The list of games I wish were still alive is too big and long for me to think about for a short time but the ones that pop into my mind for the moment are these few. I'll probably come back to this topic and just add more as I remember them
SWAT 4 Homeworld 2 Star Wars Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy RTCW: Enemy Territory X-Wing Vs Tie-Fighter and X-Wing Alliance IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 Pirates Vikings and Knights
Maybe not the spirit of the question but I miss when online games weren't more or less "figured out". When top tier strats weren't where everyone started. When playing an RTS wasn't a contest of who can execute the online guide they read the best. Playing an mmo now feels like being a factory worker working off a blueprint.
I miss when I got to actually figure things out myself.
An online game I used to love may not have ever changed but could still feel completely different.
Also Resident Evil: Outbreak was effin' sweet and I wish was playable online (or hell, even LAN).
I really miss Auto Assault. That MMORPG was way ahead of it's time and the audience thus wasn't ever there for it. It was also before all the F2P conversion epidemic started really. NCSoft could have made it F2P, but obviously just closed it down. Such a fun ass game, I really do miss playing that.
I'm not sure how active it still is outside of a bunch of purist crazies playing the original version of DOTA, but Warcraft III was my first big multiplayer game back in the day. I liked, but was (and still am) pretty terrible at the actual RTS part, but I remember being able to go online and play half a dozen different weird mods that people had made: from minigame collections to RPG-lite stuff to me being like 12 and getting yelled at for not knowing how to play DOTA, it was a good time.
I'll also throw an honorable mention towards the original Monday Night Combat and Hybrid. Two rather short-lived XBLA games that did some really interesting things.
For me I would say The Last of Us and Mass Effect 3. To my knowledge, Mass Effect 3 hasn't been shutdown and I'm sure there are some really dedicated people playing The Last of Us. So this isn't so much in terms of these online games are gone and you can't play the multiplayer of these games anymore. This is more if I could go back to any multiplayer games with a fresh, lively community, it would be those.
Kind of odd choices, I know, but I was never really into the idea of competitive multiplayer games in the style of Counter Strike, Gears of War, Call of Duty, etc.
Also I had a lot of fun with Halo 1's pseudo multiplayer. (There must be a term for it, but my friends played the game online by, I assume, tricking the Xbox into thinking the connection over the internet was actually over LAN)
Warhawk is a pretty solid choice. Very fun dog fighting in that game.
Anarchy Reigns was an awesome game that got no marketing and poor coverage (From this site included). It was an online PvP character action game and it worked crazy well. No one bought it and the skill ceiling got way too high for anyone to be able to pick it up and stand a chance.
Brink. That game was fucking cool. It totally had flaws but it was a very fun shooter that flowed well.
@fisk0: I second MAG. I had an absolute blast with that game.
If I had it my way, Socom 2 would still be playable online on PS4 through a remake or something. Don't want to think of the number of hours I spent playing that game with friends throughout high school.
There was this server I would play on TF2 called Animal House that shut down years ago, but at its prime, it was a server that played Dustbowl 24/7, was constantly active, had quick respawn and teleport times, and a limit of the amount of demomen, engineers, and snipers there could be, and it was just so freaking FUN. My friends and I would play on that server for hours every day when we were in college, and it was such a blast. I can still remember several of the people who played on that server, and I even have some of them on my friend's list still, despite never playing together much anymore. I played it so much that if you wanted, I could draw a perfect map of all three stages Dustbowl from memory alone, with all the health and ammo pick-ups as well.
I don't play TF2 often anymore, but whenever I do, I always remember the times I had on that server.
As much disdain I have for Ubisoft in the last decade for basically destroying all of the Tom Clancy titles, I can't deny how much fun I had with that game on XBL back in the day.
One day I'm gonna make some kind of time travel netcode thing that allows you to go back in time and play these games when they were still active. Just you wait...
Tribes 2. I still haven't played a game like it to this day. In so many small ways, it was so ahead of its time - but the best part was the community was incredible. So many happy memories in that game, what a brilliant experience.
Shadowrun (yes, really) - I wish we'd see another one of these, with higher production values. It's vastly underrated, in my opinion.
Call of Duty: World at War (yes, really) - I love this game's multiplayer and its maps. It's probably still going, but it was completely unplayable the last time I tried it.
@clagnaught: I'm with you on the Mass Effect multiplayer. I've never been a big online multiplayer guy but I fell hard into the PvE game. I've wanted to pop back into online but my internet connect has really been terrible lately.
@boysef: I finished Bad Company 2(PS3) for the first time the other night then I hopped online(which I almost never do for shooters) to see if anybody was playing. Even though there were only like 3-4 players on each side it was super fun! Wish it didn't show your position after you kill somebody though it gives away awesome sniper positions.
I played a LOT of C&C Renegade in my time back before highschool. Like... probably too much. That game was not as good as it should have been for the amount of hours I played it.
@tournamentofhate: *sigh* the sniping was so good... and the destruction! goddammit I really miss that multiplayer. Bringing down roofs on people was the best, and blowing a hole in a wall to escape was even better.
Alien vs Predator 2. It was real cool. The new one was real bad.
Also I'd like to say Sonys old Infantry Online, but that probably hasn't aged well. It was such a blast leveling up your dude and buying that expensive armor and whatnot.
@fishwitheadphones: I really liked the army of two multiplayer too. I didn't play much, but Bioshock 2 had some fun modes. MW1 and 2 were great as well.
Brink. That game was fucking cool. It totally had flaws but it was a very fun shooter that flowed well.
Yeah, that was a flawed game, but in retrospect I prefer it over Titanfall, which was going for thame kind of thing.
I got to play exactly 1 game of Brink with another human being... and it was so damn good. I reall enjoyed the movement and feel of that game but the AI in solo matches was atrocious.
@boysef: I got up in a sniper's perch that had a turret, so I'd use the turret on their vehicles and if they were on foot I'd snipe them. If they got by my fire they'd try to climb up but then I'd take them out. After doing this for like 15 minutes this one dude comes zooming at me from the other side of the map in his vehicle and at full speed he takes out the legs of the tower and I fell with it to my death. I couldn't help but laugh.
@joemarsden: Exactly on point. Tribes 2 was a complete package; it had stellar gameplay, perfect physics, awesome vehicles, a really underappreciated clan/social interface (in 2001!), and a pro mod community. Dynamix really captured lightning in a bottle, and neither Vengeance or Ascend could match The Feel of Tribes 2.
Is Tribes Next still going? That was a real good thing, but I fell off of it after a while.
Yes, this! Also numerous other Half-Life 1 mods. Of all of them, however, I was way into "Science & Industry". Was a regular on the forums and the IRC channel on Gamesnet, did beta testing on a couple versions, even dabbled in map making for a bit. Definitely my fondest old online multiplayer experiences stemmed from that mod and the community around it. Apparently, taking a look on Steam, a group still gets together on Sundays and plays. I may jump back in for old time sake now that it's been back in my mind.
Log in to comment