Game of the year? (pic: Microsoft)
The Thursday letters page wonders why Sony never bought Tomb Raider and Lara Croft, as one reader worries the NES is aging badly.
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Least worst script
2023 really is turning into a classic year for games. Nothing seems to come out for months but whenever something big arrives it manages to knock it out of the park. I can’t honestly think of a major disappointment this year, with Nintendo and Capcom leading the pack in terms of being at the absolute top of their game.
There’s a lot of good stuff yet to come, including Baldur’s Gate 3, Mortal Kombat 1, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Alan Wake 2, and Spider-Man 2 but I think the only one that could beat Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom (except maybe Super Mario Bros. Wonder) is Starfield. But is that really possible?
I know a lot of people talk Bethesda down, but the fact is that Skyrim is an absolute classic, still being played and re-released today, more than a decade later. I’m already feeling better about Starfield than I did Fallout 4 and I think if it all works out like they say it could actually beat Zelda in the end, if only for being something we’ve never seen before.
I do worry about the dialogue, which was pretty cringe in the trailers, but since Zelda is even worse in that area, I think the fight for the best game of the year is a lot closer than some people let on.
Forerunner
The last mascot
Assuming the Activision Blizzard buyout goes through now, that means Xbox is going to own both Crash Bandicoot and Spyro The Dragon, both games that I closely associate with the original PlayStation. I’d even say Crash was kind of the unofficial PlayStation mascot, or at least that’s how it seemed at the time.
The other one was Lara Croft, who I’m surprised Sony didn’t try to buy when she went up for sale recently. As I understand Embracer (I had to look that up, I thought it was Enabler at first) are in financial trouble at the moment so may be looking to sell it on. Amazon has already agreed to publish but why does Sony not offer to buy it completely?
Maybe they didn’t because of the lawsuits but now all that’s over I would welcome them making a move and finally having an official mascot.
Rascal
Second job
It may seem weird but I for one am very glad to hear that Star Wars Outlaws isn’t going to count as a part-time job to play through. As long as it’s not just eight hours long or something – which it doesn’t sound like it’s anywhere close to – I would much rather have something of a more reasonable length, that manages to tell a coherent story without stretching it to ridiculous lengths.
Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom is great and all but it’s so massive I have no idea when I’ll ever finish it. I’m actually glad I haven’t got an Xbox because if I did I would’ve bought Starfield and that looks just as long. I refuse to take days off just to play a video game!
Rodie
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Only five years to go
I have so much to say about Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom I had to write a second letter! First, I just wanted to defend poor Zelda. She gets a bad rap in both this game and Breath Of The Wild. It is true that the voice acting is a little off putting at first, although I did get used to her new voice in the end, but if you ignore her voice and just look purely at her actions in the game, she’s much more of a hero than even Link.
In Breath Of The Wild she single-handedly held Ganon at bay for 100 years! 100 years! That’s while suffering mental health issues surrounding the extreme world saving expectations of her. Link then swans up, does a bit of adventuring for a few months/a year and finishes him off but even then only with Zelda’s help!
In Tears of the Kingdom, without giving too much away, she makes even more of a sacrifice over an even greater period of time! I think it’s fair to say Link would be nothing without her! He just seems to take all the credit! I think people forget Zelda is the embodiment of the Triforce of Wisdom.
She fights just as hard as Link but in her own way. Not every battle is won with a sword, as evidenced in the games themselves! Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see Zelda take a more active role in a future title but to say she’s somehow a wimp in these two entries in particular seems completely erroneous to me.
The other thing I wanted to ponder was where Nintendo go from here. Breath Of The Wild seemed impossible to follow up but somehow Nintendo managed to surpass all expectations. How do you follow up Tears Of The Kingdom though? This time they had the base of the first title to build on but making something this vast and detailed from scratch seems a magnitude of task too far even for Nintendo. It’ll be fascinating to see what they do.
In terms of setting, I think I’d like to see another seafaring adventure along the lines of The Wind Waker. It’d be interesting to see what could be done now with an open ocean-based world. Beneath the waves could be explorable too, like the Depths are in Tears Of The Kingdom. Searching for treasure, finding underwater cities, it could be incredible.
I guess otherwise I’d like to see a much smaller, more intricate world like Majora’s Mask was. A full living, breathing world of people living out their daily lives, maybe with some sort of Light/Dark World system in play. Who knows what it will actually be? I know I can’t wait to find out though!
Ryan O’D
GC: It’s pretty hard to get past Zelda’s voice-acting, which really is very bad.
Digital only
I’ve got a couple of questions unrelated to each other and I was wondering if GameCentral or their readers can answer them for me please:
1. I am interested in buying a physical version of The Touryst on PlayStation 4 and I was wondering if I put the game in my PlayStation 5, will I get an upgrade to the PS5 version free?
2. My second question is I want to buy a game (Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective) for a friend and family on Xbox via the Xbox Store, when you gift a game can you choose what day they will receive it on Xbox? i.e.
for Christmas Day or a birthday? On Steam it has this option to schedule the game for a certain date.
Andrew J.
GC: We don’t have much experience with either of those issues, but we’re sure a reader can help.
The cruel mistress
I do not want to trample over the NES’s legacy (after having one with Super Mario Bros. and two control pads in 1992) but apart from the Super Mario Bros. trilogy, what other games have stood the test of time?
I’ve re-played a few of my favourites from back in the day but they’re just not as good as I remember them.
Double Dragon 2 is a prime example; It was my favourite game but now it’s horrible to play, with the attack buttons changing depending on the direction you’re facing.
This was always the case but these days I’m less inclined to tolerate such a gaming mechanic.
Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles is still rock hard, and I found the first Zelda boring even back then.
LeighDappa
GC: A better question would be how many 35+ year old games, on any format, still stand up today. Without caveats, it’s precious few and most of them are probably coin-ops. Also, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles was always rubbish.
Pay attention at the back
Am I the only person wondering why there is a PS5 Pro? I assumed the disc version was the Pro one, like I assumed the Xbox Series X was the Xbox version?
Anyhoo. Have you ever made a Hot Topic asking what people do when not gaming?
Bobwallett
GC: The disc version is just… the version that takes discs. Technically the Xbox Series S is slightly less powerful than the Series X but not in the way you’re implying.
More: Trending
Glass half full
Lots of letters coming in on Sony’s travails… I think Spider-Man 2 will do just fine. Have you seen how much money the current animated and last Marvel movie have made? Starfield, while I’m sure it’ll be the better game, doesn’t have nearly that mass market appeal (outside the US and UK at least) and Nintendo are really their own thing at this point, so while Super Mario Bros. Wonder will easily outsell both it’s probably not on Sony or Microsoft’s radar to worry about.
On Project Q, I second a lot of people who wish Sony would put out a proper handheld, like most I’ve been playing a lot of Zelda recently but I did bust out the PS Vita as a gaming pallet cleanser in between sessions exploring Hyrule. I’d forgotten how much of a great portable gaming device it is even today, with some games like Rayman Legends and Danganronpa actually better than the Switch ports.
With development as resource intensive as it is it’s probably not possible to sustain studios to put out games for two separate machines (even Nintendo doesn’t do that anymore) but wonder if there is something in putting out a handheld that can play old games. Similar to the retro handhelds that flood the market now, but official.
In retrospect, Sony are at a big disadvantage with the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 being such bespoke hardware, making it difficult to put out a cheaper and smaller current tech portable machine that could just run those games natively. If a Project Q remote played PlayStation 4 and 5 titles as expected and could play those older generation (and indie) titles natively for when you’re away from the Wi-Fi… then it’d become a lot more compelling.
Microsoft would be much better positioned to do this since all old Xboxes are essentially off the shelf PC architecture and they’ve done a lot of the technical work on backwards compatibility, so it’s a shame they’re obsessed with the cloud, which is still years away when offering an experience comparable to native play.
Marc
Inbox also-rans
I still can’t get over what a terrible name Immortals Fenyx Rising is. I don’t know what’s worse, that they picked that or all the money the people that made that decision must earn. It was months before I realised it’s supposed to be pronounced phoenix!
Xetra
Count me as another person that’s not impressed by Mortal Kombat 1 not having any new characters. Especially as they seem to have all the time in the world for these irrelevant superhero crossovers.
Rexis
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Gannet, who asks what is the most excited you’ve ever been over an upcoming new release?
Although it’s the summer games drought at the moment, it won’t be long until this year’s big autumn games are upon us. But what’s the most you’ve ever anticipated a new video game and how did the dream compare to the reality?
Generally speaking, how invested do you get in pre-release hype and how do you feel about the suggestion that it can sometimes be more entertaining than the games themselves?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
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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.
MORE : Games Inbox: Buying a PS5 Pro if you own a PS5, Project Q scepticism, and Colony Wars reboot
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The Thursday letters page wonders why Sony never bought Tomb Raider and Lara Croft, as one reader worries the NES is aging badly.
