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| source// Thatgamecompany |
As great as multiplayer gaming can be, there are times when it gets old pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, thanks to the global dominance of consciously formulaic multiplayer games like FIFA, Call Of Duty and WWE 2K16, which purposefully avoid messing with the brand too much, other games tend to try and copy what works.
Clearly, there is some success to be had on that front – particularly for sports, racing and shooting games, but it leaves you wanting more.
That culture is also why a truly unique multiplayer game is such a pleasure. Whether they have you working with other players or against them, multiplayer games that provide original gaming experiences should always be praised even if things don’t quite work out. At least the effort for ingenuity was there.
Luckily, the gambles do pay off sometimes, and these original multiplayer games most certainly did work out…
10. Prop Hunt
The custom creation game Gary’s Mod has led to a number of incredible multiplayer titles over the years (Trouble In Terrorist Town is certainly worth playing if you never have before) but the most unique may just be Prop Hunt.
Prop Hunt splits players into two teams: A group of hunters and a group of spirits who must hide from the hunters by possessing random objects in the level. If the hunters can destroy the correct objects that are currently being possessed, they win. However, if they damage the wrong objects – which is quite easy to do considering how packed each level is – they take damage. Meanwhile, the spirits can only win if the timer ends without them being detected.
What’s so incredible about this game is that it is both incredibly competitive and downright hilarious. By taking the advantage away from the player who has the gun and giving it to the player who can take the form of a banana, Prop Hunt completely upsets the dynamic of the traditional deathmatch game.
9. The Souls Series
For years the divide between single-player games and multiplayer games was simple. If you wanted to play a game by yourself, you went through the single-player mode. If you wanted to enjoy the experience with others, you chose multiplayer.
Demon Souls changed all that. Instead of putting a separate multiplayer mode on the menu, the Souls series incorporated its multiplayer options into the game’s story mode. While playing through the campaign, other players could interact with your journey by leaving helpful – or sometimes deceptive – notes as to what lies ahead or by simply invading your world to assist or harm you directly.
The ability for players to invade your game for either malicious or beneficial purposes added a real layer of depth to the already great Souls’ single player games. This idea completely changed the dynamic of multiplayer gaming for the better.
8. SpeedRunners
In SpeedRunners, your greatest enemy isn’t your competition or the weapons and power-ups they can use against you. No, here your greatest enemy is the edge of the screen.
Some have called SpeedRunners the multiplayer mode that Mario should have had and that’s a pretty apt description. It’s built around four players traversing an obstacle-filled level at high speeds while trying use their own quickness and items found along the way to slow the others down.
If you fall too far behind, you get eaten up by the edge of the screen and are eliminated. To make things even more interesting, the edge of the screen grows closer and closer as you play making the margin for error while running almost non-existent.
Although it is a very unique competitive experience, what’s so amazing about SpeedRunners is that it takes all of about a minute to understand and appreciate. Mastering the intricacies of the game, however, is a much tougher matter that lends the game infinite replay value.
7. Driver: San Francisco
By the time Driver: San Francisco came out, the Driver series had fallen on hard times and not many people bothered with it. That’s a shame, because the game’s multiplayer was simply incredible.
While most of the multiplayer options are enjoyable, the reason Driver makes this list is because of the tag mode. Here you and other players must pursue and take down a trophy car driving around the map.
The twist is that you actually start the mode staring at the game’s map and have the ability to take control of nearly any car in the city at will. This leads to a variety of viable options as you and other players try to figure out what the most optimal car to take is and then compete with each other for positioning.
The results tend to be pure chaos, albeit pure chaos based around the idea of genuine strategy.
6. Journey
Much like the Souls series, Journey is a game that doesn’t show its multiplayer mode on the main screen. Unlike the Souls series, Journey doesn’t even let first-time players know there is a multiplayer mode at all.
As you progress through Journey, you encounter a companion that you will complete the rest of the game with. What most players don’t know their first time through the game is that this companion is actually another human player that is also making their way through the game’s story.
Given that both players don’t know this and that there is a simplified communication system in the game that doesn’t let you directly talk to each other, Journey does a brilliant job of making players work together without even intending to.
In an age where a generation of gamers are in open revolt over the fall of the single-player game, Journey fooled everyone into enjoying the company of others.
5. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
When Ubisoft announced that they would be adding competitive multiplayer to the Splinter Cell series, many wondered what route they would go. Would it be a traditional deathmatch style game? Would it be a stealth-based objective mode?
The answer to those questions is yes. Chaos Theory’s incredible Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer mode has two players take control of mercenaries who play the game in first-person while defending objective points and two players take control of spies who play the game in third-person and must capture the objective points.
While the mercenaries are better equipped than the spies, their first-person view means that spies can take advantage of their blind sides to sneak around them. Or, even better, sneak up directly behind them and take them out while using the game’s chat function to whisper a few insults into their ear before doing so.
These very distinct ways of play made this mode much more complicated than the average multiplayer experience, but the depth of the experience for those willing to learn it has few rivals in all of gaming.
4. Worms
When Worms first released in 1995, there was nothing else quite like it in all of PC gaming. Incredibly, almost 21 years later there still really isn’t.
Worms is easily classified as a strategy game, but there’s really no other strategy game quite like it. While you can certainly get a lot of mileage out of carefully planned attacks and a strong knowledge of the game’s mechanics, there is also a heavy element of randomness to the game that is supported by the whimsical cartoon violence of the aesthetics.
This is especially true of players trying to learn the game, but even when you master the unique weapons the random unit placement and chaotic nature of the combat creates moments where anything can happen.
What ultimately makes Worms so unique is its combination of instant gratification action, humor and genuine strategy. It’s the most fun you’ll ever have not understanding what just happened or what exactly you are doing.
3. Natural Selection
How unique is Natural Selection? So unique that many people never bothered to play the game, as they weren’t quite sure what to make of it.
On a very basic level, Natural Selection is a mix of the first person shooter and real-time strategy genres. It pits aliens against marines in traditional shooter combat while players on both sides command the action through a more traditional real-time strategy view.
From there, it adds quite a few complications. Each team handles resources differently, aliens have their own hierarchy of commands, you have to consider territories and structures at all times… things get overwhelming pretty quickly.
Yet that’s exactly what makes Natural Selection so brilliant. It created an entirely unique way to approach multiplayer gaming and offered no compromises along the way. This is a wholly original game that requires you to learn a host of new techniques and then rewards you appropriately for doing so.
2. Spy Party
Although Spy Party is only in beta, it has already proven itself to be one of the most inspired and entertaining multiplayer experiences that gaming has ever offered.
Spy Party is a two player multiplayer game that has one player take control of a sniper assassin and the other player control a spy attending a party who the sniper is tasked with eliminating.
The twist here is that the sniper doesn’t know which guest he is assigned to kill. Instead, the sniper must observe the movements of the guests to determine who is the spy. Meanwhile, the spy must complete a series of objectives while blending in with the other guests.
What follows is the ultimate game of cat and mouse. While new players will find that the sniper has the advantage as inexperienced spies will reveal themselves quickly, enough experience quickly shifts the dynamic as the sniper must pick up on subtle clues to find their target.
Regardless of your role, though, this is a game that produces memorable experiences with every outing.
1. The Ship
A common element among many of the unique games on this list is that they gave gamers a multiplayer experience that they were not expecting. The Ship is a little different. It gave us a multiplayer experience that we’ve always wanted, but were unsure if a game could properly pull off.
The Ship places you and a group of fellow online players onto a cruise ship. Each player is assigned another player to assassinate and are also a target for another player. What complicates the situation is that you don’t know who is trying to kill you and that kills can only be completed in certain areas as to not get caught. Additionally, you must account for certain needs like your hunger and hygiene while playing.
While the Assasin’s Creed series would eventually streamline The Ship’s multiplayer mode, this game deserves credit for introducing the idea of a multiplayer assassination game. Tense, intelligent and often times just plain chaotic, The Ship combines all the things we love about multiplayer gaming and wraps them in a new package.
Which other unique and brilliant multiplayer games belong on this list? Share your own suggestions below in the comments thread.
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