My 2011 multiplayer experiences part1

It’s mid-February already but I’m still playing many of the online released in 2011.

Last year has been a very exciting year for gamers and while I didn’t have a chance to play everything I wanted I did pick many of the multiplayer releases out there.
This is what I’ll be talking about, the online, multiplayer aspect of the listed games (no co-op and/or single campaigns taken into consideration).

This isn’t a complete list, is my list, of games I’ve played extensively.
This was written with a gamer perspective, without taking into consideration too many tech aspects, just what makes the game interesting and fun to play!

________________

KILLZONE 3

KIND of GAME: a sci-fi first person shooter set on another world (Helgan).

PROs and CONs:
Pros > good party system, excellent maps, “living” maps, good characters, very good and well balanced classes and skills, excellent game modes, excellent movement and shooting feel, awesome graphics, excellent jetpack
Cons> lack of support for the operation mode (the most peculiar and interesting)

My EXPERIENCE:
What I absolutely love of Killzone are the maps, they are just perfect. It’s not just the great mood and graphics, it’s about how they are built, with different levels, many different paths to follow etc. They make the game absolutely engaging and are amazing to look at.
The different classes have peculiar strengths and characteristics. Killzone online is not one of those games that you play to gain rewards, you play it because every match can be very different from the previous depending on the character you use, the team you’re playing with, it’s always interesting and challenging.
The operations game mode is very entertaining with that sense of purpose not every shooter is able to offer.

Closing comment:
This game do not deserve at all a so low metacritic score. Underrated.

Time spent : 70 hours ca

VOTE: 9.8

________________

CRYSIS 2

KIND of GAME: a sci-fi first person shooter set in a near future (NYC)

PROs and CONs:
Pros> solid party system, nice maps, nice skills, rich reward system
Cons> all characters looks the same, too much run and gun, no strategy and not much team-play required, overused abilities and skill combos, terrible lag and frame rate

My EXPERIENCE:
I enjoyed Crysis 2, for a while but it becomes boring quite easily as, in the end, mostly people hide and shoot or run and shoot. It’s quite frantic, doesn’t require much strategy just that you surprise the enemy. The maps are nice, some more intriguing, other more flat but it takes very little time to run through them and, in the end, you just go round and round trying to shoot your enemies on their back.
A different experience for a while, because of the nice and unique abilities, however, in the long run, not as engaging as I had hoped.

Closing comment:
This game deliver a very solid single player campaing. The multiplayer is nice, but a bit boring.

Time spent : 40 hours ca

VOTE: 8

________________

MOTORSTORM: APOCALYPSE

KIND of GAME: racing game set in a collapsing city

PROs and CONs:
Pros > lots of vehicles with very different driving styles, dynamically changing environments and great graphics, excellent tracks with different paths and shortcuts, extensive vehicle customization, skills and abilities and leveling up.
Cons > too little love, additional maps are separate you can only play the standard OR the new ones

My EXPERIENCE: I’ve had a LOT of fun with Apocalypse, it’s a game you really want to keep playing. It’s surprised me, I didn’t expect it to be so engaging and I’ve spent a great deal of time on it. It’s thrilling when you manage to run some great races you really feel satisfied. There are different vehicles that you need to master so that they can give their best. The maps are great, with lots of effects and events that happens in game, there aren’t too many different paths but still they’re there with nice shortcuts and all.
It’s a game that deserves MUCH more love as it’s real, pure fun!

Time spent : 40 hours ca

VOTE: 9.5

________________

S.O.C.O.M. 4

KIND of GAME: modern military shooter set in our time

PROs and CONs:
Pros > excellent feeling, more realistic than arcade, requires a little learning curve but once you master it is VERY enjoyable. Good cover system, excellent shooting feeling, the character can do different actions and shoot in various ways, which means more variety. Great maps, very well designed on multiple levels. Although it’s more strategic and complex than other shooters the action is still fast and engaging.
Cons > lack of a party system (at the beginning, was meant to be introduced later on), too much grenade-frenzy on some maps

My EXPERIENCE:
I very much enjoyed SOCOM, is one shooter you feel satisfied in mastering and playing. It’s very engaging and enjoyable. It’s definitely a different experience worth playing. Nice characters, good graphics. Because of the lack of a party system it was a bit tricky playing with my buddy so we ended up playing death-match all the time, would have been nice exploring other modes.

Closing comment: critic has been much too harsh with SOCOM 4, reviewers probably didn’t take enough time to play it and enjoy it because it is a very good game, very solid and well balanced. The aficionados of the series criticized it because, in their opinion, it lost much of its uniqueness; while I understand that, it would be better to judge a game for what it gives the player, not for what the players wanted or expected from it. And SOCOM definitely deserves more love.

Time spent : 80 hours ca

VOTE: 9.3

________________

SECTION 8: PREJUDICE

KIND of GAME: sci-fi futuristic shooter set on a distant planet

PROs and CONs:
Pros > an affordable downloadable game that offers a solid and polished experience. Controls are simple but effective. Very good character customization and skill tree that allows different playing styles and strategies. The player must always do something, there are no dull moments. Matches could include bots or not (not is preferable but sometimes they were necessary to fill the teams).
Cons > no party system, not many players so sometimes matches were filled with bots.

My EXPERIENCE:
This one is a game that really surprised me. I didn’t expect this much from it, I really loved the character level up and customization, really excellent, well done and balanced (you play you character just as you like to play, to match your favorite playing style).
Maps weren’t exceptional but nice and I appreciated the emphasis on team play. There is (was) no party system but you can join your buddy so it’s fairly easy to play together even though not straightforward (but also heavily depended on how many bots were in the maps).

Closing comment:
excellent multiplayer with one of the best leveling all around. What, in part, ruined the experience was the low number of players, definitely an underrated and under-considerate game.

Time spent : 60 hours ca

VOTE: 9

________________

BRINK

KIND of GAME: post-apocalyptic shooter set on a possible future

PROs and CONs:
Pros > very cool characters and style, different classes that interact with their ability therefore creating a nice emphasis on team play
Cons > rough, very lagged, bad maps

My EXPERIENCE:
Brink was a game that I was very excited about having previewed it at GamesCom 2010. It looked very cool and promised a lot. Unfortunately it failed to deliver. While there were some nice ideas as far as gameplay and team-play are concerned in the end it wasn’t much fun. The gameplay isn’t streamlined enough and the action is more confused than engaging.
It definitely looked rushed but I believe that a good base is there, with some work on the layout of the maps and fine-tuning to gameplay in general, it could become a very nice multiplayer. Oh, yes, and decent lag to play, it was really plagued. I believe a Brink 2 could be pretty cool, if it’s developed overcoming the shortcomings of Brink.

Closing comment:
I want to like this game and I think the developer needed more time to poslih the game.

Time spent : 20 hours ca

VOTE: 7

TO BE CONTINUED …