Games Inbox: What is Rockstar’s best video game?

The Friday letters page isn’t sure what to make of the new Resident Evil movie trailer, as a reader tries to work out what Xbox’s next gen plan might be.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Personal best
People have been talking about Rockstar games that aren’t GTA recently and it got me thinking what is actually their best game? I think a lot of people would say GTA 5, at the moment, but since it’s so old I’ve kind of got sick of it and can’t bring myself to play GTA Online anymore.

But if it’s not that then the obvious answer is Red Dead Redemption 2 and I’m afraid to say I don’t really see anything else as being particularly close. L.A. Noire was only ever a novelty, they never worked out what to do in lessons with Bully, and The Warriors wasn’t a particularly good beat ‘em up.

I could see an argument for their table tennis game but, let’s be real, it’s Red Dead Redemption 2 that’s the best thing they’ve ever done. Let’s hope that changes with GTA 6 though or otherwise this long wait will have been for nothing.
Larson

Movie accurate
Great preview of 007 First Light and very glad to hear that it’s looking good, as I’ve found the trailers so far a little underwhelming. GoldenEye 007 may have been a great game but it wasn’t very much like a Bond movie. He doesn’t gun down dozens of people every five minutes and while there was a more than that to the game, it’s still a shooter before anything else.

This game sounds like it’s actually like one of the movies, where you’re doing the same sort of stuff. I particularly like the idea of just wandering around a party and listening in and chatting to people. It might not sound very exciting but it’s the sort of thing you’d see in the films but that most games would leave out or put in a cut scene. Will be keeping a close eye on this from now on.
Coby

Reinventing the wheel
I do agree that relying on remakes is not the way forward for Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft are obviously trying to copy Capcom, but the thing is the old Resident Evil games, even 4, are almost unplayable nowadays with their clunky controls and retro graphics. Nobody but a hardcore fan is going to pick up 2 on the PlayStation and play it nowadays, so it needed a remake.

But Black Flag still looks fine for an Xbox 360 and while the new version will look better it’s not suddenly going to make an outdated game playable again.

It’ll probably sell anyway, because nostalgia, but for me it’s a distraction from making the next game better. Shadows was fine but it was the setting and graphics that sold it. I don’t see anyone getting excited about witch trials in Germany like they did about being a ninja in Japan.
Schnorbitz

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Evil in residence
I’ve seen a lot of negative responses to the Resident Evil movie trailer, but I think this breakdown by the director explains things pretty well. He basically says that he’s trying to get across the style of the game, rather than repeating any of the stories.

So you’ve got a third person camera that acts like a game, lots of sorting through drawers, and always hunting for keys and ammunition and health. So the film is doing all the things the games do but this time the hero is just a regular guy who isn’t a combat pro or anything.

I’m not saying it’s going to work, or that it’s the best way to go, but it’s got to be a better approach than the terrible last one, which was the closest one of the films has been to the games. I’d much rather it be a good film than an authentic one, especially after having seen the latest Mario.
Zeiss

A Link to the cinema
Hey, here’s food for thought and I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself right now.

The Legend of Zelda movie will be out in the not too distant future. Let’s assume that there is likely to be a sequel. Only a few Legend of Zelda titles have used the same Link as the main character, hence the legend.

If a sequel is made are they going to use the same cast or stay true to the games by having a completely different blonde-haired boy?

I told you I was getting ahead of myself.
freeway 77

GC: Clearly the answer is to choose someone with pink hair.

Things can only get worse
I know they weren’t expecting anything better, but those Xbox sales results are just tragic. They’re so bad I don’t understand how it could ever be turned round. I get Microsoft is mega rich and nothing that happens with Xbox is ever going to be more than pocket change to them but what is the long term plan here?

No one’s going to buy a Project Helix, we can put that ridiculous idea to bed right now. Unless it’s half the price of PlayStation 5, but it sounds like I’ll be more like twice. They’re not making enough money from selling games, even on PlayStation 5 – although they can’t seem to get their act together on that anyway, and have things like Forza Horizon 6 come out at the same time.

So I think the theory of just sitting there waiting until video game streaming becomes big is probably the best explanation, but good luck with that. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t but if there’s one thing we know Microsoft isn’t very good at it’s predicting the future.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter, since Xbox is basically irrelevant now, and to be honest, if they did give up on gaming, we’d only get someone even worse come in a try and take their place. The damage they’d done with buying up so many companies is awful but I’m sure it could be even worse.
Cranston

Multiple problems
Maybe I’m a bit slow but I don’t get why everyone is moaning about Sony and DRM. As far as I can tell it’s so they can check that you have a right to play that game if you have download it.

It means you have got broadband in order to download it, so I can’t see the problem. As a download you haven’t bought the game, you have bought the right to play the game. So what’s the problem?
David

GC: It took days for Sony to explain what it was for, leaving people to guess. Also, sometimes your broadband, or PS Plus, goes down.

Indirect adaptation
So that Resident Evil movie trailer was very interesting. Zach Cregger is a great filmmaker, so I don’t think there’s any doubt this is going to be the best made video game movie ever. Although the situation’s so bad I don’t even know what would be the second best, at least until Elden Ring appears.

The very obvious problem is that there’s absolutely nothing in the trailer that makes it obvious it’s Resident Evil. If it didn’t say the name I doubt anybody would make the connection. Maybe there are some Lickers or Hunters hiding just off-screen but I get the feeling there aren’t and that the monsters are all original.

If this was a game and that was the case I’d be all for it but for a film it does start to stray into ‘What is the point?’ territory. If nothing about the film is like the games, except maybe some zombies, should it even be called Resident Evil?

But… what if the secret of making a good video game movie is to make it have very little in common with the games beyond the general concept/atmosphere. Cregger can make whatever he wants and if it’s good that would be a hell of a lot better than anything else before it. Then just slap the Resident Evil name on and he can say it was inspired by the games, while only having the most basic of similarities.

I’ll watch it because I like his previous stuff and I like Resident Evil, but I can see a lot of super fans getting upset about it because it’s not just a nostalgia fest.
Focus

Inbox also-rans
That Invincible VS game sounds a bit disappointing. Can I ask whether Damien Darkblood is in it as a playable character?
Keyts

GC: Sadly not.

Someone took the innards out of a Switch 2 cartridge and sold the empty plastic shell? That is so much effort to rip someone off for a few pounds. People are the worst.
Jsper

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
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