The Friday letters page doesn’t think any survival horror game can be a major hit, as another reader feels apathetic about Spider-Man 2.
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Expected revelation
So, no surprise that the rumours about Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 were true. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a leak for that or Fortnite that didn’t pan out to be true, I guess because most of it is datamined. Based on what Activision said, it’s so obvious this ‘game’ is just DLC sold at full price and that is outrageous.
I’m sure the campaign is probably pretty good, because that’s all it was originally, but what about the rest of it? Zombies mode just sounds like the same old thing with a big new map, while multiplayer is almost nothing new at all – just remakes of a bunch of Modern Warfare 2 maps.
It’s so easy to imagine how all this came about, as Activision ordered it turned into a full game and the poor developer had to work out what they could do in time, which I guess was just remakes and a promise of proper new maps sometime next year.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s a complete rip-off and I think I’ll lose faith in humanity if it doesn’t at least end up selling considerably less than the last game. I certainly won’t buy it, I’ll just read the plot summary on Wikipedia afterwards.
JoeJoe
The definition of insanity
Good to see that Remedy have seen sense and have delayed Alan Wake 2, although I’m still not convinced either it or Alone In the Dark are going to sell all that well. I’ll be getting both, day one, because I love the genre but I don’t think there’s nearly enough ordinary people that do, to make either of them a hit let alone both at the same time.
Time and time again we see that survival horror doesn’t sell. Resident Evil is the only exception, but it still doesn’t do that well, compared to a really big hit, and it’s half action anyway.
A survival horror game is going to have to do something very different to be a major success, because we’ve seen a hundred times before that the usual style just doesn’t cut it with the mainstream. I wish that weren’t the case but it is.
The Bishop
One too many
RE: Frankly. Frankly (you see what I did there?) I can’t share your optimism for Spider-Man 2.
I loved Miles Morales, but the prospect of another open world full of the same old filled me with no joy, and there’s been nothing really to suggest it’s anything but more of same.
Maybe for some that’s enough, and I’m not one who can say Zelda is better or Starfield will be better, as I’ll probably never play either of those games, but I just am unable to get even remotely excited about another Spider-Man game.
It’s a similar feeling I had by the time I got to Uncharted 4.
Kiran
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Time well spent
Video games that are time sponges in the class A category: Advance Wars. I was up until 5.30am last night, defeating the boss on the final level of challenge mode. A five hour brutally tough campaign that eventually I won. Utterly engrossing turn-based strategy, so finely balanced and endlessly entertaining that it borders on genius. Scrub that, it is genius.
All wrapped up in a charming but, given it’s about blowing stuff up on battlefields, endearingly perverse aesthetic. The commanding officers chuckle and guffaw whenever a unit is destroyed, frown and curse when enemies take them down. It’s hilarious! Fantastic soundtrack too. A timeless, dangerously addictive, cast-iron 10 out of 10. The best video game ever made? It’s certainly in my all-time top five.
Ciara
No objection
So Starfield, if you commit a crime you go straight to jail, like previous Bethesda titles. How about some sort of court system mini-game? Would make levelling up speech a lot more rewarding. It could be real fun.
Surely would be quite easy to program and make a few art assets for, and the writing team could go to town. If successful maybe Elder Scrolls 6 could allow calling witnesses.
Although on reflection, this is beginning to sound more like an AI powered mod.
Tundra_Boosh
GC: We think you’re grossly underestimating how complicated and difficult game development is. Although we’d definitely be up for Capcom doing some special Ace Attorney crossover DLC.
Mea culpa
As one of your loyal band of commenters here in the Inbox I wanted to bring to your attention the worrying trend of overzealous and indiscriminate deleting of messages in the comments section. You have a small but dedicated following of gamers who I have always enjoyed engaging with in what is one of the least toxic message boards on the gaming internet.
Unfortunately, trolls have figured out that any comment they report is automatically deleted by what is presumably an automatic moderation tool and not a human actually investigating the comment. Myself and countless others have had harmless messages regularly removed for no reason and this has no doubt contributed to the lower number of messages I see being posted each day and the loss of many familiar community members.
I really hope this issue can be fixed otherwise myself and others will simply drift away and stop engaging altogether which would be a real shame.
Ooccoo
GC: We’ve spoken to the relevant people and they’ve admitted there is a problem with ‘over-zealous moderation of reported comments’, so hopefully you’ll see some changes soon.
Glass half full
I hadn’t really thought about how little has been said or shown about Starfield until now. I guess because the bit during the Xbox Games Showcase was so long, but there hasn’t really been anything other than that. I hope that doesn’t mean Bethesda are holding things back for a reason.
I know all the fears about bugs and bad action but from what they have said it seems to be me they acknowledge these are dangers and I’m optimistic it’s not going to be a problem.
I really don’t know what to expect from the reviews though. Knowing Bethesda there’s no way there aren’t going to be any problems, so I don’t see it doing quite as well as Zelda or Baldur’s Gate 3 but I still think it’s going to be top five of the year, hopefully top three. If nothing else it should be the best non-sequel!
Olliephant
Products of their time
After Final Fantasy 16 and Diofield Chronicles I turned to Mass Effect Legendary Edition to get my role-playing fix, I know that graphics are improved in the modern era, etc. but I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that three great AAA games were released in five years, and now we are lucky if we get a new game in a series every five years, will we ever get a more condensed release schedule or is that era over?
Anyway I digress, Mass Effect one was good, a great introduction to the series but you can tell it’s hampered by its time (recycled maps on each planet), not great graphics, etc.
Mass Effect 2, though, blows me away every time I play it, only 10 hours in and it still holds its place, in my opinion, as one of the greatest of all time. Game starts and your ship is blown up, you then get revived by the bad guys from Mass Effect 1, all for the greater good, just a rollercoaster and masterpiece in storytelling.
Lots of the dialogue can be quite anti-alien, which makes sense, in the game setting humanity has only known aliens a few years and most of that was spent shooting at them, but I’m pretty sure a lot of the dialogue wouldn’t get made today. Not sure if that’s a bad thing either, but just a sign of times changing.
In short:
1) Some great games used to be produced on a much quicker time frame and not sure that will ever come back due to graphics and budget required.
2) Mass Effect series is incredible to play it if you haven’t already.
3) Games that in my head are only a few years old are actually not (15 years since the series started!) and that is reflected in the dialogue/morality options.
Michael, Crawley
GC: Games just take too long to make nowadays. The only way to make them quicker would be to ensure the graphics are purposefully less advanced, as is the case with many indie titles.
Inbox also-rans
Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom must have DLC coming as you can’t get higher than a sliver monster part. Gold must be coming on the horizon.
Nick the Greek
GC: Gold monsters were in Master Mode from Breath Of The Wild’s DLC, but they weren’t added to the standard game.
Hang on, it’s been 18 years since the Xbox 360? Oh boy do I feel old now…
Surtur
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Johno, who asks what new gaming hardware are you playing to buy in the future?
Christmas will be here soon enough and with rumours of the Switch 2, the PS5 Slim, the PS5 Pro, and Sony’s Project Q are you starting to save up for new hardware? If you haven’t entered the current generation yet are you planning to get a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S this year? And if not, why not?
How much are your spending plans affected by the ongoing cost of living crisis and have you had to abandon plans to buy new hardware (including controllers, VR headsets, and PC components) this year or in the future?
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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
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