The morning Inbox looks at what went wrong with Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite, as one reader names his favourite video game clones.
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Shadow of the Snake
I’ve been really impressed by the work that’s gone into the remake of Shadow Of The Colossus. I’m not a super fan of the game (I like it, but it’s not my favourite) but I do love to see when you can tell how into a game the developer is and the care and effort they’ve put in. Like the way they’ve fixed some of the problems from the PlayStation 3 remaster, which mucked up the timings by just increasing the frame rate and not changing anything else.
So it got me thinking what other Sony games (for the sake of argument) deserve the same 100% remake treatment. I guess some of the God Of War games will be a popular choice but I never really liked them and I still think that graphically they look fine. Syphon Filter would be cool, but as that’s a PS one game that would take a lot of work.
But then it got me thinking why haven’t they done Metal Gear Solid 1 yet? It’s always been hard to play that game in the modern day but with Kojima gone you would’ve thought a remake would be an obvious idea for Konami, since they only have to worry about the graphics. I know I’d buy it, especially if it looked as good as Shadow Of The Colossus. Just no first person shooting!
Odie
Why the secrecy?
It sounds pretty believable that Bandai Namco could be making Metroid Prime 4, and I like the idea that they’ve got a team of Western developers a well, but the only thing I don’t understand is why was this a secret in the first place? I know Nintendo, and most other companies, hate talking about stuff in general, but surely all something like this does is create wild speculation that is inevitably never as exciting as the actual answer.
I’m sure this new studio will do a fine job, but it’s still nothing compared to the hype of if it was From Software or id Software or Platinum or whoever. I get Nintendo don’t want people stealing their ideas but what was going to happen here? Somebody suddenly hire Bandai Namco to make a first person adventure called Megatroid Primer?
Anyway, Iooking forward to the proper reveal and hope that it is going to be one of this year’s big games. It be pretty sweet if it came out this year alongside Animal Crossing and then you could have Nintendo’s most hardcore and most casual games all at once. Be a nice statement that they’re prepared to support both sets of fans.
Bolton
Racing simplicity
Never mind about Metroid Prime, I really hope that rumour about Ridge Racer 8 is true. Ridgeeee Raccccerrrr! (Is it a coincidence that this gets leaked the same month that Kaz Hirai leaves Sony?!)
I have such happy memories of playing the first few games on the PlayStation, but also the 3DS and PS Vita versions, which I always thought were underrated. At first it seems odd to make the new one a Switch exclusive, but I can see how it makes sense. Overcomplicating Ridge Racer and trying to make it a super serious race game is not the way to go.
It needs to be simple, fun, accessible, colourful game and you’ve got to say that sort of thing has a better chance of selling on the Switch nowadays than the PlayStation 4. I can see it making a very good companion to Mario Kart, as a sort of serious, but not too serious, take on the same idea. Whatever happens it couldn’t be worse than Unbounded…
BCU
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Dream vs. reality
Poor old Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bigger gap between what I hoped and expected a game would be and what it actually turned out to be. It is actually a good game to play, but the whole thing is so cheaply put together I don’t know what they were thinking. Especially with that demo, which was just awful.
I got it anyway though and have been really happy with it. The new DLC characters are really good too, and hint that it was already upping its game and could’ve become something special. Sad to say I don’t think we’ll be seeing any more now though, despite the rumours of an X-Men pack for this year.
I’d say that maybe they could come back once the Disney deal is a done thing and try again, but you know they’ll just end up reusing all the old assets again. My hope is that Monster Hunter: World’s success will show Capcom that you’ve got to spend money to make money. But let’s face it, we’re probably on months away from Monster Hunter: World R or some other weirdly named minor update.
Malesturm
Surge of interest
I quite liked The Surge, so I’d be interested in a sequel. Especially as the biggest problem with the original is it was all a bit samey looking and obviously had a fairly low budget. I thought they did well with it though and there was some nice touches (that fake out right at the beginning is still really clever to me). If there was ever a good excuse why everyone’s not just using guns though I don’t remember.
The game’s problem though, as you saw with GC’s story on it, is the second you start talking about it all you can do is start imagining what From’s sci-fi game is going to be. I still like the idea of something quite organic and Giger-esque, since that seems quite Dark Souls-y already, but maybe that’s too obvious. I can’t imagine anything that’s all bright and clean like Star Trek though.
Dark Souls III was only two years ago, but somehow it feels much more than that. I hope that whatever they’re working on will be revealed at E3 this year, and then we’ll at least know what we’re looking forwards to.
Doggerel Kong
Better than the real thing
Not sure if something similar has been done in the past, but I’d be curious to know what are people’s favourite ‘clone’ games, maybe games they even prefer to the games they clone. For myself I’d go slightly less obvious and mention The Simpsons: Road Rage. It cloned Crazy Taxi and for me, as a big Simpsons fan, more so when I was younger, I loved Road Rage. It offered all the fun of Crazy Taxi (probably get stick for that), with the addition of all the characters, the settings, and jokes of The Simpsons.
Arguably this could be a difficult Hot Topic due to so many games borrowing ideas from one an another, and so many games which take similar approaches to similar events – first person shooters especially. But I’m sure there’d be plenty for people to pick out.
Beems
GC: It’s a good idea, we’ll try and use it in the future.
Professional fight
That Evo 2018 line-up is pretty weird to me. I admit I’m nothing more than a casual fighting fan, but it seems like they’re just picking games at random. I mean, one that’s not out yet and two Smash Bros. games? Why would you need two?! I don’t even know which one is which.
I get that this is all for the professionals but it doesn’t seem very appealing to anyone else. I’m betting most people have never heard of anything but Tekken, Street Fighter, and maybe Injustice. And assumed Smash Bros. was just a silly party game. Given that it seems all the more unfair not to include Marvel Vs. Capcom.
Rostom
GC: Super Smash Bros. Melee (the GameCube one) has always been taken very seriously by fighting game fans. If anything it’s the Wii U game that’s the more surprising inclusion.
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Fresh ideas
I largely agree with the Woolie Madden’s sentiments about the PlayStation 5 simply following up the template of success laid out by the PlayStation 4. What would be good for all of us though is if Microsoft differentiate their next console from Sony’s, in an effort to pull people like myself back to their brand.
I was delighted with the original Xbox, as it felt like a completely different platform to the PlayStation 2. Coming out of the blocks with exclusives such as Halo, Dead Or Alive 3, Jet Set Radio Future, Amped, and Project Gotham Racing, and then following up with the introduction of Xbox Live, MechAssault, Steel Battalion, Unreal Championship, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Splinter Cell, Ninja Gaiden, Fable, and Moto GP. These were some of the happiest gaming years of my life and it was a no-brainer to hop on board with the Xbox 360.
I didn’t regret the decision at all and loved the introduction of Xbox Live Arcade, with the likes of Geometry Wars and Marble Blast Ultra changing the nature of how and when I would play games. And the exclusives were still coming in the form of Gears Of War, Crackdown, and Dead Rising. And then it just seemed to dry up. I don’t remember playing a lot other than multiformat games towards the end, and the introduction of Kinect and the way the dashboard developed from an easy to access clean display to an advert-filled, avatar-focused hell hole left me cold. I was ready for a break.
I moved onto the PlayStation 4 and have loved the exclusives. Bloodborne, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Driveclub, Persona 5, Everybody’s Golf, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last Guardian, MLB: The Show, Nioh, NieR: Automata, No Man’s Sky, Ratchet & Clank, Street Fighter V, Yakuza 0, Journey, and Shadow Of The Colossus are all of great interest to me, and many I’ve not yet got around to playing. The most impressive thing for me is how many of those are standalone adventures and not follow-ups in a franchise.
The Switch clearly offers a fantastic alternative to the PlayStation 4 and I don’t see Microsoft fighting for their market share. They need to somehow take people away from Sony, and as I see it they need to offer something a bit different as well as releasing a whole raft of high quality exclusives early in the next cycle. I’m not convinced that HoloLens is the product to do this, so the question to the readers is what do they next?
Sony for their part need to ensure that complacency doesn’t get the better of them and continue to produce innovative exclusives. I don’t want to be playing Uncharted 6, The Last Of Us 3 (or 2 for that matter), Horizon 2, or Nioh 2 going into the next generation. I want fresh ideas in worlds I’ve yet to see.
AgentCole1981 (PSN ID)
Inbox also-rans
I still can’t believe how much people spend on microtransactions. I don’t care how rich you are, it still seems like a waste of time, let alone, money. I hate opening loot boxes and then finding out what they’re for and activating. It’s so boring!
Campbell
I have no idea what they’re doing in a DC game, but this trailer for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles actually looks really… gnarly?
Booka
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?
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