The morning Inbox examines the cinematic influences in Hitman 2, as one reader laments GamesMasters last appearance on shop shelves.
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Extreme sales
With Black Friday lasting more than a week now I have got to wonder whether the games that are coming out after its (finally) over did so on purpose so they wouldnt be caught up in it all? The whole thing has got so extreme I was reminding of the argument recently over whether games should be half the price just to end up selling more overall.
It certainly seems like this would work based on Black Friday. But how long would it be before £30 became the norm and started seeming expensive again? Not long I expect, even though games offer 10 times more hours of entertainment of anything else with an even comparable price.
At the end of the day Im still going to take advantage of these deals but the message its sending out is really weird. Are these games really worth £60 or not? And what about all the people that pre-ordered games like Hitman 2 and Fallout 76? I wonder what theyre feeling right now? That they shouldve probably waited I expect.
Dougal
Weekend delivery
I wonder exactly how many people bought a new PlayStation VR during Black Friday? It had to be one of the best deals and I imagine a lot of people, like me, were actively waiting for it and have been for months. Id been wanting to get one since the beginning of the year, as the good game reviews kept rolling in, but once I realised it was a dead cert for Black Friday I held back and saved up some extra money for more games.
Im now awaiting the arrival of the postie (or whatever exactly you call the Amazon guy) with baited breath and assuming itll be here by the weekend I intend to spend the entire time blanking out all of material reality. Well, not really but I am going to put it through its paces and hopefully start to get my VR legs.
Cameo
Thunderbirds are go
Not seen much speculation on what the DLC for Red Dead Redemption II might be, if it gets any. Id assume theyd go with something supernatural again, after the zombies of the first game, but theres already some werewolf stuff in the game (allegedly, Im still not sure if its a fake because Ive never seen it) so I wonder whether theyre going for the whole skin-walker Bative American myth?
Seems like an obvious way to go, more obvious than zombies ever were, so Id be all for it. Some thunderbirds would be good too. Im sure theres a lot more mythology I dont know about too (is wendigo a Native American thing too?) so Id just throw it all in there and have a bit variety.
As good as Undead Nightmares was it was a blatant rip-off of Left 4 Dead when it came to the enemies and Id like to see the follow-up be more of its own thing.
Booker
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Virtual social media
I recently purchased Persona 5 (my first Persona) and I have to say I really love the world, characters and story. I expected it to be hugely story driven… But is it going to hold my hand through the whole game? The constant interruptions and being forced to go to sleep, even having the option to stay awake is meaningless when I cant do anything but chill in my room.
I left a palace to go and make some lockpicks but had to waste a day just to do so because Ryuji wanted to train.
Every time a school ends Im bombarded with texts. It feels like Im being force fed stuff I dont want to do at that moment.
I just want to know where I should hold my expectations, should I treat this as a 100+ hour anime with the occasional input and not worry too much about the extremely limited time I can do stuff and the relationships I need to build, or will I get more time later on?
Anon
GC: You do always have to ration your time, but the game becomes less on-the-rails as it goes on. Persona 4s pacing was much the same.
VR moment
Great to see so many happy gamers hoovering up the genuine Black Friday deals. I managed to pick up a PlayStation VR for £169.99 with Astro Bot and have to say its blown my mind! I knew about the technical limitations of the PlayStation VR but with a game of this quality its easy to look past that. Looking forward to trying Everest VR with Mrs Shelmet this evening. Hopefully itll convince her of the purchase!
VR has provided that defining moment of my gaming life that Ive been waiting for since GTA V. Superb.
Derks Shelmet
Ghostly memory
Over the weekend I played the first two levels of Hitman 2 and Ive enjoyed the game so far. The opening level reminded me of the house in the Roman Polanski film The Ghost.
I can only guess where developers get their ideas but I think its reasonable to assume that they draw some inspiration from the movies.
The Miami level was a major step up from the opening. Firstly, the idea of an assassination at a motorsport event is a brilliant concept, but the sheer size and intricacy of the Miami level amazed me and it could become the new Sapienza.
The characters seem to have location specific accents this time which is another plus.
The only aspect of Hitman 2 I dont care for is the story, which is confusing and superfluous. It appears that the developers couldnt afford proper cut scenes this time which leads me to think, why even bother with an encompassing narrative at all?
Hitman: Blood Money mocked up a newspaper story that described your exploits after each mission and I always enjoyed reading those. Surely the only narrative that matters in a game is the one created by the actions of the player?
Anyway, I like Hitman 2 and Im looking forward to seeing its other locations.
msv858 (Twitter)
Funny ending
Just finished playing Danganronpa V3, and I have to confess I burst out laughing partway through the final class trial. My take on it was that Spike Chunsoft are done with the series, that enough is enough, and that theres not much more they can say.
I certainly cant say I was expecting the direction things went in – I even felt disappointed at first – but ultimately, if you want your fix of fictional murder detective work, theres a huge wealth of material out there, so I cant say I feel personally offended by how things turned out.
On another note, listening to Clair de Lune will always have that tinge of sadness to it.
super_slackster(NN ID)/Jonobabes13 (Steam ID)
Currently playing: Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PC), Magic The Gathering: Arena (PC), Pokémon GO (Android)
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Impossible dream
I got to thinking about classic mini consoles the other day, and it struck me that the one machine I want to see more than any other get the mini treatment is the Commodore Amiga. I realise it wasnt popular over in America, but its something I deeply regret not having back in the day and I would love an easy, legitimate means of playing Amiga games once again.
To that end, I compiled a list of the games Id most want to see on such a thing. I realise a number of these fall into the not a bloomin chance category due to licenses and whatnot, but let me just pretend those issues wouldnt exist for the time-being:
Alien Breed 1, 2, Tower Assault, and 3D
Aphidya
Benefactor
Blood Money
Cannon Fodder
D/Generation
Dune I and II
Elite
Flashback
Gods
Hired Guns
It Came From The Desert
Jimmy Whites Whirlwind Snooker
Leander
Lemmings 1 and 2
Lotus Turbo Challenge 1, 2, and 3
Moonstone
Pinball Dreams, Fantasies, and Illusions
Populous I and II
Qwak
Ruff N Tumble
Second Samurai
Sensible World Of Soccer
Shadow Fighter
Shadow Of The Beast I, II, and III
Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
Syndicate
The Chaos Engine
The Killing Game Show
The Lost Vikings
Theme Park
Virocop
Walker
Waxworks
Wings
Wiz N Liz
Worms
Zool 1 and 2
I know itll never happen, but one can dream.
Andrew Middlemas
GC: Yeah, thats never going to happen. The one solace we can offer is that there is a remake of Gods due out next month.
Inbox also-rans
Im not sure if these are amazing Black Friday deals or even still available but I got Diablo III: Eternal Edition on Xbox from Littlewoods for £12.99 and Divinity: Original Sin II from Argos for £21.99. Both highly scored from GC and at those prices it would be criminal to ignore them!
Mr.Saveloy
GC: The Diablo III one has gone but Original Sin II is still the same price (and highly recommended).
After 25 years its the last time Ill see GamesMaster magazine sat on WHSmiths shelf.
Dev
This weeks Hot Topic
The subject for this weekends Inbox was suggested by reader stanley71, who asks what do you think of the current generation of console so far?
The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are five years old this month and both are expected to be superseded by next generation models within the next two years. So what do you think of them so far, in terms of their games, their hardware, and the changes theyve brought to the industry?
If you include the Wii U and Switch as well what do you think of the generation as a whole and is it better or worse than previous ones? How do you think it will be looked back on when all is said and done, and which companies have done the best and worst overall?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
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