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Games Inbox: What’s your favourite FPS story campaign?
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus – why are FPS story modes becoming a rarity?

The evening Inbox laments the increasingly high cost of retro games, as one reader is impressed by Assassin’s Creed Origins’ tour mode.

To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]

Getting back into it

I seem to be having something of a first person renaissance lately, after years of claiming that I wasn’t really into first person shooter. I played GoldenEye 007 on my N64 back in the day, and played all of the Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare games on the Xbox 360, and in this particular console generation I’ve played Metro Redux, Far Cry 4 and Primal, and Wolfenstein: The New Order. But aside from these games I would say that it was never really a genre that I held in particularly high regard (on writing this though I’m perhaps realising that maybe I did always like the genre more than I perhaps thought).

I think that the lack of connect though has always been down to the fact that I’ve only ever really been interested in the campaign and never really invested much time in multiplayer (I have dipped my toe occasionally). Last year during the Black Friday sales I picked up Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition for £10, mostly with the intention of replaying Modern Warfare. But after playing and enjoying both games it seems to have re-awoken me to the genre and has seen me picking up copies of Advanced Warfare (yet to play), Battlefield 1 (loved), and Titanfall 2 – which I started playing last night and absolutely fell in love with within the first hour of the campaign.

I’m still not overly interested in multiplayer, but I think that the most I have paid for any of these games is £10, so I’m happy to just go through the campaign without feeling like I’ve been stung in the wallet. Are there any other first person shooters that you would recommend that I might have missed? (Which is probably all of them with the exception of what I’ve played and the games I’m currently playing!)
Rickie Ratpack (gamertag)/RIckandrolla (PSN ID)/SW-1702-5371-4626
PS: I’m absolutely loving Bayonetta on the Switch, such a great game!

GC: Well, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is our favourite of recent years, but quality story campaigns are becoming a bit of a lost art. There’s the other Call Of Duties and the Doom reboot, but otherwise you might want to wait and see how Far Cry 5 turns out.

Kingdom come

I really hope that Super Mario Odyssey does get a proper expansion as I cannot get enough of that game. The hidden artwork stuff seems pretty conclusive that it will happen too, so I couldn’t be happier.

I almost regret that the game was released the same year as Zelda: Breath Of The Wild as I think any other year it would have been named game of the year with no problem. Of course it was great to get them both in one year, and that surely helped out the Switch a lot, but it does almost feel like an underdog. But for what it’s worth it’s my favourite of the two.

I hope we get at least one new kingdom and I’d like to see something a bit more abstract and weird, more like the Luncheon Kingdom than just another everyday location. Maybe another planet, given we only went as far as the moon in this one – and maybe some nods to Super Mario Galaxy while we’re about it. My dream Mario game would be those two combined, so anything that got some of the way there would be great.
Onibee

Fan perfection

I watched Blade Runner 2049 over the weekend and thought it was excellent. Even though it has a long run time I was surprised when the credits popped up as, it didn’t feel like I’d been watching very long and there was a lot of lost ends.

With over 30 years between the two films there was no guarantee that the two films would feel connected beyond a continuing story but it was remarkable just how well it captures the mood and themes of the first film and feels like exactly the same world. It reminded me that when a game manages to capture the mood or an intrinsically appealing aspect of your favourite show/film it’s pretty great.

There’s been plenty of great games based on films/TV shows I like but few that feel like I’m inhabiting that world I enjoy. Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity is a highlight as it was just a good game with great production values, but also because it had elements of the TV shows like diplomacy and investigation in it that help make it feel like an extension of the Next Gen TV show. The recent Star Wars X-wing VR mission is another highlight for the fact it totally made you feel like you were flying an X-wing in the Star Wars universe.

I wish I was more into Spider-Man as that game is looking exactly what a fan would want from a Spider-Man game.
Simundo Jones

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

Market prices

Just thought I’d write in as I haven’t contributed to the Inbox for a while. As a video game fan and hobbyist I love my passion for games and the excitement they bring, from new technology to the blasts from the past. At the moment I have about 12+ consoles, from handhelds to the PlayStation 4, and over 900 games.

While I still buy the newest games for my PlayStation 4 I find I’m starting to slow down a bit in my collection, especially retro games. I think it’s due to the absurd prices that retro games have reached on eBay. I sold a mint copy of a Final Fantasy game for Game Boy Advance last year on eBay for £23. Last week someone was asking £450 on eBay for the exact same game.

The biggest price hike always seems to be for Nintendo games as they age.
cosmic250 (PSN ID/Steam ID)
Currently playing: Resident Evil 7(PS4) and Metroid Fusion (GBA)

GC: Which Final Fantasy game was it?

Zombi franchise

All this talk of the Switch’s possible lack of games has got me wondering about a game I enjoyed hugely on the Wii U. Do you reckon there’s any chance of ZombiU being upgraded for the new console? Or even better, a sequel being released to it?

Was a great wee game and didn’t really get the success it deserved at the time, in my estimation. It’s not like the Switch will have many similar games, so surely there’s a market for it. Seems a bit of a no-brainer to me.

Work your Inbox magic please.
Chris in Belfast

GC: To be honest we think it’s unlikely. The game wasn’t a hit on any format, and Ubisoft are likely to take the success of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle as an indication of the best route to take with Nintendo exclusives.

Censored tour

Just wondered if any readers have tried out Assassin’s Creed Origins’ tour mode? I started the game recently and it’s the first thing I tried. I like the idea and wish it was available for other tourist attractions, it’s great being able to walk around Egypt and take in the sights and also learn more about it.

This appealed to me as I have always wanted to visit Egypt but never have for one reason or another. The tour mode has three Achievements attached to it and upon checking the percentage of people that unlocked the Achievement for doing one tour I noticed this was less than 3%. It seems that this educational aspect of Assassin’s Creed isn’t very popular, which I find quite disappointing. But maybe it’s down to it being an update and not being available on release
R1CH5TER
PS: Thanks to AERO_HDT for pointing out that the main goal in Minecraft is to defeat the Ender Dragon, this explains where the Ender Dragon in the story mode games came from which I wasn’t aware of until now. I think the game would need smaller staggered objectives to keep my interest, one objective that may never be reached doesn’t appeal to me.

GC: Maybe they were upset that all the statutes had their nudity covered up.

Controlling the story

IGDA is almost laughably attempting to alter the loot box narrative from one of player exploitation to one of industry censorship.

This is PR/marketing manipulation at its most blatant, but I fully expect them to use all their expertise to influence and therefore divide public opinion, so the conversation becomes broader into one of censorship. I mean, who wants creativity censored? Nobody likes censorship, right?
Jon Edwards

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

Arcadia Chronicles

I’m really enjoying Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so far. The combat is as deep and novel as they come in the Japanese role-playing genre and I’m starting to warm up to the characters and story.
Especially the ever optimistic, courageous, and amicable lead character Rex. The little salvager with a big heart is full of nerve and resolve. I like the cheeky and cynical Nia too. The way her character contrasts and clashes with Rex is most amusing at times.

The character art in the game is also universally excellent as far as I’m concerned. The art styles remind me a bit of Namco’s Tales series, combined with a smidgen of Kingdom Hearts.

There’s also something nostalgic and retro about Rex’s salvager suit. The funny, weirdly proportioned legs in particular remind me of Final Fantasy VII’s character designs for some reason. Also, the character designs in that tech demo Square made when they were planning to develop the aforementioned classic for the Nintendo 64, before they jumped in bed with Sony instead.

Plus, the art direction/world design and soundtrack are stunning! Memories of Skies Of Arcadia are definitely evoked in the world design department, what with all the celestial imagery and floating, living land masses, aka Titans. Such dazzling artistry! Anyways, sit back, relax, and listen to this beautiful track.
Galvanized Gamer

Inbox also-rans

Now why did I read that Into The Breach review? I was addicted for what felt like months to FTL, and now I can tell it’s all going to start again…
Sigrid

Really enjoyed your Moss review, makes me excited about VR even from not even having one! For me the problem is that there’s lot of individually cool games but never that one massive killer app. Maybe Resident Evil 7 but I’m too much of a wuss to play that!
Grandus

This week’s Hot Topic

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Cranston, who asks what one video game do you think most deserves a remaster or remake?

With an unusual number of video games already having been reworked and re-released this year, we want to know what other game you’d most like to see get the same treatment. It can be any game from any console, but we want to know why you think it deserves the attention and what changes you’d make to it.

Would it just be tidying up the graphics or would you want to see more significant changes? What else would you change about the visuals, and would you alter anything about the gameplay or controls? Do you think the remaster would be widely popular or would only existing fans enjoy it?

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

The small print
New Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Readers’ 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.

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