Split/Second: Velocity – the best arcade racer ever? (Disney)
The Friday letters page thinks Sony has become too obsessed by Horizon Zero Dawn, as one reader wonders what happened to the Star Wars strategy game.
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Arcade action
After putting it off for a while I decided to give Horizon Chase Turbo a go, as I’d heard it was a good retro arcade racer, but I have to say I’m disappointed. It’s kind of bland, in terms of both graphics and gameplay, and I quickly lost interest.
But that got me thinking of what is the best arcade racer of all time? It’s a tricky question because first you’ve got to answer whether Mario Kart counts or not. Most people seem to think it doesn’t but calling it a kart racer seems a bit pointless as almost none of the other ones are worth a second glance.
And does F-Zero and WipEout count? Or are they shuffled off to ‘future racers’, in order to get them out the way and pretend they don’t count? I’m not sure.
These aren’t the first things I think of when someone says arcade racer though and I’d say the short list, for me, is Burnout Paradise, OutRun 2006, and Split/Second. The problem is I don’t think you can buy OutRun any more, I assume because of the car licences, so it’s kind of pointless for me to recommend that.
Burnout Paradise did get a remaster a few years ago, and it is great, but for me Split/Second: Velocity is the absolute best. The sense of speed, the set pieces, the ‘power play’ trigger events… just an amazing game. It is still available too, and very cheap, so I would definitely recommend that to everyone.
Vander
The remnants
Looking at the list of Wii U games that haven’t been ported to Switch yet, Xenoblade Chronicles X does come across as the outlier. It seems so odd that it wasn’t ported quite early on, given the good reviews. I guess Nintendo could be leaving it as a sort of lust hurrah but that doesn’t really sound like them.
Beyond that I can’t say I’m bothered about seeing any of those games again and I’d imagine Nintendo feels it too much work to get such mediocre, at best, games working on the Switch. It is a shame about Nintendo Land though. I always wanted to play it, but I don’t see any way it could work unless you had two Switches and used one of them as the Wii U GamePad.
That could work but no publisher would release a game where you had to own two consoles to play it properly. I guess you could use a phone instead, but the GamePad had buttons, so it’s still not going to be the same. Sadly, it will just have to fade into history.
Gosht
Endless Horizon
I really don’t see why Sony are going so big on Horizon. I know they’ve sold well but making all these spin-offs for something that doesn’t excel at either gameplay or story seems like a mistake to me. The graphics are great and so are the robot designs but there’s no substance behind the games. They’re very shallow and for a lot of the time quite boring and easy.
I don’t hate Horizon by any means but I don’t need five spin-offs either. Obviously, I don’t have to buy them but that is an awful lot of time and money Sony is wasting on just one franchise, tying up developers that could be working on something more interesting.
To me it feels very much like the Activision or Ubisoft approach, where you get even the whiff of success and the immediately run the thing into the ground, with too much too soon.
Korey
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Next next generation
Personally, I agree with the idea that we shouldn’t have moved beyond the last generation. The only thing we’ve gained is SSD drives, but we could have easily added them with a new PS4 Pro/Xbox One X or just as separate add-ons. Beyond that it would’ve been far better to keep with cheaper to produce games, that could afford to be more innovative and would be released more quickly.
You can’t turn back time but to have talk of a new next generation is madness to me, when clearly no one feels the need for it and most of Microsoft and Sony’s first party studios haven’t released a single game yet. Never mind only having one game per generation, at this rate it will be one every other generation, and that’s madness.
Hundreds of people have to be employed making a game and for that to be going on for seven or more years now, without the developer making any money in-between, is clearly unsustainable. Gaming needs a PlayStation 6 like it needs an industry crash but I fear it’s going to get both.
Goshawk
Clockwork future
I like the idea about time travel for Fallout 5, that sounds really neat. Although isn’t that the basic gist of Clockwork Revolution, which is also an Xbox exclusive? I can’t see them doing the same gimmick in two games, but maybe if it doesn’t work out the first time…
Other than that, I generally like the idea of a futuristic Fallout where people have decided to clear up all the mess. I’m not sure there’s really much excuse for everyone living like Mad Max, given they seem to be able to grow crops and keep livestock. Sure, some places are radioactive, but it’s not like they’re short of space given most of the population have been vapourised.
Boogie Woogie
Industry veterans
I agree entirely with Onibee, in yesterday’s Inbox, when he says that other companies should strive to be more like Nintendo. A lot of people underestimate them because they think they’re childish and don’t make violent games but that’s not the point he was making. It’s not the kind of games they make, it’s the consistent quality and innovation that has made the so successful.
It’s also fiscal responsibility and long term thinking, which is completely different to Xbox and PlayStation. Microsoft seem to change strategies every time the wind shifts and Sony don’t seem to have any strategy at all, except to do and say as little as possible.
Nintendo treat their developers well and by and large their customers too. Obviously they’re a business, and all they’re really interested in is money, but they’ve found a way to do that consistently and sensibly, without acting like monsters and putting out great games. Why wouldn’t you, as an Xbox or PlayStation fan, want your companies to act that way?
Maybe there are people out there that think Microsoft and Sony are doing great right now, especially people who don’t care about others losing their job, but compared to Nintendo they seem like amateur hour at the moment.
Tim Rogers
As expected
I’m not really sure I understand why there’s been such a backlash on the difficulty for Shadow Of The Erdtree. Sure, it’s harder than the main game, but wouldn’t you expect that for DLC? And it’s not like it’s a massive leap forward. With my 190 level character it felt like a relatively small step up in terms of challenge.
Sure, some of the bosses are really hard but bosses are the simplest thing to make easy in Elden Ring, by just playing in co-op. I really don’t understand the sudden surprise that a game that is known for being really hard has turned out to be… really hard.
The Bishop
Risk limitation
I get all the negativity behind Concord, because that truly was a really bad reveal for the game. But while I’ve heard plenty of talk about what happens if it flops, and how it will change Sony’s live service plans, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone consider the opposite: what if it does really well?
I know Helldivers 2 shows that you can’t get a true picture until several months later but with good graphics and very easy to grasp gameplay I don’t see any reason why Concord wouldn’t do well, especially as it’s not full price.
I think it’s a mistake to assume that the average gamer is looking for anything especially new or original. In my experience the more casual a gamer you are the less likely you are to try something unusual, since you don’t want to waste your money on something you might not like.
It’s not that different from more committed gamers. People say they want something new but when it comes to spending £70 on an unknown game how adventurous are you really? I think we’ll find that something like Concord is about as risky as most people are willing to be.
Gary Bannister
Inbox also-rans
I didn’t realise the PlayStation will be 30 this Christmas. I would’ve thought Sony would’ve been celebrating all year for an anniversary like that. I’m guess Astro Bot will lean into it though.
Cranston
I just realised we still haven’t seen that turn-based Star Wars game that Respawn were supposed to be overseeing. That sounds like my dream game but it’s been years since they first mentioned. It better not get cancelled!
S-type
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