5 More Single Player Games You Probably Forgot Had Multiplayer

There’s a debate in video games about which is better: single player games or multiplayer games. There’s pros and cons to either side of the argument, and a definitive answer will probably never be reached, but there have been a few games over the years that have tried to have their cake and eat it too.

We’ve already ran down 5 such games a few months back, but there’s always more to find. You’ll probably come up with some decent suggestions in the comments below that’ll jog our memory, but in any case, join us as we list 5 More Games You Probably Forgot Had Multiplayer.

 

1. Spec Ops: The Line

Possibly one of the most depressing “Heart of Darkness” inspired journeys ever committed to video games, even a game as mighty as Spec Ops: The Line was no stranger to the shoehorned multiplayer trend. While the main story was concerned with the effects that war, violence and death can have on a man’s psyche, the multiplayer allowed you to revel in that brutality without a hint of irony.

Tying into the main story, the multiplayer component detailed the battle between two different factions of the ill-fated 33rd Infantry, The Exiles and The Damned. The game modes themselves were your standard deathmatch and objective based fare that took place across six different maps, with players able to select from one of six classes.

The multiplayer in Spec Ops wasn’t exactly the greatest, but there was some enjoyment to be had, if you could live with yourself afterwards anyway. The multiplayer retained a lot of the sand mechanics that the single player game did, as you were able to use sand to bury your opposition, and sandstorms would regularly roll on through and ensure everyone had a bad day.

 

2. Saints Row & Saints Row 2

Before the Saints Row games became the rollicking co-op romps that Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row 4 were (we don’t talk about Gat Out Of Hell), Voiltion tried their hands at multiplayer. We’re not saying whether or not it was successful, but they tried it at least. It was there if you wanted it.

In Saints Row 1 & 2, you created a brand new character for the multiplayer, and you were able to customise them using the rewards obtained from winning matches and murdering your opponents. It was a decent way of making progression feel separate from the single player experience, as your character slowing accumulated more and more bling as time passed.

The maps themselves often took place in cordoned off sections of the in-game world, meaning you could do everything you could do in the single player game, including driving around in a vehicle and mowing down other players. Looking back now, the Saints Row multiplayer could be seen as a precursor to GTA IV and even GTA Online, which took the free roaming multiplayer concepts and ran with them.

 

3. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

The red-headed stepchild of a much loved series, Nuts & Bolts took everyone’s favourite bear and bird combo and turned them into mechanics in what was widely regarded to be “a bad move”. It’s not that Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts wasn’t without merit, it just didn’t live up the high standards of the original game.

If anything, the multiplayer was probably one of the best aspects of the whole game, as you could import your vehicles blueprints from the single player game and use them in a variety of crazy modes. Nothing like riding around in a massive tank to play a game of vehicle golf. Unfortunately, because the multiplayer relied so heavily on people completing the majority of the single player in order to achieve the full experience, it was left forgotten about by most players.

 

4. Stuntman: Ignition

It’s fair to expect that most racing games will come with a multiplayer mode of some kind, and although Stuntman: Ignition wasn’t like most racing games, it still came with one regardless. As the single player took you from movie set to movie set, completing insane stunts for the biggest motion pictures in Hollywood, the multiplayer was just a bog-standard racer.

The multiplayer came in two specific forms, with Backlot Race mode being pretty self-explanatory, while the Backlot Battle mode featured the same tracks but tasked you with completing stunts each lap. To see Stuntman: Ignition go from an innovative and rewarding single player mode that asked for a different way to play racing games to just another arcade racer was weird, to say the least. It’s no wonder the mode got forgotten about.

 

5. Tomb Raider (2013)

The reboot to one of the longest running franchises in video games, Tomb Raider wasn’t impervious to the desire of adding a multiplayer mode to a game for no reason. While Lara was gallivanting around the island trying to deal with well-armed mercenaries and ancient mystical bullshit, the multiplayer allowed you to play as an old man who could pull off those same acrobatic stunts.

The multiplayer contained all the usual tacked on multiplayer essentials, including customisable loadouts that only really become effective after a few hours of grinding and a variant of Prestige Mode that the Call of Duty series introduced. Honestly, it’s not that the multiplayer was bad, it was just there, largely overshadowed by the much superior single player adventure. Besides, the mode didn’t appear in Rise of the Tomb Raider, so it can’t have been that good.

Do you have any suggestions about games with forgotten multiplayer modes? Sound off in the comments below.

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