From the Brow of Zeus

Curmudgeon Gamer is worried that single player modes could be a thing of the past.

"With news that even Resident Evil 5 wants to tap into the co-op trend, I definitely get a feel that the days of sitting on your own and enjoying something in a similar way as you would sit and enjoy a book are over. Social gaming is reaching a new epoch, so it's only a natural extension that everything tries to get on board." -- Curmudgeon Gamer.

It's all due to a quote from our favorite jittering man-goat, Phil "Give Me What I Want And I'll Go Away" Harrison:

"Alone in the Dark is a beautifully crafted single-player adventure game. I don't think the industry is going to make many more of those. I just don't think consumers want to be playing games that don't have some kind of network connectivity to them, or some kind of community embedded in them, or some kind of extension available through downloadable content." -- Phil Harrison, to Eurogamer.

Meanwhile, Joystiq bemoans the Golden Axe remake's lack of a co-op mode (along with everyone else who ever played the original games.)



Are co-op games getting more popular? Yes, thank God. (I'm one of those weird types who prefers to do his multiplayer gaming on the couch, where settled disputes are only a punch away.)

But I don't think a rise of co-op modes necessarily means the death of single player games. (Don't get me wrong -- things could get very grim. Just look at PC RPGs: In a matter of years, single-player RPGs went from one of the strongest genres on the market to the occasional Elder Scrolls title -- and Witcher -- lost in a sea of MMORPGs.) As long as there are smaller developers, we'll still have finely crafted single-player stories, even if so-called "AAA" publishers like EA think we're better off without them.

I think it's all a matter of staying true to the series. A single-player Golden Axe is every bit as stupid as a massively multiplayer Alone in the Dark. ("Lovecraftian horror" and "large crowds of newbies" don't exactly go hand-in-hand.) Final Fantasy 11 (should have called it "Online") never really caught on. I don't see much call for a Massively Multiplayer Mario Bros., while an expansive, 100 hour single-player Smash Bros. campaign mode is likely to be ignored than anything else.

Let the multiplayer mode fit the game. Buddy cop movies are fun, so "buddy cop" games like Army of Two are a no-brainer. But Final Fantasy is all about forgetting the world around you -- doesn't make sense to populate that world with assholes from the real world.

I don't hope for an end of single-player modes any more than I wish for a return to the single-player-centric mindset of the 90s. Let's strike a healthy balance, so that we may game with our friends, and just as importantly, game without them.

Labels: videogames