Lifestyle & Culture

The Gamers: Three Multiplayer Masterpieces

A Look at 3 Titles Lighting Up Our Living Rooms

04.05.2018 | by Kezia Parkins
Photo by VGU.TV
Photo by VGU.TV

As we edge closer towards the summer season and the release of several upcoming games, Global Shakers takes a look at three of the best multiplayer titles rocking our living rooms.

FORTNITE

Originally released as a free-to-play title, Fortnite has emerged as one of the most talked-about games of the year. Set in a post-apocalyptic earth where zombie-like creatures rise from the ground to attack the planet’ survivors, the game allows up to four players to cooperate on various missions on randomly-generated maps.

Players build forts, collect resources and fight the constant storms, constructing weapons and traps to defeat the creatures who hound them. Online players of Fortnite gain rewards through completing missions together, improving their characters and building their teams and arsenal of weapons. This multiplayer hit is supported through microtransactions to purchase in-game currency which can be used to acquire upgrades. Fortnite is available on  Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

OVERWATCH

Released in 2016 by Blizzard Entertainment, Overwatch remains one of the most popular multiplayer games of recent years. The game assigns players into two teams of six, with each player selecting one of over 20 characters known as “heroes”. Each hero has a totally unique style of play, with their roles divided into four categories: offence, defence, tank and support.

Teams work together to secure and defend points on a map, or to escort a target under a strict time limit. High-scoring players are awarded purely aesthetic prizes that have no impact on gameplay, such as victory poses and character ‘skins’. Overwatch was initially launched with casual play, with a competitive ranked mode, various arcade modes and a player-customizable server browser patched into the game months following its release. For gamers who enjoy mixing up their play styles, this is a must-have. Overwatch is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows.

ROCKET LEAGUE

Fusing vehicles with soccer matches may seem odd – however, the team at Psyonix have done just that with their immensely popular multiplayer hit, Rocket League. Described as “soccer, but with rocket-powered cars”, Rocket League has one to four players assigned to each of the two teams, using rocket-powered vehicles to hit a ball into their opponent’s goal to score points over the course of a match.

The game includes single-player and multiplayer modes which can be played both locally and online, including cross-platform play between the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows versions, as well as cross-play between Xbox One, Switch, and Windows versions. Later updates for the game enabled players to modify core rules and added new game modes, including games based on ice hockey and basketball. The only thing that lets Rocket League down is its lack of a split-screen option, which may turn off gamers who have invested in a second controller. Rocket League was praised by critics for its playability, making it one of the most downloaded games of the year. Rocket League is available on Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

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Photo by The Daily Mail
"Sometimes it's not always about what you can see or hear but what's under the hood of a game that's most impressive. Between those thousands and thousands of lines of code, magic happens. Sometimes the most amazing feats of gaming wizardry happen without you even noticing." - Rob Manuel, Geek and Sundry

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