The Wednesday letters page is glad that 007 First Light is reviewing so well, as a reader wishes more games had couch co-op like Lego Batman. Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Exceeding expectations
So 007 First Light reviews are out and it’s another top notch game?! It’s now the fifth highest rated game of the year on Metacritic, just behind Mewgenics (whatever that is), Resident Evil Requiem, and Forza Horizon 6. That puts it just ahead of Saros, Nioh 3, Pragmata, and Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight. I’ve left out all the indie games, except Mewgenics, because there’s never a surprise when one of those is good, but these are big budget games that in almost every case turned out to be better than expected, and that to me seems pretty special. I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting but I don’t remember any big budget disappointments this year and that’s pretty unheard of. Normally, if things were going this well, we’d be asking whether this will be the best year ever for games, but the problem is we know very little about what’s coming out in the second half of the year. That’s probably GTA 6’s fault as much as anything but if the second half can come anywhere close to the first then 2026 is going to go down as a classic. Especially if GTA 6 doesn’t disappoint.
Premium Bond
Great review of 007 First Light, GC. Really enjoyed that one. It was fun to read about a game that I assumed to be quite different to what it apparently is but even better that it turned out to be really good. I can’t say I’ve ever really liked Hitman, but I will try and give this a go, given the reviews. I also appreciate the fact that it’s not £70. I wouldn’t call myself a Bond fan exactly, but I do like a lot of them, so I wonder how much the name is going to attract or put people off. I think ideally IO would’ve had this coming out alongside a new movie, but that’s going to take years so they didn’t really have any choice I guess. I do wonder how much younger gamers are even aware of Bond anymore, but I guess we’ll see over the next few weeks.
GC: Thanks.
For England, James
Good to see 007 First Light get a high Metacritic straight off the bat, it’s on 88 as I type this. I notice that there doesn’t seem to be any of the big American sites yet though. No IGN or Gamespot or anyone like that. Then I read that they got their review copies later than Europe, which must be a first. Can GC explain what happened and when you got your copy? I really hate the idea of publishers trying to influence review scores but in this case I’m not sure what was going on, especially as the game seems to be good. Not really the publicity they need though.
GC: Something strange was going on but we don’t understand what yet. We only got our review copy on Friday, which is very late for a big game like this, and we think we were one of the first. As you say, the US seems to have got them even later, but we have no idea why.
Phantom renaissance
Glad to see Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight selling well and people enjoying it from the Inbox. I also was playing it at the weekend with my kids and we all enjoyed it. A lot of it went over their heads too but as long as the game is fun, and it’s co-op, that’s all they care about. I do wonder why so few games have co-op, given how much people seem to enjoy it. I think a lot of the problems with Halo Infinite’s bad rep were because it didn’t have co-op at launch. When indie games started to become a thing with the Xbox 360 I hoped that might bring with it a new golden era for couch co-op, because a lot of indie games were like that back in the day, but it never really happened. It probably won’t happen again now until the next Lego game, which is a real shame. I hope the next one isn’t Harry Potter though, or it’ll just end up going round in a circle from Star Wars to Batman to Harry Potter and back again. Even if we get another Marvel one, that’s been done a ton already as well.
City builder
I never would have imagined a Lego version of Cities: Skylines, what a strange choice, especially if it’s out soon – a shadow drop at Summer Game Fest maybe? I would be interested in it but Skylines is a pretty complicated game, so I’m not sure how far it’s going to be dumbed down. It also seems like it wouldn’t work that well with Lego bricks because you zoom out so far most things are just dots, but the smallest Lego brick is still pretty big. Maybe there’s some confusion and that’s not what the name is? Or it’s a more small scale thing but just by the same developer? Although I don’t know how an age ratings board gets that kind of thing wrong (or why they keep leaking these things).
Paying the rent
Reading that Granzella has only made one game (R-Type Final 2) and not released anything since it made me wonder how studios stay in business? How do they pay their staff if they only release one product in say, a six year period – are they literally raking in that much profit from sales that they can afford to keep paying their devs for years and years without releasing anything new? And that’s a studio that has released a very niche title with little mass market appeal.
GC: Granzella has only made one R-Type game in the 15 years of their existence, but they have made other games. Although we doubt the likes of Disaster Report 4 Plus: Summer Memories and City Shrouded In Shadow bring in much for them either. We don’t know the circumstances of Granzella, but we suspect that, much like Treasure, they have very few permanent staff and rely primarily on freelancers and associates when making a new game. The wider issue you allude to is the biggest problem currently facing the games industry. Naughty Dog, to use an example of one of the biggest developers in the business, haven’t released an entirely new game all generation and yet they have an employee count of over 400. Even with TV deals for The Last Of Us that doesn’t seem sustainable for Sony or any company in a similar position.
Ice to see you
I was hoping you could clear something up for me. I’m interested in buying the new Lego Batman game but for just one particular character. I can see that Batgirl is in the game, but I heard the Alicia Silverstone Batgirl from Batman & Robin might be a playable character – can you confirm or deny as I haven’t been able to find a definitive answer?
GC: There’s a skin called Ice Armor that is based on the suit Alicia Silverston wore at the end of Batman & Robin, but we don’t recall if that was the only one she had in the film.
New Horizons
Interesting seeing all the high scores for Forza Horizon 6. As someone that’s been there from the first game, the franchise is starting to feel a bit stale for me. It is a great game, but I feel it’s more fresh for those that haven’t played previous games. Someone on YouTube mentioned that the last few games are feeling very corporate, cut and paste, with a new map and that pretty much sums it up for me and all my friends. Me and my mates spent hundreds of hours on the first three games but when 4 came out we fell of it fast. One of our favourite modes, the playground games, was ruined by making it team-based and 6 hasn’t even got this mode yet, which is strange. Also, the dialogue in 6 feels very AI, no soul to it, and the fact it still bombards you with constant stuff and rewards can feel overwhelming. I looked on my friends list and hardly any of them are playing it. I know that’s not the bigger picture at the moment, as it’s selling well, but I wonder in a few weeks how many are still going to be playing it. I’m glad it is doing well, as it shows racing games can still appeal to many, and I will be interested in what changes they make and things they add, but for me it’s just not as fun as earlier games, which I feel is a shame.
GC: We can understand that point of view. If Forza Horizon 7 doesn’t add some new twists, we suspect the review scores, if not the sales, will start slipping.
Inbox also-rans
Just out of interest, what does GC believe the lifetime sales of Tetris are?
GC: If this is alluding to Wikipedia’s penchant for counting every version of Tetris ever, from multiple different publishers and developers, as one game, we’ve always thought that was silly. For what it’s worth Guiness World Records doesn’t do it when considering what the best-selling game ever is; they go with Minecraft instead.
The PSP bag looks… really good? I have no idea why such a random company would make such a random thing but I’ll get one, especially at that price.
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