Comments on: Editorial: Flying Solo

By: randombullseye

randombullseye — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:20:18 +0000

For me it was when I first saw the princess laying on a shrine. I knew I had to figure out how to save her, so I walked out of it and was in a world full of monsters. The town couldn’t tell me where to go. I was there all alone. Trying to decipher all this. Places online, blogs or whatever, to talk about this type of thing. I know someone out there realized exactly what I was talking about princess on the shrine walking outside, all of it. The idea of being alone in a world with no real nothing. Not even a manual to help you out. Just your wits. Games these days seem to hold your hand the entire way, some even playing themselves for you. I recall the days of having to look things up on gamefaqs to understand which way to go.

Then I found a website called gamefaqs and can do anything, thanks to others.

While I agree that Halo isn’t the shining grail of the greatest game ever that everyone says it is, that game is Zombies Ate My Neighbors, I will say that the “Halo Shields” of hide and heal gameplay has become a mainstay of gaming. Like it or not, Halo has had an effect on gaming. I don’t like it.

By: Guy

Guy — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:55:54 +0000

Wow, how lame: yet another way for blaming Halo. This time for an industry going forward, only because it shows you how the games you played in the past are not as fun as you thought before moving to co-op.

Well, I’ve got news for you: I’ve been playing Mario 3, Bubble Bobble and Rampage 20 years ago, and they were all so fun in co-op that they made single player look boring afterward. Welcome to the past.

By: bg93

bg93 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:09:24 +0000

There are plenty of Devs doing just SP or doing SP very very well. Uncharted 1 and 2 are both spectacular online, and, more importantly, offline. Ratchet and Clank is also great. Burnout Paradise is also a great one which makes coop fun, but SP not lonely. I’d recommend all 3!

By: David Macphail

David Macphail — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:24:54 +0000

I’ve never really cared about co – op. Much like a multiplayer mode it’s something that’s nice to have as an extra but not a reason for me to purhase a game.

I buy a game for the single – player story and anything else that happens to be on there is just a nice bonus. Although co – op does come in handy if you happen to be stuck at a particular part of the game.

By: Darko

Darko — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:17:49 +0000

I love the OPTION to play co-op with friends. My favorite experience was probably R6V2. It offered up one of the most satisfying co-op experience I’ve tried in a long time, and I’ve yet to find something that lives up the the challenge and sense of accomplishment after going through the game on the most difficult setting (sorry, can’t remember what it was called). I played a little RE5 and L4D, and L4D was a lot of fun for sure. I have a friend that usually ends up playing the same titles I do at the same time. Right now we’re playing Fallout 3 and DA:O. Co-op? No. But they’re still great games! One player adventures that should only be that. If we want to chat while we’re playing, we just start a party.

By: Austin Sutton-Jennings

Austin Sutton-Jennings — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:43:40 +0000

I love co-op, but it’s true that the single player experience can feel watered down because developers have spent time working on co-op.

But COD:WAW is one game where the co-op campaign is much worse than the single player.

By: Nick Simberg

Nick Simberg — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:44:54 +0000

I keep reading things about Borderlands that make it seem less incredible than it looks. I wanna play games by myself sometimes, and I thought Borderlands could be one of those games. KOTOR, DJ Hero, Mirror’s Edge, Psychonauts, Pilotwings, Mario 64… there have been plenty of incredible single-player experiences throughout the years and I’m not eager to give them up.

Besides that, though, I love the header image. Where’s it from?

By: Mr TT but u call me GOD

Mr TT but u call me GOD — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:35:33 +0000

James & Rob both made inexcusable spelling errors..

By: cynicalmonkey

cynicalmonkey — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:57:57 +0000

i play a lot with my girlfriend and gears of war, left for dead 2 and resident evil 5 have been great co op experiences. especially re5 which does co-op really well. i kind of had a 5-7 year break from gaming and it was coming back into it with halo 3 and gears of war a couple years ago that fully pulled me back in.

tbh it seems wierd when games don’t include cooperative modes. i still play single player games but often i would rather play something coop with my girlfriend

By: RJ Clarke

RJ Clarke — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:47:35 +0000

My thoughts are similar, but kinda contradictory. I also enjoy single player campaigns and love making my way through them, however, I ALWAYS feel like it would be much, much more fun playing alongside a real comrade. But I don’t feel like they are making enough games to fulfill that desire at all….

Sure, they just came out with borderlands, but other than that, I don’t feel as though they are really gearing many games to be played with other friends, especially split-screen. I think once they start making most games with the 4 player split-screen co-op like Halo, then we’ll be getting places….heck, even 2 player split-screen would be appreciated…

I think too many developers think we want to compete against our friends…but wouldn’t you much rather team up and dominate WITH them?

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:43:58 +0000

I sort of feel this way, although maybe stronger. I work third shift and I usually play games when i get home around 7 am! Not many of (and by not many I mean all) my friends can play then.

So ironically when i would be out “socializing” on the weekend I seem to be stuck (if you can call it that) playing games. On the other hand, most of the “need to play” games that capitolise on the multi-player aspect are usually FPS’es, which is not my favorite genera. It seems to me that borderlands really carved a niche. It is damn, damn, damn, fun to play with others. Im hooked on it, unfortunately im left pissing my weekends playing it rather then seeing real people and pissing away coors lite

By: kowbrainz

kowbrainz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:42:27 +0000

I still haven’t really gotten into the co-op side of todays games as much as the titles would probably like me to. I played through the first three or so chapters of Halo 2 with a friend but otherwise it’s just not something I’m able to do yet. I’m a real sucker for single player experiences, so sometimes it’s hard to get away from that and see exactly why people are praising a certain game for its co-op alone.

Like you say, in today’s industry you’re really missing out on a lot in games if you forfeit the co-operative side of things which is why my habits annoy me so much now.