So I just finished Hollow Knight but with only a 76% completion. Firstly, it got me thinking, when you review games do you aim to 100% them or do you go for a more manageable time? Also, is it worth completing Hollow Knight for the 100% and other games of its ilk? I’ve spent close to 30 hours on it (a lot for me) and have loved it but boy was it hard at the end. Just wondering what other people’s routines were with such games. I feel a sad sense of incompletion not having 100% a game I’ve spent so much time with! John GC: We never aim for 100% for reviews, that’s unfeasible given the time it would take. Ratings battle I haven’t seen the new trailer for Red Dead Redemption yet (hopefully I’ll be able to resist watching) but it seems a bit odd to me that Rockstar are releasing the trailer in the same week as the Super Smash Bros. Nintendo Direct. Didn’t they release the first one the same day as the original Switch trailer? I’ve got my tinfoil hat on and it feels like Rockstar have got some beef with Nintendo. I think the last game they released on a Nintendo console before the L.A. Noire remaster was a port of Bully on the Wii? Michael622632 (PSN ID) GC: You know, that thought occurred to us as well. Not that they had a beef but that they don’t like to lose and wanted a second round. Seeing the light It’s nice to hear Phil Spencer change his tune about 60 frames per second. In an interview with you last year he was banging the 4K drum and was generally dismissive of the importance you placed on 60 frames per second. GC: What also frustrates me is that the only number I do care about is the only that you and Sony don’t obsess over. Which is 60fps, which I understand is easier to do on the Xbox One X than any other console. PS: That’s correct. But… [laughs] Why do you care about 60fps? But now he seems to be saying what everyone else has been saying for a couple of years now: ‘If you look at the Xbox stuff we are doing right now like variable frame rate,’ said Spencer. ‘I think frame rate is an area where consoles can do more just in general. You look at the balance between CPU and GPU in today’s consoles they are a little bit out of whack compared to what’s on the PC side and I think there is work that we can do there.’ Ultimately it’s up to the developers to choose what to do with the limited resources of a console but as long as the console manufactures are thinking of frame rate when designing the next gen then that’s great. I know for sure if the PlayStation 5 and NextBox struggle to hit 60 frames per second like this gen’s machines I’ll definitely be making PC my main platform. Simundo Jones GC: We hope he has seen the light and isn’t just jumping on a new buzzword.
All or nothing After surviving on Owlboy, the final Zelda side quests, and maxing my Bayonetta score for months the Switch release schedule has completely lost the plot and put everything out at once, during the hottest summer ever. Nintendo put out Captain Toad, Donkey Kong Country, Mario Tennis Aces, and Splatoon 2 DLC in the space of a couple months but third parties are even worse… Hollow Knight, Iconoclasts, Salt And Sanctuary, and now Dead Cells giving a Metroidvania overload; two Japanese role-playing games in Ys VIII and Octopath Traveler in a month; Wolfenstein II, which nobody seemed to notice; and other big name indie ports like Banner Saga (collectively for over 50 quid, good luck with that)… thank heavens Dark Souls was delayed, now I have 30 hours of Okami to get through. Forget Smash Bros., 2018 is sorted already. My only worry is that with the eShop being such a confusing mess none of them will sell when they drop off the ‘new releases’ screen. The Switch indie gold rush that drove sales of Stardew Valley and SteamWorld in the early days must be coming to an end? Marc Astronomical sighting I’ve not been following the recent gaming news and views (summer demands, etc.) so I was wondering if GC had played or is excited about Astro Bot VR? From what I’ve seen it looks rather fantastic and considering how well the demo worked on Playroom VR then it hopefully will be a good enough success commercially for it to force Nintendo to make a Super Mario VR game. Andee GC: We’ll be honest and say we hadn’t heard of it until now. But we’ll look into it. Award winner Would like to suggest the following as a weekend Hot Topic, which I feel would be a good discussion and has been discussed in a few letters in the Inbox recently. My suggestion is the following: Are you looking forward to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and with the recent announcement of Simon And Richter Belmont from the Castlevania franchise now being added does this come as great news to you? Also, what do you think of Castlevania fans being interested in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and do you think this is a great move by Nintendo? Finally, do you think the game will win awards that other Super Smash Bros. games have not managed to win before? gaz be rotten (gamertag) GC: What awards? Super Smash Bros. has always been well received. Bafflement explained Let’s not forget that Power Stone 2 knocks any and every Smash Bros. game out of the park any day of the week – including Sundays. If Smash Bros. really wants to evolve and blow the roof off – it should go fully 3D. It could be fighting game perfection and yet it hasn’t even been attempted. This has always baffled me. DMR GC: Power Stone has never sold very well, Smash Bros. always has. Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here Insecure fanboys What a spectacular event that Super Smash Bros. Direct was. The sheer level of showmanship in the introduction of the new fighters never ceases to dazzle me in the run up to a new Smash Bros. release. Witnessing the fervently-requested Simon Belmont and King K. Rool finally materialise felt a little unreal to be honest. Like a dream. And I’m so pleased to see Shovel Knight feature in the game in some combative capacity. I’ve rarely smiled so intensely watching some gameplay footage. Personally, I can’t fathom how you could be a fan of Nintendo, or even otherwise, and not at least appreciate the level of meticulousness and love that goes into the development of the series. Or acknowledge just how culturally diverse and passionate its fanbase(s) is. The Smash Bros. series to me represents a distillation of the purity, inventiveness and fun that I, and evidently, millions of other gamers seek in video games. Which leads me to unfortunately having to address some of the disparaging remarks aimed towards the series as of late on here. Not every game can appeal to everyone, but some of the comments do come across as overly entitled, irrational, and insecure to me. Especially the ones that essentially espouse the preposterous notion that only American and Japanese gamers enjoy the games. As if to undermine the merits of the series because lots of other people love it and yet a few don’t and are feeling left out, so they resort to unfair criticism. Subjectively, I think the likes of Fortnite, FIFA, Destiny, and Call Of Duty are tedious games and ultimately not for me. But more objectively I can truly empathise with why the aforementioned games are extremely popular and well regarded in the gameplay department. Thus, I refuse to attempt to dampen anyone else’s excitement for said games. I mean there has to be a more balanced and impartial way to expressing an opinion on something you don’t like but that is renowned for its good qualities. Like it or not Super Smash Bros. is consistently a critical darling and commercial juggernaut, so why wouldn’t Nintendo continue to treat it like a marquee game?! I know everyone’s frustrated that the big N are keeping super tight-lipped about Metriod and the others but no need to direct those vexations towards a genuinely great game series. But I digress. Another fresh aspect that delighted me in the Direct was the new function which practically transforms the Switch into a music device. An ingenious idea that I will be utilising with great frequency and enthusiasm considering the tremendously tuneful nature of the Smash Bros. soundtrack. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is shaping up to be everything I ever dreamed of in a sequel to one of my favourite game series of all time. The amount of work that has gone into making the game live up to its Ultimate namesake is quite frankly staggering. Masahiro Sakurai and co. are one of the hardest working and talented developers in the industry, God bless them. Therefore, judging from what I’ve seen of the game I’m pretty confident it will be my game of the year… Okay, calm down, retire the fanboy within for a moment… it’ll most likely be between this and Red Dead Redemption II for the coveted accolade once all the dust from the hype settles (still cautiously optimistic about Spider-Man too, but there’s still something intangible missing to get me truly excited for it). Galvanized Gamer GC: When has anyone ever said anything about American and Japanese fans? Inbox also-rans I like how Sony’s idea of celebrating their sales success is to give them more money. Couldn’t they have given us a free game or something? Or at least a desktop theme or something. Smiler Child Of Light II? Now there’s a sequel I never expected to see. Just goes to show again how no franchise is ever truly dead. Gump
source:-metro.
