The morning Inbox pines for the return of Sensible Soccer, as one reader makes some suggestions for the future of Tomb Raider.
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PLEASE NOTE: The main GameCentral team are away at a press event today, so there will be no evening Inbox. Normal service will resume tomorrow.
Extinction risk
I would like to write in about a subject I never thought would ever be an issue: the death of the first person shooter. Like anything that’s super popular there’s got to be a downside to everything but when you look at how big this concept was in the Xbox 360 era and how it is now it almost seems like a niche. There is Call Of Duty, and to a degree Battlefield, and Fortnite is third person but still kind of similar. But it’s undeniable that there are few fewer of the games than there ever used to be.
I think there are two key reasons why, the first being the decline of single-player games. They may not be as dead as EA once claimed but most of the big new ones are third person action adventures and role-players. Now combine this with the fact that it’s becoming harder and harder to make a new big name multiplayer game. Used to be that every man and his dog was constantly trying but lately most companies have realised it’s too costly and have just stuck to their guaranteed sellers.
It’s not good for any genre to dominate for too long but I hope that there is a renaissance for first person shooters soon. If this year’s Call Of Duty has a story campaign that will be a good sign, but I’d also like to see EA revitalise Battlefield/front and other big companies like Ubisoft give it a go again. More importantly I’d like to see indies try because they’re always a friend to niche franchise and they may not realise how much the good old FPS needs their help.
Pluto
Only new
I would be totally happy with a new Onimusha. I will probably be getting the remaster, as a show of support if nothing else, and would definitely be interested in a big budget sequel. Especially if it looks as good as Resident Evil 2.
I do agree with the letter a few days ago though, that said that the lack of new IP this generation has been shameful. It’s never good, to be honest, but the complete lack of effort by some publishers is shocking and I can’t even pretend I’m sorry that they’re being made to pay for it by lowering sales of big franchises.
If I was a big publisher I would set-up a separate label and just pump out new IP through that. Just like movie studios do with things like Fox Searchlight (to be shut down by Disney now, no doubt). They kind of do that with indie games, but they’re always small budget affairs made by someone else. I’d much rather see EA and Activision themselves experiment, it doesn’t have to be mega budget but at least pretend like you’re interested in moving the industry forward.
Eaglemon
Personality goes a long way
Nice feature at the weekend about Tomb Raider. I find the trilogy hard to really assess myself as though it seemed to do a lot right, and I remember really liking the reboot, in the end it all seems to amount to very little. I thought the final game was perfectly fine and yet I remember almost nothing about it except the weird plot stuff in the hidden city and finding some kid’s lost dice.
They’re good games, well made, with good graphics and better gameplay than Uncharted. But in terms of personality there’s just nothing there. They’re essentially the opposite of Uncharted and it’s interesting which seems the most memorable and ‘fun’.
A lot of people bring up Lara having no personality and the stories taking themselves too seriously, and I think that’s definitely true. I also think it’s on purpose and they were trying to do be the anti-Uncharted. Like the DCEU to the Marvel cinematic universe.
But it hasn’t really worked and I think they’ll only be really successful again when they embrace what the games used to be and the fact that it’s impossible to take it all completely serious. I don’t want Lara the murder machine I want Lara the… likeable person who enjoys her life. Is that such a bad idea?
Gadfly
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Hard to find
Would just like to say thank you to GC for your continued coverage of PlayStation VR, something which most websites seem to all but ignore, apparently because they don’t get many hits. I seem to remember you saying they did okay for you so I’m relieved. Not only would I never have been inspired to buy a headset if it wasn’t for the enthusiasm on the Inbox but I would never have known about games like Astro Bot, Thumper, Beat Saber, and Moss if it were not for GC’s reviews.
I’d say Sony’s marketing for them has been terrible but just their marketing for digital games in general seems really poor. It used to be that they would actively promote indie games and lesser known titles but now the PlayStation Store is just the big name games and nothing else. Stuff you always already know about and don’t need any reminding about.
It’s basically turned into the App Store where it’s impossible to come across anything good by accident and is only useful if you already know exactly what to search for. I know it’s a difficult problem but Sony (I wouldn’t know about Microsoft) are getting worse at it and not better. I don’t need reminding that Call Of Duty is out, I do need to know that Astro Bot is one of the best games I’ve ever played.
Geoffrely
PS: Any new reviews coming up soon?
GC: Our next one will probably be Fisherman’s Tales, which is absolutely not what it sounds like. (Assuming you think it sounds like a fishing game.)
Good enough
I do agree that the Switch hardware design is going to end up looking extra prophetic once streaming comes in, I never really thought of it like that. But I also agree that as soon as streaming becomes a thing and everyone starts doing it on mobiles (which I’m sure they will) touchscreen controls are going to completely take over.
That doom was sealed the minute that Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds were proved to work on mobiles and since that’s good enough they’ll absolutely focus on that and joypads will just be a niche extra only used by the hardcore.
It pains me to think about it, and how inevitable it all is, but now the genie’s out of the bottle there’s no going back. ‘Good enough’ is, after all, the motto of every publisher who only cares enough about the quality of their game that it doesn’t negatively affect sales or profits. Cynical? I’d say realistic.
Watson
Fantasy football
Randomly today at work, I was reminiscing about the days of Sensible Soccer and then International Superstar Soccer when I had an idea.
Konami should just forget about chasing licenses and competing with FIFA and offer an alternative experience instead.
I’ve always enjoyed their football games more than EA’s so what if they ditched real-life teams completely. Take a leaf out of Sensible Soccer’s book and have teams like ‘Pizza Toppings’ and ‘Toolbox FC’. The players don’t even need to be in football kits, they could be a team full of ninjas or zombies.
Deliver the fantastic football game experience with a difference and hilarity like Sensible Soccer once did.
I bet it would sell better than another game trying to better FIFA and they wouldn’t need to fork out any money for licensing. Just a thought!
FatysHenrys
Limited use
Onimusha already would have taken the face likeness aspect into account. The main character is the likeness of Takeshi Taneshiro. Whether Jean Reno objects to his likeness being used again would probably depend on the wording of their contracts.
Obakasama
GC: It is an interesting point because, as you imply, every contract is likely to be different and it’s easy to imagine actors’ faces being removed from games they were previously in. Something similar already happens with sports games that have to pay a licence to feature real sportspeople.
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Under the radar
I noticed you haven’t published a news story on the new gameplay trailer released for Outward and I haven’t seen it on any other sites so I thought I would write in. I hadn’t really seen anything of this game but I am quite impressed with the new trailer as it looks a great action role-playing game with really nice graphics and the gameplay looks a lot of fun. It is releasing on 26 March 2019 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC which seems crazy with all the other games launching over the next few months!
The developers say that rather than playing as a hero with crazy supernatural powers you will be playing as a normal human being and be much more vulnerable. There also is some survival elements to it so you have to eat, drink, and sleep regularly. Depending on how intricate they make the survival aspects that could be a deal breaker for me, as I don’t really like those mechanics, but if it’s fairly light I don’t mind it too much.
It has a fairly standard fantasy type setting typical of most role-playing games but it looks really good and the creatures look interesting with a Fable-esque art style to it that I like the look of. It also has two-player split-screen and online co-op, which is rare in an action role-player and could be a lot of fun with a friend.
I thought it deserves a shout out so it doesn’t pass by unnoticed.
Big Angry Dad82 (gamertag)
Inbox also-rans
The Pinkerton company in Red Dead and all the movies is still around? Wow, that is not something I would’ve expected. Although I guess things like Lloyds of London are much older. Still weird though.
Mikey
If certain Lego games are removed from digital stores due to licensing would it not make sense to let the public know so they could sell as many as possible before they were removed?
Walleroo
GC: Next thing you’ll be suggesting is that publishers pick sensible release dates that don’t conflict with each other.
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Rooster, who asks what’s your most annoying video game pet peeve?
What’s the one thing that always frustrates you no matter how good the rest of the game is? It can be anything from an overfamiliar level setting (sewers, ice worlds, etc.), to annoying gameplay concepts (time limits, boss battles), to cliched story points and characters (rescue the princess or save New York). What do you find so irritating about them and what’s the worst example you can think of?
Have any of these problems completely ruined a game for you, or put you off buying it? Was the problem fixed with a patch or in a sequel or did you just have to try and put up with it?
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