Multiplayer.....ever heard of it? There's no doubt in my mind you have, and I'll venture a guess that you have gone as far as to play have played a multiplayer game before. Of course I'm just being sarcastic here! Multiplayer is HUGE, it's practically a pop-culture phenomenon. It has even changed the way our video games are structured. They're good fun and all, increasing the longevity of our beloved titles so they don't just go back onto our dust collecting shelves, but what ever happened to the single player experience? Is it me or has it become a mere afterthought?

I remember multiplayer was something only PC users experienced and the idea was still taking off. That left console players with single player games only, and oh what good campaigns they were! Long. Engaging. Literally amazing stories that sucked me in and would not let go till I hit the power button, and when I did, I was sad! I'm sorry if I'm sounding a bit dramatic, but flashes of Sonic 2 and FF8 are coming to mind when I think about the Single player exp. Mario 3 and Vagrant Story! The slew of new games that have come out in the past year or so now have great single player experiences but they're not THAT great if anybody knows what I mean. Part of this, I feel, is due to laziness on the developers part. Knowing that they can just make a few maps and balanced characters and guns they can just release a half baked product and know that multiplayer would be there saving grace.

I would like to take the time to talk about a few of these culprits. First up is COD4. Yea you read that right! "But I'm a roustabout, that single player exp was SICK!" ANd i'd say you're right! BUT how long was it? I mean really? Yea multiplayer was grat, and revolutionized how multiplayer is played but a six hour campaign? Really? Six hours? I mean what the heck? My question I present to you is, if multiplayer had still not been invented yet, or implemented on consoles, would this game had gotten the reviews it did? MOst likely not. Multiplayer was it's saving grace, unless you're the kind that likes to chuck out $60 for a six hours game, maybe 24 if you like to get the acheivements. So keeping that in mind I just want developers to start thinking about the quality of their single player campaign and ask themselves "without multiplayer is this still a quality game worth releasing?"

Another game that comes to mind would be Halo 2. I know for a fact people were disapointed in that game, but it's saving grace was it's multiplayer. They expanded upon the original design so it was a fantastic multiplayer exp, but everybody complained about the lack of a quality single player campaign. I would think it's safe to say that what got people into halo in the first place was it's fantastic single player experience and the bonus was you could increase the longevity of that game by playing Lan parties with friends. Eventually the LAN parties dwarfed the people just sitting by themselves playing the single player portion, but the initial love for everything Halo I believe came from the single player campaign.

It's not that multiplayer is bad. I personally don't like it, and never found the fun in it. I chalk it up to the maturity level of most the people I come across. The pre-pubescent teenagers really irk me sometimes and completly withdrawls me from the whole experience and reminds me that I'm playing a video game, rather than providing a cathartic escape, saving me from my hum-drum droll that is my existence Games these days have become too short boasting on the back of the box that it has an A-MAZING multiplayer exp and I for one have seen through their cheap BS and tire of it. Bring back my amazing stories! Bring back the lengthy, cinematic cutscenes that made me fall in love with the heroes. And stop chucking out sequel after sequel every year making my precious single player exp an afterthought making it ride on the coat tails of it's multiplayer component!