Starfield – how many bugs are too many? (Picture: Bethesda)

The Monday letters page prepares for an influx of belated Starfield reviews, as another reader reveals their destructive, anti-gaming pet.

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Above average bugs
So, I’m playing Starfield at the moment and… I wouldn’t want to review it, I tell you. I think the Reader’s Feature saying it is mediocre is probably the closest to my feelings. I think some people take mediocre to be some great insult, but it just means average, which is really no crime. I’d even say Starfield was a little above average, if only because it’s something a bit different, but from what I’ve seen so far it doesn’t do any one thing especially well.

The other reader was right too, in saying that it’s boring. Maybe not the most boring of the decade, or whatever, but it’s pretty repetitive and a lot of the missions drag on for far too long.

Bethesda can play all that off as being intended, and that’s their prerogative, but the one complaint that cannot be hand-waved way is the bugs. Okay, it might not be Fallout 76 or Cyberpunk 2077, but this is a buggy game, that has well above average the usual number of glitches.

I’ve had it crash on me multiple times (on Xbox), the enemy AI frequently just sits down and has a picnic, the companion AI is either stuck in panic attack mode or completely disinterested in what’s going on. Objects will float in the air, the physics engine often throws a wobbly, and dialogue sometimes doesn’t appear when it should.

I cannot help but think of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, which is a vastly more complex game on a vastly less powerful console and I didn’t see a single bug in that game in the 200 hours I was playing it. That wasn’t Nintendo magic, that was because they put aside a whole year for spit and polish. Bethesda need to switch off the hype machine put in more work on these problems.
Grant

Power matters not
My first game was operation Market Garden on the 48K Spectrum in 1985. Since then, I have brought probably close to a thousand games including the Fallout series and Skyrim.

My Machine is an 11th generation Intel Core i7-11700 @ 3.60GHZ, NVidia GeForce RTX 3070, and 32GB DD4 RAM installed on a Samsung SSD using a BenQ EW3270U monitor.

Starfied freezes and stutters, the audio is not synched, and when I have sold items, my credits reduce rather than increase. I am sorry but this game should never have been released in this condition and Bethseda should be ashamed of themselves.
Kevin

Drunk reviewing
Well, Starfield is here and loads of people on my friends list are playing it. I myself have had about two hours so far and it’s been impressive. There’s so much (it seems) that you can do. I’m hoping to get many hours of gameplay out of it.

I read your early impressions. I’ll be interested to read your full review when it’s released. I’m optimistic the end of the game will be outstanding, and you’ll give it a 9. And no, I’ve not been drinking.
Manic miner 100 (gamertag)

GC: That was going to be our first guess.

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Out of stock
With the recent comments about physical vs. digital, I’d like to say I still prefer discs myself. Main reason being the option of trading or selling them on.

I am, however, finding it more difficult getting them from the shops.

My latest experience was last week, with the release of Agatha Christie – Hercule Poirot: The London Case. My usual places to buy from are Asda, Smyths, or GAME. Now I know that this game is a bit more obscure compared to the big releases but I did still expect to find it no problem at GAME. After all, they are supposed to be the video game specialists.

So on release day I went up the three floors of my local Sports Direct. Couldn’t find the game and was told by a member staff to try again in a few days. So I did but they still hadn’t got it and advised me to buy it online instead. I did this in the end but from Argos, as GAME charge P&P.

I do think sadly this is the way it is going and eventually the only titles in the shops will be the AAA games.
Tony- -1975 (PSN ID)

Cat Sith
I feel r-s-w’s pain. I was happily immersed in the Star Wars universe, playing Star Wars Squadrons, a couple of years ago when my headset suddenly switched off. On removing said headset, I was greeted by the sight of my cat chewing the cable. ‘I have a bad feeling about this,’ doesn’t even come close.

I ended up buying a second-hand headset and wrapping the cable in protective trunking, which I then wrapped in masking tape just to make sure.

It’s a good job she’s cute.
Coinslot-

She looks both cute and unreasonably angry (Picture: Coinslot-)

Unsaid assumption
For the Hot Topic, can’t believe (and kicking myself for not writing in, which is likely a good prod) that the Lego games weren’t mentioned.

They are classic co-op games. One player uses this power on that, the other goes over and moves the thing, etc.

In my opinion, the best console to play them on was the Wii U. Being able to play one player on the TV and one on the pad was amazing and set it apart from the other formats’ split-screen gameplay.

Performance wasn’t as good as other formats (probably a feat to get the later ones working) but the two-screen mechanic made it play so much better.
Si

GC: As we always say, if everyone assumes everyone else will write in about something then nobody ends up doing it. Although we suspect the oblique reference to a co-op Star Wars game was probably Lego.

Sliding scale
I had been enjoying Gravity Rush 2 for a couple of weeks, for the most part, taking a break from it now that I’m going through the World Tour in Street Fighter 6. The side quests are, barring only a few exceptions, pretty dull, but what has so far prevented me beating it – despite the fact that I’ve nearly done so – is a bugbear I have with platform games of this type.

It is a platformer, right? I mean if NiGHTS Into Dreams is, then so is this, yeah?

Anyway, what really sucks the joy out of this game for me – and is a problem for the Psychonauts games and even Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time – way too much emphasis on combat. And not just bosses, but skirmishes against the rank-and-file, the cannon fodder, the minions, henchmen, grunts. Yes, even Sands Of Time. The combat system was good (what else lets you block whilst you’re down on the floor?) but far too much of it. By the time you get to running a gauntlet of them in the elevator sequence I was just so sick of fighting. It wasn’t the main appeal of the game.

Same for Psychonauts. And unlike Sands Of Time, Psychonauts had very good bosses. Not that there should be no enemies in platform games, or the only combat should be against bosses – but regular enemies should just be part of the furniture – downed in one or two hits maximum. Like Mario and Sonic, typically.

Now, I’ve gone on record of hating Sonic Frontiers. The combat mechanics are very good, actually. The enemy aesthetics are pretty boring, but the thing is… why is it here? Why does a Sonic game have lengthy combat encounters that stop the flow of the game? Why is that a good idea?

I’m reminded of a line from Transformers: The Movie, where Hot Rod and Kup are trying to get back into Autobot City before it closes up. The Insecticons are trying to literally eat their way through the city walls.

‘The Insecticons are in our way!’ says Kup.

‘Wrong!’ Hot Rod replies. ‘They’re our way in!’

The point being, in a platform game the pleasure should mainly be in navigating the world the developers have made for you. Small time enemies should be primarily there to help you create a better momentum for when you become more experienced with the game. Well, I think so anyway.
DMR

GC: That’s a very dogmatic view of platformers. The sub-genre of action platformer existed even before the likes of Castlevania.

More: Trending

Mean streets of Cydonia
I haven’t played Starfield yet but one thing I can comment on, is that it was a good idea of the developers, leaving the planets as empty as stated recently. With its intended purpose of being vast yet balanced. Like Mars and other planets in our solar system.

And of course, they can make planets in the future as well, with more detail, and make changes based on criticism. But only on criticism in which the developers can make a change. And don’t take any offense, think like a creator before posting comments.
Jonas

GC: Mars is heavily industrialised in the game; it and its moons are used as shipyards.

Post-game review
With a bunch of mixed reviews for Starfield, and debates regarding the reviews, which Bethesda did not seem to help by delaying reviews of some gaming critics known for being very precise and hard with their subject matter, it’s no wonder that normal gaming folk could be confused about the whole situation.

The irony of it all is that the game is pretty much what you’d want a game of this calibre to be like. Obviously, I am talking to folks who know what the game’s basic premise is and how this type of game plays out.

Starfield is relatively bug free and a joy to play. Not quite sure what these spoilers are all about by completing the game for New Game+ mode and starting the game again, that just seems kinda like a weird thing for a game like this to do. I like doing the main quest and being distracted by doing the many side quests. There are more smaller missions than I had expected and these are very good for the most part, and just so darn fun and intriguing.

I’ll be reading the reviews from delayed websites soon, as I’ve been so caught up with the game and a review is not going to sell me a game that I’ve already gotten! So if a 7 out of 10 is going to be the score on average, then I do get games quite regularly throughout the years with these scores and quite frankly Todd Howard seems to have been good to his word.
Alucard

GC: New Game+ has some neat twists but it doesn’t change anything that radically.

Inbox also-rans
RE: PlayStation VR2. Yes, it is only six months old but the terrible act that occurred was not covered under the warranty conditions, hence an out of warranty fix was the only option left. By the way, is it worth running a Hot Topic on pets vs. gaming?
r-s-w

GC: We would’ve said we didn’t think there’d be enough, but we’ve already had another one today.

I don’t play video games on the big TV anymore. But I have been thinking about purchasing the portable PlayStation Portal to play Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m not sure if you can know this before the device is released but do you think the screen size will be too small to play the game properly?
R

GC: That’s an interesting question, because, as we noted in our review, the UI is a lot less cluttered on console compared to PC. We couldn’t say for sure though – Sony hasn’t showed the device off in anything more than a few seconds of video footage.

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Onibee, who asks what new games would you like to see released for the Switch 2 in its first 12 months?

Rumours about Nintendo’s next console are gathering pace, with reliable sources claiming it will be roughly as powerful as a PlayStation 4 – or perhaps even more so. There has been some vague talk of new games, such as a new 3D Mario, but nothing substantial, so what would you like to see most in terms of first and third party games?

Try and keep things realistic – Nintendo isn’t going to release all its heavy hitters at the same time – but feel free to imagine your dream launch line-up, as long as it’s also reasonably believable.

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

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.

MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: The best co-op video games

MORE : Games Inbox: Starfield review fairness, Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom DLC, and Baldur’s Gate 3 appreciation

MORE : Games Inbox: Starfield launch day excitement, Baldur’s Gate 3 on PS5, and Sea Of Stars love

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The Monday letters page prepares for an influx of belated Starfield reviews, as another reader reveals their destructive, anti-gaming pet.