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The best multiplayer games on Apple TV (2015)

Friend zone

The best multiplayer games on Apple TV (2015)
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If there's one major advantage to gaming on the big screen, it's gaming with friends.

From Pong to Super Mario Kart to Halo, the television has made gaming communal (and cooperative and competitive), and that trend extends to the Apple TV.

Here's a bunch of great games that you can play in multiplayer, with information on the exact number of players - and types of controllers - they support.

Badland
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This puzzle-filled trip through a forest can be a gloomy, morbid affair. Best to take a friend or two, with the game's three player co-op mode, then. All three can choose between remotes and MFi controllers.

There's also a versus mode if that's more your speed.

Asphalt 8: Airborne
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True to its name, this barmy arcade driving game supports eight players online, in real-time races. Sadly, with no easy way to play with a pal, you'll likely be racing against randoms and bots.

Luckily, the game is lots of fun with huge jumps, Burnout-style carnage, and ridiculous nitro boosts. And it's much more fun to smash a car when you know a real player is in the driving seat.

Crossy Road
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Crossy Road's big new feature for the Apple TV edition is multiplayer. And it couldn't be easier to set up. Just grab an iOS device, load up Crossy Road, and pick the controller button from the options menu.

Bam. Now you and a friend can cross the road, avoid cars, and get splattered by trains together. You might get further than usual, now you effectively have a second chance upon death.

Geometry Wars 3
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This shape-shooting twin stick blaster has a very generous multiplayer mode. Four players can work together, using either remotes or MFi controllers, as you take on legions of triangles, pinwheels, and other nasty shapes.

Beat Sports
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The multiplayer mode in Beat Sports is notable for being nothing like the other modes in the game. It's actually quite a tactical affair, though with the usual rhythm-driven beat-matching gameplay.

Four players can get in on the action, with everyone except player one using iOS devices, and a free Beat Sports remote app, to control the game.

Phoenix HD
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This feisty bullet hell shooter is madcap enough with just one spaceship letting loose a shower of rockets. Wait until you see how it looks when you and a friend are taking on the alien menace in co-op.

Your pal will need an MFi controller to play. Then just connect up on the main menu to play in tandem.

Pico Rally
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It's the game we described as being a digital Scalextric track. Little cars bomb around a raceway, with you controlling the throttle and brakes - but not the steering.

Sounds simple, but that's what makes it so accessible. All you have to do is press down with your thumb - either on the Apple TV remote, or on an iOS device. Four people can race at the same time.

Cueist
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When I realised that Cueist - a gorgeous Metal-powered snooker game for Apple TV with slightly iffy controls - only had take-it-in-turns multiplayer, and not real-time head to head, I was disappointed.

Then I remembered that snooker is, of course, played in turns and that two players trying to out-snook each other on the same table at the same time would be ridiculous mayhem.

Then I realised that I desperately wanted THAT game, and now I'm disappointed again.

Lumo's Cat
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On iOS, the barmy tower defence game Lumo's Cat, which is about protecting a snoozing kitty from an army of mice, is a strictly solo affair. Two players can team on up on Apple TV, though - one with the remote, another with an iOS device.

Spaceteam
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Spaceteam is one of the best multiplayer games ever made. It's an utterly absurd and raucously fun game about trying to fly an out-of-control spaceship.

Every player gets a bunch of weird buttons, and is then bombarded with commands like "set finite plexus to 3". If you don't have a finite plexus on your control panel then you better find the friend who does, fast, and shout in their stupid face.

The Apple TV version can be another player, with others using their iOS devices. Or an observer.

Impulse GP
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A fun, fast-paced racer with a clever gimmick. To use speed boosts, which are painted on the ground in green, you must tap and hold a button while on the boost pad. You must let go with stellar timing to get the full speed increase.

Things get more fun as you add three extra players, using remotes and controllers. Just a shame that the two player mode has so much wasted space.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer