Schizoid

The word “schizoid” is often misunderstood to mean someone with a split personality, and maybe that’s what indie developer Torpex Games had in mind when they used it for their trippy, dual-brained shooter-sans-guns. But it really means someone who’s intensely isolated and can’t make friends, which is exactly the wrong type of soul for this game — Schizoid proudly bills itself as “the most co-op game ever,” and it ain’t lying.

If you can wrap your mind around a blend of Geometry Wars, Ikaruga, and Army of Two, you’ve got the vibe of Schizoid. One player controls a blue spacecraft, the other controls its orange brother. You destroy enemies of your own color by ramming them, but touching an enemy of the opposite color means instant death.

With each of the game’s 120 levels populated by orange and blue foes of varying degrees of aggression, working in tandem is crucial. Sometimes you’ll be bobbing and weaving as a pair through a mixed group of foes, other times you’ll be acting as your pal’s bodyguard against an onslaught of enemies, and often you’ll be screaming something like “Get this damn star-seeker thing off my tail, right freakin’ now!”

Though Schizoid rocks in co-op play (either side-by-side or over Xbox Live), there’s also a single-player mode with a decent A.I. wingman. And for the mentally ambidextrous loner, a brain-busting Uberschizoid variant has you controlling both craft simultaneously, one per thumbstick. Honestly, though? It’s probably easier to just make friends.