCAA Football: This game was marred with problems last year so online co-op probably shouldn’t be on the list of fixes for 2013. But just like Madden, there are a number of awesome benefits to it. NCAA goes much more in depth with off the field decision making as well.
MLB: The Show: I still have a slight hope that online co-op will spill over into franchise mode. It seems like developers are avoiding this question on forums everywhere. I haven’t found a clear answer to this being in the 2012 version of The Show. Baseball is a great game for online co-op because the options can be near limitless. Letting each other know when to bunt, steal, and take are common baseball strategies. Having the option of who pitches, who controls what players, how hitters will be distributed to each player….the list goes on and on.
18 years ago you could play co-op franchise...why can we still not do it online?
NHL: This seems like an easy addition. Online team play already exists, franchise already exists…just combine the two! The element that would change drastically here is real hockey smarts. Line changes don’t exist in OTP so using real players would make a big difference. Depending on the number of players you have, perhaps one person could control both defensemen.
FIFA: I don’t care for the sport of soccer, but you can be sure that if online co-op franchise was here, I’d be first in line to purchase. Imagine the pressures of your team working your way through the EPL, MLS, or even a series of World Cup qualifiers. It’s similar to hockey in the setup, so just put it in the game already.
What are your thoughts? Would you want online co-op franchise to be a part of a game? Would you use it?