Just a small thought that’s occurred to me. What to do about reviewing Multi-player online titles? Well in truth I don’t really have an answer. I’ve always found that I prefer a good narrative over multi-player, and that most games that have multi-player crow-bared in always feel the lesser for it.
That’s not to say I will ‘mark down’ any game that has a multi-player function, certainly not. Just don’t expect me to say much about it apart from really mentioning that it exists.
A great example of this is Spec Op’s: The Line. Its a great game (one of my favorites) with a fantastic well thought out narrative but its multi-player is forgettable.The main game isn’t anything less for it and I wouldn’t ever mark it down for having the multi-player aspect because the main game is so strong.
That being said… A game such as Titanfall, Brink or Team Fortress 2 would not get reviewed by me at all because its all multi-player and those experiences vary wildly from game to game due to more factors than I care to think on.
I hope that that will clarify for the future why multi-player components won’t be covered, although I will admit that rule isn’t hard and fast. If I find a game that somehow melds the two together well enough, and I’m sure such a thing is coming, then yes, it will get mentioned.
