Narrative-driven campaigns and non-canon multiplayer modes often go hand-in-hand in ensuring a game launches as a complete product.
However, many titles’ multiplayer offerings often felt like last-minute add-ons to outstanding single-player campaigns and sometimes lessened the value of the overall game.
Some multiplayer systems were additionally so frustrating or bare bones that later entries in the series either introduced alternate multiplayer modes or completely abandoned multiplayer options entirely.
Not every aspect of these controversial multiplayer systems is terrible, but overall, they were far worse than their campaign counterparts.
These multiplayer modes are ranked by how lackluster they were compared to their campaigns and how controversial they became in gaming communities.
8 Halo 3: ODST
Firefight v1
Bungie’s second to last Halo game, Halo 3: ODST, arguably has one of the best campaigns in the entire franchise thanks to its neo-noir direction, iconic jazz-inspired score, and exploration of the second best soldiers in the galaxy, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.
However, ODST’s development was a bit rushed due to the cancellation of Peter Jackson’s Halo Chronicles and a Halo film directed by District 9’s Neill Blomkamp, with both projects quickly being recycled into ODST while Bungie began working on Halo: Reach.
These events caused certain parts of Halo 3: ODST to be a bit lackluster compared to other Halo titles, such as ODST’s debut multiplayer mode Firefight, which lacked matchmaking and gameplay customization later implemented in Reach’s Firefight.
ODST’s incarnation of Firefight isn’t entirely bad. I always enjoy playing Firefight on Lost Platoon occasionally. It’s just not as good as ODST’s campaign or the Halo 3 multiplayer disk it was packaged with.
7 Dead Space 2
A Horrifying Take on PvP
Multiplayer has always been an intriguing concept for EA and Visceral Games, dating back to the development stages for 2008’s Dead Space, with two-player co-op being considered for the survival horror title.
According to Visceral staff, many fans and EA executives called for a multiplayer mode to be included in Dead Space 2, resulting in the 4v4 Outbreak mode between Sprawl security forces and various types of Necromorphs akin to Left 4 Dead’s Versus mode.
Getting to play as Necromorphs was interesting, but they always felt unbalanced compared to the Security forces, especially with the Necromorphs being limited to just four players and somewhat long respawn times.
Dead Space 2’s campaign is one of my all-time favorites, but I’m glad Visceral chose to abandon Outbreak in Dead Space 3 for the arguably more series-appropriate co-op system with John Carver.
6 Condemned 2: Bloodshot
Crime in the Streets
Condemned: Criminal Origins was a stand-out survival horror game early on in the Xbox 360’s lifespan thanks to its immersive atmosphere, limited combat capabilities, and eerie world design primarily set in condemned buildings.
All of these elements were significantly improved upon in 2008’s Condemned 2: Bloodshot, in addition to an expansion on horrifying supernatural elements with new demonic enemies and an increased focus on Ethan Thomas’ degrading psyche.
However, while Bloodshot’s campaign was a fantastic improvement to Criminal Origins, Monolith Productions and Sega chose to oddly add a multiplayer mode to Bloodshot that only featured generic game types such as Team Deathmatch.
Bloodshot’s multiplayer retains the campaign’s impressive lighting, but I always thought it was rather unremarkable back in 2008 and typically just ended up being a bunch of crazy guys beating each other up with whatever garbage they could find.
5 Dead Rising 3
An Odd Follow-Up to Terror Is Reality
In contrast to many Dead Rising fans, I’m actually a big fan of Dead Rising 2’s Terror Is Reality multiplayer modes as I thought they were a fun, interesting take on traditional zombie depictions – though the multiplayer achievements were frankly annoying.
To my disappointment, the multiplayer of Terror Is Reality didn’t return in Dead Rising 2: Off the Record or Dead Rising 3.
Instead, Dead Rising 3 expanded upon Dead Rising 2’s co-op campaign with the introduction of the character Dick instead of a clone of Nick Ramos and later introduced a four-player co-op Capcom-themed beat ’em up mode called Super Ultra Dead Rising 3′ Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha.
Dick was virtually a nothing character, as he basically added nothing to the story of Ramos striving to help save his friends and end Phenotrans’ role in creating zombie outbreaks while Super Ultra was just too goofy in contrast to Dead Rising 3’s overall more serious tone, and it felt more at home as a part of the overwhelmingly comical Dead Rising 4.
4 God of War: Ascension
A Confusing Offering to the Gods
For being a vengeful, character-driven series, it was odd to see God of War briefly delve into multiplayer in the 2013 prequel God of War: Ascension.
The first and so far only God of War game to feature multiplayer, God of War: Ascension‘s multiplayer featured a variety of PvP and PvE modes containing up to eight players, such as Team Favor of the Gods, Match of Champions, and Capture the Flag, and was split between Spartan or Trojan teams.
Instead of playing as clones of Kratos or other Greek gods, Ascension had players embody other oath-breakers aligned with either Ares, Hades, Zeus, or Poseidon, each with their own combat boosts and weaknesses.
While Ascension’s multiplayer was an interesting expansion on God of War’s traditional third-person gameplay, I always thought it was a bit boring and an overall unnecessary addition to God of War: Ascension‘s interesting prequel story of how Kratos broke his blood oath to Ares and subsequent consequences.
3 Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
A Surprising Yet Disappointing Black Ops Reunion
Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 is one of the best Call of Duty games I’ve ever played, thanks to its mysterious and dramatic campaign, groundbreaking zombies maps, and fun but not too complex PvP multiplayer.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was similarly great, but Black Ops fans never received a proper, direct sequel to Black Ops 1’s campaign until the release of 2020’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Cold War’s campaign was a welcome return to late 20th century historical conflicts, of fan-favorites Alex Mason, Frank Woods, and Jason Hudson, and of Black Ops 2’s multiple alternate sequences and endings.
Despite these positives and more, Cold War continued Blacks Ops’ downward multiplayer trend post Black Ops 2, thanks to unbalanced, skill-based matchmaking, lack of unique maps and gamemodes at launch, and restrictive playstyle options for zombies.
2 The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
Star Wars: Battlefront’s Disheartening Cousin
After the monumental success of Pandemic Studios’ Star Wars: Battlefront duology, the EA developer sought to translate Battlefront’s structure into another popular film franchise with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, resulting in 2009’s The Lord of the Rings: Conquest.
Here, Battlefront’s class-based, third-person gameplay, hero and vehicle systems, returned, along with a new campaign expanding upon events from The Two Towers and Return of the King with a fun alternate evil campaign where Frodo Baggins is killed and Sauron conquers all of Middle-earth.
However, Battlefront’s gameplay structure struggled to properly translate to LOTR’s melee-focused combat, with most troop classes playing too similarly and archers being frankly overpowered, especially compared to the heroes and villains who always died too quickly whenever I used them.
Due to these issues, as well as connection problems, lag, and unreliable AI allies, Conquest’s playerbase quickly vanished shortly after its release and, in March 2010, EA shut down Conquest’s multiplayer servers.
1 Assassin’s Creed Unity
Fumbling Assassins
Assassin’s Creed Unity’s trailers suggested that Assassin’s Creed fans may finally get a co-op option to play through Unity’s story of Assassins aiding the French Revolution with friends via unique characters distinct from Arno Dorian.
Instead, Assassin’s Creed Unity only allowed gamers to play cooperatively in short co-op missions that might as well be non-canon to the rest of the campaign and typically revolved around simplistic heists for up to four players, each embodying a customized clone of Arno.
For me, this was a massive disappointment as the co-op mission design was incredibly repetitive, shallow, and frustrating due to Assassin’s Creed Unity’s numerous glitches that often left my friend unable to revive me or enemies jumping all over the place.
Compared to the incredibly unique and stealth-focused PvP multiplayer seen from Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Unity’s multiplayer was a massive disappointment and misstep for the franchise.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
