The morning Inbox thinks that racing games have got to complicated, as one reader suggests another Turok reboot.
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Red Dead in space
We all know that GTA V is still selling by the bucketload, which means a new game is probably still a long way off, but I do wish Rockstar would use all their masses of cash to make other games. Ever since GTA Online became such a success they’ve basically slowed to crawl and even the one game they are doing has been delayed again and again.
I’m looking forward to Red Dead Redemption II as much as anyone, but it is still a sequel. Given how talented they are I’d like to see Rockstar try their hand at the one genre of film they’ve never really touched: sci-fi.
I don’t know whether they’ve been purposefully avoiding this or not, but I feel a gritty space-based drama would be right up their street. It wouldn’t even need to have aliens in it or anything, but maybe a sort of frontier feel with settlers – maybe even kind of like Red Dead in a way. It would allow them to do their social commentary and get a bit more imaginative with vehicles and gadgets. Stuff like Mass Effect is great but it’s also really nerdy. I’d like to see a cool sci-fi game, from someone you wouldn’t usually expect.
Gonch
Simply complicated
I agree with the reader who said that the earlier Burnouts were the best, although my personal favourite is Burnout 2. The question was raised recently of why driving games aren’t popular anymore and I think it’s pretty simple: they’re too complicated.
Either you have to faff around in an open world just to get to and start a race or the game itself is filled with tons of requirements and grinding and role-playing style nonsense. I don’t want any of those things. I want to pick a race and start it instantly in a car I know has a fighting chance, that’s it.
I think a game could do very well if it just offered that sort of no frills experience and purposefully didn’t try to make itself look too epic. Of course I want the racing and the graphics to be as good as possible but everything else around it…. couldn’t care less. Worse than that it puts me off. Need For Speed should’ve taken its name a bit more literally, it’s not Need For Grinding or Need For Cut Scenes!
Sparepart
Same old humans
So I see that the Turok reboot from 2008 is coming to Xbox One backwards compatibility. It’s rubbish, I know, but it’s yet another reminder that we are not getting enough dinosaurs in games. Or any really. I know there’s a lot of other Inboxers that feel passionately about this, but I just don’t understand it. Especially given Jurassic World 2 is coming out and they’ve actually discovered a lot of cool new dinosaurs lately.
I’m sure the Turok licence could be picked up for the price of a bag of chips lately, but even that’s not really necessary. I just feel that games are becoming a bit too predictable at the moment with their settings and particularly enemies. I’m really sick of fighting just humans with machineguns, or human-looking aliens, or whatever.
Maybe it’s because of the death of horror games as well, but I jus don’t find myself being surprised by games so much. I think we’ve all got a bit too obsessed with open worlds and landscapes too. All that’s important, but I want monsters goddamit! And dinosaurs, as everyone knows, are the best monsters.
Silva
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The first Witchers
Since we’ve been discussing remasters a lot lately it got me thinking about CD Projekt RED. They said they’re not planning to do another The Witcher any time soon, but I wonder whether they’d consider remasters of the first two games? I understand they’re quite different to the third one, but the first is still PC only and the second was only ever on Xbox 360.
I for one would be interested in seeing how the series started off, and learning more of everyone’s backstories. I tried reading the novels the games are based on, but to be honest they didn’t really grab me and I found them pretty hard going.
It’s strange to think that one of the most beloved games of recent years had two come before it that most people have never played unless they have a gaming PC. I’ve never heard them talk about doing such a thing but I’d pre-order it tomorrow if it happened.
Petro
Shadow rises
I know I’m probably going to be alone in this, but personally I’d rather see a Killzone 5 from Guerrilla Games rather than another Horizon Zero Dawn. I didn’t hate Horizon or anything but I did get bored of it after a few hours and found the combat very repetitive.
Killzone has always been very uneven, I’ll admit, but I thought with Shadow Fall it was finally coming into its own again. I liked the more open world approach they were going for and would love to have seen that expanded, taking what they’ve learnt with Horizon and creating and even better shooter.
Something that can have a bit more imagination in terms of guns and vehicles and mech suits and that type of thing. Robot dinosaurs sounds cool at first until you realise you’re always fighting them with a bow and arrow.
Lifton
Engaging combat
As someone who revels in mastering deep and novel combat systems in Japanese role-playing games I was initially deflated to find Xenoblade Chronicle 2’s fighting model a tad too simplistic and one-dimensional for my liking.
But after around 15 hours and a bunch of new features which have added more layers and nuance to the martial madness, the combat is finally beginning to blossom into something bold and beautiful.
I’m appreciating the rich, synergistic systems between the drivers and blades far more now. And enjoying building up momentum in the battles by using the various arts, blade combos, modifiers, as well as filling up the chain link meters.
It’s a riveting and engaging sequence of actions which crescendo into an explosive and visually stunning concerted attack – once you’ve smashed the enemies’ elemental orbs and unleashed the special finisher.
The sheer robustness of the battles and sense of spectacle is frequently a sight to behold too. So glad the whole things clicking and flourishing for me now, I shouldn’t have doubted Monolith Soft’s work here. Especially after the brilliant combat model in Xenoblade Chronicles X!
Galvanized Gamer
Free tour
I wanted to drop a line reminding everyone that the free tour guide update is live now for Assassin’s Creed Origins. I only picked it up a few weeks ago and have loved it. By far the best AC in my opinion.
In fact, I love it so much that I went and bought Assassin’s Creed Syndicate with all the DLC in a recent Xbox sale. Let’s just say it’s a reminder that they left a year between sequels. The controls feel very clunky and counterintuitive compared to Origins, and although it’s not awful I’ll have to force myself to finish it.
Neil Howarth
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Seven-year itch
On the topic of getting through back logs, I’ve made real progress with the games I have sitting there waiting to be played. Over the last week, being off work enabled me to finish off Darksiders and get through Darksiders II, I also finished off Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. Code: Veronica is one of my favourite Resident Evil games but I kept putting it on the backburner for games I hadn’t played. I noticed the last achievement I unlocked was in 2012, the first being in 2011. So I’ve taken seven years to get round to completing the Xbox 360 version, but I’m glad I got back to it.
On Darksiders I would say I definitely preferred the first game more, it flowed much better with its more compact, linear set-up and I liked the character War more than Death. The second game’s open world approach doesn’t seem warranted to me, as all you do is travel vast open spaces with nothing really worthy of note. So I think the set-up of the first game should have been kept. I’d never played these games until recently but now I have I will be keeping an eye on Darksiders III, with a potential day one purchase.
I’ve currently got to finish Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds, which I’m working on at the moment, but other than that I have Assassin’s Creed Origins, Duke Nukem 3D: World Tour, Resident Evil 5 HD, and The Elder Scrolls Online to get through. So not too bad really, but I don’t help myself and I know others can relate. I recently picked up Prototype 1 and 2, and Kingdoms of Amalur, for Xbox 360 whilst out one day with not having played them before and having heard good things about them, so now have those to add to the list.
R1CH5TER
PS: I was picturing Manta Force but could only think of the name Venom. This must be down to me having the Manta Force Red Venom when I was younger.
Inbox also-rans
Just a quick heads up to say The Sexy Brutale is £7.39 in a PSN Sale. I’ve just bought it as I read GameCentral’s review and because I like Gregory Horror Show on the PlayStation 2, which it is supposed to be similar to.
Andrew J.
GC: We strongly recommend the game at any price, it was one of last year’s best titles.
While having a look through the EA sale on Xbox Live I found Titanfall 2 Deluxe Edition for £8.70, absolute bargain for a great game.
TotalChud (gamertag)
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Gannet, who asks what do you think is the most overrated video game?
You don’t have to think the game is actively bad, just not as good as its reputation suggests. But do try and describe exactly why it didn’t live up to your expectations and what it got wrong. Was it just a good game that was hyped up too much, or do you feel it has flaws that were brushed over in reviews?
Was the problem that you were expecting it to be one thing and it turned out to be something completely different? Or was there some other personal preference that meant you couldn’t enjoy it?
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The small print
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