We’ve enjoyed a phenomenal line-up of multiplayer games in the last few months…but what about games that weren’t born yesterday? We dug into our rack of semi-recent games to see if anyone is still kickin’ it on the titles that were promoted and praised for their online potential. At random times of day over the course of a week, we checked to see if the older communities were blossoming or booming. The results surprised even us.

Ace Combat 6

Co-op and competitive multiplayer modes brought out our inner Maverick when the game was released — and we even dropped $100 on the custom Hori stick, in our need for speed — but we eventually moved on. Japanese gamers, however, persist on tearing up the skies. On Wednesday and Thursday morning, the same handful of Japanese Gamertags hosted Team Battles on the Player servers, all of which were nearly full. Ranked matches were barren all week, but Friday morning, eight gamers from the far East suddenly showed up to play on those servers. However, everyone disappeared after the Team Battle ended and we were left alone online.

With Japan sleeping on a North American Saturday night, only three people wanted to play Co-op games, but the crowd once again dissolved upon conclusion. Worse, the following night, it was suddenly a No-Fly Zone.

VITAL STATUS: Barely Breathing

Free planes and multiplayer maps barely convince more than a handful of hardcore Japanese players to keep up their Iceman antics.

Shadowrun

Shadowrun released to lukewarm critical reception shortly before its developer and community forums were closed. But there’s still an incentive to play this inventive FPS: you can crush those pompous PC players on Games for Windows Live.

On Tuesday morning, we were able to play multiple matches without anyone quitting! No one played on a PC, but there was no sign of slowing down after 90 minutes of killin’. Wednesday morning returned similarly surprising results. By Friday night, at least 15 games were going on — all of which were full when we poked our nosey noses in. We could probably have played all night. Sunday night dipped a bit, but the two matches we found were both packed full of 16 human players. Even on a Monday morning, nine games were open, and the three different ones we joined had no less than 12 players in each.

VITAL STATUS: Still Alive

Shadowrun fights and succeeds despite what you might have assumed. FASA alumni should be proud of their legacy.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Considering that Niko Bellic’s multiplayer options are so vast, we were looking forward to crushing total strangers with cars in myriad ways. Wednesday night brought just one Deathmatch session with a dozen of us onboard, while the rest of the modes (Race, Mafiya Work, and so on) bore no target-practice fruit. Friday morning, the power had shifted to GTA Race, with 10 in attendance, and Deathmatch showed just two gamers…until later in the day, when everybody returned to DM. What about all those creative multiplayer modes like Cops ’n’ Crooks and Hangman’s Noose? They certainly weren’t being played Saturday night — it was Deathmatch or no match at all. And by Monday night, we spotted just one awkward loner “riding with his top down,” but he was unable to find anyone in the DM lobby other than us. We exchanged awkward regrets and parted ways.

VITAL STATUS: Flatlined

With only a fistful of gamers playing one of the huge list of modes, it’s a sad truth: Grand Theft Auto IV sleeps with the fishes.

Unreal Tournament 3

With a strong PC following and a heavy multiplayer emphasis, Epic’s lightning-quick FPS series is an insanely popular tournament option. But if you didn’t have the twitch-talent months ago, you surely don’t have it now. Can anyone teach you the ways of speed-killing this long after launch?

On Tuesday morning, the Ranked servers were deserted, but on the Player side, eight people populated a lone Deathmatch while 10 people were playing Capture the Flag. A slow start, but it picked up the next night, with 20 players thinned out across five Deathmatch and CTF games. These hardcore few could be playing together! Why weren’t they? Friday night showed even more signs of life, with 35 people prepping for their weekend with some DM and Team DMs — and it was as if they never left when we checked in the next morning. But by Sunday evening, the five human beings populating the server space were all in their own individual games.

VITAL STATUS: Barely Breathing

Considering this big franchise’s multiplayer focus, these are not impressive numbers. Unreal Tournament III needs injections of DLC and togetherness, stat!

Stranglehold

This slow-mo shooter is full of flair and style, but the multiplayer was lackluster at launch — how would it fare a year later? It’s worth noting that there are more than 6 billion people on this planet. Not one of them was playing Stranglehold on Tuesday night. Or Wednesday morning, or Friday night, or the night after that. Nobody even woke up to pray at the altar of Tequila at 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning. We literally never found an opponent.

VITAL STATUS: Flatlined

Xbox Live has spoken: Everyone hates John Woo. And doves.

Frontlines: Fuel of War

With 50 potential players per round, Frontlines had its own big shoes to fill. And we were pleasantly surprised to find that it wore them well! Thursday night offered no Ranked matches, but 200 real live human beings were on the Player servers. The number dipped to “just” 100 the next morning, but filled up again Friday night. Even Saturday morning showed 100 soldiers swapping hot lead. And who plays a shooter during dinner hours on Monday nights? Um, 250 people, that’s who. Oh, we do, too.

VITAL STATUS: Still Alive

While this game wasn’t as high-profi le as some other 360 shooters, Frontlines clearly has plenty of fuel left in its tanks of war.

Quake Wars

The number of people online a mere two weeks after Enemy Territory: Quake Wars’ launch was depressingly low, so we worried how the 16-player shooter would fare six months later. On Thursday night, we found five guys who favored chatter over death lasers — all talk, no action. The next morning, two chaps occupied a pathetically dull territory-capturing match. They both quit before we could. Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Monday morning were all barren.

VITAL STATUS: Flatlined

It’s shameful that Quake II has a higher pulse than its current-gen sequel. Hello? This one has giant robots, people! Sigh.

The Club

The Club is a little like Fight Club with pistols and shotguns — humans, the most dangerous game! — which is a sure-fire selling point for fans of awesome. You’re a fan of awesome, aren’t you? Apparently not, since no one wanted to hunt their fellow man on Monday morning. We gave them a few days to get hungry, but after checking in every day from Thursday through Sunday, we found only one Player Match on one day. The servers were barren all other times, morning and night.

VITAL STATUS: Flatlined

The Club was hunted and murdered for 50 points. We don’t know who did it, because when they left multiplayer, they left it forever.