The Friday letters page asks what games always remain on your hard drive, as one reader gives up on hearing the end of Shenmue.
To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Reasonable quality
I don’t think it’s unreasonable for FIFA 23 to not be some groundbreaking milestone for the series. I get wanting to go out on a high but there’s no way any sensible company is ever going to make major changes to the last entry in a series before it loses the licence. Especially not in a World Cup year when an empty box would sell just as well.
FIFA under EA has had its problems, and the microtransactions are always icky, but overall I’d say it was still a really good game. The legacy problem, like the turning circles, is something that should’ve been fixed before now but it’s not hard to imagine they’ll do that for EA Sports FC next year and use it to show how much better it is.
That’s not the most honest approach you could imagine but, let’s face it, companies, including EA, have done much worse before. Considering FIFA would sell no matter the quality I think they’ve done a generally good job over the years, and I don’t resent any of the time or money I’ve spent on it.
I have a lot of confidence that EA Sports FC will be even better, but I’ll still buy FIFA 23 and I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy it as much as ever.
Blue
Dead and loving it
So the Google graveyard is finally welcoming Stadia through its gates, eh? It won’t be missed but I do find it fascinating how little effort Google made with it, seeming to give up even before it was out. I think these giant multinationals always failing is because they just underestimate the games industry. They seem to think the hardware/service is the important bit and completely forget the game element.
You could tell Google was doomed the second it gave up making its own games and it was the same with Amazon and Luna (has anyone ever used that?!). Microsoft sort of understood, for a while, then got arrogant and shut down most of its studios, and they’re still busy making up for that mistake.
That’s what makes me think that Sony are not as doomed as some people think. They understanding gaming better than anyone but Nintendo, in my opinion, and for me the biggest danger they face right now is not Game Pass but forgetting everything they’ve learned over the last 30 years and go all in on live service games. Hopefully they’re more sensible than that though.
Tento
Real fans
I think Overwatch suffers from the same problems as Call Of Duty, where its fanbase seems to actively hate it but to anyone else it’s a perfectly good game. I can’t say I’m counting the days until the sequel but since it’s free I will certainly give it a go.
It seems like it is unusually generous and if people are going to be silly enough to spend all that money on cosmetic microtransactions, well that’s their business, it’s not affecting the way I play, and it is allowing the game to be free.
Some games just become fashionable to hate, I think, and I will be giving the new game my full attention and best effort. And if I don’t like it? Well, it’s not the end of the world, is it?
Poindexter
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Forgotten remake
I completely agree with the reader saying that GoldenEye 007 deserves a modern remake, but in nodding along I suddenly remember that it’s actually had one already. Sort of. It was more of a reimagining, in that there was no attempt to exactly replicate the original, but it completely lost all its charm.
Having Daniel Craig as Bond didn’t help, but it all came across as a bad photocopy of the classic original. I’d blame the developers but I think a lot of it was Activision and Eon interfering and thinking they know best.
That may be what’s stopping a modern remake from happening as I get the feeling Eon think the success of the original was due primarily to James Bond, rather than that just being a welcome bonus. I’m afraid the game is never going to get its due in the modern era and it’s a shame.
Casper
Universal interest
RE: Terra Invicta (PC). That is a game I have been watching with interest for some time now. It seems almost too good to be true, grand strategy on an almost unbelievable scale. I was only holding off with purchasing to see if the developers (who were responsible for the Long War mods on XCOM 2) can get all that working in a cohesive and enjoyable manner.
I know TommyFatfingers said they would not be writing in for a while due to being busy with the game, but all the same I would appreciate any updates or contributions from them, or any GCer, on this game.
r-s-w
What’s on yours?
Hard drive space is usually at a premium unless you want to pay for extra storage, which I don’t. But was wondering what games people have as permanent fixtures on their drives. I’m guessing for most it will be online games. Mine currently are Microsoft Flight Simulator and Rayman Legends, Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions.
Although not a proper game, Microsoft Flight Simulator is really breathtaking and although the game is over 100 gigs I can’t bring myself to remove it, as it’s a joy for short two hour sessions.
I’ve played the Rayman Legends challenges for about five years now, as they’re surprisingly nuanced with move sets and strats that take time to master. I used to play on PlayStation 3/4 (each have different challenges or spawns as they’re auto-generated) on my old account but with the purchase of an Xbox Series X switched over, as I can play the Xbox 360 version and Xbox One version on the same box.
The Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 servers were meant to shut down last month but have been given a stay of execution, but for how long I don’t know. I think it might be only a month and they’ll be shut down in a few days.
I wonder if we will get another mainline Rayman? I’m not aware of any mutterings or rumours of one though unless I’ve missed something.
Simundo (Shiremann – gamertag/PSN ID)
GC: Rayman is part of the DLC for Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope, which is the first time he’s been mentioned in years. So that’s somewhat encouraging.
Mildly realistic
I played the Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta and had a lot of fun with it, I don’t know what the ‘fans’ are complaining about. If there’s some technical problem I didn’t noticed well, but definition it doesn’t matter.
As for the complaint about it being to difficult t see people at a distance… I thought everyone wanted to be realistic? I mean, it’s not, but that bit is at least. It’s a fun arcade shooter with an illusion of realism and on those terms I thought it was really good.
Cuit
No winners
With more and more people thinking of turn to Xbox instead of the PlayStation 5, I think there’s no question that this generation is going to be a close run thing but in the end I’m not sure it’s really going to matter.
I don’t mean that in the philosophical sense but that every generation where the two main consoles have been good they’ve ended up selling pretty much the same. The PlayStation 2 only ended up selling so much because it had next to no competition from the GameCube and Xbox, and while it wasn’t quite as bad it was the same situation with the PlayStation 4.
But when it came to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 or Mega Drive and SNES, where each of the consoles were good quality and had no major failings, they end up selling about the same. I think both because there was no clear leader but also because many people ended up buying both.
The longer a generation goes on the more people are tempted to pick up the other console and I don’t imagine that will be any different this time. The PlayStation 5 might be most people’s first choice but as long as it’s a close second for Xbox it won’t make much difference in the end.
Gax
Inbox also-rans
What makes me laugh about Shenmue is how many times Yu Suzuki has missed an opportunity to finish the story. I get that he want it all to end in a big budget video game but I think we’ve got to accept that that isn’t happening anymore. Shenmue 3 was his chance and he fluffed it.
Korbie
Thanks for reminding me of the ‘swearing monkey’ Beyond Good And Evil 2 trailer. By which I mean no thanks. I really think that may be the worst trailer I’ve ever seen for anything. I have no idea what they were thinking, unless it was, ‘We want to put anyone off from ever looking forward to this game.’
Orca
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Jericho, who asks what do you want from a Switch 2?
Regardless of rumours, it’s inevitable that there will be a new Nintendo console in the next few years but what form do you want it to take, both physically and in terms of how powerful it is and how much it will cost.
Now that there are multiple portable consoles that look similar how do you think Nintendo should respond and what are the most important changes and improvements from the current Switch? Or would you want to see a new console that was completely different?
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