Games Inbox: Weekend video game plans, Battlefield V Firestorm apathy, and MAR10 day

I’ve got that Friday feeling and it’s not just the joy of leaving working and knowing I don’t have to go in tomorrow but also… it’s new game day! I know that’s sometimes on a Tuesday but I much prefer when it’s a Friday the obvious, above mentioned reasons. Plus, the weather is awful so I’m not going to feel guilty about staying in all the time playing Devil May Cry 5 (plus it’s set in London so I’ll get twice the atmosphere).

There really is nothing better than that new game feeling, as you get to grips with it for the first time and then start to learn the controls and gradually get good at it. Can’t wait to do the same with Sekiro too, as that sounds great as well.

I enjoy a blast on Call Of Duty as much as the next guy but games like this just make it so obvious that single-player games are the heart of why I love video games. Playing the same map all night only to be told you’re worst player on the server gets old pretty quick for me, but in a single-player game everything the game is doing is organised around me and giving me a good time. I appreciate that and I look forward to Dante and co. putting on a good show.
Torque

Nice review of Left Alive, GC. I’d never heard of it before but now I’m kind of fascinated by it. I assume it’s not big budget but it’s a full price game and the CGI cut scenes seemed fairly good, plus those guys they got in as artists. All that money and effort and nobody checked to see if the game was any good. I looked it up on Wikipedia and there’s virtually no information beyond a Famitsu score that was 31/40, for that guy that wanted further proof that their reviews are not to be trusted.

As you said, it does seem like a good idea for a game, and for reviving an obscure franchise like Front Mission but if it controls as bad as you say it’s all for nothing. Almost makes me wish they could do an instant remake or something, but that’s obviously never going to happen.

It is strange what companies do and don’t decide to spend their money on though. I mean this is like the gazillionth attempt to reboot Front Mission and yet here we are and we’ve only had one half-hearted sequel to Chrono Trigger, one of the most celebrated role-playing games of all time. It’s Square Enix’s money, they can do what they like with it, but it seems very odd to me.
Doshin

Really enjoyed reading your preview of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it sounds like it’s shaping up to be another defining title for From oftware. The decision from Activision not to send out any review copies in advance is concerning however, it’s been reported by other publications both in the UK and across the pond so it doesn’t seem like a Kingdom Hearts III situation where only a select few North American sites were given review copies.

As you mentioned in your preview it does seem like a strange decision on Activision’s part, have they ever refused to send out review copies in the past?
BR-Rangzeb (PSN ID)

GC: Only a few times, which is the same as most publishers. It’s a real puzzle why they’d do it for Sekiro though, considering it’s a niche game that will probably review well – so you’d think they’d appreciate the publicity.

So Christofer Sundberg, co-founder of Avalanche Studios, announced in February 2019 that he was leaving after 16 years with the company. A couple of weeks later, Just Cause 4 joins Xbox Game Pass after only being out a few months.

I know the game didn’t sell well, but my prediction is that Sundberg was bought out and Microsoft will announce the acquisition of Avalanche at some point, by E3 at latest.
NatorDom

GC: It’s possible, or Bethesda may be interested after Rage 2. It’s certainly hard to imagine there’ll ever be a Just Cause 5. But then we said that about the last one.

Just to remind everyone it’s MAR10 day on Sunday. That makes it a bit hard to celebrate but surprisingly (to me at least) Nintendo has got some special eShop deals to celebrate. You get 2x Gold Points with any purchase this weekend of a Mario-related game and there’s some special wallpaper you get too. There’s more on it on their website.

I’ll be honest I always thought MAR10 was just an Inbox joke, I didn’t realise it had caught on anywhere else. (Would it even work in America, where they have their dates round the wrong way?)

Anyway, happy MAR10 day in advance! It’s still odd to me that the most famous video games character in the world is a middle-aged Italian plumber but you can’t argue with that list of games he’s got behind him!
Austin

The Diablo story coming so soon after the lay-offs at Blizzard have me worried. Maybe it’s just a coincidence but it seems like exactly what would happen if an exec suddenly turned round and said we want more releases and more games ASAP. Previously I would’ve trusted just about anything Blizzard makes but now I’ll try their next games with a lot more caution, as I feel they might be rushed.

I dread to think what Blizzcon is going to be like this year, especially considering what last year was like when nothing was going wrong. Although to be fair a lot of the blame does fall on them. For years they were raking the money in and they didn’t make any effort to make any new games and now that Warcraft and Overwatch is on the decline suddenly they’ve been told they have to pay their way more.

I won’t complain about Overwatch and Diablo 4 arriving quicker than I expected but if they turn out worse than expected I won’t be that surprised.
Dogtanian

RE: Liam. Some people have already been doing a lot of research into the various HP values of zombies, their findings can be found here.

Essentially, every zombie has a particular HP value which is specifically set by the designers/developers to adjust the balance of the game. Guns don’t always do the same damage with every shot, either.
Joseph Dowland

GC: Wow, that is some detailed info.

Was I the only one that watched that Battlefield V Firestorm footage and was completely bored at the thought of even trying it? They should never have gone for a Second World War setting straight after the First and picking a map with so much grey, boring scenery seems such a bad idea. I guess maybe they’re trying to be the anti-Fortnite but all they’re doing is proving how much more appealing a free game is to theirs.

Since I already bought the game (for cheap) I will probably try it but for me Battlefield is another of those franchises that has just gone on that bit too long and has repeated itself one time too many. It’s fine, it’s fun but it’s also feels like I’ve seen and done it all before.

I know there’s only so many settings a shooter can have but surely they can come up with something else at this point. And alternative history or something, where it’s not fantasy exactly just different wars and politics. Anything to make things seem different. Although I suppose that’s just window-dressing at the end of the day and maybe I’m just getting bored of pseudo-realistic military sims in general.
Weta

I’ve just been playing Contra 3 on the Classic Mini SNES and all I can say is cowing hell, I don’t remember it being this hard before. Obviously my reflexes have gone for a Burton.
mitchell

Nice to see Octopath Traveler getting some love in terms of sequels and prequels, I hope they do something about the dialogue next time though as that was almost unbearable in an otherwise good game.
Nerf

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Edone, who challenges you to name the worst part of your favourite game.

Nothing’s perfect, so what is it you don’t like about the game or games you otherwise love? Is it a trivial detail or something that actually impacts your enjoyment of the game? How would you fix the problem and what effect would that have on how you – and the wider world – think of the game?

How tolerant are you in general about games with obvious flaws and are there some things which you regularly give a pass to? Or are there some flaws which instantly put you off a game, no matter what else it gets right?

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