Gears of Warhead Cliff Bleszinski is at it again! Not content with just criticizing honest reviews andcalling 8/10s “hateful”, it seems as if Cliffy B has now set his sights on a new target: the Japanese game industry and the lack of multiplayer therein. The famedJazz Jackrabbitcreator goes on to call out a number of recent Japanese hits likeShadows of the DamnedandVanquish, and states that many of them would be better off with multiplayer in them.
Cliffy goes on to describe the “travesty” ofVanquish‘s lack of multiplayer: “If you’re going to make a third-person shooter… the fact thatVanquishdidn’t have a multiplayer suite was a crime. That IP, it was pretty good as far as being Western, but the gameplay was great, the vibe… and I’ve often said on record that ifGearsis the kind of Wild, Wild West coal train chugging along, thatVanquishis the Japanese bullet train, with style and everything. And there is absolutely no reason I shouldn’t have been zipping around, doing the mega slides, diving up in the air in an arena with other players.”
To clarify, he says, “I’m not saying tack multiplayer onto every game”. At the same time however, it seems to me that when he says “not for every game” he basically means “every shooter”. I think I may be in the minority here, but multiplayer absolutely does not need to be shoehorned in every shooter on the market — Eastern or Western. In fact, I felt likeShadows of the DamnedandVanquishwere just fine as solo experiences.
On the flip-side, one could cite existing shooters that have abysmal tacked-on multiplayer likeBioshock 2andDead Space 2as reasons against the prospect. Many people also will argue thatResident Evil 5was actually worse off because it had multiplayer in it, and there were no problems withVanquishandShadows of the Damnedas a solo experience. Then you have the added fact that a decent number of Japanese gamesareadding multiplayer: just take a look at the upcomingAnarchy Reigns.
While he has a point (giving off a tone of admiration for Eastern games, and citing unique MP like a potential community basedFatal FrameandDemon’s Souls), I think what he’s saying is about as useless as the advice “games should be fun”. Of coursesomegames should have a multiplayer component to them. But it would be extremely abysmal to look at an industry one day were a single player shooter was regarded as a “failure” (it feels like we’re already at that point, according to developers).
Furthermore, there’s something about the way he uses the term “multiplayer suite” that kind of bothers me: “suite” screams “tons of DLC, Online Passes, and Subscription Passes”. What do you think? Despite the fact that it can sometimes be done right (Mass Effect 3), does the notion that multiplayer “needs” to be in every shooter bother you?
Bleszinski says Japanese games ‘shouldn’t ignore multiplayer’[CVG viaGamasutra]
