Most Wanted is not my multiplayer of the year, and what's yours?

About Most Wanted...

I love Most Wanted. I often put it in for a half an hour or so, and just drive my Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (damn I wish I'd finally pony up for some online distributable cash for that snazzy Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse), listening to music, doing sick jumps and generally just taming that beast to do my bidding, without crashing and burning. That's pure joy to me. What I'm saying, I love the game, more so than most - I bet.

Despite my deep appreciation for the driving game Criterion put together, Most Wanted's multiplayer is not my favorite multiplayer of the year - in fact, I don't even like playing it at all. While it's absolutely amazing when it all comes together, usually it just doesn't. Why? Because it is pacing itself after the worst competitor, rather than the best. The first guy to reach a meet-up? He'll get 200 speedpoints... and might have to wait 10 minutes for the last contender to show up, before the speedlist moves along.

Any multiplayer game that puts me at the mercy of the worst player in the lobby? Automatically fucked.

Then there's a slew of technical problems with multiplayer, which just has not been resolved yet with the latest patch - at least on PC. Players dropping out often causes the speedlist to choke up, and not progress at all anymore - for example. Long story short. Due to its design and technical issues, Most Wanted's multiplayer is horridly paced, squandering all of its immense potential. Also - why the game doesn't have an all-racing speedlist option for its matchmaking, that's just unforgiveable for a driving game.

My Multiplayer Game of the Year...

It's somewhere between Mass Effect 3's coop mode, Guild Wars 2 (if MMOs count), and of course Battlefield 3 (especially its DLC content, most of which was released in 2012).

• I played tons of Mass Effect 3 coop, and loved it - but due to its free-2-play unlock scheme, which works via mystery box booster packs, which get more redundant and less rewarding the more you play the game - I grew to hate it with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Still got my N7 level to over 1000 though, so there's definitely something to it.
• Guild Wars 2 is great. Kinda. It's mostly great because of how different it is. The whole thing kinda doesn't really work yet. At least for me. Regardless, I've commited to grind out a legendary - just in order to keep me engaged with the game for long enough, so I can be along for the journey of ArenaNet figuring it out.
• I hate Battlefield 3. I love Battlefield. In this love/hate relationship I have with Battlefield 3, over the course of 2012, and all the premium content and technical refinement that went into the game, love starts to overrule hate most definitely. I still hate all the things I hated, like suppression and how its graphical design is set-up to obscure what's happening, rather than giving me clarity - which is tiring to the eyes, and can be very frustrating, when things are not going my way. Regardless - I'm 500 hours into it, and I'm enjoying myself. Ever more.

Yes. My winner is BF3 DLC, between Close Quarters, Armored Kill and especially Aftermath - I have an excellent time with Battlefield 3, and I'll be playing regularly way into 2013, likely up to the release of Battlefield 4.

What's Your Multilplayer Game of the Year?

...and if you've played Most Wanted, what are your experiences with it? Has it been as broken for you, as it is for me (and what platform are you on)? Do you wish it'd offer some straight-up racing-only option like I do?

 
 
P.S. If we'd be talking asymmetric multiplayer, Most Wanted would get the nod. I enjoy compulsively chasing high scores so much. Autolog 4 life!

hey guys instead of putting my disagreement with the crews opinion in the complaint thread im gonna make my own. Because I feel my opinion is somehow more relevenr or important. Fuckin hell.

hey guys instead of putting my disagreement with the crews opinion in the complaint thread im gonna make my own. Because I feel my opinion is somehow more relevenr or important. Fuckin hell.

@Seppli said:

The first guy to reach a meet-up? He'll get 200 speedpoints... and might have to wait 10 minutes for the last contender to show up, before the speedlist moves along.

I'm pretty sure once a certain amount of people reach the meetup it starts a countdown to the race. I've put a few hours into Most Wanted and only once did I experience something like this, but that was only because the meetup was on a roof and everyone kept ramming each other off.

Anyway, my favourite multiplayer this year is Halo 4's.

Persona 4 Arena. I don't play fighting games, before playing P4A the last fighting game I played to any extent was Super Street Fighter 2 on the SNES. I had a blast playing online and getting pretty good, and playing with friends was even more fun.

@laserbolts said:

hey guys instead of putting my disagreement with the crews opinion in the complaint thread im gonna make my own. Because I feel my opinion is somehow more relevenr or important. Fuckin hell.

This thread actually offers a conversation and isn't about how the crew's decision was terrible.

Borderlands 2 followed by ME3 and AC3. I didn't play many multiplayer games though. I don't really like competitive multiplayer and I usually gravitate towards the single-player. I rarely buy games solely for the multi-player experience. ME3 and AC3 are primarily single-player games with interesting multi-player modes and Borderlands 2 had a mission structure that's interchangeable.

It's not my multiplayer game of the year because the game is buggy as fuck on PC and won't let me connect to EA's servers at all. No Autolog, no multiplayer. And based off their forums and google searches I am far from the only one. Which is why I agree with the PLEASE STOP runner up "stop shipping broken games"

DOTA 2 - every year, any year.

I did have fun with most wanted but not as much as I thought I would. I guess the built in griefing aspect of it got old quick. I would say the most fun multiplayer I have had this year would be Planetside 2. Also I'm enjoying DOTA 2 but I have only just started with that.

As someone that spent over 100 hours in Burnout Paradise, I fucking hated Most Wanted. They got rid of the cooperative aspect of free roam challenges in Paradise for competitive challenges, every time I was trying a challenge in most wanted I got side swiped but someone. I had no fun in Most Wanted and Burnout Paradise was my favourite online game ever. The most fun I had this year was going for Golds on Mass Effect 3, really had to work as a team to get past wave 10 and escape. Had to try different strategies to figure out the perfect balance of classes and were too hunker down on each map.

Dota 2. It's my game of the year, and it just so happens to be a multiplayer game as well.

And yeah, I know its not "technically" released yet but, come on, it pretty much is.

I guess... technically it's Resident Evil 6 by default because it's the only multiplayer, competitive or cooperative, that I played this year.

Christ.

EDIT: WAIT. I also played some local coop in Warriors Orochi 3. Fuck it, that'll do. Warriors Orochi 3 is my multiplayer of the year.

Battlefield 3. After 300 hours it's still just as fun and addicting every time I come back to it. Each DLC fills a particular niche fairly well too.

Ratchet and Clank: QForce, honestly!

Sure I enjoyed my time with Minecraft and Call of Duty, but I am actually really good at QForce. I've spent so much time with that game in the past few days its crazy, 10 hours easily on just the multiplayer.

@Yummylee said:

I guess... technically it's Resident Evil 6 by default because it's the only multiplayer, competitive or cooperative, that I played this year.

Christ.

EDIT: WAIT. I also played some local coop in Warriors Orochi 3. Fuck it, that'll do. Warriors Orochi 3 is my multiplayer of the year.

Heh.

Diablo 3, Mass Effect 3 and Syndicate would be on my list. I don't have a lot of friends that are into multiplayer and I felt these were great to just jump in a game and have some fun. ME3 and Syndicate didn't make it easy to communicate, there's no chat and not everyone have mics. But in a strange way, that always seemed to make the group tighter and work together more. I guess that when you don't have the means to be an asshole, you don't want to be one.

I could also say Torchlight 2 for the same reason as Diablo 2. But I soloed a lot more in T2 because 4+ players was visually too chaotic.

Halo 4 easily. It may sound treasonous but I bought Halo 4 just for the multiplayer. I've put over 70 hours into it at this point. Was sad nobody even fought for it but hey they dont like competitive multiplayer so really didnt have w chance.

League of Legends

And for a game that came out this year. Chivalry. That game is baller.

I think they mostly chose Most Wanted to throw Jeff a bone to shut him up a bit.

I was never into Call of Duty multiplayer before, but I've played a lot of Blops 2 recently and really enjoyed it. I also thought Mass Effect 3 was quite enjoyable.

I didn't play any multiplayer games in 2012. Well, I did play Journey, but I completely ignored the people who came into my domain.

Super Monday Night Combat!

After being thoroughly disappointed by battlefield 3 and how much of a step back it was compared to bad company 2 in some aspects, that and the fact i as getting burnt out on multiplayer shooters i never thought i would be into any shooters at all this year.

After getting in the beta i was immediately hooked even that it wasn't the most balanced and it didn't have allot of maps but it was fresh every time i played a game, great characters a surprisingly rich background to all the "Heroes" and just fantastic feeling gameplay, not to mention all the people i met while playing.

You can imagine how disappointed i was when i realized the community for the game all but disappeared and finding a game has become almost impossible. (Goodbye 100$ spent of stupid costumes!)

I just hope 2013 has a surprise like SMNC in store for me!

Eh, I definitely played League of Legends the most, but I think RE6's mercs mode is great, unfortunately I don't have a lot of people to play with ;_; 
 
SSX was great too but it was a shame the head-to-head racing was patched in when everyone had stopped playing so it never really worked out. Hope they release a sequel in two years or so where they have that in from the start.

@phrosnite said:

DOTA 2 - every year, any year.

DotA2 - all day, erryday.

@BabyChooChoo said:

@phrosnite said:

DOTA 2 - every year, any year.

DotA2 - all day, erryday.

It's no longer an acronym, buddy :D

Honestly, I played almost zero multiplayer games this year. Diablo 3, I guess? Mists of Pandaria, if you want to count that. I got nothing else.

Mass Effect 3 co op. I've put in over 260 hours and still enjoy it.

@owack6 said:

Super Monday Night Combat!

After being thoroughly disappointed by battlefield 3 and how much of a step back it was compared to bad company 2 in some aspects, that and the fact i as getting burnt out on multiplayer shooters i never thought i would be into any shooters at all this year.

After getting in the beta i was immediately hooked even that it wasn't the most balanced and it didn't have allot of maps but it was fresh every time i played a game, great characters a surprisingly rich background to all the "Heroes" and just fantastic feeling gameplay, not to mention all the people i met while playing.

You can imagine how disappointed i was when i realized the community for the game all but disappeared and finding a game has become almost impossible. (Goodbye 100$ spent of stupid costumes!)

I just hope 2013 has a surprise like SMNC in store for me!

I hope so too. I really enjoyed the game, but it the community dropped off bad and it wasn't even that big to begin with. I tried to tough it out for as long as I could, but with match after match being completely one-sided, no penalty for leaving, and absolutely no communication in pubs, I finally had to just to call it quits. It's such a bummer to because it was a legitimately good game, but it just came out at a weird time or something...

@owack6: That's a shame. I was hoping to get back to SMNC some day but I guess that wont happen. The same thing happened to Gotham City Impostors last year. I really liked the quirky and unique nature of that game, but it's mostly dead now.

It's the sad backside of too many games having decent multiplayer these days, it dies out so fast.

Journey, if that really does count?

I put the most most time into trials evolution and minecraft with my friends but I'd have to say halo 4. I love what they did with that multiplayer.

Fucking hated Most Wanted. Loved Hot Pursuit. Most Wanted is my Most Disappointing.

My multiplayer game of the year is Persona 4 Arena followed by Super Monday Night Combat and then ... maybe Mass Effect 3? Maybe Syndicate?

ME 3's mp easily. Played the crap outta that stuff this year...still play it off and on and games match super fast still.

I do really love Halo 4's mp, big team pretty much exclusively to be honest, and when I've gotten to team up for some looting co-op in BL2 it's always a ton of fun. Same for Diablo 3, but those co-op sessions have been so much more infrequent.

Played and enjoyed the Syndicate co-op too, but that didn't last very long. People moved on fast from that biz.

Journey. Best multiplayer experience with complete strangers that I've ever had.

Halo 4. Obscene amount of time dumped into it so far. Didn't really see other decent multiplayer games this year, especially since I can't stand that DOTA-type stuff. I'm sure Most Wanted was fun, but if I want that I'll just stick with Paradise.

Mildly sad I never checked out Syndicate, seems like it could have been interesting.

Freezetag.

Journey. It is the only game that's made me really care about the other person I was playing with.

@Yummylee said:

I guess... technically it's Resident Evil 6 by default because it's the only multiplayer, competitive or cooperative, that I played this year.

Christ.

EDIT: WAIT. I also played some local coop in Warriors Orochi 3. Fuck it, that'll do. Warriors Orochi 3 is my multiplayer of the year.

Wow Warriors Orochi 3 manage to fight of the competition for a glorius victory.

Think they will re-release it as a game of the year edition now?

Halo 4 followed by Awesomenauts.

Tekken and Journey by default I suppose since I didn't play any other online.

mmm... even though I don't play it at all, I recognize that technically LoL or Dota 2 should be multiplayer of the year, soo many people play those.  
Personally though, I didnt play much multiplayer this year

Well, it'd have to be League of Legends. I have played the shit out of that game, and spent far too much money on it. If you want to look at the best Free to Play model out there, its probably LoL. (Or maybe DoTA2)

I'm also going to tip my hat to Star Wars: The Old Republic for the first half of the year. Yeah that game is another WoW clone, and I really only cared for most of the single player parts of it, but damned if I didn't have hella fun playing that game. Shame that its so fucked up.

Halo 4 or Journey.

Hated Most Wanted's multiplayer on the PC, didn't really like the single player either.

I didn't really play a lot of multiplayer so i guess my answer would have to be War of the Roses which is the only multiplayer game i spent any time with. Unless Tribes Ascend came out this year but i think i enjoyed WotR better because it just felt like something new.

Planetside 2. Best multiplayer GOTY of the year.

Super Monday Night Combat.

Runner up being BLOPS2 as the only other online game I play regularly is TF2.

EDIT: Surprised to see other people mention SMNC. I stopped around the RoboHobo update and it sounds like it's all but dead now.

I spent far too much time with Mass Effect 3's co-op, but it didn't really do anything special.

I felt like Syndicate captured that great co-op feeling I got from the Left 4 Dead games. Had TONS of fun playing that, even with randoms, which hardly ever happens with me.

I guess Diablo 3 or Mass Effect 3, I don't really play multiplayer very much.

DOTA 2

Guild Wars 2.

It integrates the players into everything they do. Particularly, I felt that the public quests and the World vs. World were very well done.

None of my friends really play racing games aside from me. So whenever I play them I always am playing against a blank leaderboard. So it kinda sucks.

@Ravenlight said:

Planetside 2. Best multiplayer GOTY of the year.

I still need to properly get into PS2. I didn't enjoy what I played during the closed beta, but I imagine at this point there are more people ready to take control of a group and make concerted efforts and stuff(outside of clans, cause fuck clans). Or there's not, I dunno.

I guess mine is Chivalry, but I haven't really played any of this year's multiplayer games.