10 Video Games That Should Have Ditched Their Multiplayer Modes

Not everything is better with friends.

By Alex Morley /

Multiplayer modes can be a great way for developers to prolong the lifecycle of their games, keeping players coming back time and time again. In recent years there seems to have been an effort to try and shoehorn in any kind of online interaction between players, in an attempt keep them engaged for months, years and even longer.

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This has led to some out-of-place multiplayer modes being forced into series' that were predominantly a single-player experience.

That isn't to say that these multiplayer modes are inherently bad, however they were often not what fans of the series were looking for and you can't help but think that development resources could have been better spent elsewhere.

A small note then before we dive in:

Games are only considered for this list if they have a multiplayer mode separate from the core single-player experience. Therefore, titles that include cooperative or player vs. player modes embedded within the single-player campaign are excluded from this list.

So let’s take a look at the games that should have ditched their multiplayer modes altogether.

10. Bioshock 2

Similar to Far Cry 3, Bioshock 2 was released during a time when every First-Person Shooter had a multiplayer mode, so it should come as little surprise then that the second entry in the beloved Bioshock series also featured a competitive multiplayer mode.

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A series best known for its twisting narrative and atmospheric worlds, it should be no surprise that the multiplayer mode was met with either a sceptical curiosity or flat-out indifference when it was first announced.

The series was also not exactly known for having tight gameplay mechanics and smooth gunplay making a multiplayer mode an odd choice considering Call Of Duty and Halo had recently redefined the expectations for Multiplayer shooters.

Despite this the mode turned out surprisingly well even featuring some nice story elements in the mode that would appeal to series fans, however it ultimately never took off as it wasn’t what fans wanted from a Bioshock game and it also unfortunately suffered from a number of bugs that hindered the experience.

The mode was even scrapped when the game was remastered for the Bioshock Remastered Collection in 2016.

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