Multiplayer and M.A.P. Editor
The multiplayer side of Pariah opens up a whole new world of fun and having played it at a LAN on PC and on X-Box live, it’s a riot. You’ve got three multiplayer modes, all of which any online gamer will be familiar with. There’s Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Siege (like UT’s Assault). What’s lacking is a basic CTF mode which really is a glaring omission… That’s a basic MP mode and should have been in here. The modes we do have are fun to play and on well designed maps that cater for most playing styles. Siege maps have plenty of sniper nests while some of the DM maps offer real end to end play with big open spaces giving plenty of room for manoeuvre whilst loosing off grenade rounds like popcorn.
But what if you’re not happy with the maps you’re given? Traditionally you’d be pretty much stuffed unless you could be bothered to hack the code and then learn how to make a map using brushes and trips, triggers and textures… but not now.
One of Pariah’s biggest selling points is the dead easy map editor, or M.A.P. Editor, which stands for Make And Play… This superb bit of software lets you build maps up so easily that I guarantee you’ll have a working map within 15 minutes of loading the editor.
It really does do everything for you, from textures and blending textures where they change through to terrain levelling, spawn points, weapons caches…the lot. All you do is select a tile you want to place, pick where it’s got to go and then drop it down. There are some rules built in to stop you doing dumb things like putting a spawn point over a gaping chasm or having a ramp halfway up a 45 degree slope, but otherwise you can do pretty much what you want.
And the fun doesn’t stop there. Once you created your masterpiece you can share it one of three ways.. Either by downloading it to a memory card and taking it round your mate’s house or by hosting a multiplayer session and using your map, in which case everyone joining the game will automatically download it or by publishing it on X-Box Live for the whole world to have a go at. This is an important addition to Pariah as the homebrew community will support and play a game for a long time after release if they can fiddle with it and make their own maps. Already there’s loads of maps up for grabs and some are just dire whilst others are superb. Personally, I like my own maps as I can usually win on them… but that’s just me being the designer and cheating I guess.
Of course, if you’d rather not go online, Pariah offers up a two player split screen mode either for DM or co-op play… I suggest using a LARGE telly for this as it get really hard to see what’s going on otherwise. Two player co-op is loads of fun though and lets you and your pal try out tactics on the AI too.. There really should be more co-op modes for two players, even over the net… it’s just too much fun to keep missing out on.