You've seen it, thought about it, pondered it in your mind. You see a game you might like to get and you flip it over to see if more than one person can play it at a time.
Sometimes this is the deciding factor for purchasing a game. Maybe you want to play it with your son, daughter, sibling, significant other, mom, or granddad. So you stand there at your favorite retailer and the game clearly states: 2 players.
Yep, you decide to grab the game, pony up your hard earned dough and head home for some local multiplayer mayhem. Only... it doesn't really turn out that way. You get the game in your favorite console, turn on the controller, and click start.
Only, now the game starts and there are no options for a 2 player game. What gives? Where is the other player?
Sometimes you have just been duped like in BattleField Bad Company 2. You get the "Ultimate Edition" that boasts the "Onslaught Mode" which has an "action packed co-op mode."
I was told that "Co-op" didn't mean local two player, but rather that you could play together with someone else online. REALLY!?!! It already states on the back "Network Players 2-24."
What a rip!
Saddened, you return to your favorite retailer and your 5 year old grabs a Wii game that has (comparatively for Wii games) gotten a good rating. You flip it over and lo! The number 2 is on the back. In fact, one of the screen shots shows 2 players and states play with a friend in 21 dedicated levels. Does this mean you are playing with your son? Nope. The two player mode is in "Eggman's Sonic Simulator." Is it truly 2 player (ala Super Mario Bros.)? Nope. If one of you falls behind, then that player is "dragged forward until stopped by a wall." Whatever that means.
These two are hardly the only culprits. There is not enough time in the day, or enough TB on this server to dedicate to all the games that purposefully advertise 2 or more players only to have the game be single player.
It is very simple, publishers. If a game is a single player game, don't try to gimmick it up to make it look like or seem like more than one player on a console can play it at a time. It is lying and doesn't encourage brand loyalty.
If you make a quality 1 player game and it wouldn't take too much to make it split screen go ahead... I am looking at you NFS: Hot Pursuit. Hell, if Toy Story 3 can do it, so can you.
But this is a serious plea for those of us who don't have limitless budgets: Please, just put the number of players on the back. Just the number that will play the main game.
For instance: Sonic Colors should say 1 Player.
BFBC2 Onslaught mode should clearly state "Co-op Online Only." Which is what it had anyway.
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Nusrat from NoobFeed writes: Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together is a great game in many ways. There are strong systems in place that promote creativity and teamwork. There is a pleasing rhythm to running a kitchen, especially with friends, when everything is going as planned. It can be really satisfying to split up jobs, talk to people when you're under a lot of stress, and run a busy service.
Maisie from NoobFeed writes: People of Note is a sweet love letter to both rhythm games and JRPGs. It finds a good balance between two types of game mechanics, creating a world where music, strategy, and story work well together.
I don't really see what you mean. From my experience anyway with Playstation games, it always states on the first image (near the bottom-left of the box) how many players can play it on one system (i.e. "1-2 Players"), and then if the game has some sort of network features / compatibility, it will state in the image with the network-player image (and in a different colour to the other images that are all related to playing the game on the one console) how many players can play together online (i.e. "Network Players 2-18").
If it's different for other consoles then fair enough but I know it's stated on PS3 game-boxes how many players can play together both at home on one console and online.
Edit: I just checked a few of my X360 games and they're the same. It has one line of info about how many players can play together on one system (in green) and on the line below it it has online information (in orange).
For the Wii, Super Mario Galaxy says it's two players.. but then you come to find its just a pointer to pick stuff up instead of running over there. I agree with this blog.
http://multiplayerblog.mtv....