A good multiplayer addition to a game can change the experience entirely. I think Borderlands is the best example of this phenomenon. The Borderlands single player was OK, but it doesn't hold a candle to Halo or Killzone. I know Borderlands isn't the same type of FPS as the Haloesque type games. Borderlands is a loot and level driven game whereas Halo and Killzone are intensely focused on the gun play, which changes the core of the game. In Halo there is nothing stopping you from picking a fight with a hunter and winning based entirely on skill your skill while Borderlands requires the player to be at a high enough level so they aren't torn apart. 

 Where Borderlands shines is the multiplayer. When jumping into a co-op game with friends, the game comes to life with memorable moments. The multiplayer in this case is the vessel for the fun. It allows the players to share moments and memories even though they are scattered throughout the United States, and the world. It also can turn frustrating situations into something rather humorous. I have found being killed is a lot more fun with friends. 

 Another prime example of my positive multiplayer experiences has been playing L4D2 with friends. It's another co-op game, I know, but even the adversarial modes have been fun.  There is nothing like having your co-op partners go running ahead of you and leaving you to fight off a horde of zombies, or when they accidently upset the witch. Good times. In L4D2 teamwork is everything, and communication is the key, so playing with people you know and have played with in the past enriches the experience and in my case, the survivability. 

 I'm still trying to get in a game of Bad Company 2 with my friends. So far we just haven't had time. It'll be interesting because it's an adversarial game play, but being in the same squad, and spawning off of one another could radically change things. The use of vehicles and working as a team to capture point should be a lot of fun... in theory. This will also greatly reduce the chance of me having to deal with a bad medic.    

 My adversarial multiplayer experience on both the 360 and PS3 has been, for the most part, being told I suck by a 13 year old as they teabag my dead body. This also brings about the point that I like playing some of these games more on the PS3 because less people have microphones - this is both a negative and a positive - because I can't hear them, I just see them violating my corpse. The downside of not having a microphone is it makes teamwork impossible, not that it ever was. 

 So what make multiplayer great? The simple answer is friends. Real friends. Not Facebook, Xbox Live, PSN friends, but people you know and socialize with on a regular basis.

 
 I still have several more hours at work, and I can't wait to go home and give it a try.

 
 Have a great day and I'll see you online.     

 
 The next blog should be on bad multiplayer experiences. Achievements and trophies has been put on the back burner until I can articulate well enough to be understood.