Has a multiplayer mode ever surprised you?

The "Rate the importance of multiplayer" thread got me thinking about one game that really shocked me with it's muliplayer. That game was the Xbox Live Arcade version of Outrun 2. Outrun has always been primarily a single player game so it seemed rather weird to me that there would even be a multiplayer game, however there was and it was pretty cool. There wasn't really anything particularly noteworthy about it, at times the game was glicthy as hell, but it did have a sizable player base and I enjoyed racing people online almost as much as the single player.

So what about you? What are the multiplayer modes that really surprised you?

I thought Assassin's Creed was really inventive and fresh when I played that the first time around.

I think Demons Souls, and thus Dark Souls multiplayer was surprising. It was far from perfect, but it was different. I like different.

Brotherhood's multiplayer and most recently Mass Effect 3.

AC: Brotherhood and Dead Space 2 were pretty good. Mass Effect 3's multiplayer seems alright, too.

I wasn't that surprised about Assassins Creed being as fun as it was since it sounded like it would work. Dark Souls is incredibly great. Mass Effect 3 seems like it is pretty good.

Red Faction: Guerrilla as i didn't expect that to have a good multiplayer mode at all. it turned out to be just as good-- if not, better than the single player

Once they started talking about Assassin's Creed Multiplayer and saying "Think of it as The Ship" I already knew it would be awesome so that didn't surprise me. 
I'm surprised I've spent many (20+ so far) hours with the ME3 multiplayer Demo. That shit is fun

Red Dead Redemption's multiplayer was ridiculously more fun than it had any need to be, and that's why I love that game.

Rock Band. I was a big Guitar Hero fan, so i was very skeptical about rock band, but i played one song on the demo in Best buy with a couple of friends and was blown away.

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer, in the demo.

BioShock 2 had surprisingly solid multiplayer, even though I really disliked the rest of it.

@AjayRaz said:

Red Faction: Guerrilla as i didn't expect that to have a good multiplayer mode at all. it turned out to be just as good-- if not, better than the single player

I don't think so. The only two examples I can remember are merely coincidence; there was multiplayer, there was surprise, but the two weren't necessarily connected.

Red Dead Redemption's multiplayer was ridiculously more fun than it had any need to be, and that's why I love that game.

I don't think so. The only two examples I can remember are merely coincidence; there was multiplayer, there was surprise, but the two weren't necessarily connected.

Ace Combat: Assult Horizon, the multiplayer is some of the coolest I have ever played.

@ZeForgotten said:

@Video_Game_King said:

I don't think so. The only two examples I can remember are merely coincidence; there was multiplayer, there was surprise, but the two weren't necessarily connected.

So you were playing Seiken Densetsu 3 and while playing someone walks up and say "can I play with you?" and you give this person a bumfuzzled look and go "I'm surprised somebody else lives on the moon. Did you leave earth because nobody there liked you either?"

.....There are no words in the English language capable of accurately displaying how hard you suck. The greatest poets your world over would struggle to find the language necessary to describe just how terrible you are. It's uncanny, really.

Pitch Black mode in the Riddick game. The multiplayer was complete shit other than that one mode.

Basically, one player is Riddick and can see in the dark, where are the other players are unable to see unless they have their aim focused somewhere, which makes sense since the flashlight is on their gun. Riddick only has a rope though that he can sneak up and kill the other players with. Kill Riddick, become Riddick. And so on. It's really addictive and running around in the total darkness is a real trip. As much as Dark Athena is worth buying just for the two single player campaigns, that mode is really worth checking out if you can get a game going anyway.

@xXxLYNCHxXx said:

I think Demons Souls, and thus Dark Souls multiplayer was surprising. It was far from perfect, but it was different. I like different.

Add Mass Effect 3 not bad mp (if the demo is any indication) , at least from a company that hasnt made a modern type of mp experience as fas as I know (excluding SW:TOR)

@ZeForgotten said:

@Video_Game_King said:

I don't think so. The only two examples I can remember are merely coincidence; there was multiplayer, there was surprise, but the two weren't necessarily connected.

So you were playing Seiken Densetsu 3 and while playing someone walks up and say "can I play with you?" and you give this person a bumfuzzled look and go "I'm surprised somebody else lives on the moon. Did you leave earth because nobody there liked you either?"

.....There are no words in the English language capable of accurately displaying how hard you suck. The greatest poets your world over would struggle to find the language necessary to describe just how terrible you are. It's uncanny, really.

@ZeForgotten:

You should rethink your words, foolish one.

The F2P multiplayer-only game WolfTeam. I've been meaning to write a blog post on its awesomeness for quite a while now.

Go look up some videos. I can't think of another game, mainstream or otherwise, that allows the player to change their fundamental gameplay options at a whim.

@ZeForgotten:

So you understand the message.

Soul Calibur V online.

Every part of it is exceptional. Amazing netcode, spectating, lobbies with text chat, full character customisation, rival registration, full stats tracking... the list goes on.

Yes you buy a fighting game for the multiplayer, but I never expected the online to be this good.

Brink surprised me in a negative way. I was surprised that Splash Damage could do so much wrong when they were basically just making another Enemy Territory.

On a lighter note, I was pleasantly surprised when I first started to play custom games in WC3 online, all the custom maps were great fun.

DEMON'S SOULS!

Fighting the Old Monk and discovering it's another player! And then later getting to play as the Old Monk and beat down another player! Amazing, surprising, really cool.

Helping out others was fun too.

both assassins ceed brotherhood and bioshock 2 multiplayers were really fun to plaay. i had no idea what to expect and they were both pleasant experiences.

I might be one of the few who would say this, but I vastly prefer Uncharted 2/3's multiplayer over the other "big" 3rd person shooter MP modes (*cough* Gears of War *cough). Never would've guess that I would even put some time into those modes, let alone more hours than I did the single-player campaign.

I've really enjoyed Uncharted 3's multiplayer as well, which was pretty surprising. I played Uncharted 2 through GameFly and never touched the multiplayer. So, when I bought Uncharted 3 I wasn't even concerned with the multiplayer, but it ended up being pretty great.

On a more retro note:

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. The weapons and modes in that multiplayer were a lot more fun then they should have been. And, you could play as a monkey or a raptor...awesome.

Uncharted, Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect all have multiplayer modes that have really surprised me with how enjoyable they are. The biggest surprise being Assassin's Creed, given that it's not really a game that lends itself naturally to a multiplayer mode.

Recently, I've been having a ton of fun with some friends and GTA4, although it often devolves into "what can we get stuck in a swingset", which is still more fun than it probably has any right to be.

Other than that, echoing the sentiment of Assassin's Creed, and also Sonic 06. Most of it was the surprise of "What, someone actually bothered to code this?" and then when I played I realized the error of my thoughts. I didn't think it was possible to be worse than the single player in Sonic 06, but... Yeah.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's multiplayer really surprised me. I wasn't sure how well the gameplay would translate into an online setting but it ended up being pretty spectacular.

Going to agree Red Dead. I literally bought that game for the singleplayer alone. Got the GOTY disc, played multiplayer, and now I play it more than I do singleplayer.

The correct answer is Call of Duty 4

@BRich: Yeah, Before I was in the beta I only gave a shit about the single player from the E3 video. I then DL it with the intention of giving it a little try and ended up completely addicted to it.

@BRich said:

The correct answer is Call of Duty 4

Indeed. I remember when I realized that I was spending more time playing the Call of Duty 4 beta than Halo 3, even though I was and still am a huge Halo fan.

Another one which comes to mind is the multiplayer of Brothers in Arms for the Xbox. The first Brothers in Arms game is still probably my favorite WW2-shooter, and at the time I was blown away at how well the tactical gameplay translated to 1v1 or 2v2 online matches.

WC3 - Dota

Half Life - CS

I use to think mods were minor projects but damn those were awesome and still are

Call of Duty 4 - got tired of it by MW2

Halo 2 - online multiplayer on a console done well for the first time

Mass Effect 3 - turned out better than expected

Gears of War 2 - Horde mode for the first time was great

Well I guess when Halo 2 released and we all found out how good console online mp could actually be.

And then there was the Terrorist Hunt mode in Rainbow 6: Vegas. I was completely blown away by how insanely well done and fun that mode was. Add in the best cover system ever at the time, and the fantastic firearms audio...just pure bliss.

Dead Space 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Transformers: War For Cybertron (though to be fair the demo sold me), Mass Effect 3, Gears of War 3 (I thought the multiplayer was 100% terrible up until 3), and a few others.

@mcderby4 said:

Brotherhood's multiplayer and most recently Mass Effect 3.

The way Mass Effect (from 2 onward) plays, it's pretty much a deeper Gears of War, and that sounds just fine to me.

Assassin's Creed, like everyone else has said.

Another odd one was Fracture. An otherwise bland game had some pretty interesting capture the flag multiplayer due to the terrain deformation. You basically used the terrain to make mountains and valleys around your flag and increase the time it took to steal it and run. Crushing people in buildings was lots of fun too. It never caught on (the gunplay was meh), but it was a surprisingly fun idea.

The first time I played COD 4 I was genuinely surprised and I had fun with the XP and tiered progression system. I also enjoyed Warhawk a lot, the blend between vehicle and air combat was exhilarating.

I'm primarily a single player gamer though and when I choose to play multiplayer, I prefer co-op or splitscreen gaming.

@AndrewB said:

@mcderby4 said:

Brotherhood's multiplayer and most recently Mass Effect 3.

The way Mass Effect (from 2 onward) plays, it's pretty much a deeper Gears of War, and that sounds just fine to me.

If you choose it to be that way. I am pleased with how BioWare gives players the option for how to play the game: Action, RPG, or Story.

I prefer RPG because I love the combat and I love the story and making my own decisions. Personally, Gears and Mass Effect to me are ENTIRELY different games.

@mcderby4: Maybe it's just because I'm constantly playing it on insanity, but it feels like a cover-based shooter with "spells" (biotic of tech powers). That makes if very Gears-like. That's actually a compliment.

That's speaking only of the actual gameplay. Of course there's a deeper story element and various levels of character and equipment customization. Like I said, a deeper Gears game.

@AndrewB said:

@mcderby4: Maybe it's just because I'm constantly playing it on insanity, but it feels like a cover-based shooter with "spells" (biotic of tech powers). That makes if very Gears-like. That's actually a compliment.

That's speaking only of the actual gameplay. Of course there's a deeper story element and various levels of character and equipment customization. Like I said, a deeper Gears game.

I guess you could say that. Nothing wrong with being compared to Gears though. One of the best shooters of this or any generation.

Mount and Blade Warband

Bastard Swords for everybody!!!! WOOO! Ends up being greattttt fun.

Call of Duty multiplayer surprised me. Surprising that anybody would actually like that crap.

ME3 was goddamn surprising. It's really good.