Poll: Does FPS Multi-player even matter?

[purplecactus]

For me, if I'm buying an FPS then it is purely for single player reasons. I'm not a great fan of FPS multiplayer (TF2 aside). In general, well, I'm still inclined to think the single player aspect is more important, but if they can make a multiplayer option that works, and works well, then I'm not about to object as long as it doesn't interfere with the main game play.

 

[SecondPrize]

I'm pretty either-or with shooters. I'll either have purchased them for the singleplayer campaign and will never touch multiplayer or vice versa. I was in a monogamous relationship with Battlefield multiplayer since 2006, so any other shooter I played was for the singleplayer experience. I sort of wish developers would just pick one and go with that.

 

[viranimus]

Given the infusion of RPG centric nature in games like the "Shock" franchise, Deus Ex, etc and the fact they have sucessfully illustrated where deep and compelling narrative and deep single player campaigns can work in a FPS model, from now on it nullifies ANY shooter from being able to rely on multiplayer because there simply is no excuse. Technically it can work, From a perspective of demand it works.

Any multiplayer centric FPS from now on will invariably only be half a game at best.

 

[octafish]

I generally buy/play games for a single-player experience, even MMOs. However some of my favorite FPS games, BF2142, Enemy Territory, Planetside, and BF3 are exclusively multiplayer and they are all the better for it.

Co-Op can go fuck itself though, unless it is Spies Vs Mercs it is just a waste of time.

 

[Korten12]

FPS like Cod and BF are all about multiplayer. And I actually have more fun with Black Ops MP than TF2 MP or even Half Life 2 SP.

SP in COd and BF is crap. Until World at war I liked the campaign but I still prefered the online, in MW2 and BO I played the campaign with effort, MW3 and BO2 I just skipped the campaign.

Sad you skipped BO2 Sp, it's the best in the series IMO.

 

[Beryl77]

I'm a pretty big fan of FPS games and it really depends on the game for me. When I got Far Cry 3 or Bioshock Infinite, I expected a very good single player mode, when I got bf3, I couldn't care less about the single player. I don't really care if games like cod or bf have crappy singleplayer, it simply doesn't matter because I only buy them for the mp. I haven't bothered with cod's sp since mw2.

 

[deathzero021]

honestly... i have very rarely EVER played the multiplayer of any FPS game. My favorite FPS's are:
- Doom I & II
- Heretic/Hexen
- Serious Sam TSE
- Painkiller
- Halo 1 & 2

I have only briefly played with family and friends when given the chance but usually i stick with single player or co-op. Full blown deathmatch has never interested me and it doesn't seem like it takes much time to design a few small maps for it so multiplayer doesn't really have any impact on the much larger campaign experience.

 

[PeterMerkin69]

I play multiplayer modes exclusively in FPS. That almost applies to shooters in general too, although there are some exceptions if I'm exceptionally curious, like in the case of Spec ops. I don't play games for their stories, I play them to play games, and single-player FPS mechanics are invariably godawful, or at least comparatively godawful. There's just no way the current AI can compete with actual human players.

I refused to play Bioshock Infinite because I didn't want to play Bioshock Infinite. I liked the atmosphere and the ideas but that stuff just wasn't worth trudging through 13 hours of shooting at incredibly stupid bullet sponges. I'll probably avoid The Last of Us because of how bad Uncharted was too.

 

[Dosbilliam]

You can't say which one's more important or whether it matters, because it depends entirely on the game. In some games, multiplayer is a shitty little sideproject that was tacked on 10 minutes before release. For other games, it's the opposite.

Spec Ops: The Line being a good example of the former.

Personally, I grabbed MW2 as a "What the hell?" kind of thing, got MW3 because of the story continuation, and grabbed Blops II because they did things with the story I want to see more of in the genre.