I feel most online shooters are very much dumbed down and have little depth in the gameplay. I'm not some old-school PC gamer that played the "classics," I started playing online this generation when I got a PS3. In my opinion, the best online shooter this generation is Metal Gear Online. Other games that I feel have a great online multiplayer are Warhawk and MAG. I realize those are all PS3 exclusives but they all share several characteristics that I think online shooters should have. On the 360 side, unless I'm overlooking a game or series, it really only has Halo and Gears of War for competitive multiplayer that the PS3 doesn't have. I've played Halo and I know what it is and how it plays (I'm not a big fan) and Gears is like Uncharted 2 I would guess.
---
Anyways, on to my list of requirements:
1) Don't have only auto-matching/matchmaking, allow the community to make their own rooms so the top players can play top players, and normal players can play normal players. I like logging into a game's multiplayer and finding a good room instead of just matchmaking. Playing in high level rooms in Metal Gear Online keeps me playing because it's just not fun to play against players that are well below your skill level. Players should be able to play within their skill level.
2) Most game's have no way of discerning good players from normal players from bad players so you can't get balanced teams in the game's matchmaking. Not to mention, it's even more one-sided when a group of good players party up and will then by on the same team against some randoms. COD and Uncharted 2 base player skill on player level which is based on experience earned (COD) or cash earned (Uncharted). However, that in no way determines the player's skill, you can be a crappy player and be a high level as long as you put in the time to earn the experience/cash. In Metal Gear Online, player level is completely based off how you perform against other players, you level can go down if you start playing below par. Level can be boosted obviously but you can pretty much tell if a player is good or not based on level.
3) Online shooters need health systems, I really hate this regen health crap that almost every shooter has. Metal Gear Online, MAG, and Warhawk all have health systems. With health regen, there is no penalty for running around the map, going from cover to cover, and getting shot in-between.
4) Moving spawns are some of the worst things ever made. Almost every online shooter now has moving spawns because players bitched about getting spawn camped in past shooters. If you get spawn camped, it's your team's fault for letting the other team in your spawn. Moving spawns completely ruins team deathmatch. You should be rewarded for taking over key spots on the map. However, when a team's spawn moves that key spot is now longer a key spot because the other team is now spawning from behind you or from the side or whatever. A good team deathmatch should be similar to tug-of-war where each team is trying to push forward and move the battle fronts forward. Warhawk allows teams to take over certain points on the map, and then players can spawn from those points or the original spawn. Metal Gear Online gives players 5 seconds or so of invulnerability so you can't get killed the instant you spawn.
5) No one-button grenade throwing. You should have to cycle from your weapon to a grenade to be able to throw it. In Uncharted online, players routinely toss grenades at each other before shooting. Furthermore, in Uncharted, if you realize you are about to lose the gun fight, you can toss a nade at the last second and still get the kill. The game is a SHOOTER, it should be about shooting not grenade throwing. Grenades are there as a tactic against camping, not your primary weapon. Warhawk does have one-button grenade tossing; however, in MAG and Metal Gear Online, grenades have to cycled to. Also, in Metal Gear Online, grenades aren't one-hit kills which makes gameplay sense (not realistic) so you can't launch random nades and get kills like in COD.
6) You shouldn't have to be a great shooter to play at high levels. There should be several ways to help the team without killing the enemy. In MAG, you can be a healer or repairer as you main focus and be as helpful or more helpful than a player with a high KDR. Metal Gear Online allows you to equip support based skills, shield, run targets, etc. to help the team without having a great KDR.
7) Online shooters need deep gameplay and need to be skill-based. In Metal Gear Online, you need to headshot to get kills, which obviously separates the better players. You can shotgun or shield to avoid the need of headshotting but it also takes great skill to be good at shotgunning and shielding. Metal Gear Online also allows so many tactics like putting opponents to sleep as opposed to killing so the enemy is out of the match for a bit. Why don't FPSs have a lean function where you can lean left or right when shooting? Then, you can lean in and out of cover. It just doesn't make sense to not have it, and it would make the gameplay deeper; Metal Gear Online, which is a 3rd person shooter, has a 1st person view that allows you to do this. Warhawk has a lot to master, from just being a foot soldier to driving a jeep to a tank to a warhawk. Mastering the piloting of the warhawk alone is deeper than the whole of most online games. Online multiplayer, which extends the game life to well over 100 hours, needs to have a system that is easy to grasp the basic concepts and controls but is difficult to master so you can feel like your skill has improved even after hundreds of hours game time.
---
Anyways, on to my list of requirements:
1) Don't have only auto-matching/matchmaking, allow the community to make their own rooms so the top players can play top players, and normal players can play normal players. I like logging into a game's multiplayer and finding a good room instead of just matchmaking. Playing in high level rooms in Metal Gear Online keeps me playing because it's just not fun to play against players that are well below your skill level. Players should be able to play within their skill level.
2) Most game's have no way of discerning good players from normal players from bad players so you can't get balanced teams in the game's matchmaking. Not to mention, it's even more one-sided when a group of good players party up and will then by on the same team against some randoms. COD and Uncharted 2 base player skill on player level which is based on experience earned (COD) or cash earned (Uncharted). However, that in no way determines the player's skill, you can be a crappy player and be a high level as long as you put in the time to earn the experience/cash. In Metal Gear Online, player level is completely based off how you perform against other players, you level can go down if you start playing below par. Level can be boosted obviously but you can pretty much tell if a player is good or not based on level.
3) Online shooters need health systems, I really hate this regen health crap that almost every shooter has. Metal Gear Online, MAG, and Warhawk all have health systems. With health regen, there is no penalty for running around the map, going from cover to cover, and getting shot in-between.
4) Moving spawns are some of the worst things ever made. Almost every online shooter now has moving spawns because players bitched about getting spawn camped in past shooters. If you get spawn camped, it's your team's fault for letting the other team in your spawn. Moving spawns completely ruins team deathmatch. You should be rewarded for taking over key spots on the map. However, when a team's spawn moves that key spot is now longer a key spot because the other team is now spawning from behind you or from the side or whatever. A good team deathmatch should be similar to tug-of-war where each team is trying to push forward and move the battle fronts forward. Warhawk allows teams to take over certain points on the map, and then players can spawn from those points or the original spawn. Metal Gear Online gives players 5 seconds or so of invulnerability so you can't get killed the instant you spawn.
5) No one-button grenade throwing. You should have to cycle from your weapon to a grenade to be able to throw it. In Uncharted online, players routinely toss grenades at each other before shooting. Furthermore, in Uncharted, if you realize you are about to lose the gun fight, you can toss a nade at the last second and still get the kill. The game is a SHOOTER, it should be about shooting not grenade throwing. Grenades are there as a tactic against camping, not your primary weapon. Warhawk does have one-button grenade tossing; however, in MAG and Metal Gear Online, grenades have to cycled to. Also, in Metal Gear Online, grenades aren't one-hit kills which makes gameplay sense (not realistic) so you can't launch random nades and get kills like in COD.
6) You shouldn't have to be a great shooter to play at high levels. There should be several ways to help the team without killing the enemy. In MAG, you can be a healer or repairer as you main focus and be as helpful or more helpful than a player with a high KDR. Metal Gear Online allows you to equip support based skills, shield, run targets, etc. to help the team without having a great KDR.
7) Online shooters need deep gameplay and need to be skill-based. In Metal Gear Online, you need to headshot to get kills, which obviously separates the better players. You can shotgun or shield to avoid the need of headshotting but it also takes great skill to be good at shotgunning and shielding. Metal Gear Online also allows so many tactics like putting opponents to sleep as opposed to killing so the enemy is out of the match for a bit. Why don't FPSs have a lean function where you can lean left or right when shooting? Then, you can lean in and out of cover. It just doesn't make sense to not have it, and it would make the gameplay deeper; Metal Gear Online, which is a 3rd person shooter, has a 1st person view that allows you to do this. Warhawk has a lot to master, from just being a foot soldier to driving a jeep to a tank to a warhawk. Mastering the piloting of the warhawk alone is deeper than the whole of most online games. Online multiplayer, which extends the game life to well over 100 hours, needs to have a system that is easy to grasp the basic concepts and controls but is difficult to master so you can feel like your skill has improved even after hundreds of hours game time.
(liked to rank up to get more character customization.)
