The Tuesday letters page worries that GTA 6 may get itself banned, as one reader celebrates Star Wars: Galactic Racer and its British creators.
Legal concerns
I assume Rockstar has had its lawyers going over GTA 6 and they’re sure it’s not going to get into trouble, but I have difficulty believing there’s not going to be a lot of complaints around it. People are already talking about the adult content and obvious controversy is going to sell, but snorting cocaine whenever you want? Actual proper sex scenes? There are definitely going to be attempts to get it banned in the US. I can even see the point of view of those that will try to. They won’t be doing it for the right reasons but at the end of the day, despite the 18 rating, tons of kids are going to be playing this game and having virtual sex, snorting coke, and shooting cats and dogs and whatever the other 168 other animals are. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want it banned but I do think there is a good chance it might be. Younger gamers won’t remember the Hot Coffee thing but that almost got GTA: San Andreas banned and it was an unused minigame that you could only see with a mod. You can say the world has changed in 20+ years, but I wouldn’t bet on it if I was them.
Tamol
Better late than never
I’m not against the idea of Sony farming out revivals of dead franchises to outside developers but I am a bit worried if that’s their big idea for the PlayStation 6. For starters, they could’ve done this six years ago, when the PlayStation 5 first came out. I assume the idea is for lower budget, probably shorter games, so why wasn’t that a priority all along? Sony can’t have been surprised that games were going to take longer to make so why only a reaction now, six years later? Like I said, it is overall a good decision, or at least until we see who they get to do them. I would’ve been a lot happier if Team Asobi was doing Ape Escape and I’m very curious who they’d get for Jak And Daxter. For those that don’t know, that’s what Naughty Dog was doing before Uncharted so there’s a lot of pressure.
SmokeyBandit
Change of heart
So hang on, Dan Houser never watches or plays anything similar to what he’s working on at the time? So it wasn’t his idea to fill all the older GTA games with endless references to famous movies? Back in the GTA 3 days they used to rip-off whole scenes and call it a homage! There’s no way Dan Houser didn’t have some influence on these, even if they weren’t strictly his idea. I guess he’d say his methods changed over the years, but it still seems a surprising thing to come out with. Still, I think his leaving is going to be seen as having a big effect on GTA 6. It’s probably why it’s more realistic and seems to be less funny. Whether that’ll make it a worse game I don’t know but it’ll definitely be different. I’m curious to see what he does next, with his new games, but considering what happened to the guy behind MindsEye, who was also a big deal at Rockstar, it’s obviously not a sure thing.
Mallard
The three REs
Have become quite depressed with the chatter over where Resident Evil goes, now they’ve ticked off all the obvious remakes. I mean, remaking the fifth or sixth entries, really? That’s the best our imagination can come up with? Capcom could take this anywhere, after the stellar work on the fourth game… so why tie yourselves to these dated and not particularly well-loved entries? Just stick them in the bin and do an all-new Resident Evil to follow on from four. Send the characters off on a new adventure, apart from killing them off you could pretty much do anything without messing up the story continuity. Maybe Capcom is looking to do this with the Code: Veronica remake, which from trailers already looks very different to the original in tone. Gaming culture has become very conservative of late. We have become obsessed with seeing remakes of our favourite childhood games and throw our arms in the air over any changes beyond better graphics and some quality of life adjustments. Even Nintendo, who usually set the direction of gameplay innovation after launching new hardware, have fallen back on by-the-numbers sequels and remakes with the Switch 2. If you’re gonna bring something back… then Resident Evil 2 with it’s completely transformed tone and gameplay or Final Fantasy 7 with its clever integration of past knowledge into the new narrative are the way to go Why not mess with expectations a bit? Serve up the memberberries gamers demand and then flip expectations. Als, no, publishers are so scared of online backlashes from unimaginative, obsessive gamers demanding comfort food all we get these pedestrian reruns. Is there anything more tedious than gamers discussing the arbitrary rules over what a remake, remaster or reboot is?
Marc
GC: We were with you up until the last sentence. Those three things are very different concepts.
Now this is game buying
As good a year as it’s been, it occurred to me that it’s taken until the 6th of October for me to feel compelled to actually pick up a release from this year, in Star Wars: Galactic Racer. As a fan of 90s arcade racers it was always going to be a day one buy if the reviews were good, which they are. Nice that it’s supporting the first game from a British studio. Fuse Games are based only 20 miles from me in Guildford. A town with a long history of quality gaming development. That Guilford Cathedral was used for a scene in The Omen is about the only other thing I know about the place. I did do jury duty at the magistrates courts last year too. But it’s hosting the likes of Bullfrog in the 90s and Hello Games now that I know Guildford for.
Simundo
GC: As the ‘Silicon Valley of England’, Guildford has long been associated with the video games industry, although much less so in the last decade or two.
Shopping advice
GC, help/advice is needed. I traded some old electricals at CeX and got a voucher to use. I want to make a Switch/2 purchase, however, here’s my dilemma… the choice! There are a good few games I have my eye on, firstly Metroid Prime Remastered. Loved Metroid Prime, but I never got on with 2 and 3, and it did pique my interest when released. However, do I really want to replay something I already played, no matter how good I think it was? Same goes for Star Fox, absolutely adored that game in my yoof! But wanna play it new, hmm?! Next is Donkey Kong Bananza, although it’s by the Super Mario Odyssey team it never actually grabbed my attention, the destructible scenery would do my head in, either trying to keep it structured or levelling it all… completely! And I feel that would be too much after a little while. Metroid Prime 4 is next Metroid Prime by name only it seems. As said earlier, loved Metroid Prime but 2 and 3 not so much. But would I perhaps prefer something new to something familiar? Those chatty companions and motorbike sections seem like they drag the experience down, so I’m in two minds. Lastly, they have Yoshi and his magical book thing and Kirby And the Forgotten Land on both the Switch 2 and the Switch, which is cheaper. I did enjoy the demo of Kirby, but thought I’d probably seen all that was to see by the end of that, so there is my dilemma, what to use my precious voucher on? Please don’t say, it sounds like you’ve made your decision, because I really haven’t, I would just prefer it if you could list them in order of how you enjoyed them, most to least, please and thank you very much.
big boy bent
PS: Fingers crossed they don’t have Fire Emblem in next/this week!
PPS: I will be getting Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, so I’m not averse to remakes or remasters.
GC: We’re not sure if you’re questioning whether to get a Switch console or if you have one already and just want some new games? Everything you mentioned, except Metroid Prime 4, is good.
Reverse psychology
I wonder if everyone expecting Microsoft to shut down the developer of Gears Of War: E-Day could be the one thing that saves them? If they do it in one go there’ll be such a ruckus I’m not sure Xbox will ever live it down. The game reviewed okay so maybe they’ll be alright for at least a while. More likely Microsoft will just cut staff a little bit at a time and by the time anyone realises most of them have gone there’ll probably be a bigger problem going on. I don’t own an Xbox, by the way, I just don’t like the idea of these people being sacrificed the minute their work is done.
Gonch
Better than terrible
Resident Evil 6 may be the worst Resident Evil game but it’s not a terrible game. If you grew up in the late noughties through to the 2010s it’s actually a brilliant time capsule of movies and games of those eras. Leon’s campaign is the classic Resident Evil experience, albeit not done very well. You can make it a lot more fun by diving all over the show and ammo is plentiful. The main boss fight goes on forever and the story is straight out of an action movie. It does have some horror moments though. It tries and fails to blend the PS1 and Resident Evil 4 style of survival horror. Jake and Sherry’s campaign is the stalker section à la Mr X/Nemesis. It also has some Resident Evil movie-esque abilities, with Jake and Sherry both being capable of great feats of strength and martial arts due to the T-virus, and just to top it all off Jake is the son of none other than Albert Wesker. Which because of video game story logic means he can gain powers from the T-virus. Then there is Chris’ campaign. The Call Of Duty/Gears of War style. A jarhead mercenary who is running away from a bad thing that happened many years ago on a mission, drinking his sorrows and trauma away until he’s approached to do one last mission. At one point you pilot a fighter jet. It also has a great ending to the campaign. The worst Resident Evil game is still an alright game if you want to go back to the olden days of gaming. I think up until recently it was still the best-selling too. Or at least 5 and 6 both sold close to 20 million each.
Anthony Daniels
GC: It was the best-selling entry for quite a while, yes.
Inbox also-rans
So Sony’s plan for a next gen grand-plus console is that you will be able to play Ape Escape and Sly Cooper on it! Games that could run on a PlayStation 4 or at the very least PlayStation 5… not really a selling point for a next gen console.
TWO MACKS
Just realised that Crash Bandicoot’s 30th anniversary came and went and Activision didn’t do a single thing for it. There were rumours of new announcements and everything, what a disappointment.
Sluggo
GC: He was in Fortnite, that’s probably all Activision was getting at.
