Conflict: Denied Ops - updated hands-on

Dec 19, 2007

How does this co-op game work if you don't have a friend to play with? Well, we don't have any friends, and we got to try out the game. You switch between characters on the fly by hitting a button at anytime. The camera does a little overhead zoom thing and flies out of one guy's head and into the other one. Whoever's brain you're not inhabiting is controlled by AI. The game did a good job of backing us up, although we only played a bit past the first level.

The gameplay is pretty much stripped down the blood and guts to force you to rely on strategy and your partner, rather than being able to rely on having the biggest gun. It's all about using each character's strengths to protect the other one. Sometimes it's as simple as telling Long to run up to a stationary turret while you use Graves to hang back and cover him. Other times you'll leave Long on a hill while using Graves to run down and secure a tank. Then switch back to Long to toss a grenade or pull out a rocket launcher and deal with a helicopter that's firing at Graves.

Ian Dean

Imagine FX and Creative Bloq editor Ian Dean is an expert on all things digital arts. Formerly the editor of Official PlayStation Magazine, PLAY Magazine, 3D World, XMB, X360, and PlayStation World, he’s no stranger to gaming, either. He’ll happily debate you for hours over the virtues of Days Gone, then settle the argument on the pitch over a game of PES (pausing frequently while he cooks a roast dinner in the background). Just don’t call it eFootball, or it might bring tears to his eyes for the ISS glory days on PS1.