4/15/2011

A word about solo & co-op gaming...

So recently many big follow-ups to epic series were "disappointingly" confirmed not to have co-op and be a single-player only experience. Arkham City (follow-up to the best super-hero game ever, Arkham Asylum) Mass Effect 3, & Elder Scrolls: Skyrim  all have been confirmed to be single-player only. There seemed to by a lot of general disappointment in these games focusing on being solo experiences. Why? Why is that even an issue? These games are focused on strong experiences that are played solo. Why must co-op (or multi-player in general for that matter) be shoe-horned into every single game? This would seem to pretty much be the result of games by committee, shoving in everything to try and appeal to the widest audience possible, yet really not pleasing anyone.

Very few games that include both multi-player and single-player manage any sort of balancing act between the two. The Call of Duty games boast excellent multi-player, but extremely shallow and short single-player. Uncharted 2 boasts awesome single-player, but extremely underwhelming multi-player. It probably would've been a much better idea to scrap it altogether and make more single-player levels. Fable II's co-op mode is one of the most half-assed

Really in today's market there is really no reason to mesh these two clashing styles of gameplay experience together, there is a market for multi-player only games, and there is still a big market for a stand-alone solo experience, and not just rpgs. So hopefully companies will realize this too and actually think about whether something is a actually a good fit for a game rather than shoehorning something in there that detracts from the experience of having a more tightly developed core mode. And the best way we can ensure that is to actually buy games that reflect that.

Ok that's all for today, I should hoepfully have another post up tomorrow or Sunday. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

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