The constant decline of couch co-op and split screen games means that console games that are actually worth inviting people round to play are few and far between. I tackled the library of the best couch co-op games for the PS4 (as well as split screen games) and made this list of the 10 co-op games worth playing with your friends, girlfriends, gender-fluid acquaintances of significance, or any intelligent pets you may happen to have.

PLANTS VERSUS ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE 2

Buy Plants VS Zombies: Garden Warfare 2

Did anybody actually expect this Plants Versus Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 to be good? I know I didn’t. Turning an iPhone tower defence game into a major third-person shooter felt like a classic Icarus story, only without any of the artistic significance of that legend. Put diplomatically, it was certainly a very… EA decision to make.

But it turns out that the couch co-op PS4 game PVZ:GW 2 is pretty good, a load of enjoyable nonsense that can be best appreciated with a friend, usually so you can try to think of stupid vegetable-based one-liners. “That death was a little CORNY.” “I shot that artichoke right through the HEART.” “I guess these guys have laid the SEEDS of conflict.”

Do you think you can do better? Well, you probably can, and this pretty much what comment boards were made for. So go nuts, frankly.

LITTLEBIGPLANET 3

Buy Little Big Planet 3

Wait, so is it a little planet or a big one? This is the same confusion I had with Fatboy Slim all over again.

Regardless, it’s not a coincidence that a lot of games with local co-op lean towards the childish. Kiddies need distractions to keep them from interacting with their parents during the drinking hours, and nothing catches the offspring’s attention like dolls bumping against each other in colourful environments. However, LBP3 managed also to work on the level of adults, with a highly extensive level creator that enabled a fair bit of content for people to enjoy afterwards, working together to enjoy a parade of absurd locations, that look like Monty Python animations made in an arts and crafts shop.

And yet it’s all pretty basic and accessible at the core. Jump around, swing on ropes, hit things and keep running to the right. It’s 2D platforming at its most simple, but brought up to snuff with cute presentation, vast imagination, great flexibility and the dulcet tones of my own personal man-crush Stephen Fry, speaking pure honey in the background.

CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III

Buy Black Ops 3

Look, I won’t say that Black Ops 3 doesn’t have some issues. It does, no lie there. But when you can organically jetpack into the air, run along a wall firing a machine gun one-handed, kick off into the sky dropping grenades like bird’s eggs, and finally come down with a lethal shockwave that kills several people… Yeah, it’s doing something right. Because I did that yesterday and had to go have a lie down.

Black Ops III was the proper commitment to science fiction that the series needed after stagnating for so long, and went all in on the AI and cybernetic silliness. The story IS ridiculous, but Black Ops 3 allows you to pull the battery out of a robot’s chest like the priest in Temple Of Doom, so I can let that go for now. There’s a floaty feeling of freedom to using jet boosters to bounce around shooting at things. And nothing tests a friendship like some couch co-op fun fighting zombies in Bugsy Malone costumes, guaranteeing you’ll both come out of it as pals. Or eaten. Maybe both.

Play the story alone or go at it with a friend in split screen. You can’t really go wrong as you will have fun regardless of whether you are alone or with friends.

ROCKET LEAGUE

Buy Rocket League

If Rocket League was a person, he would be a likeable idiot on a permanent sugar rush. He wouldn’t be able to watch a film without cheering from the audience. He wouldn’t be able to sit in a car without sticking his head out the window, trying to high-five any pedestrians he passed along the way. He wouldn’t be bothered to light fireworks one at a time, just drop a lit match into a box with all of them inside, and run to the other end of the garden. And every time he inevitably ends up the hospital, it’s always for a reason that would make Johnny Knoxville proud.

Yeah, Rocket League is a whole lot of bottled stupid, but in a good way. It is also one of the top rated PS4 video games of all time. It’s simply football (or soccer), but instead of players, there are RC cars covered in jet boosters. That’s a hell of an upgrade and makes for some shallow but ultimately fun gameplay that’ll have most people whooping at some point or another. Invite some friends over, have some drinks ready to make you think a little less seriously about it all, and enjoy the split screen mess of explosions and fast-paced action that makes a Michael Bay movie look restrained and dignified in this amazing new split screen PS4 game.

ANY LEGO GAME

Buy Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

It doesn’t really matter which one. Jurassic Park, Batman, Marvel, The Hobbit, Dimensions – build things, break things and smash little yellow figures like the Simpsons were made out of glass.

The Lego series is another franchise that works well for kids because it couldn’t be easier to comprehend (any of your friends can pick it up even if they are not gamers). Get frococom one place to another, break any jaundiced people who want to stop you getting there and build whatever will help you along the way. Again, it’s a little lacking in terms of depth, but the real heart and soul of any Lego game lies in the inherent wit and charm they all seem to have. Admittedly something was lost when they decided to begin voicing these Lego games, losing that silent-movie-sweetness that had easily carried them until then, but they never lost that lovable nature completely.

The Lego games have always worked as stress-relievers. The ultimate in casual, consequence-free gameplay, where nothing you do is ever a problem and you can just feel free to break, build and run around as much as you like. And with friends, that goes for double.