Mutiplayer Mode?

[scott]

I wasn't sure what to title the thread.

Anyway, for some games mulitplayer is a requirement, such as First Person Shooters Sports and Racing titles, since competition is so ingrained into those genres. But, now-a-days it seems like most games has some kind of multiplayer component, with only a few genres holding out and staying completely single player. How do you feel about mutliplayer? Does a game require some form of a multiplayer component in order for you to fully enjoy it? Or are you completely content with the single player experience?

[desocietas]

I definitely enjoy multiplayer, especially it it doesn't require a lot of effort on either player's part (drop-in play, for instance).

However, it's certainly not necessary... It's not always possible to have a friend always around who can play with you.  But with things like XBLA, it makes things much, much easier for a little pickupandmultiplay.

I guess I feel like it's a great cherry on top if it's done well.

[scott]

The biggest things that bug me about Multiplayer in games are:
1) Tacked on "just because" multiplayer.
2) Multiplayer mode that detracts from the Single Player game.

Personally, I don't really care about multiplayer anymore. I've not played more than a single online session of Borderlands and played through the main campaign solo. I don't think I've played more than a hand full of co-op/ vs. matches in Left 4 Dead and I've only played a few games of Castle Crashers online. Of course I kind of burned myself out on MMOs too. Also, my 360 has really been kind of a pain for the last year and is failing to stay connected to Xbox Live. I used to play a ton of Halo 2 and got to be pretty good, but I never really got into the Halo 3 scene.

[madmax]

I feel like multiplayer is put there to stop pirating a lot of the time. Games like driver have the whole (compare time. etc blah blha) but I could care less about that. fps need online, jRPG don't.

[desocietas]

I have fond memories of the few times I was able to convince my brother to play co-op with me with Legend of Mana, even though the multiplayer aspect of that game sucked.  Still better than some other tacked on stuff I've seen in later games.

And with Borderlands, I've probably played no more than 20 min. solo on that game... Co-op is the only way I play it.  Same goes with the co-op Lara Croft game and a few others.  Definitely looking forward to some multiplayer Torchlight 2!

[scott]

@desocietas Oh man I remember forcing my sister to play Secret of Mana. I just bought it for Wii the other day too, maybe I can con her into some co-op soonish, haha. Also, I think one of the main reasons I couldn't get Borderlands co-op to pop off was due to everyone's schedules. Damn being an "adult" and having responsibilities.

[desocietas]

Also, I think one of the main reasons I couldn't get Borderlands co-op to pop off was due to everyone's schedules. Damn being an "adult" and having responsibilities.

That's true... the co-op times have always gone way late into the wee hours of the early morn.  Dangerous stuff.  Like the first night I got my Rock Band set... we were up 'till 5 or so, I think.

[tpugmire]

My wife will play Mario Kart Wii with me, and occasionally I can con one of the kids into playing something with me, but that's about the extent of my multiplayer action.  I haven't explored the online avenue much on consoles, just pc.

[madmax]

I've always wanted to play an FPS game in coop but never really had anyone who was dedicated enough to really try to do it. When you need to do it in multiple times (save, continue later) most people tend to not coordinate so well :/

[scott]

I've always wanted to do a multiplayer marathon run of Halo 3 on Legendary. I can't ever seem to find anyone that is interested though.

[madmax]

Halo on Legendary in coop is annoying. Someone always dies <.<
I've beaten halo 2 on legendary in Coop. Is halo 3 the same? (you die and start level over?)

[scott]

There are checkpoints in Legendary mode Halo 3 I believe. I can't remember, I tried to solo it once and gave up. Possibly thanks to wow addiction  and/or frustration. ha

[amauriel]

My big complaint with multiplayer is that it's all online these days. My husband and I don't generally play the same types of games, but when we do find a game we both enjoy, we're either stuck buying two copies (for PC or DS) or taking turns watching each other play (because I can't justify a second XBox or PS3).

The last game that we've played together, in the same room, on our television, and really, really enjoyed was Little Big Planet. That's pretty sad, when you're looking at two gamers.

[pceslayer]

@madmax Halo 3 will spawn the dead player to a checkpoint and not restart the mission.

@scott I'm sure if you make a thread requesting some multiplayer/coop matches, people on the forums will jump in.

4 player coop = awesome and I think coop makes everything more fun!

@amauriel as it stands trying to render extra geometry and physics in splitscreen when the game struggles to maintain a constant frame rate @720p (or sub in a lot of cases) just isn't worth it.

[scott]

@pceslayer that is true. Only my main problem currently is my router keeps dcing my Xbox. Which leads to all kinds of new levels of frustration. Lol