10 Awesome Multiplayer Video Games Nobody Played

As entertaining as the simplicity of a straight-forward single-player campaign undeniably is, it's tough to argue with the visceral thrill of taking your skills online to compete against others.

And as insanely popular as many of the greatest multiplayer video games are, there's no denying that we as gamers have slept on some squandered classics over the years.

These 10 multiplayer games, whether AAA tentpoles or more modest indie offerings, all came and went without much of a peep, despite the fact they represent some of the finest online multiplayer out there.

In some cases the games simply arrived at a crowded area of the market too late, while in others the multiplayer suite was tethered to an inferior single-player experience - to be kind - and elsewhere their brilliance got lost amid poor business management.

Whatever the reason for their failure, though, these terrific multiplayer games deserved far better fates than fading into obscurity so quickly, offering up unique riffs on familiar genres as they did, all while less-creative iterations of the same ideas continue to flourish today...

Codemasters' innovative car combat game Onrush came and went in a flash in the summer of 2018, no matter its intriguing hook and the pedigree of its revered publisher.

Onrush largely ditched typical multiplayer racing for an online experience focused on co-operative, objective-based play, pitting two teams of vehicles against each other as they attempt to outrun and destroy their rivals, yet without a conventional chequered flag finish in sight.

Between its sharp visuals and well thought-out, easy-to-pick-up gameplay, Onrush had all the potential in the world to become the next viral racing sensation, but sadly the player-base fell off a cliff within a few months of its release and never recovered.

Though you can still find scatterings of players online, for all intents and purposes the game is effectively dead, with poor sales resulting in lay-offs at Codemasters including the game's director, Paul Rustchynsky, and updates therefore becoming increasingly sparse.

Considering how creatively the game innovated the racing genre, it's a damn shame that more people didn't give Onrush a try. However, the sensible inclusion of bots will ensure it remains playable even when the servers inevitably get shut down. Phew.