What's Your Multiplayer GOTY?

[ATB]

As far as I know, the release of Unreal 3 marks the last opp for a major MP release (though word on the street at 1up is that's it's decidedly blah) this year.

Regardless, what's your MP GOTY this year?

I never knew how good MP could be until Halo3 hit this year.  It became an obsession and made me crazy over my stats especially the K/D ratio.  Halo3 is brilliant in MP- it seems everyone in the world knew this but me.

That said, I have to give the nod to COD4.  It has many of the same features as Halo (though I wish there was a bungie.net COD4 equivalent), but for whatever reason- possibly the perks, possibly the awesome maps, possibly the spot on sound- it nudges Halo3 to the side by a hair in my book.

When I first played it I was dying for a Halo3 esque ranking system so that I could play with peers. But in its absence, I find it more fun not to have it. In COD4 I don't think I'll ever feel like I've peaked or that I'll hit the brick wall in advancement like I did with Halo3 (level 30). As a result, I don't think I'll ever get as frustrated as I did in Halo3 because no matter what I did, I was almost always getting slaughtered by the 35s or 37s.  What's the alternative? None, cause against the rest of the world I'm 30.  The only choice is to intentionally die and lose a lot and watch my stats sink like a stone. No thanks (I will be back, but not for a while).  But it's not just the 'ranks' that matter- it's that I can't compete with the superior players any longer because I've reached my personal skill level peak. 

However, In COD4 you rank up and rank up and rank up and 'true skill' doesn't matter. Sure I have runs of matches where I get beat up and down the map, but no matter what I'm moving forward and the games provide a nice mix of skill levels.  In Halo3, chances are I'd always be playing my peer group or superiors- which is fun..but can lead to no sense of progression and often led to frustration.

So...my MP GOTY is COD4!

[leo8877]

COD4

[Thin_J]

Agreed. CoD4.

[wonderpug]

Team Fortress 2!  Still loving it.

[Calvin]

Hands down COD4.

[Jumangi]

Another vote for Team Fortress 2.

[TheMissingLink]

As much as I've played and enjoyed Halo 3 online, it's essentially Halo 2 online. 

Eye of Judgment really has the potential of showcasing an awesome online multiplayer component, but it's dry-bones with some head-scratching omissions (creating private match, no online tourney modes).

My mutiplayer GOTY is Warhawk.  In my 22 hours (so far) of time online with the game, I've experienced lag maybe .01 percent of the time.  I love how it keeps the stats of everything (I've flown 11 miles in a Warhawk!), and there are medals to be gained with overall totals, as well as per-round.  The fact that Incognito is releasing an expansion pack, essentially changing the way the entire game will be dictated, shows dedication to keeping Warhawk players happy.

That said, I'm ready for some Unreal Tournament 3 action tomorrow, will put some time into Team Fortress 2 this upcoming week and will most likely rent Call of Duty sometime in the near future.  I'm not sure any of them are going to eclipse the greatness that is Warhawk, however.

[depward]

Warhawk it is.  32 player matches, explosions happening all around, air & ground combat - what's not to love?

Halo 3 is close.

[Jarrodhk]

COD4.

[USMC Kato]

COD4 and Halo 3 is a tie for me. 

And next year R6: Vegas 2, who knows?   

[ATB]

COD4 and Halo 3 is a tie for me. 

OMG cop out!

[Purge]

COD4 has, as of right now, not caught me up in it's web.

I am saddened by the purchase of it.

For MP fun, I'd go with Halo3.

[Harkonis]

For me it's a toss up for Forza 2 and COD4

[Harkonis]

COD4 and Halo 3 is a tie for me. 

And next year R6: Vegas 2, who knows?   

Traitor!

[denoginizer]

Just for something different...

All Pro Football 2K8 for me.

It's the first sports game where you never face the same team twice. Gone are the days of playing game after game against the Patriots. The ability to create your own team and pick the players out of a pool made each game fresh. It also featured:

A feedback system that actually works.

Online Leagues and tournaments with full stat tracking.

Nearly lag free play.

The best online sports experience ever IMHO.

Others:

Halo 3 - Very good but as mentioned above it is pretty much Halo 2 with new maps.

CoD 4 - The perks are great but they also tend to unballance the game a bit.

Warhawk -  Smooth as silk due to Sony hosting the servers.  Warhawks are fun as hell to fly. But the ground based combat is pretty bad.

Team Fortress - Might be great. But I haven't been able to play much due to it being very laggy at release.  I keep meaning to go back to it now that it has been patched.

[ATB]

CoD 4 - The perks are great but they also tend to unballance the game a bit.

That seems to be the one major complaint that people have and I can see why they feel that way, but I don't agree.

[Lockdown]

Team Fortress 2

[wonderpug]

My mutiplayer GOTY is Warhawk.  In my 22 hours (so far) of time online with the game, I've experienced lag maybe .01 percent of the time.  I love how it keeps the stats of everything (I've flown 11 miles in a Warhawk!), and there are medals to be gained with overall totals, as well as per-round.  The fact that Incognito is releasing an expansion pack, essentially changing the way the entire game will be dictated, shows dedication to keeping Warhawk players happy.

Warhawk -  Smooth as silk due to Sony hosting the servers.  Warhawks are fun as hell to fly. But the ground based combat is pretty bad.

Warhawk it is.  32 player matches, explosions happening all around, air & ground combat - what's not to love?

Now that I've joined the PS3 ranks, Warhawk does look pretty tempting.  Does it seem like the multiplayer will have legs for a while?  I don't think I want to go for the game if the online community is going to die out in a year.

[QP]

COD4 easily - I don't usually do much MP gaming, but COD4 sucked me in.

[DamageInc]

I agree with CoD4, with all the customizations and gameplay it is the easy choice.

[depward]

My mutiplayer GOTY is Warhawk.  In my 22 hours (so far) of time online with the game, I've experienced lag maybe .01 percent of the time.  I love how it keeps the stats of everything (I've flown 11 miles in a Warhawk!), and there are medals to be gained with overall totals, as well as per-round.  The fact that Incognito is releasing an expansion pack, essentially changing the way the entire game will be dictated, shows dedication to keeping Warhawk players happy.

Warhawk -  Smooth as silk due to Sony hosting the servers.  Warhawks are fun as hell to fly. But the ground based combat is pretty bad.

Warhawk it is.  32 player matches, explosions happening all around, air & ground combat - what's not to love?

Now that I've joined the PS3 ranks, Warhawk does look pretty tempting.  Does it seem like the multiplayer will have legs for a while?  I don't think I want to go for the game if the online community is going to die out in a year.

There are a heck of a lot of people playing everyday.  Somewhere like 250 - 400 servers are running whenever I pop on... nice list of game variants (deathmatch, team deathmatch, ctf & zones), I would bet on it staying as one of the top PS3 multiplayer experiences for quite awhile...

[unbreakable]

Team Fortress 2.

Which reminds me, I really need to pull myself away from TF2 in order to give Quake Wars a try.  I've owned it for over a month already, and still haven't loaded it up.

[Soulchilde]

Tie: Team Fortress 2 and CoD4

[Farscry]

Definitely gotta be Forza 2.

[Larraque]

Catan! [360]

[papasmurff]

cod 4

[DonD]

I'm hopelessly addicted to TF2.  That gets my vote.

[davidf]

City of Heroes Issue 11, does that count Only MMO i still play, though Pirates of the Burning sea is calling me

[IkeVandergraaf]

Forza 2.  I wish we still played that, and I wish we played more of that during the summer.

For shooters though, I think I have to go with COD4.

[QP]

COD4 easily.

[Jumangi]

Team Fortress 2.

[kronovan]

RB6V. Admittedly I've only played a few online sessions in it, but it did impress me.
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 is a close runner up. Even though it doesn't have some of the features we've come to expect in online mplay games, there's just something about sniping with the Wiimote that makes it a blast.

[Laner]

Gotta go with COD4.  Not since Quake 2 CTF and UT have I put in so many hours in such a short period of time.