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Best horde modes?

R

RedSwirl

Junior Member
I think I'm finally about to let my Live Gold subscription lapse this month. After the Apple TV got HBO Go the last reason I had to pay for it was Gears 3 horde mode. It'd be cool if I could find the best replacement (PS3 or PC is fine, preferably PC). I also haven't really seen a thread try to talk about what the best horde modes are.

I haven't played very many other ones. I just tried TF2's Mann vs Machine mode and I'm actually surprised how good a job Valve did designing a fundamentally different mode for the game. I like the money and escalation system and how each class has filled in a role in the mode (I've been playing scout).

Spec Ops Survival actually became my favorite mode in Modern Warfare 3, and the only thing that'll get me even slightly interested in Ghosts is its return. Yeah it's infinite, but without all the human competition and killstreaks to get in your way, the mode shows how tight MW's controls and basic mechanics are. Though if it does return I hope IW makes it four players instead of two.

I haven't played much of Left 4 Dead's survival mode in recent years but early on I had a lot of fun with it. I got back into it after installing the Helms Deep map, which actually makes survival mode winnable instead of infinite. Still hard as hell though.

I also have Dungeon Defenders installed on my computer but still haven't touched the game.
 
Mass Effect 3 multiplayer is probably the best horde mode. There's just so many different playstyles, character configurations, and diverse weapons sets. It's just so fun and rewarding to play.
 
I loved horde mode in gears of war 2. Had loads of fun playing it with friends

*edit* pc? whaaaa?
 
Defect said:
Halo 3 ODST Firefight.


Edit: Just read you want pc.
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Ditto

Anyway, Mass effect 3 would be my pick. I've sunk so many hours into it. Crazy amount of weapons and characters, good number of maps, the enemies can feel a little repetitive at times, but you can always just switch up factions, it can be a bit slow to start with the unlock system, but one you have your eyes on a specific character or weapon, it's suddenly its 3 am.
 
I wish Hard Reset had multiplayer. It has an excellent survival/horde mode, but no multiplayer to speak of sadly. :(
 
Sophia said:
I wish Hard Reset had multiplayer. It has an excellent survival/horde mode, but no multiplayer to speak of sadly. :(
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Hard Reset

iEoZCAaCJvove.gif
 
Mass Effect 3
Killing Floor

Forget the rest, these are some of the best I've played hands down and they actually have a finite number of waves. Both also offer a ton of depth that most others do not with different classes, weapons, character progression, etc.
 
You want a copy of Warhammer 40: Dawn of War 2 - Retribution. Last Stand is one of the most fun horde modes i have played and you level up and get gear in it. There is even a standalone version of Last Stand for $10.

Highely recommended.
 
Replicant said:
I...I kind of like Mass Effect 3.

*bows head in shame*
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Nothing wrong with the multiplayer component of the game. For such an initially reviled feature, it wound up being a huge saving grace for a lot of disgruntled ME fans. I was looking forward to it pretty much since it was announced. Aside from netcode issues and a kinda clunky feel it's a ton of fun and really well thought out.
 
I sort of had fun with the horde modes at first but I've come to a point where I look at them more or less like an excuse to make the player grind X amount of enemies to get XP/achievements or whatever. It is so cheap to create an arena from 90% old assets, or even reuse a regular map, and then spawn a bunch of monstersand tell the player to survive. It is extremely cost-effective compared to actually creating a truly new game mode.

Developers really need to switch things up, make it totally different gameplay-wise. In Halo or Gears you are a human who kills endless amounts of monsters/aliens in the entire game and then they have a specific mode where you specifically kill endless amounts of enemies. I think the opposite is far more interesting and the Beast mode in Gears 3 was a nice taste of what could be. In Halo for example you could be the flood or a jackal or another creature you haven't really explored before.
 
Mass Effect 3 was great IMO. I put a lot of time into that. It pretty much redeemed that game for me lol
 
John Caboose said:
I sort of had fun with the horde modes at first but I've come to a point where I look at them more or less like an excuse to make the player grind X amount of enemies to get XP/achievements or whatever. It is so cheap to create an arena from 90% old assets, or even reuse a regular map, and then spawn a bunch of monstersand tell the player to survive. It is extremely cost-effective compared to actually creating a truly new game mode.
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Survival/horde modes are actually among my favorite gametype, so I'm glad they're easy to make. For a lot of these games, they are the ideal mode for players to improve reaction times when online isn't an option. They're also really great for instinctive reactions. Things that you need to be second nature.

I can't honestly think of too many that require the player to grind enemies for achievements. My favorites are usually on the act of survival itself (Blazblue's Abyss mode, Hard Reset's survival mode, Spec Ops Survival, Left 4 Dead's survival) and not about farming or grinding stuff.
 
Gears 2's was a pure focus on survival, no complex sub-systems, no tacked-on gimmicks, just survival. Very arcadey. I loved it.
 
Swifty said:
Mass Effect 3 multiplayer is probably the best horde mode. There's just so many different playstyles, character configurations, and diverse weapons sets. It's just so fun and rewarding to play.
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Absolutely. I would give my vote for ME3's online too.
I always played the ME games for the story and so I wasnt expecting much out of the online portion, but then I fell in love with it and ended up investing hundreds of hours into it.
Gears 3 had a solid Horde mode but it took too long to get started (the first 15 or so waves were easy and time consuming) and lacked the weapon variety of ME3.
 
Mass Effect 3 is great. Lot of combos and options, and was well supported from the launch. The entire MP setup is all co-op horde up to 4 players.
 
Tokubetsu said:
Saddest part about Killing Floor is if It was using a newer engine I'm sure it'd be more popular.
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It's still fairly popular, one of the most played Steam games. But I do wish it had more public eye. Killing Floor has so many fun but well balanced weapons, interesting enemies, the 6-player co-op is a blast (or in modded servers, even 100+ people and a ridiculous amount of enemies), and my two favorite parts, some of the most satisfying gameplay and well designed horde stages, and there's a lot of them.

And great mod support. The Aliens mod with the custom Xenomorph enemies and face huggers and guns and stages based in the films, or the vehicle mod, or the fan made stages like the Resident Evil 1 mansion or almost every map from Doom 1...

And the developers are still supporting, adding new guns and maps several times a year.
 
Mozendo said:
Killing Floor!
Click to expand...

Came in to post this. The game is so good. The gameplay is top tier and I don't know whether it's because of the community or because of the way the game is designed, but people tend to work together naturally even when playing with randoms. I played entire games where no one said a word but everyone knew what they had to do and helped each other out.

On higher difficulties teamwork and good team communication is even more essential. Having strategies to deal with larger enemies is really important, as is having a range of different perks in your team. Each perk feels really different from the others, and they are all useful.

The game also has a good community. I live in New Zealand (which is pretty small and isolated country) and always have at least ten servers with a ping <100ms that I can choose from.
 
Replicant said:
I...I kind of like Mass Effect 3.

*bows head in shame*
Click to expand...

Why is that shameful? Its a fantastic multiplayer game which has had amazing support from Bioware. The only criticism i have is i wish the UR drop rates were higher.

Dont let sheep on this forum who havent even experienced the game properly sway your opinion. The game is great. I put about 60 hours into single player and over 400 into the multiplayer.
 
I still prefer the simplicity of The Mercenaries in RE 4 to the later versions. It's an absurd disgrace that the HD versions don't have online leader boards for it.
 
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