After playing Left 4 Dead versus like an addict for the last couple of months, I’ve started thinking about what makes it so fun. I mean, it’s not all that different from a game like Halo or Gears of War, right? At its core, it’s still just one team versus another team, so why am I enjoying it like crazy?
To be honest, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it is, in fact, different. While most games rely on the “kill-or-be-killed” mentality, Left 4 Dead, even in versus mode, is a co-operative beast.
As the humans, you are forced to work together, and it really isn’t about killing the other team so much as it is about being a super-efficient survivor death squad, intent on annihilating the zombie minions. Likewise, the infected have to pull off picture perfect ambushes in order to hope for a chance against the meatbags that are running through their now zombified streets.
I think that multiplayer modes like this are refreshing, innovative, and sorely needed in the video game industry. Something beyond 8 man slayer types. Deathmatches. Capture the flag. Yawn.
Take Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory’s co-op campaigns, or the spies versus mercs gametypes, which put a spin on classic objective games. Or Team Fortress, which gave players specific roles to play in a battle unit that, if working together, is nigh on unstoppable. All of these things rang among some of the better multiplayer gametypes out there in a way that is not stale or over-done.
So, what are your favorite, most unique multiplayer gametypes? Give us your top 5 (and why), and answer away!
1- It has to be Counter-Strike Source for me when your team pulls together into a well-oiled fighting machine. Got your squad-leader types who are calling out orders, your dedicated snipers, guys with SMGs and shotguns waiting in the ready and everything running smoothly with diversionary pushes, rushes, counter-rushes, and distraction tactics. Get a good group of guys together on CSS, and you have a fast paced action game that literally explodes your fun-o-meter.
2- Left 4 Dead is something truly amazing, and the way it makes people come together to make a team is great. Sure you have the occasional bad apple, but most of the time you end up feeling like a bunch of old-timers by the time you get to the finale. Whoa, just whoa. That is a great game for making steam-friends.
3- Battlefield 2 is often overlooked in my opinion simply because people tend to run rambo all the time. Get a solid team going, however, and the structure of the multi-player engine really shines. The classes, the weapons, the vehicles, the squads, the commander…. an experience that is hard to mirror.
4- Mario Party 2. Talk about an old chestnut! I can rememver having HOURS of fun on this game with 3 friends and Pizza (pizza is a very dear friend to all true gamers!). Can anyone deny that Mario Party 2 was the best of the series?
5- Team Fortress 2. Its goofy, its creative, and it really makes me laugh everytime I hear the ‘bonk’ of a scout wacking someone over the head with a bat. I think the originallity of this game is really what makes it great, for while objectives and class-based battle can be replicated, a Heavy shouting “Little Kart not push self!?!” makes the game really pop 🙂
1. L4D Versus – It’s the idea of not being able to be a lone wolf that makes the game so fun. Also, it tends to attract people more willing to cooperate.
2. TF2 – The class-based gameplay encourages teamwork in this game. A lone heavy is fodder for a sniper, who can easily be taken out by a pyro, who’s bait for a soldier, etc.
3. Gmod/source mods – Creative source mods such as Gmod and sourceforts offer better gameplay than many commercial games, mostly because of the casual feel of the games – you’re not fighting for your survival, you’re doing it for fun.
4. UT 2004 – Yes, it’s an old game, but it still holds a special place in my heart because of the abundance of game modes and weapons, as well as the great AI when you don’t have enough people for a full game.
5. Starcraft – What’s to say? Who doesn’t like the occasional zergling rush?
Honorable mention – COD4’s team deathmatch – It’s a blast to play COD4 online, but the fact that one bad player can inadvertently sabotage his own team takes away from the fun a bit and kept it from the top 5.
I think I’ve just about enough of your constant Left 4 Dead praising… lol Im just kidding it is a great game, and I understand while you mention it every 3 or 4 sentences lol.
In no particular order:
1- Gears of War’s execution: nothing really special about it but I put so many hours into it, it feels like I have to compare everything else to it
2- Conkers Bad Fur Day: its hard to believe but it was some of the most fun multiplayer Ive played, it had classes and unique abilities… I mean theres nothing better then getting a head shot on a teddy bear in a nazi uniform.
3- Shadow Run: for some reason the game really stays in the back of my head, it had races and then off of that you had to spend money on weapons, tech, spells… overall it was different, and memorable
4- Super Smash Bros Melee: it was a while ago but even when I play Brawl occasionally I wish I could go back to those days trying to unlock the characters. Staying up all night have tournaments with friends was some of the most fun gaming I had up until that point. I didnt have a memory card for Gamecube so we just left it on, for days, I remember my older brother unplugged it by an accident one night and a single tear slipped down my cheek.
5- Halo’s Team Deathmatch/Custom games: I didnt want to put this on at first but I think about all the hours I put into playing online custom games with my friends on forged maps. The game has almost infinite game types and rules its amazing, if only there was a 13 year old loud mouth filter.
I cant help that Im forgetting alot of games, this list is tough. I can only think of recent games but I know theres some title on PS1 or Nintendo 64 Im forgetting.
1. Counter-Strike:source zombie mod. – A very, unrealistic zombie game ever, lol, but it’s addictive jus like L4D. You hav unlimited amount of ammo, you can teleport 3 times, and you get stuck in props. And a lot of silly stuff happen, so if you want a good laugh playing, this is a good mode.
2. Garry’s mod: Zombie survival – Yes, yet another zombie mode. This time a bit more realistic. You hav to reload and always be carful how much ammo you need. And every thing is manual, opening doors, reloading….
This one is very fun with zombie classes, flying sky high with the fast zombie, or do a Jihad moment with the Chem zombie. And sometimes I think valve took the idea from zombie survival and made L4D. It’s a worth of playing, very fun.
Let me think of the other 3 later…
Halo 3’s/CoD 4 Multi-player Co-op modes – Makes single player more exciting when you’ve got your buddy protecting your six.
Sandbox games – Whether it be Gmod or BF2’s sandbox mod, it’s always fun trying to look at other players creativity. That, and the fact that you can virtually destroy other players creation just to be a pestering dick.
BF2’s Conquest/Headquarters mode – BF2 will definitely be on my list. Why? You have to chose to be cooperative or not without ruining other people’s game. Not only that, you get to capture your own Spawn points and keep the enemy from capturing it.
Any of those Music-type genre games, like DDR or Guitar Hero – Nothings better than trying to “out-shred” your friend on plastic guitars.
Zombie-survival mode – May it be Left 4 Dead, CSS’s Zombie mode, Zombie Panic, Brainbread, what ever. You’re forced to co-operate no matter what. Oh, and I would prefer CoD 5’s Zombie mode than Left 4 Dead. I don’t know, trying to keep zombies out of a building while they get stronger and faster every round seem to excite me more.
pretty much woot for cs 🙂
3. Garry’s mod :Onslaught/horde mode – A game mode Eddy might like. It’s a simple game mode where you first start building a base, cade, bunker or anything out of Half-life2 props in 5 mins. Then you pick a class from 5 different types and stay alive for 20 mins when combine guards soliders leets , hunters, zombies, almost everything are attacking you.
It’s a very good mode if your a co-op nut. It’s humans vs NPCs and you will survive lot more if you cooperate with your mates. Very fun.
4. TF2 – Even if not owning it, I can always feel the fun from a youtube gameplay videos; should be the best multiplayer game of all time.
5. Mario Kart all of them – from the old super fami-con version to the wii, Its always a great game you want to challenge someone. Especially the battle modes; You don’t have to be fast and slick, jus pound down those Mario world items and you get a instant amount of fun.
CS is great and classic. I like survivor types. One dude gets a super power weapon, and everyone else tries to kill that dude and be the first to pick up the weapon, making him the uberdooper.
Team Death Match (CSS and COD4), CTF (Halo Franchise and TF2), Co-Op (L4D and Gears2).
1. Battle Stations Midway – Never have I played a game like that one. Fleet vs. Fleet combat was amazing. You had to control damage on your ship while also micromanaging 4 boats (and planes if you had the airfield or carrier) or your fleet was doomed. I played 2v2 with my cousin constantly. Amazing fun and I have never seen before or since that same type of game play. It was amazing. It sounds simple, but if you dint do damage control properly, you would be screwed.
2. Splinter Cell – Didn’t play it but maybe…2 times. I didn’t own the game but I agree in saying that was a sweet game play type. Honestly, we need more of that. It really made you think. I sucked as a SC agent, but as a Merc I was good.
3. GTA IV – Ok why, because I like the idea of having a whole city as a fighting ground. Sure you could warden it off to one section of the city, but when you could move to other parts. Plus being crafty and escaping to go get choppers was awesome.
4. Rainbow 6 Vegas – Sure its normal slayer kind of stuff, but that game could be really fun. To me this is one where you had to think about what you did before you did it. Bullets did good damage, it was very realistic. I got a clan going out of my cousin, strangers, and myself and we learned to be an efficient team in slayer. There were other game types that made it really fun, plus Terrorist Hunt was great. I think it deserves to be up here because I haven’t seen a game since that has so much you can do (C4, snake cam, rappel…ect) and still comes out being super fun.
5. GRAW 2 – Reason is simple. Everyone got to choose the same equipment. None of this earning stuff or anything. You chose a class and then guns. Classes only mattered in terms of a sniper is really good with snipers, ok with rifles and ok with heavy weps. Each class excelled in their primary wep and was ok with the rest. Honestly this mad things so much fun. Great camo system and the maps were awesome. My cousin and I could go 2v8 and pull of a win (only once) Some will say that means its imbalanced. But I don’t think it is. When you camp as pot and all the enemy does is bum rush, they arnt thinking right, people just didn’t play smart. I can only hope there is another GRAW game. I know R6V took over sorta but GRAW was good too.
Id love to mention Halo 3 because the playback system is great and that game is so much fun for dicking around but its not really that dynamic.
COD4 (prdictable I know, but hey) and Resistance 2. 60 players make for large scale bouts although the most I’ve ever had at once is 58 🙁 Oh! And Goldeneye!
CoD’s Search and Destroy was my favorite gametype in CoD4 and WaW. It made every player a lot smarter since you could only die once per round. You developed strategies for maps and which side you were on and what classes went well with that strat. That’s why CoD4’s multiplayer is so awesome.
TF2 had the old standard gametypes for the most part, but that’s because TF2 is for those old-skool gamers who don’t care about flashy gimmicks and just want fun class-based multiplayer action.
I have created my own gametypes for the video games I’ll make when I enter the biz. My favorite one is called Exploration. Players on two opposing teams must capture certain objects or secure certain hotspots that give the team strategic bonuses like supply drops or airstrikes, and also opens up a new area of the map for players to fight in and find new treasures.
[quote comment=”4082″]CoD’s Search and Destroy was my favorite gametype in CoD4 and WaW. It made every player a lot smarter since you could only die once per round. You developed strategies for maps and which side you were on and what classes went well with that strat. That’s why CoD4’s multiplayer is so awesome.[/quote]
I was going to mention this as #4, then I erased it and put in R6V. I will agree that S&D was the best game type in COD4. It really made you think. One part of why I erased it though was I just didnt see it as that innovative. I was goign to put just COD4 in general (Not W@W). W@W has a huge flaw, Tanks. They are so cheap. So STUPIDLY cheap. I went 32 – 1 in one when showing my friends how stupid they were.
Now back to S&D. One thing I hated about it on COD4 was people learned on certain maps where to shoot a grenade from a launcher at the beginning of the game so it would kill like 2 peeps. Right when you spawn just “thoomp” and then a kill. That was so lame. Great gametype though.
Some of the best teamwork I have seen in an online game has to be in Planetside, a little known MMOFPS. Just the sight of dozens of tanks, bombers, and troops all rushing a base, crushing the enemy, all working together, is just awe inspiring.
Battlefield 2 – As said before by ‘CAPTAIN CANADA’ is often overlooked. If you get a really good squad with a few medics, a sniper, support’s an a spec ops. Ur pretty much indestructable, it is INTENSE!!!!! And each time you get a whole new squad with a whole new goal.
Rainbow Six – Vegas 2 : Yeah, sorta shoot-em-up, but with a few guys with a MEAN AS set of weapons, C4’in doors and then covering smoke going thermal with ur shotguns and MG’s, pretty classic.
The unlock system in both these games helps as you can get an edge over the enemy, and pick up their weapons if u like!
1 – I think my favorite multiplayer type would have to be Assault Lines from Battlefield 2142. It forced teams of up to 32 people to work together to take one capture point at a time. Forcing 64 combatants into one area could make for some crazy fighting. This one map that 2142 had consisted of a future version of the Bridge at Remagen (a famous battle from WW2), and had the defenders holding the top of the bridge. My friends and I jumped into a gunship and hosed the bridge with cannon fire. Twenty kills a piece later, they finally brought us down. We were laughing so hard we could barely breath. Good times.
2 – I know I’ve extolled the virtue of S.W.A.T. many times on this site, but it’s the one game type that has me coming back to Halo 3 again and again. It’s just pure skill. You, your Battle Rifle and a whole lot of headshots.
3 – Gold Rush from Team Fortress 2. A well balanced team is necessary for victory, necessitating everyone to pick their classes carefully. Plus, Badwater Basin is an awesome map, hands down.
4 – Gold Rush from Battlefield: Bad Company. Pretty standard shooter mechanics, but blowing up the environment was great fun.
5 – Terrorist Hunt from Rainbow 6 Vegas 2. I had a lot of fun back when this was released trying to beat every map on realistic. It didn’t work, but watching a multi-colored special forces team eliminate terrorists was amusing to no end.
I have to give a shout-out to Meatflag from Gears 2. The idea of a thinking flag that you have to subdue is a pretty neat twist on the classic CTF setting. It’s a shame that I still can’t find a game in under 20 minutes.
Search and Destroy in Call of Duty 4 is awesome and so much fun.
1. Super Smash Bros. Series. Addictive unlocks, a easy to learn/difficult to master fighting style, and just using my favourite Nintendo characters to pummel each other. My favourite multiplayer memory? Renting out a movie theatre and playing on the BIG screen, after which we adjourned to my buddy’s house and played till 4 in the morning.
2. Counter-Strike. When it’s good, it’s REALLY good. I don’t know if I have to say more, really. We’ve all played CS here. =P
3. Mario Kart series. I think especially of the old N64 version here. Man, that game was fun. Me and my friends played so much Block Fort, we made our own pretend battle maps on racecourses.
4. 007 Goldeneye. Any game that allows you to shoot up a bathroom (The Facility) is a winner in my book.
5. IL-2. Awesome online multiplayer. When you can recreate real battles from WW2, it sends a shiver down your spine. In short, if you like planes, it’s great.
I’m not sure if this counts but some of the Warcraft 3 custom games were amazing such as DOTA. I guess extreme support for custom games should be worth something.
Great comments here! I realized that I never gave some of mine.
I’d have to go with CS:S for sure. L4d, for obvious reasons. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory co-op remains to this day some of the most fun I’ve had playing a video game. Conkers Bad Fur Day in the re-creation of the Normandy invasion. Annnnd, Call of Duty 4, for sure.