"12 years ago Martin Hollis, the man who made the original GoldenEye 007, left UK powerhouse Rare 18 months into development of Perfect Dark to travel the States. It was a decision that rose more than a few eyebrows."
BY WIL HARRINGTON: From GoldenEye to Fortnite, from Zork to Horizon Zero Dawn, gamers have long had a vast selection of great single player and multiplayer options. Is one mode genuinely better than the other or is a balanced experience between both best? Let us dive in, shall we?
Single player or co-op, I usually have like one competitive MP game on the side I'll play for a couple years, BF used to be my go to but 2042 sucks and I haven't really found a good replacement
I prefer single player but don’t mind a fun addictive 3rd person shooter like Warhawk and Starhawk
I miss that awestruck experience when I'd play BF4 in my ps4 for the first time, or the extremely defined classes of the bfbc games
Yeah I prefer single player, but I do like the way destiny let's you casually drop in to public events and leave whenever, don't like the crucible mind.
single player games
MP games are like work now with their seasons and battle passes. For most with family, work etc, there just isn't enough time to play
Yeah then you throw in esports and twitch and there is no way I can keep up. The kids are getting practice and watching film.
These days almost exclusively single player, but I have over 600 hours in Uncharted 4 MP.
Last thing I played online was Returnal co-op with randoms.
You know what? I could play Returnal again and I have 250 hours on it.
Single Player
Having developers create rich, lore filled worlds and giving us great single play driven stories always appeal more to me. When developers do multiplayer games it always feels the effort just hasn't been put into it, like they are expecting replay value and overall fun to come from gamers gaming with each other, especially with close friends.
Rather having a well crafted level that will capture you and draw you in they'd rather create a short generic like level which you need to grind over and over with your party. It's like they are hoping you are so distracted playing with your friends, talking amongst yourselves that you won't realise and when you finally do click on and start to get bored they'll flash a shiny new update or expansion in your face which really is just the rest of the game you WOULD have gotten it if was purely single player.
The reason for that is by playing by yourself you don't have any distractions and you are concentrating more on the world on screen. You then start to notice if the gameplay is short, repetitive, not fun, buggy, generic etc which is why developers have to try harder when doing single player games. I always feel that's why developers want GaaS titles because it doesn't mean more money for them but less work as you drip feed the game content.
Both.
I like tits growing games like jrpg and rage inducing games like Rocket League.
Rival companies, including Sony and Ubisoft, are being good sports by congratulating Nintendo on Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom's launch.
Well deserved and how AAA is done. 96 meta score...please be inspired other AAA companies lol.
I'm having a blast with this game. I love the fact that you can add different things to your sword and shield
While Sony doesn't have 96+ metascore game other than UC2, they are much more consistent in releasing 90+ metascore games than Nintendo.
Individual studio wise Rockstar beats any other studio though in releasing 95-96+ meta games.
@sadraiden
Metroid Dread was a bit disappointing to me those robot chases got old after the first one. Well made game but the robots were tedious more than fun and it ruined the game for me.
The rest of the game was really good but the robots played such a big part unfortunately.
Dread was fitting name when I saw them I dreaded another stupid robot to take down.
It’s like the weapon breaking in Zelda. Tedious.
Mario’s for my kids and Zelda for me.
I like games like Fire Emblem and Xenoblade.
Hopefully they make a mature RPG someday but Nintendo doesn’t do many new IP especially geared towards adults but I can hope. I want Sony to do the same thing
The 96 is because it has Zelda in the title and made by Nintendo.
I played 20 hours yesterday, and this is no way near 96 for ME. Journalists are to scared to judge games for what they are.
If another AAA game was missing voice acting, had long loading screens, up to 30 fps, non compelling story, annoying controls during puzzles, a unnecessary complicated way to go through your weapons and what to combine etc, that game would've been slaughtered.
Not gonna take anything away for TotK, it's a great game, but journalist are to scared to actually talk about what doesn't make it perfect, even if they give a perfect score.
So far for me, a strong 8, a little bit better than BotW, mainly due to what crazy combinations you can play around with.
You played 20 hours yesterday? That’s impressive for a game to keep you glued to a screen for 20 hours in a day. But don’t forget to take care of your health.
There’s several Zelda titles that had scored much lower. Most of the 2D / top down zelda games says hi. And Skyward Sword.
I agree, have the same feeling.
If games on the other consoles has some of what was present or lack of in TotK, I'm sure it would be marked down. Just the muddy texture in some area/jaggy lines/shimmering would be points deducted.
But some how TotK seems to be immune to these technical issues and lack of extras.
Seems like a two tier scoring system. iI's a great game but if it's technical flawed, so score accordingly.
These kind of action by game journalists (cough), just makes people trust them less. Granted most people fear a raging fan mob!!
"I played 20 hours yesterday, and this is no way near 96 for ME. Journalists are to scared to judge games for what they are."
So it sounds like you establish this is your opinion, then proceed to say journalists are not being honest (i.e., a 96 is not real based on your time with it). By the way, I really don't understand why people make this distinction between scores like 96 and 88. Both are extremely good scores and the point is that they are great games and highly recommended.
"If another AAA game was missing voice acting, had long loading screens, up to 30 fps, non compelling story, annoying controls during puzzles, a unnecessary complicated way to go through your weapons and what to combine etc, that game would've been slaughtered."
Okay....I have strong disagreements here. First, VA is not "missing". That would mean it was fully intended to have it and it launched without it. Second, I find it interesting that anyone would say any other game would be slaughtered for long loading screens, frame rates up to 30fps, or non-compelling story, when you have examples of games with that criteria doing exceptionally well. Metal Gear Solid 4 was excellent, but you literally had to install on a chapter by chapter basis (which, by the way, it is well known reviewers were not allowed to talk about it—no such restrictions for TotK). Demon's Souls actually had long loading times AND frequently ran sub-30fps and barely missed 90+ aggregate score. Then, of course, we cannot disregard Shadow of the Colossus. All phenomenal experiences, but would you be inclined to say they do not deserve their acclaim?
Regarding narrative, I genuinely hate how gamers feel that story is a necessity in modern gaming. Maybe I'm old, but I don't see why that's needed in a game. It can help with making sense of your actions in a game and give a sense of purpose and immersion, but really, that's not a must for game enjoyment. I'd go as far as to say I don't find it necessary in reviews.
Controls and complicated weapon mechanics are fair criticisms. The other stuff I don't agree with.
Play it longer than 20hrs. I get it, you are a busy family man, you don't have 40-60hrs to get "into the zone", but some games just need it. Just like some book series' and tomes of the past. Heck, some albums take 5-6 listen throughs to get the jist of it (especially classic Jazz or Classical music albums). It's just as is.
Zelda TotK is incredible, there's no denying it. Personally, I find the sound design and music the most impressive aspect of the whole thing. Second comes the creativity. Third all of those things the reviews write about it, game systems, story, puzzles and other "game stuff". I like the "art" stuff the most.
And that brought them to 100+ million plus Switch sales. I’m sure Nintendo is crying over having only 100+ million fan.
Of course they aren't. That's why they make the same games with minimal effort because they know you all will buy it with no resistance. They even charge $70 even though it's last gen.
TheEnigma313,
"Of course they aren't. That's why they make the same games with minimal effort because they know you all will buy it with no resistance. They even charge $70 even though it's last gen."
¿Que?
Please explain what you mean by minimal effort. Last I checked, their games run very well. The most recent Pokemon is the only exception to this that I can think of.
What do you mean same games? Same franchises? Some play in a very familiar way and some are even remakes, but it's amazing to see anyone complain about Nintendo making "the same games", yet remakes and sequels dominate the industry where mechanics that work aren't overtly revised. Why should they be if they work? To Nintendo's credit, I would say they do the most to change their games between entries. Splatoon feels largely stagnant, as does Pokemon, however.
Then you've got the bloody argument of Nintendo charging $70 for last gen. I think it's BS for them to charge $70 now—they're basically doing what Activision did with MW2: "because we can and you'll buy it anyway." The problem I have with this argument is that I swear to God it is impossible for haters to decide what generation Switch is. When Switch outpaces PS4/Xbox One, the argument was that Wii U was competing with gen 8 and Switch is gen 9. Now, you argue that Nintendo is charging $70 for a last gen game? Can we get a little consistency from you lot? Pick a lane and stay in it, please.
Plenty of reasons to go after Nintendo. Plenty. This just feels like nonsense.
"same games with minimal effort"
I'm pretty sure they would had ran these franchises into the ground already if that was true, but it's not and that's why their IPs continue to sale.
The same game? Have you honestly played it yet? There is a huge world on the sky and in the underground, along side the normal map from BOTW but with so many changes as well.
And why wouldn’t people pay $70 for a 96% Metacritic game? Or would they rather pay $70 for a “next gen” game like Redfall instead?
How this is a totally new game the IP might be old but realistically it's only the character names that link this game with the 80s and 90s Zelda games.
That's like saying you'd hate to see another Spyro
funny you said that when you talked about sea of thieves and Everwild on your profile. but want to play like you didn't know they've still around . you played yourself
@mjchitown I think you’re the only that played yourself. Lol He obviously knows they’re still around. He just said that because he’s sarcastically calling them irrelevant. Which they’re, compared to what they used to be.
Mjchitown,
Gotta learn a little sarcasm buddy. Read hofs post again a little slower
I own both PS5 and Switch and I am really enjoying BOTW for the moment so I am not ready for Tears of the Kingdom, but I'll get it eventually.
It's a quality game and I wish Nintendo were a cross platform developer and not a hardware specific one. as can you imagine this on series x or Ps5. Just look at the ue5 stuff people have done, hope there next hardware is extraordinary.
There’s been a lot of remakes in 2023 like Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space with plenty more on the way, and Kurt can’t help but ask: is this a good thing?
Nah, actually without a lot of these remakes I would forget why I loved gaming in the first place. So hard to just get a straightforward complete game out the box these days, remakes help fill that void considerably
no
there's hundreds of games every year
a handful are remakes
maybe it's because they are good remakes they stick with us
Not until we get
MGS4
Tenchu 1 and 2
SOCOM
KILLZONE 2
im sure there are other gems. These are a few of my favorites
I mean, Ive enjoyed them. So I cant sit here and say there's too many. For the most part they've all been very good remakes. As long they remain of high quality and people are buying and enjoying them, I think its fine. They help fill the gaps between new releases. This year alone Ive beaten The Last of Us Part 1, RE4, Metroid Prime Remaster, and Dead Space and I loved every single one of those games.
