The Monday letters page is impressed by Arc Raiders and its players, as a reader celebrates the first anniversary of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
The final straw
So it’s getting to that point of year again and I’m wondering whether Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 will be worth getting. I don’t want to seem unfashionable, but I like Call Of Duty and I’m not sure why Black Ops 7 has become the one where everyone is criticising the games and saying they’ve got stale.
I’m not saying it’s going to be a top three entry or anything but where were all the complaints when Modern Warfare 3 came out? Because that really was a con. Everything I’ve seen of Black Ops 7 makes it look… quite good? I’m still not sure why they made two Black Ops in a row, but the series has always been a lot more varied than the others so I’m not too worried about.
Other than that, can anyone explain why everyone is down on Black Ops 7 and not any of the others? I think the answer is that Battlefield 6 is out, and Arc Raiders as well, and they seem more new and exciting by comparison. Even though Battlefield is literally the same thing as always. I’m willing to bet Black Ops 7 does more new things than that, although I guess maybe people have just got to a point where they’ve had enough now.
Jonesy
Unhappy anniversary
I see some people marking the first anniversary of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I’ll go in the camp that says it’s a good game, but not a good Dragon Age sequel. But I’d much rather have it round that way, if you know what I mean. It definitely has the best combat system I’ve played in an action role-player. You can go on about Elden Ring and FromSoftware all you like but the combat in The Veilguard was slick and smooth and just a lot of fun.
I think the problem was though, the terrible marketing, but also the fact that it kind of ignored the last game, so existing fans didn’t like it, and probably not a lot of it made much sense to newcomers. The way it starts is a lot, in that it’s both confusing and kind of generic fantasy. It does get better though and I highly recommend it to anyone wants to give it a go. Especially as you can get it dirt cheap nowadays.
Grackle
Expert, exclusive gaming analysis
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.
Spooky season continues
I see Silent Hill f is incoming on Xbox Series X/S now. Shame they couldn’t have got it out for Halloween but just want to add my voice to those saying it’s a great game. Everyone, including me, said that Silent Hill didn’t make sense as an ongoing franchise but this just shows that all it takes is the right team.
The game is both nothing like the other games and exactly like them, and I think that’s exactly what you want to be aiming for with a sequel, especially a difficult, legacy one like this. Kudos to the developer and I hope the next game is completely different too (except still good).
St1nger
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Uncertain future
I’m really enjoying Arc Raiders so far and agree with your review that it’s a good breath of fresh air. Not a deathmatch game and while it’s very punishing I’m finding it strangely… welcoming? It definitely has one of the best communities I’ve experienced in a while, although that will probably change if it starts to get really popular on consoles. At the moment though, it’s a bit weird and a bit different and I like that. I’m not sure if it’s going to make its money from microtransactions as they all seem pretty dull to me – more of that Battlefield 6 logic, I bet – but hopefully it being a mid-budget price will give it some money upfront.
The whole thing looks like it was pretty expensive to make, with some nice graphics, so I’m not sure how much they need to make to get their money back. I’m also not sure if they’re sure. It must be very confusing making video games nowadays, not knowing if you’re going to be making billions or just waste the last five years on something people are never going to play. I’m glad I’m just a plumber.
Letwin
Cross-gen documentary
There is a new PlayStation documentary Blu-ray and digital film being released by the people who made the PlayStation Revolution documentary in 2020. It covers a variety of PlayStation 1 games with interviews from their creators, including Hideo Kojima talking about the evolution of Metal Gear; Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya talking about Resident Evil 1 to 4; Naughty Dog co-founder Andy Gavin talking about Crash Bandicoot, with contributions from Mark Cerny.
The documentary will only happen if it reaches 100% funding. It is currently 44% funded and has two weeks left to be funded. You can buy the digital copy or a Blu-ray copy for slightly more. There are nine games covered in total, including Ico, Shadow Of The Colossus, Grand Theft Auto, and Tomb Raider and more.
Here’s the link for more information.
Andrew J.
GC: Some of those games were PlayStation 2, not 1.
Institutional knowledge
When the new Halo remake turns out to be another disaster, I’m just going to hang my head in despair. I think the original developer is right to be worried about the changes they’re making and to be honest it’s not their fault, because how could they know why certain things were done the way they were? Unless Bungie left very detailed instructions behind, they’ll just be eyeballing the whole thing, which seems very risky.
The only time I can remember this working was the Crash Bandicoot trilogy but since I don’t know those games well, I couldn’t say how close they got. I do know the Shadow Of The Colossus remake well though and I feel they made a number of mistakes there. Just little things, like Wander panicking and looking back over his shoulder when he’s being chased, which is not something the remake does, despite how good it looks and it’s generally good reputation.
I am always very much in favour of remakes and feel we have had a lot of very good ones over the years, but the original people have got to be involved on some level at least, or at lot of original staff have got to be left (like with Capcom and the Resident Evil games). 343 Industries has been such a disaster for so long I don’t know how many people from Bungie are still left there – little to none I would assume, especially based on the quality of their work.
I would be very keen to see a big budget remake of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, but that’s because I know all the important people are still at Nintendo and even if they weren’t that the whole company is very much about shared knowledge and keeping continuity. That is the opposite of the Xbox way and that’s one of the reasons they’ve struggled so badly to make a new Halo, as well as the disaster that The Master Chief Collection was for the first few years.
Cranston
Fortnite shaming
Are Fortnite fans really outraged about the price of sidekicks? I’m sure parents are but I find it very hard to imagine there’s any sensible adults playing the game that is also spending £15+ on virtual pets that only they can see. I’m not Fortnite shaming here, if you play the game with other people, especially your kids, then more power to you. But spending ridiculous amounts of money on cosmetics? OK, for the odd movie character that you like, I can get that too, but not this sidekick virtual pet thing.
Even as I type this though I realise that I’m probably overestimating people and that probably these things are going to very popular with even adults. But £15? You could buy a whole indie game with that.
Kurnst
Logical conclusions
I agree that Luigi’s Mansion is an underrated series. Not the first one, which was always too simple, but the Next Level Games ones have been great and I very much hope that there’s a new sequel underway at the moment.
I am still very confused by the decision to do a remaster and update for Animal Crossing as, like most people, I had assumed that would be released early on next year. Or at least by Christmas. But that now seems impossible and even 2027 is in doubt, which I can only assume is because Nintendo knows that it’s their most casual friendly franchise and so doesn’t want it to come out too early, when the only people that own a Switch 2 are the hardcore.
In fact, as I type that, the more that logic makes sense to me, even though you don’t become the fastest-selling console ever by only appealing to the hardcore, especially after Christmas.
So, what are they going to do instead? What are games that appeal more to hardcore Nintendo fans? What even are Nintendo hardcore fans? In my experience (including of being one) committed Nintendo fans like pretty much anything as long as it’s not Kirby. Luigi’s Mansion definitely, but also 3D Mario and, of course a new Zelda. But there’s no sign of any of those at the moment, so what are they going to do?
I agree that Pikmin seems likely based on it being a Miyamoto favourite and the recent teases with the animated movie, but I wouldn’t have said that was really a hardcore favourite. And then I realised that my logic does make sense: Fire Emblem probably is exactly what Nintendo thinks hardcore fans like and that’s coming up next. See, it does all make sense! From a certain point of view.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released in March 2020, so my prediction for a new Switch 2 one is spring 2028, or thereabouts. If I’m wrong I won’t be surprised but based on what we know, and what we know of Nintendo, I’d say that’s as good a guess as we can get of what’s going on.
Rapo
GC: That… does make sense. We wouldn’t be surprised if you were right.
Inbox also-rans
Thanks for including my article on Saturday about being a mature gamer but can I just make it clear that the included title was not authored by myself, as I would never dream of describing myself as being cooler than all of my very cool colleagues!
ameisa (PSN ID)
GC: You sounded pretty cool to us. Especially given some chemistry teachers we’ve known.
A streamer pirated Nintendo games and bragged to their lawyers that there’s nothing they can do about it? I’m surprised they didn’t push for a prison sentence, he should feel lucky.
Rocky
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.