Games Inbox: The new Halo on PS5, Metaphor: ReFantazio vs. Persona 5, and more Batman games --[Reported by Umva mag]

The Wednesday letters page celebrates Alien Isolation 2 and 75 years of Sigourney Weaver, as a reader suggests having Link played by a woman.

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The next evolution of combat
I have little reason to disbelieve the rumours of the Halo: Combat Evolved remake coming to PlayStation 5. At least two of the rumours come from good sources, even if neither said it was a definite. I certainly think it’s a certainty that Microsoft has thought about it but at that point, what then? Xbox as a console dies the day they put their biggest game on a rival format.

You don’t need me to tell you that but… what a turn-up for the books that would be. Xbox is already the biggest publisher in the West but it’s crazy how little clout that’s given them. People still talk about them having no good games and it’s easy to see why after games like Redfall and Starfield.

I predict that the new Halo, whether it’s a remake or whatever, will be cross-gen from day one. I think Microsoft will realise there’s no point doing things by half measures and will go all out and just act like a normal multiformat publisher. What happens if Halo then flops – because, let’s face it, the brand isn’t what it was – I don’t know.
Saski

Surviving crew
Super happy to hear about Alien Isolation getting a sequel. We all know the story: it’s too long, didn’t have an ending, etc. but even with the flaws I still rate it as one of my favourite games ever. No game has ever adapted a movie as well as that. They’ve not even come close, including Star Wars, Bond, Spider-Man, RoboCop, and all the rest (although, actually, that recent RoboCop game was very good).

I would expect Alien Isolation 2 to be a bit more action based and I’m fine with that, as long as they don’t go overboard. I also expect it to take advantage of new technology so that we can have the xenomorph climbing on ceilings and walls. That was really only the one thing they didn’t have in the original.

I’d love to have Sigourney Weaver back too – I believe she turned 75 this week – but will understand if she’s had enough of it all by now. In fact, I’m not sure who amongst the original cast is still around? That’s a sad thought… and I was so happy too!
Grackle

GC: Veronica Cartwright (Lambert) is still around and so is Tom Skerritt (Dallas) – he’s 91 but they were both still working as recently as 2021.

The big three
I really hope James Gunn isn’t going to make all new DC Comics games be part of the same canon. That is never going to work and will cause such problems. Superheroes and video games should be such an easy sell and yet so many times they’re either terrible or flops (looking at you Midnight Suns).

The sensible decision would be to have a Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman game out at roughly the same time but I will be shocked to the core if they manage that kind of organisation. Most likely it’ll be two separate Batman games and they’ll cancel the Wonder Woman one.

All DC seem to be able to do is Batman and I get it, he’s the most popular, but what chance do the others have? Perhaps Gunn’s influence will be positive because he is starting with a Superman film and Batman is a good few years off (The Batman isn’t in the same continuity).

If it’s not the big three they’re going for I would love to see them do something left field, like a Hellblazer game or, and I know GC will be with me on this one, The Question.
Grackle

GC: Darn tootin’.

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Free gifts
MyNintendo rewards sucks. The Switch doesn’t have achievements but instead Nintendo Switch Online members can earn by doing quests across Nintendo Online services, which are at their best log in to Game X for two seconds and log out. The only other way to earn rewards is through Nintendo’s old mobile games and they didn’t even bother to include the new ones.

These can be redeemed for icon parts which, sorry to offend any icon enthusiasts, I don’t think many people care about or physical rewards. These are barely mentioned and are nestled at the back of a menu on the website. Surprisingly, these rewards are great!

After being essentially away from keyboard on Fire Emblem Heroes for a couple hours I had earned over 10,000 points. With this, I was able to redeem a bunch of cool keychains, bags, pins and nine rather large high quality posters – all for nothing but the £2 standard shipping. I imagine Nintendo will shut down this shell of Club Nintendo soon, so get the rewards while you can!
Daniel T.

Personal code
I read LeighDappa’s Mario Kart predictions and I am absolutely here for them.

The only wariness (Warioness?) I would have about the potential for a track editor would be servers being switched off down the line. But I’d like to see some old school tech updated for that sort of thing – didn’t Micro Machines ’96 on the Mighty Mega Drive give you a code to represent your custom track, which could be shared with others?

I’ll concede such a code might have to be a tad longer in this day and age but if it gives you the ability to share without relying on expensive servers being maintained, I’m sure Nintendo could figure it out. Hell, QR codes inexplicably made a comeback due to Covid – let’s put them to use for this!
FoximusPrime81 (NN ID/Twitter)

Missed opportunities
As the Switch enters its final stretch, there’s no doubt that it has provided a lot of great games over its long lifetime.

But all these years later, it’s a (slight) disappointment to see how so few games have taken advantage of the touchscreen and HD Rumble.

I guess most developers (Nintendo’s studios themselves included) can’t be bothered to come up with innovative gameplay mechanics that use HD Rumble – I can only recall that mini-game in 1-2-Switch during launch.

As for the touchscreen, it almost feels like it was a ‘box ticking’ feature when the Switch was announced, since all smartphones have had it and Nintendo felt compelled to include one. Nearly the only time I use the touchscreen is outside of games and navigating the external menus, like the system settings!

I’m not that far into Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom but already I have an insanely long list that I have to scroll through to get to the echo I want. A touchscreen menu would make it far more user friendly.

The one game that truly made great use of the touchscreen was Okami HD, but that was a port of an old game.

Who knows what features the Switch 2 will end up having, but I do hope games will take full advantage of them all.
ttfp saylow (gamertag)

GC: Although we agree more effort could be made, the problem with the touchscreen is that you can’t base the primary control system around it, as then you can’t use it in TV mode. HD Rumble has definitely been a disappointment though; the force feedback in Astro Bot was the one area where it exceeded Nintendo and it added so much to the game.

Let’s hope not
I might be crossing into conspiracy theory but I don’t think I’ve hit David Icke’s level of nuts.

If Tencent and the Guillemot buyout of Ubisoft is real, what are the chances some of Ubisoft’s missteps over the last few years have been a calculated effort to drive down share prices?
P. Ella

GC: That would be highly illegal, and they’d be looking at jail time and a billion different lawsuits from investors if found out.

Hold fast
Nice Metaphor: ReFantazio (won’t be typing that out again) review yesterday. I had noted that it was pulling up trees on Metacritic, and in the previews, so was expecting something special. I think Persona 5 Royal is still the best Japanese role-player on the market, so if that game seems at least its equal that means it will be a nice treat over the cold and rainy winter nights to come.

The game is also a nice treat for those hold-out PlayStation 4 owners out there, like myself. Even now, four years into the PlayStation 5 generation, the two best games this year, according to Metacritic (Shadow Of The Erdtree and Metaphor) are on Sony’s last generation machine and run pretty well on it.

Us hold-outs are always thought to be just live service fans happy with updates to Fortnite and GTA Online, with blockbuster single-player fans already having moved over, but wonder how true that really is? The PlayStation 5 has had a great 2024 despite Concord, with console exclusives like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Astro Bot, Silent Hill 2 Remake, Stellar Blade, Black Myth: Wukong (however accidently), and Rise Of The Rōnin… Not to mention the best optimised versions of multiformat titles. So there are many reasons to upgrade but, y’know, I also like having the £450 in my bank account.

I have a feeling the PlayStation 4 is going to run and run, especially in Japan. Nintendo are about to drop their follow up Switch 2 and it’s very likely that despite the modern technology it’s built on it’s closest match in terms of pure power will be the PlayStation 4. If the Switch 2 is a hit there will be many games targeting it as their main development platform and in that case why not put it out on the PlayStation 4? Since they’ll still be many machines out there.

Unless GTA 6 and its online mode drives a big glut in upgraders I can see the PlayStation 4 still doing business when the PlayStation 6 launches.
Marc

GC: Sony will stop making the PlayStation 4 before the PlayStation 6 is released but otherwise you’re probably right, especially in terms of the Switch 2 and Japan.

Inbox also-rans
My idea for the Zelda live action film is… they shouldn’t make it. But if they absolutely have to I would cast a woman as Link, like they do for pantos, particularly Peter Pan. If nothing else it will rule out Chris Pratt.
Gronk

GC: We’d be happy with that.

If you’re looking for games to review in your end of the year mop up, I’d be interested in your thoughts on Bakeru. Probably way down on the list of games to review but it’s meant to be a bit Goemon-like.
John Atkinson

GC: No, that’s a good one. We’ll try and find the time.

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

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