State of the Multiplayer Union

A Review of 2003's Top Multiplayer Games

Published on February 21, 2004 By mittens In Misc Games

At this very moment, thousands upon thousands of players are waging war across hundreds of maps in order to achieve the ultimate goal: a high kill count and a low death count. There are numerous games players can choose from that will allow them to achieve this goal, whether it be through cunning strategy in games like Warcraft 3, Rise of Nations, or Command and Conquer Generals. Or it could be through a more action-packed game such as Call of Duty, Enemy Territory (which is a free download), Counter-Strike and Battlefield 1942 (or one of its numerous amazing mods). There sure are a lot of great multiplayer games, but the hard part is choosing which one will give you the best experience for the time you put in to it. Right now, I'm currently wading through masses of British soldiers in an effort to capture and hold their HQ in Call of Duty, whereas last night I spent some time trying one of the up-and-coming BF1942 mods Eve of Destruction. There are just so many good multiplayer experiences out there right now! How can you know which is worth the money/time? Well, thankfully, I have so little of a life that I can help you through this decision.

For this article, I will cover blank number categories:

Best Multiplayer First-Person Shooter
Best Multiplayer Strategy Game
Best MMORPG
Most Teamplay-Oriented Game
Best Multiplayer Mod

Now, with that said, let's get on with the winners!

Best Multiplayer First-Person Shooter
This may, without a doubt, be the hardest category to judge on. There are so many great FPSs out now that focus almost solely on their multiplayer game, and this tends to be great news for us gamers; however, with that said, the winner in this category has, without a doubt, the best single-player experience I've played in a *long* time. The winner is Call of Duty.

My first experience with the game's multiplayer was very disappointing. The first mode I launched myself into was the "Deathmatch" mode, and it was a typical deathmatch: no teams, no respawn time; you just shoot everything you see, and once you die, you're thrown right back into the action. Then I discovered the "Search and Destroy" and "Headquarters" modes of the game, and once I discovered these (the former is a Counter-Strike-esque game mode where you have one or two objects that you must destroy or defend, the second is a king-of-the-hill mode and each player respawns, if they've been killed, every minute or so), I stayed up very late into the night before I could finally get the guts to exit the game. Call of Duty has an amazingly immersive single-player mode, but don't let that take away from the multiplayer mode, as it is equally immersive, and has replay value to spare.

Final Word: If you haven't picked up a copy of Call of Duty for yourself by now, do yourself a major favor and go do so. The single-player and multiplayer modes both glisten with excellence.

Best Multiplayer Strategy Game
Alright, here's the deal: I tried deciding which strategy game was the most fun during multiplayer play (C&C Generals wins for its single-player gameplay), then I realized that it would be impossible for me to decide between three games: Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, C&C Generals (and its expansion pack, C&C Generals: Zero Hour) and Rise of Nations. So, in light of this decision, I'm giving the award for best multiplayer strategy game of the year to, in no particular order: Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Command and Conquer: Generals & Zero Hour and Rise of Nations

Best MMORPG
Sorry, this was just a cruel joke by the industry. There are no good MMORPGs around right now.

Best Teamplay-Oriented Game
The winner in this category, while being a great game, is an old game, which shows that, unfortunately for us, not many games have put an emphasis on extreme teamplay in the last couple years. Some games require rudimentary teamwork skills in order to win a round of gameplay (though you can mostly play just like you would if your teammates were useless AI bots), but the winner in this category REQUIRES you to speak with your teammates in order to win a match. It is almost impossible to win without decent communication between your teammates. The game that won this category is definately an oldie, but still a goodie: Counter-Strike.

If you haven't played this game by now, then you definately need to pick up Half-Life (Counter-Strike is just an extreme mod of Half-Life), then download Steam, Valve's new system necessary to initiate playing Counter-Strike, Half-Life or any other one of the game's mods over the internet, and you're ready to play. Even if you played Counter-Strike a year or more ago, and haven't tried it since, then you should definately give it another try. I wasn't much a fan of the game in it's earlier incarnations, but when I tried it again earlier last year, I was amazed by how much it had improved. There are still numerous cheaters on every server, but sometimes, it's worth wading through a few of them in order to play some truly great matches.

Final Word: Whether you're a Counter-Strike veteran, or if youhave never played Counter-Strike, then there is never a better time to start than now.

Best Multiplayer Mod
Without a doubt, the Battlefield 1942 mod-scene has been absolutely amazing with mods like Desert Combat, but the real amazing one, and the one that is taking home the "Best Multiplayer Mod" award is Eve of Destruction.

Eve of Destruction takes place during the Vietnam War (anyone else find it odd that when this mod hit the big-time, EA's Battlefield: Vietnam was getting planned to be released much earlier than expected?), and boy, this mod is authentic. Taking maps from several famous Vietnam War-based movies/books (We Were Soldiers... Once and Young) and combining those with the whup-whup of Huey Helicopters, AR-15s, and sizzling hot conflicts in the jungles of North Vietnam; we, the players, end up with a very exciting mod full of battle experiences that are well worth the ~500mb download. Also, one thing worth noting is that the map-sizes in this mod are considerably smaller than the trademark BF1942 maps, which is one of the major complaints I have with the series; this allows for more streamlined gameplay and action.

Final Word: If you've got Battlefield 1942, then you owe it to yourself to download Eve of Destruction, and breathe some new life into that potentially dusty BF1942 CD.

And that's a wrap for my multiplayer gaming awards. If I get enough feedback, I'll be doing this again next year (and maybe I'll think about doing an overall look at the best games of 2003, and some of the games to watch for 2004).

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