Breach & Clear: Deadline is a very militaristic game, tossing in lots of combat terms and keeping things as regimented and realistic as it can. This doesn't mean the game eschews big explosions or hot weaponry (it's a zombie game, after all), but expect to see lots of tactical military speak and characters with names ripped right out of the last war movie you saw. Like, I dunno, Saving Private Ryan or something. It's "gritty", which is a bit of a naughty word these days, but the game doesn't really take itself too seriously, leaving plenty of room for you to enjoy the tactical planning and zombie killing instead of shoving its grit down your throat.
Co-op works like you'd expect, but there are some limitations. Two players join in online matches, each controlling two out of the four squad members. You play through your local save games as a team, providing a seamless integration between single player and multi. When your co-op buddy joins, they take over the characters you didn't choose, and when they leave, you take back control. Pretty straightforward.
Sitting in a tactical session with your co-op partner is either fun or frustrating, and that entirely depends upon who you're playing with. Many of Breach & Clear: Deadline's battles don't require much tactical thinking. It's obvious where you should deploy, obvious what you should do. In these instances each person just goes through the motions, which is fun in solo, but a touch maddening in multi since you're essentially out of half your job. For the occasional mission that does require smarts, co-op works a lot better. For the most part, though, adding another player means you'll be splitting the fun, not multiplying it.
Breach & Clear: Deadline was obviously made with gamepad controls in mind. Keyboard and mouse works well enough, but there's some fumbling when it comes to menus and issuing commands. Plugging in a controller eliminates those issues. Hope you've got one sitting around.
All in all, Breach & Clear: Deadline presents a top down tactical zombie shooter that just crosses the above average line. The maps are a bit bland, and the actual tactics tend to be on the lighter side, which you can interpret as a flaw or as an "accessibility feature". The co-op works for pulling in an extra online person to experience the tense militaristic world, but it doesn't truly enhance the experience like a good cooperative feature should.
But still, it's lots of fun to set your guys up, toss a frag grenade into a group of zombies, then play it through in glorious slow motion.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Co-op was removed from this game on November 17, 2016
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.