What’s its best game?

The evening Inbox doesn’t think a boycott of Anthem is going to work, as one reader prefers Celeste to New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

 



Portable era

Sad to think the 3DS is ending after all this time, but it’s had a good innings I guess and certainly lasted a long time. Was never as successful as the DS before it but the fact that it got anywhere close given the rise of the smartphone – which wasn’t really a thing during the DS’s lifetime – is a real testament to the console and its games.

Of course the biggest issue here is that it may not get any kind of follow-up, with probably no more plans for Nintendo, or anyone else, to make a portable-only console again. You can see why, obviously, but I still think it’s a shame as good portable games are always very distinct from home games and you can tell they’re purposefully made to be played in short bursts, which I can appreciate whether I’m at home or not.

It made me start to wonder what was my favourite 3DS game, and portable game in general, which might be a good question for a future Hot Topic. Be strange to think that portable gaming might only seen as something that lasted 30 years or so and then stopped. I dread to think what kids today think of the Game Boy but at the time that was state-of-the-art!
Tolly

GC: We might do something like that next week.

 



The sensible one

Thinking about it, Anthem failing and Destiny losing its publisher is probably the best thing that could happen to The Division 2. Before it was kind of the boring one of the group but now it feels like the only sensible choice out of the three, or at least the only one that seems to have a clear idea what it’s doing. Focusing on the endgame, free season passes, announcing all the DLC well in advance… Ubisoft has all this game as a service stuff down to a tee.

I’m not saying that out of any great love for the concept – I played The Division for a bit but got bored of it in a week or two – but you can tell when a company knows what it’s doing and when they’re just flailing about, desperate for success.

That’s obviously how you’d describe Anthem but I haven’t heard anything about Destiny 2 in ages. I get the impression Bungie are going to go quiet for a while and then relaunch? Or just skip to the third game? Not sure which but I think people are going to be a lot less trusting this time round.
Gorf

 



Simple boycott

So let me get this straight: people playing Anthem liked a bug that made it super easy to get loot and resented when it was fixed because it meant they had to play the game properly. So now they’re boycotting the game until it’s put back. If playing the game is such a chore and all they want is the loot shouldn’t that tell them something?

This really does seem like the madness of modern gaming taken to the extreme. Like something you would’ve made up in years past. It also makes me think that Anthem is doomed and will never recover from its bad launch. Which is bad news for BioWare but I can’t say I’ll be upset if that sort of game goes out of fashion.

As others have said I like to be entertained by games at my own pace, when I chose. They’re not a job I have to attend and get guilted into when I haven’t been putting in the hours. If I’m going to boycott a game it’s going to be simply by not buying it in the first place.
Gifford

 

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Capcom’s dogma

Dragon’s Dogma is getting a Netflix series now? That is super weird. What even was the story in the game, I don’t remember anything except the dragon ripping your heart out at the beginning. I’m not going to complain though because I did like the game and Castlevania on Netflix was surprisingly great.

Hopefully this time it’ll actually lead to a new game though, because between this, the Switch version, and the hints of a sequel it’s all looking pretty positive. People were wondering what Capcom would do after Devil May Cry 5 and while I don’t think Dragon’s Dogma was top of the list of franchises to revive I’m still glad for it.
Mr Black

 



Howard the Hedgehog

It looks like there might be one good thing to come from the Sonic The Hedgehog movie. According to a leak on Reddit (that may well be fake, I realise) he’s actually called Robotnik the whole time, not Eggman. Presumably because Hollywood realises, like everyone else but Sega, tat Eggman is a stupid name.

I’m not sure the rest of the revelation give much hope though. Apparently Sonic arrives on Earth from an alien planet and is raised by an owl?! And he uses rings to travel to other dimensions… or something. It all sounds weirdly like Howard the Duck but with a different animal, because of course that old flop is such an obvious thing to want to copy.

It’s clearly going to be awful. At this point I just hope it’s so bad it’s good.
Keith

 



Soundtrack > graphics

I have to agree with Figo2019 and Donkey Kong Country’s soundtrack. As great as the soundtrack was it may have just got overlooked under all the hype of the graphics. It definitely deserves a mention though.

I always liked the soundtrack to Mystical Ninja Starring Goeman on the N64. There is some really nice compositions there and THAT song ‘I am Impact’ became instantly infectious. The song almost sounded like a cheesy ‘80s Saturday morning cartoon when the credits where rolling. The best thing though was the game made no apologies for it either.

Just brilliant!

It wasn’t a bad game either.
freeway77

 



Cyber-punked

Seems a shame about that Occupation game, seemed pretty interesting. Hopefully they can fix the bugs and everything and maybe release a new edition somewhere down the road?

I got the comparisons to Deus Ex, which of course made me think of when there might be a new game but I’m going to guess that Cyberpunk 2077 is going to make that pretty pointless. Or maybe Square Enix will think cyberpunk is cool again and they’ll fast-track something to take advantage of it?

Can’t see it myself to be honest. In fact I’m not 100% sure that Cyberpunk 2077 will do as well as everyone assumes. I can’t think of anything cyberpunk related that has ever done particularly well, Blade Runner included.
Chigton

 

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

 



Celeste Deluxe

A few weeks ago I picked up New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe on Switch but eventually grew frustrated with it, as even though the challenge is fair I disliked how it would set you back to the beginning of the area when you ran out of lives, forcing you to replay all the levels again to get to where you were.

I know this has been a staple of the series forever but I don’t remember it bothering me as much with the DS version. Maybe it is because time is more at a premium now for compared to when I played the DS one. Anyway, after losing my patience with it I decided to make the odd decision of picking up an even more difficult platformer in Celeste, after GC and the readers’ high praise for it and I have to say I haven’t been disappointed.

I was initially put off by the comparisons with Super Meat Boy, which I thought was too hard for my skills, but so far so good with Celeste after finishing Chapter 3 with no assists. The story and soundtrack is great and I am comforted knowing that I can turn some assists on if it eventually gets too much for me, but I will resist as much as I can. I would never have tried it if it hadn’t been for GC and the readers.
Twitter: Angry_Kurt
Now playing: Celeste (Switch)

 



Inbox also-rans

Just because it hasn’t been said enough yet but Tetris 99 is amazing! Are they going to add any modes or extras to it thought because despite being free this is totally a game I would pay more for!
Gant

Whoops, Far Cry: New Dawn is already 50% on Uplay, that’s Ubisoft’s own store! I guess we might have seen the end of Far Cry spin-offs, or definitely any in a post-apocalyptic world.
Mason

 



This week’s Hot Topic

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Ishi, who asks what is your favourite video game soundtrack of the current generation?

That means anything on the Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, 3DS, or PS Vita – or any new PC game from early 2011 onwards. You can recommend a single song or a whole soundtrack, but we want to know what you think has been the best video game music for the modern formats?

What do you think of current trends in video game music and do you think this generation has been better or worse, in general, for video game music? And do you own any recent soundtracks separately, either as downloads or on CD or vinyl?

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

 

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