How the next crop of multiplayer bloodbaths can be even better than the last
Words: Tyler Wilde, GamesRadar US
1) Civilians
We want our ideal urban, deformable, climbable, door-filled battlefields to be populated with semi-clueless civilians for some Bourne-style action.
A little Source engine game called The Ship, which was originally a Half-Life 1 mod, has done something vaguely similar. The game is set on cruise ships (fancy that) and each player is given the name of another player who he must murder whilst avoiding detection by security as well as death by the hand of his own stalker. While it does throw some stealth and RPG elements into the online FPS mix, we envision a slightly different set up.
Above: The Ship takes a unique approach to the deathmatch
Our game consists of the standard free-for-all and team deathmatch modes, but wins are based on points rather than kills. Players earn two points for each player they take out, and lose one point for each civilian caught in their crossfire. This would present an entirely new style of multiplayer gameplay. Run into a crowd of shoppers to escape a pursuer, put on disguises and act like AI civilians to avoid detection, pull out your binoculars and case a street from a distance, looking for suspicious activity amongst the meandering populous.
Perhaps Splinter Cell: Conviction will satiate our need? Extra points if there are portals.
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