People always talk about multiplayer in varying ways. Some people talk about how it's basically the only reason they buy a game (mostly for replayability) while others talk about how it is an utter waste of money. Now whenever I think about a multiplayer game I immediately think of Super Smash Bros. It's a gaming series that primarily focuses on multiplayer and even though the last installment's single player was trying to give us a good single player story it fumbled that idea more than a five year old would the concept of quantum physics... Anyways, I start looking at what exactly makes it so amazing by comparing it to other multiplayers like World of Warcraft, Killzone 3, Uncharted 2, Call of Duty, Halo, and basically every fighting game conceived.
I think I've come to some conclusion as to what I'd want in a next gen multiplayer game on the PS3 or Xbox 360. For those of you who have played Metal Gear Online you first have to customize your character with appearance and abilities. The usual. But every now and then something happens that makes the game a thousand times more engaging. You can play as Solid Snake, Liquid Ocelot, Raiden, Vamp, etc. And each one has their own unique ability. And I don't mean like some unique ability any player can have but truly one of a kind abilities. Solid Snake can use octocamo, Liquid Ocelot can stun enemies with the guns of the patriots, Raiden has a sword and can do acrobatics, and Vamp can throw knives as well as resurrect himself after "dying." Without these special characters MGO would have been a poor man's Call of Duty or Halo. Shouldn't this mean that allowing players the ability to play as some of the characters they love is more enticing than creating some random Joe who anyone else can make. Sure, it immerses the player more in the game but gaming is all about escapism and creating someone yourself with no special qualities just makes me feel more like an idiot when I keep dying in multiplayer. Just some average Joe. Of course this idea wouldn't work in some MMORPG like World of Warcraft because there are just too many people so that system works more under classes (as does Killzone 3) which works wonders if you can learn to balance it right.
Now let's look at a shooter/platformer that allows you to play as characters directly from the single player experience except none of them have any special abilities. They are all exactly the same. I'm talking about Uncharted 2. You level up the more you play blah blah blah they could have been random people. Couldn't the game have been better if say Drake could unlock ancient traps in certain areas of the map, or if Chloe should make herself look like the enemy by her gamertag, or if Flynn could blow himself up just before dying, or if Elena could summon her camera as a kinda sacrifice, or if Sully was some kind of revolver totting long range fighter who had to stop and rest every few minutes from old age? Seriously, doesn't that sound like a better game? Oh and allow the player some customization because customization does add to immersion so have color swaps or costume change. I'm looking at you, Donut Drake. Minimize customization so that on a map with 16 people you can still tell who is who, but still allowing the player to feel like he/she is some bad ass.
No one wants to feel like like themselves when they play the game unless they are winning, but what about those who just can't get any better? It's unfair. Everyone should enter the game feeling like a total bad ass with something special to show for it and the characters should feel balanced (ie their has to be a way to counter a character's special). Fighting games like Super Smash Bros and Marvel vs. Capcom have this down. Characterization meets customization. I know it gets harder to do this when more than 4 people are playing each other but Metal Gear Solid has so many characters! So do many franchises! Like I don't know, TWISTED METAL!!! The only problem with fighting games is that they trade simple controls for mastery, and that's why I love Super Smash Bros: it's fun and it's simple. And I know that Call of Duty is fun but can I please play as someone important who stands a chance instead of myself?
If you want to add anything just comment. Thanks :)
