The Thursday Inbox hears from another convert to Xbox Game Pass, as one reader recommends the Kickstarter for GBA game Goodboy Galaxy.
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No more cat people
Although a lot of people are getting excited about Starfield I’m much more of a fantasy fan and am looking forward to its release for a different reason: so Bethesda can get it out of the way and concentrate on The Elder Scrolls 6.
I’m not sure if non-fans are aware but there has been much debate as to where the game will be set, because they’re usually always in a new area of the world that has been mentioned in a previous entry but never been the main setting. Obviously there’s only a finite number of these, and while they could make up a new continent or something, many think Bethesda have been giving out subtle clues via map images and even a bit of rust on the side of a Starfield spaceship control panel (seriously!).
For me though all the evidence points towards Hammerfell. It’s described as being very large, it’s home to the Redguards – which avoids the problem of fantasy games always being just about white people, and it means the game would end up being called The Elder Scrolls 6: Hammerfell. The fact that that name sounds cool is, I think, pretty much all Bethesda will need to know to make the decision.
The next best guess is Elsweyr, which is home to the cat people of Khajiit, which… yeah, no. I don’t want a whole game based around cat people, thanks. The fan art alone would be unbearable.
Vinny
Cheap and cheerful
I have to say I quite liked the design of the PlayStation 5 when it was first revealed about a year ago. I thought it was a brave new look for Sony’s new machine and, let’s face it, last generation’s offerings, as far as console designs where concerned, where quite frankly pretty mediocre at best, I liked the two tone black and white smooth edges and I thought it looked like nothing we’d seen before.
Over time that dwindled on me though and having seen one out in the wild, and taking other people’s word for it that it’s not very practical horizontally, I’m not so keen on it anymore.
For me though the real winner of the best looking current gen machine has to go to the Xbox Series S. Its smart looking clean cut edges, slightly understated but eye catching look was exactly the sort of thing I expected from Apple when all those rumours of them entering the console market about a decade ago where doing the rounds.
Taking into account it’s the cheapest current gen home console on the market (excluding the Switch Lite as that’s for handheld gaming purposes only), I have to say for me it’s probably the most expensive looking machine of the lot.
Not that any of that really matters of course, as nobody really spends a lot of time looking at the machine while they’re playing games on the big screen, but it’s nice not to have an eyesore next to your telly for no good reason.
freeway 77
GC: That’s pretty much exactly our position.
Everyone’s got one
I thought the previous Hot Topic was fantastic and very admirable for the GC team to invite criticism. It really reverberated just how subjective reviews can be, and why it’s silly to get so irate when you disagree with a score.
I wasn’t surprised to see Red Dead Redemption 2 mentioned, as my own views have fluctuated throughout my playthrough. I can completely understand why some think it’s massively overrated, while I can equally understand why some think it’s one of the best games ever made.
I think I land somewhere in the middle. I love the feel of the world Rockstar created and it is gorgeous. However, the gameplay mechanics are frustrating and just plain outdated. My biggest gripe is just how cinematic they went with it; to the point that I truly believe they should have made a film if that is the story they insist every player must go through.
I think it’s very easy to point to certain things that should, or could, have been done to improve Red Dead Redemption 2 and, to me, that means it doesn’t deserve the accolade of ‘best game ever’. That isn’t to say I don’t think it’s an amazing achievement and overall I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time playing it, that’s just my experience.
Matt
PS: I saw someone mentioned South Park on the N64 as a review they disagreed with, which brought memories flooding back. £50 saved up as a teenager wasted on that game, in a large part due to that 90% score in the Nintendo magazine. I learnt an important lesson that day.
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Old problem
Here’s a fun game that I’ve come up with. I don’t think it’s Hot Topic worthy, but let’s see how it goes. I may yet be the only person who plays! It’s always sad when, for whatever reason, a highly acclaimed game just isn’t cutting the mustard for you. At what point, and for which games, would it be fair to throw in the towel and go do something else?
For example, the big one: Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. If this game is just not doing anything for you personally, when is the right time to give up? You gave it a fair shake, but it just isn’t for you. Tough. I would say, getting to at least Dodongo’s Cavern (the second dungeon) and ideally beating the boss of said level.
Now, if you really hate something, you can give up within seconds but I would say if you can get to at least the first few chambers of the cavern and didn’t like what you played, or maybe just didn’t fall in love with it, it’s probably best you put the game back on the shelf. While there is better stuff to come, if you haven’t been bowled over by that point – you won’t be.
Does that make sense? What other examples have the rest of you got?
DMR
GC: That’s not a very contemporary example.
Does not compute
So then, there is a date for Jurassic World Evolution 2 and I’m pre-ordering it next week. I’ve given up on Call Of Duty, all you do is spend your time shouting at the screen and if I’m honest you do the same thing over and over again and it’s got boring. Hopefully next year’s Call Of Duty will be Modern Warfare 2 (I love modern day Call Of Duties) and that might get my eyes lighting up for it again.
Battlefield is too much like Black Ops 3, it’s set in the future, everyone will be saying how fantastic it is till a few months later and then it will be ‘I’m bored of it’, so, yep, I’m getting Jurassic World Evolution 2. I can’t wait for it to come out, will keep me busy over the winter months till hopefully the PlayStation 4/5 exclusives come out.
David
GC: You’re fed up of the same thing again and again and yet hope that the next game is a sequel to a reboot?
No competition
Game Pass will kill the second-hand games market. There, I’ve said it! I expect a Sony equivalent in the future to rival it and possibly Nintendo will have to follow suit too.
I’ve had an Xbox Series X since the start of February and have only just signed up for Game Pass Ultimate. Game Pass sounded like a good deal from the moment I owned the new console, but I’m in my 40s and have my head stuck in the sand a little not wanting to change my ways, always wanting to buy the physical copies of games. Times are changing fast in the computer games industry and I’ve had to give in and move with the times.
I signed up for it the day that Psychonauts 2 was released, which instantly saved me £50 on that game. Forza Horizon 5 is a definite buy for me, so just the cost of those two games is almost the price of Game Pass Ultimate for a full 12 month subscription. Throw in the fact that I joined and got a month at £1 and three months subscription free then it’s a total no-brainer financially.
So far I’ve downloaded about 20 games and I’m not saying they’re all great. I soon got bored of Maneater and Steep. The Unravel games are interesting enough to chill out to on a night before bed. I haven’t played an iteration of FIFA since 2009 and am currently enjoying FIFA 21 on the service and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is something I wouldn’t have taken a risk on, but it’s something I really like to play after giving it a go.
There’s so much choice I felt like a kid in a sweet shop, downloading as much as I could only to realise I can only play one thing at a time. When you first sign up and see all the available games it’s mind boggling that they’re all available to you.
I don’t like buying digital copies of games but I’ve had to concede and Microsoft have won me over. I hate the fact I’ve had to change my ways, I really hate it! But I’ve had to move on with the times.
I’m sure I’ll still purchase the games I really love physically but it’s going to be few and far between now.
The high street game stores are going to have to rethink their business strategies because when these subscription services really take off they won’t be able to compete anymore.
Nick The Greek
Advance retro
Just backed a game on Kickstarter called Goodboy Galaxy which is a platformer designed within the restrictions of a Game Boy Advance. It is being physically released on Game Boy Advance(!) and Switch, I was going to write into say all the physical copies had sold out before I could buy a physical copy, but now they have got more available (unlimited) for Game Boy Advance and Switch, so I have got a digital versions for Game Boy Advance and PC as well, and a physical copy for Game Boy Advance.
It is also available digitally for the Switch version. It has already past its original £18,000 goal by some way.
Andrew J.
PS: The excellent Yoku’s Island Express is free on PC on Epic Games Store from 4pm on Thursday 2nd September. I enjoyed it when it first came out on the PlayStation 4, I recommend it.
Breath of Redemption
I think the argument that nobody else can do games like Rockstar becomes problematic as soon as you bring Zelda: Breath Of The Wild into the equation. Take away the graphics, and Breath Of The Wild is a much more complex and ambitious game than Red Dead Redemption 2 or Grand Theft Auto 5 (at least their single-player modes).
It remains unmatched in its interweaving physics and logic systems, mechanics and abilities, placement of landmarks and locations, puzzles, its appeal to experimentation and play, essentially its variety of fresh and worthwhile content.
Rockstar Games do have built-up areas, more characters (or rather character models) and properly done stories but a huge proportion of the setting is superficial dressing that results in some mind-blowing scenery, repeated gameplay, loads of cut scene/dialogue triggers, and that’s about it.
Even their most recent behemoths, as impressive as they are, are basically refinements of what they started in the early 2000s. Breath Of The Wild was Nintendo’s first attempt at a modern open world and I’ve seen no evidence that Rockstar could make something that has that much consideration given to complex design.
I appreciate Rockstar values the appeal to authenticity and realism, and Zelda doesn’t need to be constrained in that way. But possibly one of the reasons so many call Red Dead Redemption 2 overrated is because it often feels like Zelda has ruined other open world games.
Panda
Inbox also-rans
I didn’t realise the Xbox Series X/S is starting to do okay in Japan, although I suppose it’s not really. It’s just that the PlayStation 5 is doing terrible. Sony really have lost the plot in their homeland.
Caspian
I’ve got to say the amount of effort being put into the Dead Space remake is pretty impressive. But it’s almost too much at this point, to where I’d rather they’d just made another sequel. With Resident Evil you’ve got the classic level design and characters and apart from the anti-gravity bit and shooting asteroids – which could easily be included in a new game – I’m not sure Dead Space is really that iconic.
Leftio
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Ishi, who asks how much do you actually play video games at the moment?
Ignoring time spent reading about them, or watching other people play, how much time do you spend playing games yourself, on the average week? Do you have a set routine or period of the day you set aside for games or does it depend on whether something new has come out?
How regularly do you play and does it vary according to the time of year or other outside factor? How much has the amount of time you play varied over the years, as you’ve got older?
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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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