I liked Riviera: The Promised Land when I played it a few years ago. It was gimmicky and sometimes a bit on the clichéd side, sure, but generally speaking it was an RPG created by people who really understood the needs of the portable gaming experience and streamlined their title accordingly. Now GameSpite contributor-at-large bobservo breaks down Sting’s design decisions to explain why it all works so well. What a champ.
Also, thanks to reibeatall’s Talking Tyrants clan, I have experienced a zen epiphany in which I finally grasped the secret to enjoying Halo 2’s multiplayer: Completely ignore the game objectives, and play with people who don’t care that you don’t care. Turns out the game is much more fun when you do your level best to come in last every time.
It’s especially fun when vehicles are involved. Glad to help you reach a zen state.
This one time, a friend and I were playing Halo 2 via Live together, and I had another friend playing as my guest. The matchmaking randomly made my guest on the other team…so he climbed in the back of our Warthog anyway and proceeded to team up with us to slaughter his own teammates.
So yeah, the best parts of multiplayer ALWAYS involve ignoring the rules.
That’s what I’m talking about: Being the best is not as fun as, well, just have fun.
I may need to give Riveria another try. I liked it at first, but got bored and sold it… :(
If you like rules-optional multiplayer, Warhawk is also a great scene right now. Not that I would do that or anything… (bwahahaha).
Nice! Finding fans of Riviera is like finding Rush fans – I know they’re out there,
but they’re never seen…
The original Battlefield game (1942?) was the best rules optional multiplayer. Wing walking, driving the jeeps into things, very fun.