Sept 19, 2007

When the US government needs something shady done, they call you, an elite member of the CIA's Special Activities Division. Conflict: Denied Ops seems fairly familiar on the surface with its typical covert ops protagonists and a South American country in political turmoil. But developer, Pivotol Games has an interesting ace up their sleeve: single-player co-op.

During Conflict's single-player campaign, you'll be able to switch off between Langs, a heavy weapons gunner, and Graves, a sniper. It's not like you haven't seen this feature before in other titles. But switching between the two soldiers still looks like it works well in Conflict. In one area, we saw the Graves order Langs to hop in a nearby turret to lay down some suppressing fire while he stepped back and picked off enemies from a distance.

Above: It's not confirmed by any means. But we hope the ability to control two players at the same time makes its way over to multiplayer

But it's the possibility of the ability to take both Langs and the Graves into battle in multiplayer that really has our interest piqued. When we play shooters, we like to get up close and personal. Force feeding shot gun shells to your friend's face or smacking them upside the head with a rifle butt feels great, until some damned camper inevitably headshots us from the other side of the map.

Imagine changing hats on the fly and quickly switching roles to a sniper when you see that someone's trying to pick you off. You order your gunner fire in the direction of the sniper, buying you enough time to extract your revenge from a distance.

Eidos did not confirm or deny the possibility that you'll be able to take both the long-ranged sniper and the gunner with you into multiplayer. But expect more news on multiplayer and the progress of Conflict: Denied Ops as its 2008 release date draws nearer. In the meantime, click on the Images tab to see the latest screenshots and join us as we hope that single-player co-op makes its way to the multiplayer modes.