[Sushi]

I'll keep this short. I'm looking for cooperative games that I can enjoy playing with my wife. The criteria:

1. Not a shooter: Halo has great coop, but the wife isn't in to that sort of thing.
2. Story-based.
3. Doesn't require long boring periods of grinding/repetition to advance in the game (WoW is out for this reason).
4. The lower the system requirements, the better. Hotseat games are OK too.
5. Not too twitchy. There should be more to the game than hand-eye coordination.

We've enjoyed some single-player RPGs and adventure games together (by taking turns, etc) but I'd like to find some games that can be played in a true 2-player coop mode.

Any recommendations?

[StarSlayer]

Any platform in particular?

[Sushi]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that. PC is preferred (Linux or Windows), but I'm interested to hear what else is out there on other platforms.

[General Battuta]

Baldur's Gate II? If you turn the difficulty down, it shouldn't be too unforgiving.

[StarSlayer]

I bet this would be a bundle of fun. 
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gameplay-trailer-trine/47992

[CP5670]

I played tons of co-op stuff with my brother last year, but it was mostly either FPSs or RTS skirmishes with no story. Some exceptions that come to mind include Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (more of a "sneaker" than a shooter and has a co-op campaign with its own story) and Oxyd Extra (free modern port of Oxyd and the only co-op puzzle game I've ever seen).

FS2 is a good candidate as well, and there is a wide variety of co-op missions available. I find that story-focused games don't work well in co-op as a general rule, but FS2 is better with this than most other games.

PC co-op games aren't that common unfortunately. They are seen more often on consoles.

[BloodEagle]

The only thing that readily comes to mind is Legend of Mana. But that's kind-of-grindy...ish.

[Rodo]

worms armaggedon is your choice!
you don't even need a second computer, you can have a coop with only one pc and it's a ton' of fun.
also any pc will run it 

[Mikes]

Guildwars or Lord of the Rings Online come to mind if you are looking for an emphasis of story over grind. (Keep in mind tho, that's all in relation to the rest of the genre).
Lotro is more along the lines of a traditional MMO while guildwars features practically no grind at all (and makes a point of it) ... but it's a quite complex game where strategy and tactics count for a lot, so dunno if that s what you re looking for.

I know you said "not a shooter"... but i would also recommend to seriously consider Left 4 Dead.
It's not a shooter that has coop... it's a game built from the ground up for coop...  and as far as "twitch skills/aiming" goes... just let her use the shotgun, not much aiming needed there

Edit: Forgot to add: Guildwars, Lotro and Left4Dead have all already proven to be quite uh "female compatible" as well    

[colecampbell666]

Try Garry's Mod. 10$ (20$ for both of you, and HL2: Death Match is free with an nVidia or ATi GPU) It's not HL2 at all, it's a sandbox building game. It has no story, but it's hella fun.

[JGZinv]

Sports games... pick any field.

Starcraft... WOW... (you may never see each other again)

Final Fantasy (think that made it to PC)

RPGs.... puzzle games...

If she's not against blood and guts, Left 4 Dead.

Frankly, I'd say take her out to a game store. Make it into a trip
for the both of you, browse what's available. Check for co-op on the back.
Try and find something that's not just an co-op, but can be seen as an achievement for
both of you together.

That will be infinitely better than just getting some game and saying you'll both play it.
This isn't like buying a lawn mower, or some jeans... think of it as a personal quest.
One of the best pieces of advice is to never stop dating, even after being married.

If you like the price online better, then just browse and then buy online.

The Wii honestly I've first hand seen gets a lot of attention from the female audience both young and old.
Mario Kart, Mario Party, some of the puzzle games there would be what I'd really suggest.
XBLA also has some stuff, but that's even more cash down the tubes.

[BlueFlames]

Civilization IV meets all the criteria, except the story, but honestly, when you start with cave-men swinging sticks and build a world's history through the space-faring age, the game becomes its own story.  Aside from that, I can only mirror CP's Baldur's Gate II recommendation (which is, by the way, excellent and has enough content to keep you playing for a long, long time).

[General Battuta]

Civilization IV meets all the criteria, except the story, but honestly, when you start with cave-men swinging sticks and build a world's history through the space-faring age, the game becomes its own story.  Aside from that, I can only mirror CP's Baldur's Gate II recommendation (which is, by the way, excellent and has enough content to keep you playing for a long, long time).

Hey!

[Kszyhu]

Heroes of Might & Magic (III)? It meets at least some of the requirements. Playing on the same side is possible, but IIRC not in campaign mode.

[SPARTAN-367]

My suggestion is probably bad because its not story based and repetitive.

But Ice Hockey for the old NES. Get an emulator and enjoy this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGfu41QUja4

hehe.

Apart from that lets see I've searched up top 10 coop games and i got this: http://casualtygamer.com/2008/06/top-10-pc-co-op-games/

[BlueFlames]

Civilization IV meets all the criteria, except the story, but honestly, when you start with cave-men swinging sticks and build a world's history through the space-faring age, the game becomes its own story.  Aside from that, I can only mirror CP's Baldur's Gate II recommendation (which is, by the way, excellent and has enough content to keep you playing for a long, long time).

Hey!

Oops.  CP is a wicked little boy, who knows possesses less than a fraction of General Battuta's gaming knowledge.  (Friends are nice, I hear.  Not that I'd know, of course.)

[Mikes]

You propably need to also tell us a little bit about what games she might like in your opinion.


In general terms... RPGs and Adventures are said to be genres to go strong with women and MMOs have a good percentage of women playing too (depending on the title), FPS games have some very active women playing as well and of course you have propably more women than men playing games like the Sims2


On the other hand... while i have heard that there might be women who actually play turn based strategy like Civ4 or RTS games... i never personally met one - and the women i do know where never really interested in either genre, so i would just have to guess they are a much rarer breed

[General Battuta]

Women I know are very into strategy games.

[Sushi]

I was intentionally as vague as I thought I could get away with, to avoid adding extra bias.

Some good suggestions in here though, thanks!

[Mikes]

Women I know are very into strategy games.

Figured someone would be hogging them (LOL JK)