As with Dracula, the console industry's powers are at their weakest when the sun is at its brightest. Summer is a hibernation period, with consumer purchasing power at low ebb and publishers consequently disinclined to roll out many new releases. Cue much gloom-and-doom talk of industry recession, umpteen "best games of the year so far" features and the "death" of whichever platform happens to be on shelves at the time.
The swelling digital racket has made up a bit of lost ground in recent years, with Microsoft's regular Summer of Arcade parties reaping sizeable returns and long-legged DLC initiatives keeping us glued to six-month-old games. And of course, there's always the multiplayer scene, capable of infinite gratification providing the base offering tickles your fancy. Here are a few games you may want to revisit, till the likes of Borderlands 2, Black Ops 2 and Halo 4 arrive.
Quake Wars: Enemy Territory
Quake Wars holds a special place in my heart: it's one of the first multiplayer titles I ever reviewed, and while it looks distinctly washed-out and feature-light alongside the latest Halo and Battlefield sequels, that grimly muddy vision of future warfare remains distinctive, like a first-person Tiberium Wars. Highlights, in hindsight: the spectacle of a Tormentor descending through low-hanging pollution, raining Strockets; the glee of bouncing right over GDF lines in the arms of an Icarus jumpsuit.
10 comments so far...
kronk10 on 23 Jul '12 said:
What about Warhammer space marines multiplayer? Yes it is crude and simple but it is fun very very fun! I actually like playing the multiplayer as the first class thats unlocked as it simple, fast and deadly! I died many times playing space marine online but it was never dull or boring and the horde type modes are funny
OXM ETboy on 23 Jul '12 said:
Yeah, that one's probably worth a look if you want something Gearsy without the cover system/with jetpacks.
Bezza89 on 23 Jul '12 said:
Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising - why? Because it's Ghost Recon in disguise, it is what GR would have evolved into if they didn't make it futuristic. It's probably the hardest, most punishing game I've ever played which gives it the illusion of realism, get over the no checkpoint/death is death being shot is being shot mentality underpinning the game and it's brilliant, albeit with terrible story bits not adding anything but frustrating unskippable openings of missions.
The scale is epic, you have 10 missions on the one map, and you'll still only have explored maybe a quarter of it. Attack missions in any way you want, it is literally open to suggestion how to do stuff. The downers? Rock hard, requires patience, and very dated visually. If Ghost Recon had gone this way, the game would have been perfect. As it is, it's good enough.
(heads up, I hear L4D2 information is released today regarding pricing and surprises, it is also missing from this list as a multiplayer game some might miss, in the emotional sense.)
Aleeeeeeex17 on 23 Jul '12 said:
For me Xbox's Multiplayer hidden gem was always Lord of the Rings: Conquest.
Sure it was a complete Battlefront ripoff just with a LOTR theme but still, what's not to love about Battlefront's Multiplayer - Albeit with Orcs instead of Imperials
danhalen74 on 23 Jul '12 said:
crysis 2 was so pantshittingly bad online i traded it in no more than a week after getting it and it will take a massive turnaround to make me give 3 a second glance. i was so excited about it coming out and it really was an overhyped turd of a game. in fact it nearly made me give up on reading reviews as it was given such an easy ride considering all its faults. i needed that, sometimes you cannae beat a good rant.
Wonky Sausage on 23 Jul '12 said:
Thought Homefront would have been in here also, beast of an online game. The campaign is a bit bleh, but it's online gameplay was brilliant - very Battlefield esque, with its own twist.
kronk10 on 23 Jul '12 said:
You say jetpacks but they do not work like any other jetpacks i know
they just send you skyward with no regard for where you want to go silly silly fun almost crap but the sheer bluntness of the multiplayer saves it
jimlad4 on 23 Jul '12 said:
Aha, but they are not jet packs. Despite creating a massive galactic empire, Mankind in the 41st Millennium only bothered to make 'jump packs', which are a bit like jet packs except they don't work very well.
Anyway, Space Marine was a pretty enjoyable game, fun MP- there seems to be less Assault troops these days, people have moved to Devastator and Tactical, with their annoying little guns. What's wrong with a good old-fashioned power sword?
kronk10 on 24 Jul '12 said:
Well they make you go skywards anyway i still laugh my ass off when i play space marine multiplayer and yes there are to many devastators etc making the game sometimes annoying to play online. I also enjoyed bulletstorms multiplayer that was fun chaining kills with other people! It was flawed but fun
comabob on 24 Jul '12 said:
Call Of Jaurez 2 had awesome MP
The lack of automatic weapons made it feel more reliant on skill than other sprayNpray / runNgun shooters.
And Crysis 2 was excellent - both campaign and MP - i havent played it since just after it came out but i still have the theme tune stuck in my head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy4iQvJo24U