Batman: Arkham Shadow- a very good VR game (Oculus Studios)
The Wednesday letters page is upset there’ll be no Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown 2, as a reader recommends Lego City Undercover.
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Game of the year material
Very interesting review of Batman: Arkham Shadow on the Meta Quest 3. I remember you were very impressed with it at Gamescom and now it’s looking like it’s one of the best games of the year. I haven’t played it yet, but I was contemplating getting a Meta Quest 3 for Christmas, especially as you can get bundles where the game comes free.
I’m now wondering whether it will become accepted as the best VR game ever. It doesn’t have a single negative or even average remove on Metacritic and the biggest issue anyone seems to have with it is the bugs, which will hopefully be fixed by Christmas.
The only game that’s come close in terms of acclaim, as far as I know, is Asgard’s Wrath 2 and on a personal level I find Arkham Shadow a lot more appealing. After the shambles Sony has made of the PlayStation VR2 it’s been great to see some positivity around VR and while I don’t like Meta as a company I’m glad to see they’re putting in the work to legitimise VR as a format.
Campbell
GC: We’d need a bit of distance from it to answer that question, but it’s got to be top three at least. Asgard’s Wrath 2 is the other obvious frontrunner, although we’ll always love Rez Infinite.
GTA 4 kids
GC mentioned Lego City Undercover recently, in response to an Inbox letter. The only Lego games I’d tried prior to playing it were a couple of the Batman ones on PlayStation 3, which I didn’t like, and given that the formula seems to be basically the same across all the licensed properties, I concluded that the games just weren’t for me.
Even so, about six months ago I gave Lego City Undercover a try (on PlayStation 4) after reading a comment that likened it to GTA for kids. It was so much fun! The freedom and pace were fantastic. After it was over, I wanted more, so I bought a Marvel Avengers one… and it was awful. I played it for a couple of days before giving up.
It felt so uninspired, by comparison. It’s unlikely that my feelings are unique, so my takeaway from the dual experience is to say to anyone who dislikes the typical Lego formula to not automatically rule out Lego City Undercover; it might just surprise you, too.
Shin
GC: It’s definitely an underrated gem. The script is also very good and consistently funny; the script writer was a former stand-up comedian and it shows. You’re not wrong about Marvel’s Avengers either, as that’s one of the worst ones and clearly just a rehash of elements from the superior Marvel Super Heroes.
Your mileage may vary
Thanks for covering the Meta Quest 3S. I was surprised to read a close to three hour battery life, I guess it’s okay as the worst review I saw only got about an hour and 15 minutes. In my case, however, a worst case scenario would be plenty of time!
I tried VR for the first time a few days ago at a local science show, they had Richie’s Plank Experience demoed and you could see what the participants saw on a big flat screen. I gave it a go and wow, getting out of that elevator was a struggle as my legs went weak, it didn’t matter that I knew I was on carpet it was almost too much.
I have no trouble with heights generally and happily dive from heights in Assassin’s Creed but this felt so different. I also had a headache for some four hours after the event, despite only being in VR for three minutes or so, but the experience was amazing, I am going to get a 3S for sure after this, headache or not!
Rob
GC: The battery life depends on the app and how graphically intensive it is and whether it’s using the external cameras.
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A year and a bit
I see Spider-Man 2 going to PC only 15 months after PlayStation 5 is causing a meltdown on Twitter. It’s looking like Nintendo and Meta are becoming the last bastions of exclusive games. We know what to expect from Nintendo, but even Meta understand the value of exclusive content.
Do Sony not realise they are losing customers to PC, just as Xbox did? Putting games everywhere sounds good in theory, for increased revenue, but ultimately it will shrink the console market even further. Microsoft’s alliance with PC is perhaps understandable but PC, and more specifically Steam, are a direct competitor. It isn’t surprising the PC market is increasing, whilst the console market is going in the opposite direction.
Si
Arresting developments
I know that these are probably not in the same vein as the police games that the reader mentioned, but on the Switch, Astral Chain I believe is a police-like game. Have also have heard some great things about it (it is on my shelf in my backlog waiting to be played). Also, any of the Ace Attorney games have police and forensic-like elements to them.
They could take themselves back to the good old point ‘n’ click Sierra adventure games like Police Quest. Probably not on listed systems, but available on GOG and Steam, and I am sure would not require a high-end PC to run.
Failing that, whenever Deca Police finally is released, that could be another option.
Sigmar
GC: Astral Chain is a great game, and technically you’re police officers, but that’s even more of a stretch than Resident Evil 2. Ace Attorney is a good call though. There’s a lot of Police Quest and SWAT inspired games on PC but we think he said he didn’t have one.
Lost team
It’s being reported that the sales of Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown weren’t enough for Ubisoft and there’s now no chance of a sequel and the team’s been disbanded.
I’m hugely disappointed by this. The Lost Crown has been one of my favourite games this year. I recently picked up the DLC and there’s some brilliant ideas in there, that make for some fiendish challenges.
Who knows what the reasons might be for the disappointing sales, released at a bad time of year, the wrong marketing, a genre that’s not in fashion. Whatever the cause, it’s a shame that the talented team behind this excellent title aren’t rewarded for their efforts.
Hopefully this doesn’t drive Ubisoft and Prince Of Persia towards a more Assassin’s Creed collectathon style gameplay and that other spin-off still sees the light of day.
Euclidian Boxes
GC: It’s a shame because, as you say, it’s a great game. The marketing wasn’t very good though and we don’t think the Prince Of Persia connection helped it in any way.
Total Darksiders
I hope this is helpful.
I was interested in the new remaster for Darksiders 2 but didn’t own the last gen version, so couldn’t get a free upgrade on Xbox, so would have to pay £25. I was browsing the Xbox store and saw the Darksiders 3 Blade and Whip edition was only £12 and included Darksiders Warmaster edition, Darksiders 2 Deathinitive Edition, and Darksiders 3 and 2 add-ons.
As far as could tell Darksiders 2 has automatically upgraded to the XS edition. I thought this was a good deal and thought others might be interested.
Cheers and keep up the good work.
Anon
GC: Thanks. That seems a good deal to us, and an awful lot of Darksiders.
Where to go
Huge thanks to Remedy for the anniversary update that’s released today. I’m a fan of Alan Wake 2, despite the fact that most of the time, when playing through the fantastic narrative, I either don’t know where to go or what to actually do. But I appreciate the fact that I no longer have to worry about running out of batteries and ammo. Or I don’t end up dead in a dark ditch.
But I would have appreciated a waypoint system. This game sorely needed more than just an objective and no beacon, arrow or guide to tell you the next step. I find myself searching on the internet for any semblance of directions and this takes a lot away from the overall world that Remedy have built.
This was commonplace during my time with Silent Hill 2 remake. I loved playing through the story and the narrative but I often found myself using a guide to figure out what I was supposed to do. That drove me to give up on it and I honestly believe Remedy should give us a waypoint system.
In Control this wasn’t an issue, but Alan Wake 2 is a less linear title. All in all though, I’ll finally be able to finish the story without worries and maybe check out the DLC. If it’s worth the time.
Shahzaib Sadiq
Inbox also-rans
I have to give Astro Bot some Inbox love. I’ve been gaming for over 35 years now and rarely has a game put a smile on my face constantly like Astro Bot has. I find myself looking forward to switching on my PlayStation 5 at the end of the night.
Adam_Lion_23 (PSN ID)
I really don’t know where they can go from here in terms of a new Super Smash Bros. You can’t have more characters than that, it’s just too much work. I expect either a reboot with the roster of the N64 game or just a straight remaster of Ultimate – I’m not sure it can get any better than that.
Coby
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