In anticipation of Gears of War 3’s release on Sept. 20, we’re taking a little time to celebrate the onslaught of one of the most bro-tastic co-op games to grace our favorite console by calling out some of our favorite “bro-op” experiences from the recent past. Look, you don’t need to be a dude to steep and savor in the machismo of the following games…you only need a sense of humor, an itchy trigger finger, and the willingness to hug it out with your armored-up online partners when things get tough. You ready? If you didn't immediately answer with a “Sh*t yeah,” then perhaps you aren’t. For all others, let’s get this show on the road! 

[NOTE: Some of the following entries may contain some mild spoilers. But dudes (or those masquerading as them online — which is even better!) don’t cry over spoiled plot points, right? Don’t say you weren’t warned.]

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#8: Bulletstorm

The Bro-down:
While the actual co-op in this Skillshot-riddled, blue joke–filled celebration of the male, ahem, anatomy doesn’t encompass the over-the-top campaign, Bulletstorm’s campaign is as “bro” a game as any in terms of setup (you and your bros trying to survive against all odds), atmosphere, and firepower (big guns, bigger leash). Not to mention the dialogue — hell, the game earns a spot on this list purely for this one exchange between main characters:

Grayson Hunt: "Hey, you wanna make out? Just two gruff military hardened dudes sitting in an elevator snuggling out their woes in a totally hetero way."

Ishi Sato: "Ha!"

Hunt: "That's a nervous chuckle. Either your human side gets the joke or your computer side likes the way I look in these pants."

Ishi: "Or a little of both perhaps."

Hunt: "Hey. I'm not judgin'. I'm just a good lookin' man!"

That said, the Horde-like Anarchy mode does let you partner with up to three of your homies, kicking, leashing, and skewering mutant uglies to your heart’s content. The cornucopia of grunting and smelly-looking enemies to wrassle will satisfy the primitive well of machismo within you; plus, it’s just damn fun times working together to score Team Skillshots.

Touchy-feely moment:
You don’t have to dig deep to find Bulletstorm’s soft, chewy center: in the single-player game, lead bro Grayson declares revenge on some big bad who’s done him wrong, causing him and his band of bros to crash land on some mutated planet, nearly killing them all. The luckiest recipient of a planet-to-the-face makeover is right-hand man Ishi, who then gets a metallic makeover to stay alive. The two banter and tussle throughout as Grayson attempts to keep Ishi from going full cyborg-Spock. While the robo-bro sentiment between the half-metal Ishi and Grayson doesn’t extend to the strictly-for-points Anarchy co-op mode, the single-player campaign carries a good handful of hugs-before-slugs moments. Well, without the actual hugs.

Level of Dude-ness: *** (out of 5)
The campaign includes a female character in the role of Trishka, but she’s probably more pro-bro than any of the dudes she’s laying waste with due to one serious pottymouth in need of some soaping out. Also, the game would be “dude-ier” if its co-op were campaign-related.

#7: Dead Rising 2: Case West

The Bro-down:
Two dudes, out to save the world from the walking dead in the land of excess…that’s the name of the game in Case West — the downloadable game that follows Chuck Greene’s shuffler-slaying attempt to save his daughter from the virus that would turn her into a brain-craving piece of rot. Okay, so this doesn’t sound at all like a game that would garner “bro-op” status, right? Well, when you take into account that the headlining star is a former extreeeeeeme moto-cross racer and his compatriot Frank West has “covered wars, y’know” as a rough ‘n’ tumble photojourno in the original game, it’s clear that you can’t mask the testosterone simmering at the surface throughout this Xbox Live downloadable zombie-hacking standalone.

While there’s no real teamwork involved in the co-op-ery (unless you count tag-team tactics on The Commander at the end — man, was he tough), the real bro-bonding afoot in Case West is in the curmudgeonly mistrust that the pair has between them at the outset…which inevitably gets melted away like so much glacial ice once they realize that their objective unites them in the common goal. Of murdering zombies. And taking photos. And combining weapons. And, well, just surviving, man.

Touchy-feely moment:
What about jumping from an explosion — in tandem — doesn't scream “bonding moment” to you? Or how about the high-five they share right after? When it happens in Case West, you’ll find yourself kind of wishing that Greene and West would agree to raise Greene’s infected tyke Katey together as dual male role models of manliness (á la the Paul Reiser 80's sitcom “My Two Dads”).

Level of Dude-ness: ** (out of 5)
While West and Greene never get to actually give each other bearhugs or even help each other lift doors (a bro-op staple) or lend the other a hand to leap over low walls, the two do still deliver the occasional banter-y barb to keep the machismo levels at a slow boil.