Special Ops is a great addition. I was kind of surprised that they didn’t do a co-op campaign. But it makes sense if only to keep the story sensible (since there wouldn’t always be a reason for two characters to be doing something during a sequence). People don’t want co-op campaigns for the story, they want it so that they can yell orders at each other and eventually be rewarded for success. Special Ops lets you do that. It’s frustrating to fail a mission over and over, but it’s all worth it once you finally succeed. For some reason the missions where one player is on the ground and the other character is in the air make me think, “Wow this is pretty amazing,” even though multiplayer is way more sophisticated from a technical standpoint.
My favorite moment so far took place on the first AC-130 mission. I was in the plane and Wally just needed to survive and reach a checkpoint to complete the mission. After a bunch of trial and error, we get a pretty good routine going to get through most of the stage. So on this try we get near completion. I hear him say, “I can see the end from here.” He’s about 60 yards away and I can see the path he’s planning to take. Except it’s lined by red squares indicating enemies. I know what he’s thinking, and I get a flashback of Harry Connick Jr. telling Will Smith he’s gonna try something. Right on cue, Wally says, “I’m going for it,” and starts booking it. And a few blinks later Will Smith and I both yell “Noooooooooo” as our wingman gets lit up.
These moments happen often. Then we yell at each other, restart, and do it all over again. So much fun.