Half Gamer Half Crab

I don't think co-op is being exploited to its fullest. I don't think its even close, to be honest. Co-op tends to simply mean you've got another gun at your side, and another damage sponge. Sure, they throw some extra enemies at you or maybe buff some of their hit points, and it's true that sometimes they split you up so the two of you are pursuing complimentary objectives, but ultimately they tend to be pretty uninspired affairs. Massively, massively fun, but nonetheless uninspired.

Let's imagine a game with a horror slant. Let's think it's a FPS with a horror slant. And let's imagine two people are playing it over XBL.

You've gone through a few levels with your buddy, having good times, shooting things up. You start a new level, and it has a slightly different atmosphere. Slightly creepier, slightly less actiony. As the two of you make your way through the level the number of encounters is a little lower, but the ammo is a good deal lower. The game has stepped up the difficulty, it seems.

You head into a new room and suddenly, your friend opens fire... on nothing at all. The bullets bury themselves into the walls. You start to ask what the hell they're wasting all that ammo for, but before you can get a word in they're yelling at you to start firing.

They can see enemies which you can't see, and vice-versa. Are they real? Are they hallucinations? To the person who can see them they act perfectly normally; to the other person you're shooting at shadows. Now you'd need to do this right. You couldn't overdo it, you couldn't make it a gameplay mechanic you rely on. And you certainly shouldn't have a specific enemy who acts like this - any regular enemy should sometimes have this capacity. But used occasionally and wisely, the ability to enhance the game and create tension and drama, not just between the game and players but between the players themselves, would be great.

That's just one example of how I think co-op gameplay could be more than it is.