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GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer

We take a look at some of the year's finest online experiences.

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Honourable Mentions

GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer
Though Destiny's greatest strength is its team-oriented PvE, its super-powered PvP modes echo Halo at its best. Subclass abilities make the playingfield unbalanced at times but they remain strategically exciting. Sports mode Rift is hugely exhilarating.
GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer
Taking to the battlefield as a Stormtrooper or Rebel while TIE-Fighters and X-Wings scream in the skies above is surely the magical experience we all sought. By providing the complete toy box, DICE has set the stage for endless memorable encounters in Star Wars Battlefront.
GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer
Splatoon is a shooter that embraces the slapstick silliness of a kids' TV quiz show and the what-just-happened hilarity that only video games can bring to the screen. The 4v4 matches involve making a huge colourful mess while competing, which is simply joyous.
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GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer
The celebrated Left 4 Dead co-op formula is a perfect fit for the Warhammer: End Times setting, where the dreaded Skaven deserve shooting just as much as zombies. Four-man fireteams take a variety of cool weapons into the well-designed maps.
GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer
A staple of the eSports circuit, Starcraft II's multiplayer credentials need no introduction. With Legacy of the Void, Blizzard essentially makes it so much easier for players to find games and team up.
GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer
Outstanding area traversal capability and necessity for team communication make for breathless encounters in this brave release from Ubisoft. "They're coming through the windows!", "Heard at least one of them upstairs!" There's nothing else like Rainbow Six: Siege.
GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer
Giant monsters and a 4v1 setup that had players working together like never before, Evolve was a breath of fresh air when it landed earlier this year.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer

Flanked by everything from Titanfall through Battlefield and lately Destiny, the appeal of Call of Duty has remained boots on the ground "oorah!" marines. Black Ops 3 successfully incorporates near-future tech into the familiar breathless COD arena.

Though it was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that placed Activision's military shooter series firmly into the spotlight nigh on a decade ago, it was Treyarch's 2010 Black Ops that put the rocket under its multiplayer component. Retaining so much of that moment-to-moment tension which pervaded the likes of Nuketown, Firing Range Summit and Grid is a success in its own right. Doing so while introducing a radical (for COD) class system deserves a medal.

The X-Men/Avengers/Justice League vibe of the Specialist classes in PvP could have blown all the wheels right off the COD Humvee, but they're essentially walking (and indeed talking) Killstreak rewards, bringing a tactical edge that defines your approach to a much deeper level than before. And to that end, dedicated players are compelled to not only master their preferred Specialist, but take a tour as all nine elite soldiers to breathe as they breathe.

You may have reservations about the thruster packs, but rest-assured this is far removed from the free-running showboating of Titanfall, and more refined than the zigzagging of Advanced Warfare's Exo suits. The general feeling is enhanced, and better enabled rather than being lifted entirely out of the realms of reality. In short, Blops 3 is Treyarch on form, and our advice to you is quite literally to run with it.

Rocket League

GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer

Rocket League was a wonderful gift for PlayStation 4 players, at least those signed up for PS Plus, the subscription service that every month offers up a selection of free titles. It was a game that we were perhaps too harsh on when we lavished it with praise and gave it 8/10, because in fairness it probably deserved better, and our biggest concern (that it might have a lack of longterm appeal) has been proven a little wide of the mark. For a game that plays out on wheels, it sure has a lot of legs.

The premise is so simple, yet that simplicity feeds into its brilliance. Two teams of remote controlled cars line up against each other, and then proceed to ram a giant ball into one of two giant goals located at either end of a walled arena. It's basically destruction derby meets football, and it's as entertaining as that medley sounds.

It works great in local multiplayer too, but it's better online because you have the full screen to yourself, and dropping in and out of matches is largely effortless. Matches can take the form of intense one on one battles, or chaotic four on four ramming-fests that also happen to include a giant football and the occasional goal.

What makes it such an excellent multiplayer game is, that underneath the easygoing style, the have a laugh attitude, the endless customisation options, and the extensive post-launch support, when all that's peeled away, you're left with a game that's crying out for mastery. The controls are nuanced, there's room for player expression, and a well oiled team will be able to string together passages of elegant play. Don't be fooled by the simplistic exterior; Rocket League is high octane multiplayer fun of the highest calibre.

Halo 5: Guardians

GOTY 2015: Online Multiplayer

After the beta for Halo 5: Guardians during last year's holiday period, we were well and truly excited about what might be about to land in the finished product. We were expectant, but given we still had so much left to find out about what 343i were cooking, and following the debacle that was Halo: The Master Chief Collection, we weren't holding our breath for a masterpiece. Happily, a masterpiece is exactly what we got.

Gone were the overly convoluted loadouts that characterised Halo 4's online offering, and in was a newly rebalanced competitive multiplayer that delivered in every key area. Our only criticism; we'd have liked a few more maps, but then given that this content is coming to the game post-launch in the form of free DLC, it'd be miserly to complain too much about this.

The new-found balance felt fresh, but there was an air of familiarity to it too. Not since Halo 3 had the series enjoyed the kind of purity that it boasts now, with every player taking to the arena with an equal footing. Of course, when the action kicks off, not all Spartans are created equal, but any advantage carried into battle comes down to a mix of skill and experience; this is how Halo should be.

There's a decent selection of modes, and the new MOBA-inspired Warzones works particularly well, and even the introduction of microtransactions wasn't enough to derail our fun. Since launch Big Team Battle has returned to the fold, and there's even a Counter-Strike inspired flag capture mode that epitomises the new-look Halo: this is sporty, fun, fair.

Forget the Halo campaign, which we enjoyed, but was short throwaway fun in a way we've never really seen before from the series. Guardians is all about the multiplayer, and 343i has put the series back on the map. The studio has finally delivered a Halo game worthy of the franchise's illustrious history, and for our money it's the best multiplayer experience you'll find this year.



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