Blackrazor-Mass-Assembly-Online-Go-To-Game #2

[erilar]

Copied in from the Friday game thread:

BTW Bob and I had a blast playing Firefight after last week's game. It only supports two players locally, but man it was a lot of fun!

Cool. I've played short matches with Cory and Zack, but nothing to form a complete opinion. Certainly seems fun.

I'd like to start a conversation about forming a consensus for a second online game that we all have. Everyone has Halo 3, but I don't think that's any of our favorite video game per se. I would LOVE if we could get together once per week like we did on Tuesday - that was sooo much fun. With Bob living far away, and Jon working his weekend shift, I think it's really awesome that we can still game. Not to put words in others' mouths, but the older I get and (I suspect) the more others' family lives evolve, the more sane gaming from my own house feels.

Anyway, so we all have Halo 3. Let's try to figure out one more action game that we all like and can purchase to have on hand for these nights. Borderlands and Left 4 Dead only handles four players, and we don't want to leave people out. We can certainly split into two separate games, but that sort of defeats the idea of assembling together. Borderlands might work well if we split up, because we could then accommodate everyone's different-level characters.

I'm getting really long-winded here. So, everyone please post the online-capable action games that you have. Maybe also post one larger multiplayer game that you're interested in. I'll compile your responses and try to sort it out.

Re XBLA board games, I think that most will be capped at 4-6 players, so they may not be the best choice for when we're all together. Maybe splitting into two groups would make sense sometimes? Let me know what you think.

Personally, I think I'd vote for Gears of War 2. I like shooters with cover systems (they play like paintball ), and those that let you aim down the gunsights. GoW2 is now a budget title, has great co-op story and horde modes, and good large-group multiplayer.

One more that I'm very interested in is the new Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Modern combat, vehicles including aircraft, destructible environments, squad-based play, etc. I know that affordable games are an issue for everyone though, so I'm hesitant to recommend a new ($60) game.

Lance - Shooters
Halo 3 (16)
Halo ODST (4)
Borderlands (4)
Left 4 Dead (8 vs / 4 coop)
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (16 vs / 4 coop)
Gears of War 2 (10)
Orange Box / Team Fortress (16)

Lance - Driving:
Forza 2 (8)
Burnout: Paradise (8)

Lance's Multiplayer Shooter Suggestions
Gears of War 2 (10)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (24)

Lance - Board Games / XBLA
Carcassonne (5)
Magic: the Gathering (4)
Catan (4)
Ticket to Ride (5)
Bomberman (8)
Lost Cities (4)

[Hardcorhobbs]

Cory - Mulitplayer and/or Co-op game
Halo 3
Halo ODST
Borderlands
Left 4 Dead
Rainbow Six Vegas
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Hawx
Crackdown
Grand Theft Auto 4
Civilization Revolution
Forza 2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
The Orange Box [Team Fortress 2]

Cory's Multiplayer Shooter Suggestion
?

Cory - XBLA
Carcassonne
Magic: the Gathering
Ticket to Ride

I have to check when I get home, there may be more. I also want to look into Crackdown a bit more... You can pick up a used copy for less than $10 and I think our group would like it very much. It's a GTA style open world where you play a super-powered cop (you can leap building to building in a single bound!). It scratches so many itches... I just don't know how many people can play at once. I'll check tonight and report back.

[Jonkga]

Here's what I have right now (and as always, I'll update as more come along):

Mulitplayer and/or Co-op games:
Bioshock 2
Borderlands (4)
Burnout Paradise (8)
Civilization Revolution (4)
Forza 2 (8)
GTA 4 (16)
Halo 3 (16)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance (4)
The Orange Box [Team Fortress 2] (16)

XBLA:
Bomberman (8)
Carcasonne (5)
Castle Crashers (4)
Catan (4)
Lost Cities (4)
Magic: the Gathering (4)
'Splosion Man (4)
Ticket to Ride (5)

I also noted how many folks they support in online multiplayer/co-op, just so we know.

[NukeHavoc]

I'll need to double check my game roster (as an aside, this is why I want to build a game roster/library into the GriffCrier ).

Mulitplayer and/or Co-op games:
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Borderlands (4)
Forza 2 (8)
Halo 3
Halo ODST
GTA 4 (16)
Left4Dead
Left4Dead 2
Gears of War 2
The Orange Box [Team Fortress 2] (16)

XBLA:
Carcasonne (5)
Catan (4)
Magic: the Gathering (4)
Ticket to Ride (5)

Multiplayer Suggestions
I'm not sure how much ODST is going for, but Firefight mode is a hell of a lot of fun, and I'd love to see us be able to hit 4 players on a more regular basis. Given how many people in the group play Halo 3, it would also be nice to have access to all of the additional maps as well.

So I see Halo 3 remaining our fall-back game when we have a lot of people online. I just got a review copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and I'd love to give that a try.

The Orange Box (and thus, Team Fortress) seems like something we almost have critical mass with -- I've never played, but I'm willing to try.

[erilar]

I just got a review copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and I'd love to give that a try.

Hmm, if you're too busy and need someone to review this one for Nuketown, I'd be willing to put ME2 and Oblivion on hiatus...

So I see Halo 3 remaining our fall-back game when we have a lot of people online.

Agreed. It's simply not my fave kind of shooter. Very heavy on the twitch-factor, and I enjoy something more tactical and slightly slower-paced. I know some of the others have similar leanings (Jon for one).

The Orange Box (and thus, Team Fortress) seems like something we almost have critical mass with

Oops, forgot about that one. I have this too and would love to check it out. This could be a strong candidate. On another level, this game was incredibly groundbreaking and successful, and I'd love to play it simply because it was such a phenomenon - really feel like I missed out.

[Hardcorhobbs]

Agreed. It's simply not my fave kind of shooter. Very heavy on the twitch-factor, and I enjoy something more tactical and slightly slower-paced. I know some of the others have similar leanings (Jon for one).

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 FTW! It's only like $20 now!

Oops, forgot about that one. I have this too and would love to check it out. This could be a strong candidate. On another level, this game was incredibly groundbreaking and successful, and I'd love to play it simply because it was such a phenomenon - really feel like I missed out.

I tried Team Fortress one night with my buddy Mike. We were both pretty underwhelmed by it. Feels somewhat twitchy like you were saying with Halo 3. Might be different with a whole group of friends. Since a bunch of us have it we should totally try it out.

And if you don't have it you totally should buy it for Portal if nothing else

[erilar]

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 FTW! It's only like $20 now!

R6V2 supports 16 players in vs mode - forgot about that.

I also hadn't thought of Left 4 Dead in terms of vs mode - it will support 8 players when 4 are playing the Infected.

[erilar]

Speaking of multiplayer - Ken, our network switch arrived today (along with our Snow Leopard family pack). So, I should have a wireless adapter for you on Friday.

[EvilGenius]

I'll have to check my games tonight. I definitely have Halo3 and I think I still have Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

How about Modern Warfare 2? Anyone have any experience with it?

[NukeHavoc]

How about Modern Warfare 2? Anyone have any experience with it?

I have it, but haven't played it.

[Lars Porsenna]

Yes, have (and beat) MW2. I think the entire series is very solid, with good controls. For "twitch factor" if HALO is too twitchy for you, then MW2 is similar. But it does have a great feature in which you can "look down the sights" when you pull the alt trigger. Also it "jumps" to the target when doing this as a fast-aim feature. I really like it a lot.

From a gameplay perspective, the weapon drops do not always make sense (like Russian soldiers dropping FAMAS assault rifles), and sometimes it feels a little like "gun porn," but it's a cool game and I definitely enjoy it a lot.

Damon.

[Hardcorhobbs]

How about Modern Warfare 2? Anyone have any experience with it?

I've skipped MW2 because it's main focus is multipayer with a short single player campaign. I don't enjoy playing multiplayer games outside our group because you always find that guy who's played the game so much you're dead before you have a chance to figure out whats going on.

That said, between Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 I'd lean towards Battlefield. I had a blast with their games in the past, while I found Call of Duty games straightforward and boring.

[EvilGenius]

Cool, Damon.

I just read the IGN and Gamespot reviews for MW2 and they essentially said the same thing: single player campaign is fun but short. 2 player co-op scenarios are a blast. Competitive Multiplayer is friggin amazing!

I think we should at least consider it as our Online Multiplayer game.

[erilar]

How about Modern Warfare 2? Anyone have any experience with it?

I've skipped MW2 because it's main focus is multipayer with a short single player campaign. I don't enjoy playing multiplayer games outside our group because you always find that guy who's played the game so much you're dead before you have a chance to figure out whats going on.

That said, between Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 I'd lean towards Battlefield. I had a blast with their games in the past, while I found Call of Duty games straightforward and boring.

Cory's reasons are pretty much why I haven't picked up MW2 yet. (I always intended to eventually play it though, since I loved MW1.)

Also for the same reasons as Cory, if I had to pick one short-campaign-lotsa-multiplayer military shooters, I'm leaning very heavily towards BFBC2. The multiplayer heavily stresses squad-based tactics/goals (4-man squads). Even when you are killed, you respawn back with your squad, not at some arbitrary point on the map.

Also, there is a context-sensitive communication button. Point towards an enemy/structure/vehicle, jam the button, and your character says (in character / military-speak), "hey, let's attack that target over there", and the target is highlighted for the other squad members. I think this squad-based mentality might help alleviate the Multiplayer Douchebag Conundrum. As a squad, we can focus on our goals, and are insulated to some extent from the other dill-weeds.

There are also a dozen vehicles, from tanks to APCs to Bradleys to boats to Apaches and Hinds and Blackhawks to unmanned remotely-operated helicopter ROVs. If you shoot a wall or building with a tank or rocket launcher, the fucking thing blows apart and falls down. Imagine us all jumping into a tank or Apache, and tooling around, one guy driving, several gunning, one playing medic and blowing everything to polygonal hell!

Add all this stuff to the ground previously paved by MW2 (class-based chars, XP and leveling up in multiplayer to unlock new weapons and abilities, etc.), and it sounds like pure MP win.

That said, if the consensus amongst us re. a military shooter is MW2, we could do a lot worse.

[NukeHavoc]

Just a reminder that we can/should rent these games before buying, so if we want to try both, we can. That said, from what I've heard, I'd like to try BFBC2 first.