Welcome to the first in a new series of weekly features here at the brand new Electronic Theatre. Each weekly feature will deliver a unique insight to a specific part of the videogames industry, from retail packaging to load times, online communities to the latest technology, the best and the worst of gaming. Each under a unique theme, Electronic Theatre’s weekly features will kept you informed of all the latest movements in the videogaming hobby.
This being a Sunday, today’s weekly feature will be a light-hearted addition, in the form of the widely popular Top Ten list. This week’s edition will focus on those after pub treats, online endeavours and social extravaganzas; the Top Ten Multi-Player Games.
10. Monster Hunter Freedom 2
Kick-starting the Top Ten Multi-Player Games is Capcom’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) cash cow, Monster Hunter. Though it’s likely to be outdone by the forthcoming Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Monster Hunter Freedom 2 currently reigns as the definitive multi-player experience for European PSP gamers. Allowing up to four friends to join side-by-side in deep-rooted combat that persistently affects the overall balance of a player’s personalised character, Monster Hunter Freedom 2 further pushed the PSP’s connection capabilities with an abundance of new content and quests.
9. Mario Kart 64
The debate rages as to which Mario Kart title leads the pack, but the team here at Electronic Theatre stand by the often overlooked Nintendo64
release, Mario Kart 64, as offering the greatest enjoyment with friends. Four-player split-screen races and Battle Mode with possibly the most graceful weapon set the series has seen, and certainly the most balanced, present hassle-free social competition which anyone can enjoy.
8. Worms: Open Warfare 2
Now available on numerous systems and in many guises, it would be difficult to pick a singular version of Worms as being the superior game. However, Worms: Open Warfare 2’s endearing attempt at a co-operative Campaign and level editor perhaps give it the edge on the many other releases that have bore the series’ name. It’s multi-player set-up options cater for any quantity or arrangement of Nintendo DS’s, and allow up to four players to battle it out in the traditional Worms manner.
7. Perfect Dark
While many are likely to argue the inclusion of RARE’s heyday Nintendo 64 release Perfect Dark over it’s spiritual forbearer, GoldenEye 007, the argument is wasted with the realisation that Perfect Dark’s multi-player component is simply an expanded version of that offered in what’s often considered RARE’s magnum opus. Basic additions include double-function weaponry, revised Maps and Artificial Intelligence Bots, but the real meat lies in the tactical depth that can be drawn from combining each of these refined elements. Delicately balanced to the nth degree (hence the game’s perpetual delays), Perfect Dark provides the best split-screen First-Person Shooter Deathmatching available on any console.
6. Counter-Strike
An obvious source of inspiration for the above Perfect Dark, as well as most modern online First-Person Shooters, Counter-Strike continues to be popular with a huge online community, nearly ten years after initial release. Now available as Source Code, the Counter-Strike fanbase is likely to keep the game alive for many years to come, and obviously not without merit.
5. Wii Sports
Perhaps the most predictable title in Electronic Theatre’s 
Top Ten Multi-Player Games, Wii Sports was – and is – undeniably a revolution in videogaming entertainment, whether you love it or hate it. Much of the angst against Wii Sports has been raised merely due to its continued success, and the fact that many developers have turned their attention to trying to imitate it, but this doesn’t change the fact that Nintendo’s Wii launch title remains one of the most playable videogames ever made.
Offering a generous package of four sports and single-player sideshows to the main event that was the social multi-player gaming, Wii Sports continues to define Wii as the console that everyone can enjoy. With Wii Sports Resort due to arrive later this year, Nintendo’s hopes of a rapid uptake of Wii MotionPlus may not be too far fetched.
4. Super Bomberman 2
Along with the Worms franchise, Bomberman is a series that has any number of highly-addictive releases to choose from, but the Super Nintendo Entertainment System’s (SNES) Super Bomberman 2 remains the defining moment in Bomberman history. Allowing for up to four-players, via the Multitap Adapter, customisable weapon and rule sets and a variety of arenas – each as strong as the last – Super Bomberman 2 provided enough depth without saturating the title, as many releases since have regularly done so.
The SNES had many defining moments and is a console that has since become famed as the pinnacle of ‘90s 2D gaming, but few could compare to the evenings spent on the couch with a group of friends and a Multitap Adapter. Super Bomberman 2 defined that experience almost all by itself.
3. Super Smash Bros. Melee
Though having since been superseded by Wii’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the GameCube’s Super Smash Bros. Melee deserves recognition as a title that broke the mould of the 
Beat-‘Em-Up genre, and delivered far more than could be expected from any sequel. Though the Nintendo 64’s Super Smash Bros. was a fantastic release at the time, it since has aged poorly and handles incredibly slowly compared to both the GameCube and Wii iterations. The GameCube version, however, eight years after release, remains just as playable now as it did when it was fresh from the shop shelf.
Up to four players can battle it out simultaneously, from a selection of twenty six classic Nintendo characters, in an almost endlessly customisable variety of gameplay modes. Grabbing weapons and using the simple, yet mechanically deep control system to deliver combos and character-specific special moves, players compete to knock each other off any edge of the screen, without managing to claw their way back. Thanks to Super Smash Bros. Melee, the series is already considered one of Nintendo’s top-tier presentations, and the success of Super Smash Bros. Brawl only further does to prove how essential it’s become.
2. Left 4 Dead
The newest title in Electronic Theatre’s Top Ten Multi-Player Games, Left 4 Dead arrived late last year and took the gaming community by storm. Developed by Valve, the
team behind the Half-Life series and the above Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead pits four players in a bid for survival against an endless stream of zombie hordes. Dispensing the captivating terror in trickles and spurts elegantly throughout each of the four on-disc campaigns – and effectively using a procedural generation tool for each and every individual play session – Left 4 Dead proves just how crucial online multi-player videogames have become.
With the co-operative campaigns available for four players alongside a Versus Mode, in which eight players battle it out in two teams of four - one as the survivors, the other as the Special Infected – and the now freely available Survivor Mode Downloadable Content, Left 4 Dead rightly earned it’s place as one of the best selling games of 2008, and received critical acclaim including an incredibly high score in Electronic Theatre’s In-depth Review.
1. Rock Band
Rock Band belongs at the top of Electronic Theatre’s Top Ten Multi-Player Games simply because of the incredibly satisfying wish fulfilment it brings. Unless you’re the singer.
For anyone who’s ever wanted to play their part in a harmonious ensemble, yet hasn’t found the time, or required effort, to learn a real instrument can 
feel like a musical god for three-or-more minutes at a time. With a fantastic selection of songs delivered in a package accessible to all, bar the complications that accompany such a wide variety of hardware, Rock Band is more dependable than any of its market trending competitors. Delivering quality where Activision’s Guitar Hero franchise appears to believe that volume is a more dependable tactic, Rock Band’s forthcoming The Beatles: Rock Band raises expectations far and above that which has previously been offered in the Rhythm-Action videogames genre. Perhaps even if you’re taking to the stage as the frontman.
Electronic Theatre’s Sunday Special will return next week with another Top Ten in gaming, but in the meantime we’ll have plenty more weekly features coming you way.
-END-
|
Share this
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Upchuckr
StumbleUpon
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
| < Prev |
|---|
Comments
Where are any of the two players games, ranging from fighting games, such as Street Fighter 2, to chess games?