The evening Inbox looks for advice on the best golf games, as one reader admits he was one of the thousands that watched Sea Of Thieves.
To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]
Broken Destiny?
Very interesting to see the Hot Topic at the weekend, with everyone voting. It’s obvious just how much of an influence the Switch has had on people, and I have to say I didn’t expect it to be quite so massive. But the thing that interested me the most was how only one person voted about Destiny 2. Or at least only one wrote in about it.
I find that surprising as it reviewed well and I thought it was generally popular. I know it’s had some problems recently, especially with Bungie’s lying about the behind the scenes working, but I still consider it to be a good game. But is that not the general consensus?
Do people consider Destiny 2 to have been a disappointment? It certainly did alright in terms of sales but if it’s reputation is dropping like this then I wonder what they’re going to do this year? Fast track a sequel, try and make a new equivalent of The Taken King? I’m almost tempted to go back an play it now just to see if it’s not as good as I remember.
Blanche
Sea of banter
I think Sea Of Thieves is going to be a huge hit for Rare. I was one of those people watching on Twitch, because I didn’t pre-order and couldn’t get into the closed beta, and it was a lot of fun. A lot of time you just seem to be sailing (or trying to sail) around and not actually doing that much, which means you get a lot of banter between the crew.
Get a good group of people together who are funny and it’s almost like improv night on your console, and I’m sure that’s the reason it got so popular. I’d say that maybe things will drop off when people can play it themselves, but that doesn’t seem to be how things work nowadays.
A lot of people seem to prefer watching others playing rather than just doing it themselves. I’ll watch, but only if I don’t have the option to play, but either way I think Rare’s on to a winner here.
Goolash
Dirty tricks
I’m only surprised we haven’t heard about a new Crash Bandicoot game already, considering how well the remasters did. I am a bit concerned about the lack of an Xbox One version, not that I really care about Crash that much but if it has been left out why is that? Because Activision doesn’t think kids’ games sell on the Xbox? Maybe, although the Lego ones seem to do okay.
Did Sony bully them into making the decision, but didn’t care about Switch because it would be a direct competitor? That would be a dangerous precedent, and to be honest something I’ve worried might happen before.
That other reader said that Sony have been quite well behaved this gen, but I think that only lasts as long as they have no real competition. I don’t think they’ll play nice when they have…
Speghetidum
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
It’s in the game
Any sign of a new golf game on the horizon? The last one I played was Rory McIlroy and that was 2014, which was a lazy effort. It played fine but the graphics looked like they were from the PlayStation 2. Used to have so much fun with a group of friends swapping the controller between us and putting our faces onto our avatars using the Xbox 360 camera.
Surely with the advent of the smartphone, and connectivity between phones and consoles, we should be able to take pictures of our faces and put them in more games, especially sports games. It really adds to the enjoyment seeing yourself ‘in the game’s.
Daniel
PS: Went a bit off the subject there.
PPS: Have you played Kingdom Come: Deliverance yet? Looks amazing but it just looks so different. I don’t know if it will work and have heard so little about it.
GC: EA Game Face is still a thing, in fact UFC 3, which we’ll have a review of tomorrow, is one of the few games that still uses it. The lack of golf games is puzzling, although we admit that’s not our specialist subject, so perhaps a reader can suggest an indie alternative. Although there’s always Everybody’s Golf on PlayStation 4 or Golf Story on the Switch. As for Kingdom Come, we haven’t played it yet, but review copies are going out soon.
Ticking the boxes
In response to a previous reader’s letter about not being able to get into Zelda: Breath Of The Wild but loving Horizon Zero Dawn I actually had the opposite problem. I just couldn’t get into Horizon, it just felt too liner, too box check-y, like a lot of open world games nowadays. On top of that, from what I played, the combat just wasn’t for me.
By contrast Breath Of The Wild, much like Skyrim before it, gave me the freedom to go where I wanted, explore where I wanted, and do what I wanted. Its combat was by no means out of this world, but it was interesting enough and challenging enough to engage me. I definitely wouldn’t say it was super difficult. But hey, to each his own.
KeeganatorPrime (PSN ID)
Too late
3. Super Mario Odyssey. I bought this along with a Switch as a Christmas present for my mum, who absolutely loves games despite being 60 and only getting into it late on. I played it purely to test out the Switch worked properly before wrapping it up, and ended up almost finishing the game completely. Absolutely loved it despite not being a fan of Mario games in general, and after playing Zelda earlier in the year and not seeing what all the hype was about (I found it boring and frustrating if I’m honest), so I was pleasantly surprised.
2. Horizon Zero Dawn. Not much to say about this game that hasn’t been said already. A joy to play, stunning to look at and one of the best new IPs I’ve ever played. I feared it may get repetitive, but the sheer choice of tactics and constantly stunning visuals made sure that never happened. I can’t wait for the sequel, as it’s almost guaranteed to be better and will be a real contender to be game of the year of whatever year it drops.
1. Yakuza 0. I’ve been a fan of Yakuza since playing 3 on the PlayStation 3 and buying it for its similarities to Shenmue (my all time #1 game), and subsequently played all of them, including the Japanese-only ones. Zero really nailed everything though, the story was compelling, the characters fantastically written, and despite not knowing the language the voice-acting was absolutely phenomenal. One of very few games I had trouble stopping playing and I enjoyed every minute of it, I still haven’t 100% completed it and I’m probably about 200 hours in.
It’s a real shame more people haven’t discovered this absolute gem of a game because it’s unlike anything else out there on the market and I’m yet to find anyone that’s played it and not been converted to its brilliance. I’m really hyped for Yakuza 6 coming in March, one of only three games I’ve ever pre-ordered. I already know I’ll be writing a letter like this next year and it’ll be my 2018 #1 – unless Shenmue III comes out as that’ll be its only competition for my top spot.
There’s a lot of amazing games that were in contention for this top three. Persona 5, NieR: Automata, Hellblade, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy could all have sneaked third place, and potentially been another year’s number one. We were blessed with a fantastic 2017, here’s hoping 2018 is even half as good.
Lost-Sock
Test of time
The readers’ top 20 is my favourite Hot Topic every year, I never fail to enjoy seeing Splatoon beat out Call Of Duty (it happened with the Wii U version as well a few years ago).
I’m disappointed though to see Zelda: Breath Of The Wild get the top spot, I thought it would go to Super Mario Odyssey or Zero Dawn. Especially given how many PlayStation 4s are out there compared to the Switch.
I think Breath Of The Wild will be like Zelda: Skyward Sword, when it’s looked back on in a few years’ time it won’t stand up to the test of time like Mario Odyssey is going to. In my opinion Breath Of The Wild is wildly overrated as a game, I dislike it with a passion.
At least it was a close vote and I’m glad so many readers wrote in to vote for their favourite games.
Mitchell
PS: Monster Hunter: World is baffling and assured of its place gathering dust under the TV.
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Bottom of the pops
I say this every year, could you print the top 40 of the reader’s favourite games of 2017? On another note, in last month’s issue of Edge they had the Edge Game Awards for 2017 and they put the Nintendo Games of the Year as Super Mario Odyssey as the winner, and Zelda: Breath Of The Wild as runner-up but in their top 10 games of the year across all formats they put Super Mario Odyssey at number 2 and Zelda at 1. So I was a bit confused why they had done this.
Andrew J.
PS: There are hints on the news part of Steam that Episode 5, the final episode of Kentucky Route Zero, might be out soon so I will be looking forward to your review if you plan to review it when it is all out. I think the first episode came out in 2012 or 2013! Correct me if I am wrong.
GC: Here you go! We have no idea about Edge, we haven’t seen an issue recently. But we will take a look at the finale to Kentucky Route Zero, as we really liked how it started off (in 2013).
21 Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (NS)
22 Assassin’s Creed Origins (XO/PS4/PC)
23 Sonic Mania (XO/PS4/NS/PC)
24 Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4)
25 Destiny 2 (XO/PS4/PC)
26 A Night In The Woods (XO/PS4/PC)
27 Prey (XO/PS4/PC)
28 Forza Motorsport 7 (XO/PC)
29 Divinity: Original Sin II (PC)
30 Yooka-Laylee (XO/PS4/NS/PC)
31 Sniper Elite 4 (XO/PS4/PC)
32 ARMS (NS)
33 Tekken 7 (XO/PS4/PC)
34 Star Wars: Battlefront II (XO/PS4/PC)
35 Mass Effect: Andromeda (XO/PS4/PC)
36 Injustice 2 (XO/PS4/PC)
37 Stardew Valley (NS)
38 GT Sport (PS4)
39 Snipperclips (NS)
40 Gravity Rush 2 (PS4)
Inbox also-rans
Can I be the first person to predict that Red Dead Redemption II will be delayed again and won’t be out this year? If I’m right I claim my prize of… being really upset.
Penfold
I imagine GC have seen the Solo trailer by now, what did you think? Looked pretty great to me!
Marrill
GC: The cinematography looked good, if a bit bleak and miserable, but everything depends on the performance of Alden Ehrenreich and we can’t say he made much of an impression really.
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Nick The Greek, who asks what movie or TV show would you most like to see turned into a video game?
Movie adaptations are pretty rare nowadays on consoles, but they can still happen – from Star Wars games to cult classics like Friday The 13th. But which film would you like to see get the big budget treatment and what kind of game would it be?
You can name any film or show you like, including those that have already had video games, but try to describe something that is at least reasonably practical to make. Why do you think your idea hasn’t been done before, and if it was made do you think it would be financially successful?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
New Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
If you need quick access to the GameCentral channel page please use www.metro.co.uk/games and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.
[contf] [contfnew]
