In concert with their readership and staff, Gamasutra has presented another round of their Quantum Leap Awards, this time focusing on those non-MMO games whose multiplayer gameplay has made the biggest "quantum leap." In other words:
They're timeless. They're groundbreaking. They inspire us, make us question our standards, and provide a roadmap for the future of development. They are the games that innovate and move the industry forward, and Gamasutra is proud to recognize them with our series of Quantum Leap Awards.
Who made the cut? Here's a brief summation:
Battlefield 1942: "Just say "I need a target for artillery!" and Snipers on your team can whip out their binoculars, giving you thier view of the target. No other multiplayer game lets you really make such use of your teammates."Tribes: "Tribes' focus on playing as a team, filling roles, seperating offensive and defensive units, supporting flag carriers, etc, etc. pushed the future of FPS multiplayer gaming from pure deathmatch/"cowboy" gaming to one where squad play and team focus is just as important as "point and click" kills."Wii Sports: "...rarely before have I been able to play games with my parents, and never have I seen (nor ever imagined) my grandfather picking up a controller. Never before have they shown much interest in games, if any, and most of all – never before have they been so eager to join in!"Bomberman: "Bomberman is really devious. It's simple. It's fun. Strip away its cutesy presentation and Bomerman is a one-hit-kill deathmatch."GoldenEye 007: "...that priceless feeling of seeking out and blowing holes into your friends as they jump and holler in frustration right next to you started with James Bond and his crew of villains and capers."Double Dragon 2 - The Revenge: "Double Dragon 2 featured cooperative gameplay based on strong teamwork. It's the first game that made me realize that I had to work with my partner to "survive" the challenge."Quake III Arena: "You can't have a question about the quantum leap in multiplayer game play without including Quake III Arena. In my opinion this game has proven itself, to this day, as one of the most 'pure' multiplayer games on the market."Ikari Warriors: "...it took co-op from the arcade and put it on the couch."Quake: "Among the many, many, many things that came out of the Quake development/mod community: GameSpy...Threewave CTF...Team Fortress...and Rocket Arena, the original one-on-one multiplayer experience."Pokémon series: "What Pokémon created with this breakthrough concept was a true sense of community centered about a game – a kinship among people which transcended the immediate game environment."
That's just a brief rundown of a very thorough and thoughtful examination of how multiplayer became such a gameplay juggernaut feature, genre, and for some, lifestyle, and takes a good look at the games that got us there. Check out the rest at Gamasutra.
The Quantum Leap Awards: The Most Important Multiplayer Games of All Time [Gamasutra]
