First and foremost, Ratchet & Clank A Crack in Time is out!! I made sure to avoid as much info on it as I could since getting early impressions of it from E3 because I wanted to find out what the game had to offer as I was playing through it. Thus far, after playing for about an hour and a half before work, I love it. The gameplay is the same as ever, but there are some enhancements. It seems like it has a bit more of an open "world" design to it, which strangely enough, I like. I am not a big fan of the open world designs, but with the way the R&C games are designed, having a bit more freedom is a good thing. Plus you can now fly Ratchet's spaceship around areas of space, which is very cool. Previously, flying the ship was limited to shooter levels. Here you have the freedom to fly around sectors of space, which is a great addition. Already this is shaping up to be a great addition to the franchise. Here's hoping the rumors that this will be the last game in the franchise aren't true. But if they are, I do hope it makes for a fitting conclusion.
Last night I finished up Uncharted 2, after a healthy amount of playing the last two days. It was fun, it was entertaining, it was challenging, and got me thinking about the reviews for Uncharted 2. I remember playing through the original Uncharted and really enjoying it. Some reviews didn't quite agree, but they were still very good (in the 8.5-9). Particularly this is in relation to Gamespot's 8.0 review. Then along comes Uncharted 2. Having just finished it, the single player isn't all that much different from the original's. The pace of the game feels a lot better, and a bit tighter, but otherwise I didn't pick up on any aspects to the game that would warrant such a huge leap in scoring. Except one thing: the multiplayer. Now granted, maybe I just didn't pick up on any subtler improvements, like the gun and/or melee combat, partners helping out more during the game, etc. But still, the single player didn't feel any different. It still played the same way, had plenty of challenging sections, told a very good story and looked great. And yet Uncharted 2 gets 9.5s & 10s, whereas Uncharted got 8s, 8.5s & 9s. So that got me thinking: Does multiplayer make that big a difference?
I first want to start by saying that I do have plenty of memorable multiplayer gaming memories, and I'm not opposed to multiplayer, mostly of the local multiplayer variety. My beef stands with online multiplayer. I was disappointed to find out that Uncharted 2s co-op was online only. Naughty Dog couldn't add a split screen local co-op?? But more to the point, online multiplayer isn't that good. Yes, you can play with a lot more people online, not to mention its a lot more accessible, in comparison to local multiplayer. But what happens when the online community latches onto a new game? Or others potentially abusing mechanics makes playing multi unbearable? Or the community is just not pleasant to play against/with (thinking of the "Halo 2 kids" phenomenon here)? Or any other random complaint I could lodge at it.
What it came down to was how the game would stand up over time. Someone I work with has been playing various old games on an emulator for awhile now, and that got me thinking of more modern games and how we look back on them. Say in 5-10 years, when we are on new consoles (PS4??), I would assume some games from this era would still be supported online, but who is still gonna be playing it then? So looking back on a game, the multiplayer value of it drops dramatically, while the single player value stays where its at. Short term, should I really be worrying about something like this? I highly doubt it. Why do I think about it?? Because I prefer single player games and I don't like it when it seems like developers focus more on the multiplayer side of a game as opposed to its single player side. I remember when Ratchet & Clank went multi, with Up Your Arsenal, the third game for the PS2. It had multiplayer for the first time, yet I absolutely loved its single player. So maybe my argument isn't very valid. But I do fear the path that's being taken by developers this decade. Far too many RPGs are being taken the MMO route, which negates any potentially intriguing story since MMOs can't really tell a story (unless the KotoR MMO, The Old Republic, proves me wrong). FPS games are a dime a dozen, and seem to only focus on the multiplayer, and FPS games aren't very story dependant, but still, games do tell stories, even shooters.
Of course, after typing all that out, it feels weird thinking about this argument. Perhaps I just don't get the appeal of online gaming. Maybe its because I prefer genres that typically don't have multiplayer components. Whatever it is, I just hope that online multiplayer doesn't take down single player. Uncharted 2's single player was very good, on par with the original in some aspects, better in others. Ratchet & Clank has always been a terrific single player game, and I don't want to see it go away any time soon.
Enough rambling. Time to finish up work and get home to play more R&C!!