Nathan Drake is an action hero, first and foremost. Whatever nonsense he has on his business card about being a treasure hunter is not to be believed. He may have masqueraded as one in the first Uncharted, but in Uncharted 2, he left such a massive body count in his wake that John Rambo was feeling insecure. Reuniting with old flame Chloe Frazer, Drake sets off with his group on a quest for a relic of Marco Polo’s that a bloodthirsty war criminal has set his sights on. It’s Zoran Lazarevic, a man who kills people for a living, versus Nathan Drake, a guy who kills people on the side (en masse). No one was walking away from this unscathed.

Unlike the previous Uncharted, Among Thieves provided many more action set pieces than the original game. It also brought with it online competitive multiplayer, as well as cooperative missions for up to 3 players online. Similar to Army of Two, guns, explosions and witty banter were all to be found in Uncharted 2. If you liked Army of Two, chances are good that you’ll love Uncharted 2.

Following an epidemic virus circulated by tainted dollar bills during Black Friday, the United States broke down into a state of anarchy. As an agent of “The Division”, you go on a mission to restabilize New York City by getting boots on the ground. By assisting local law enforcement and quelling opportunist insurrection, you battle across the infectious streets of New York. In The Division, order and chaos are two sides of the same coin, and guns are the only constant you can rely on.

The Division allowed for you and three friends to engage in cooperative missions in the campaign and dedicated multiplayer missions. You collected and upgraded guns, gear and other items which made surviving in this new warzone a little more bearable. Similar to Army of Two, you were pitted against a number of enemies with just your static group and expected to come out successfully. If you want a cooperative shooter with a lot of guns and action, this is a must play.

Imagine being an unstoppable agent of justice. Capable of leaping tall buildings, driving fast cars, and shooting impossibly massive weapons. That is the scenario that Crackdown allowed players to live out. Safeguarding Pacific City from the technologically advanced organized crime syndicates rooted deeply within it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Crackdown was a third-person action shooter which allowed for two players to play the entirety of the game cooperatively online. Action took place on a massive map which players traversed by vehicle, or leaping from skyscraper to skyscraper. It had a number of guns and numerous enemies to shoot. While each player was a one man army, together it was an experience that was fundamentally fun.

South America has been rife with conflict, and so is the the fictional world of Just Cause. Set in the fictitious nation of San Esperito, secret agent Rico Rodriguez is tasked with aiding a guerilla war effort against the country’s dictator Salvador Mendoza. Mendoza is rumored to be in possession of a weapon of mass destruction, and time is running out before he feels threatened to use it against the populace to secure his chokehold on the country.

Just Cause was a third-person open world action game that was completely over the top in every way imaginable. You were able to quickly go from running to base jumping to gliding and grappling onto to just about anything and at any time. It was an open world game where traversal was fun more than anything. Action got hectic, pitting you against Mendoza’s corrupt armies as he refused to relinquish control back to the people. Similar to the war-torn settings of Army of Two, the action got heated at every possible turn in Just Cause.

Two vicious prison inmates make for an uneasy alliance in Kane & Lynch. Adam ‘Kane’ Marcus awaits his death row sentencing to be carried out, when he is broken out in James Seth Lynch’s escape attempt. Afterwards, they are confronted by a group of criminals called The 7, who inform Kane that they have taken his wife and daughter hostage. Their demands are a sum of money they allege Kane has stolen from them, and his family will be killed if it is not returned within three weeks. Thus begins one big, long action heist that will pair the clinically insane Lynch with criminal mastermind Kane.

Throughout the single-player campaign, the player controls Kane. However, in an offline-only co-op mode, the game allows a second player to control Lynch. Gunfights were prominent in Dead Men, and it forced you think which engagements were best to come out unscathed. Similar to Army of Two, you had to work together with the AI or another player to win encounters. Both games forced you to think less about being one single player and more about working as a team.

It has been 25 years since the Locust met their extinction at the hands of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago in the original Gears of War trilogy. Years later, the survivors of the war-ruined planet Sera continue to rebuild. JD Fenix, son of Marcus, uncovers some troubling signs of the Locust’s revival. Together, he and his allies must discover what is happening and why the planet’s most ruthless enemy has once again resurfaced from their grave.

Gears of War wasn’t the first third-person cover-based shooter, but it did popularize it. Army of Two drew more than a bit of inspiration from the first Gears released a decade prior, and Gears of War 4 took the series into the next generation. The game allowed for two players to complete the campaign, not only online but on separate platforms, PC or Xbox. The same tried and true cover-to-cover action was to be found in the sequel, making for an enjoyable experience for longtime fans.