The Friday Inbox has an early reaction to the death of Sir Clive Sinclair, as one reader looks forward to Sociable Soccer.
To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Beta bother
So I got a few hours in on the Call Of Duty: Vanguard beta and… yep, that sure is a Call Of Duty game. I’m honestly not sure what to say or what I really expected. It’s very slick, the gunplay is excellent as always, and the graphics are good, but it really doesn’t feel much different from Modern Warfare, just with a scenery change.
Some of the maps seem too big for 6v6 deathmatch though, which is worrying as it suggests the game has been calibrated for more players and less thought put into traditional matches. The visibility is poor too and even the netcode seems a bit off, although they’ll probably fix that. The sound is weirdly quiet too, with some very underwhelming gun noises.
You’re only supposed to get access at the moment if you pre-order but a friend got me a code and I’m glad he did, because now I think I’m not going to get it. It’s fine but it’s just Call Of Duty for the hundredth time and the WW2 setting bring nothing new at all – if there was a special reason for bringing that back it certainly isn’t obvious from playing the beta.
Grooper
Declining interest
Just played the Call Of Duty: Vanguard beta. Fantastic looking game but I don’t want it and wouldn’t play it if it was free and the reason is same rubbish, different name. I started playing at 7pm, loaded into a game and what do you get? Campers and players killing you even though you started shooting them first. It’s the same rubbish over and over again and do they do anything to sort it? No.
Well, they aren’t getting my £70 this year. I’m fed up with buying Call Of Duty and spending more time shouting at the screen then playing the damn thing back in the day. I had so many friends playing Call Of Duty, over a 100. Now I’m lucky if four of them still play and why? Because the only thing that has changed is the way the get even more money from it. I think I’ll give Call Of Duty a rest this year and pray changers come next year but I won’t hold my breath, after all it’s Activision. They don’t believe in change.
David
Break the loop
The more I see of Deathloop and the response it’s garnered the more I (death)wish Arkane Studios had decided to follow the more traditional structure of the Dishonored games when creating their latest opus. Deathloop is clearly a good game, and I love what they’ve done with visuals and setting of the game, but I really don’t like the idea of traipsing through the same few levels for 15 hours.
I do wonder if this gameplay was intended from the very start, or if some way through development they decided to adopt it in order to save on time and money. It’s a shame because I really do adore the Dishonored games, they’re two of my favourites from the last generation. I will eventually procure Deathloop, but I’ll wait for it to receive a decent price drop.
iLike Fat Ladys (gamertag)
GC: The repetition isn’t really a problem, it’s the easiness and surprising simplicity of the game. But then if they were different the repetition almost certainly would be an issue. It’s a Catch-22 and perhaps an indication that the whole concept is fundamentally flawed.
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Bearded fantasies
Just read the article How video games can make you a better a person, but not a worse one and felt compelled to write to say thank you, that was a great read. I love these interviews you do, they are always hits for me. But that one was one of the best I can recall reading.
I wish I had something interesting to say add to the conversation, but I don’t really. The only thing I would add is that when creating a player character, I too always make it look like myself, except I almost always add a magnificent beard. In real life my growth efforts are generously described as thin and patchy, so I live a vicariously hirsute life through video games.
Henshin Agogo
Currently playing: Deathloop and Little Nightmares 2 in short bursts.
GC: Thank you. We know it was a bit random but hopefully people found it interesting.
No regrets
Hear, hear to Two Macks’ letter on the Deathloop review. I too was surprised at some of those scores. I looked for your mention in the GamesIndustry.biz critical roundup and was disappointed not to find it. I wonder if this is a game that will be more negatively reflected on by the masses in six months’ time.
Speaking of which, have you found the opposite to be true? Is there a game that GC has reviewed at about 6 to 7 out of 10 but later come to appreciate more and want to award higher? Edge magazine did some re-reviews a few years back along those lines.
Owen Pile (NongWen – PSN ID)
GC: Like we said, we regret not giving Outer Wilds a 9 instead of an 8, but that’s about all recently. Unless you feel there was something we were unfair to?
Remembering your first
I know Nintendo rumours are usually false but it is sounding awfully like the N64 is coming to Switch and with the old school controller too, weird as it was. I’m not sure why they aren’t doing a mini console for it, given how successful the other ones were, but I’m glad the N64 is getting its due as it was the first Nintendo console I had an in my, admittedly probably bias opinion, one of their best.
While other companies stumbled around trying to work in 3D for years Nintendo nailed it with their first try and then followed that up with Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. That’s a one-two punch that beats even Super Mario Odyssey and Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.
Then you’ve got GoldenEye 007, Mario Kart 64, the last good Star Fox, Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Perfect Dark, Paper Mario, Pokémon Snap, Wave Race 64, Mario Tennis… I don’t even like Rare’s stuff other than the shooters and that’s still an amazing line-up, even before you get into the second tier stuff. I just hope that if this is happening it’s not two games a month and takes four years to add everything good. You know, like Nintendo usually does it.
Jay
Early reaction
On 16th of September the godfather of home computing Sir Clive Sinclair sadly died aged 81.
He inspired bedroom coders, geeks, dreamers and inventors.
Will be sadly missed but leaves an amazing legacy.
Cassius2K
Less than perfect
Of the three 10/10 scores showing on Wikipedia for Deathloop, why am I not surprised that one of them is from IGN?
I didn’t realise there was any sort of controversy about this until I caught up on the Inbox on Thursday, so I went on there just out of interest to get a flavour for how polarised they were. I know it’s very worn out to bash IGN at this point, but I still find their approach to reviews a bit suspect which is a shame as clearly they’re very influential.
I think most people that read these pages regularly enjoy the GC approach to perfect scores, where you can tell they are really considered. I’ve bought games that I probably wouldn’t have because they got a 10/10 from GC. Or even just a 9/10 on a few occasions.
I liked the idea in the Inbox this for a feature on the scores that could have been upgraded. A retrospective on all the 10/10s (or as far back as records go anyway) would be great as well.
Charlie
GC: There are many more 10/10 scores than that on Metacritic. Which we still find baffling. Maybe they didn’t find the magic SMG (it’s not hidden and appears quite early on).
Inbox also-rans
Loved the interview with John Hare, the Sensible Soccer creator. Nice little timeline of what happened to the British developers of games that I grew up with. I look forward to playing Sociable Soccer when it hits consoles but I’d rather play a new version of Cannon Fodder.
TommyFatFingers
You forgot Excite Truck on Wii – nearly stopped reading Metro after you horrifically gave a meagre 7/10 when you really meant 10/10. Remains our most played two-player racer today, even amid all those Marios and hi-res 360 saucy racers.
will sargent
Will you be reviewing Cruis’n Blast?
ANON
GC: Maybe, but we can’t pretend to have ever been fans of the series.
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Ishi, who asks what video game franchise do you feel is the most consistent?
A lot of famous franchises have celebrated their 25th or 30th anniversaries recently and are still pumping out new games but which do you feel has been the most consistent across its long history? Have any reached a point where you’ll now buy them on name recognition alone or are you still cautious about each new entry?
What do you attribute the franchises’ consistency to and do you feel it’s kept up well with modern trends? If not, what new directions would you like to see from it in the future?
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
The small print
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