The Friday letters page attempts to determine the authenticity of the Persona 6 leak, while a reader recounts an encounter with Forza Horizon 6's bowie knife99. Games Inbox is a compilation of reader letters, comments, and opinions. To participate in the discussions, email gamecentral@metro.co.uk.
Another Year
So Activision has unveiled this year's new Call Of Duty, and I feel nothing. I understand they haven't had time to respond to the unpopularity of Black Ops 7, and Modern Warfare 4 is just whatever game was scheduled. But that's their fault. Any sensible publisher would take a year or two off to fix the problem and return with something that addresses the issues. Even Ubisoft did that with Assassin's Creed. However, because Activision has squandered decades of success by not having other games to fall back on, if Call Of Duty ever flops, they can't do anything. They must release a new Call Of Duty game every year, or their profits suffer. Like another reader mentioned, I don't know why they didn't do something simple like change the name, but if it features Captain Price, they're stuck. From what they've said so far, I don't see this turning things around. If anything, it might sink it further.
GOTY Bait
Considering how many highly-rated games we've had this week, I wonder what would happen if GTA 6 didn't end up as the accepted Game of the Year. I can't see it happening, as most sites would be too scared to give it less than 10/10 for fear of angry fans. I doubt it will be bad, but Rockstar games have a formula that feels a bit old. Ironically, the departure of Dan Houser and other high-level figures over the last decade is probably the best chance for something new or interesting. I personally would never give any GTA or Red Dead Redemption game more than 8/10, but I haven't played GTA 6 yet. Of all the things we expect from it, radical reinvention isn't at the top of the list.
Nightmare Driver
We've all been taken out by that bad boy in Forza Horizon 6 over the last week. He appears in many cars around corners for the kill, especially when you change cars and try to move off. They need to add a black and red striped sweater and a sharp baseball glove to the costumes. I wrote in about Yellow Magic Orchestra being the father of computer game music, and they have a track on the Japanese radio station. Take a bow, Playground Games.
Movie Magic
This week's release of 007 First Light got me thinking about movie licensed games. Which film franchise has spawned the most games, and how many were good? Star Wars came to mind first, and despite the quality drop after the initial trilogy, it inspired some classic games. Alien and Aliens have also inspired decent titles. If we forget Colonial Marines, there's Alien: Isolation and Alien Resurrection on PS1. I recall an enjoyable Alien 3 game on Game Gear and a good Aliens game on ZX Spectrum. I've always been wary of film-based games, so it's nice that First Light reviewed well. I've played a few Bond games, but none were amazingly good.
GC: You never played GoldenEye 007?
Summer Gaming
Lovely weather and even lovelier to play Pokémon Pokopia in, but I find the urge to build something nice or epic every time I boot it up. Oh well, worse problems to have. Just an excuse to share my complete and ongoing builds. Psyduck is a very lucky ducky!
Three Bad Games
I managed to get a physical copy of Starfield on Xbox Series X. I avoided everything about it and remember it scoring mediocre scores on release. Have updates improved it? I'll get to it sometime. I'm currently slogging through Darksiders 3, which isn't as good as 2 but still OK on story difficulty. I also started The Surge 2 for three quid. It's OK so far; I still die a lot, but progress is made inch by inch. On the plus side, I got Resident Evil 4 remake, which I'm liking more than I thought.
GC: Nothing will improve Starfield's intrinsic faults. Even one designer admits it's not very good.
Suspicious Concept
I hate that one explanation for the Persona 6 leaks being AI is that Atlus may have used AI for concept art. Even if they haven't, other developers have admitted it. How does that save time or money? AI can't invent anything new; it rehashes what exists. Were companies paying artists so much that getting rid of a few concept artists had a massive effect? I doubt it. I think the leak is fake because it seems too neat, with character names and generic locations. Pretending to point a camera at a screen seems suspicious to obscure images and hide fakes.
Familiar Gameplay
Forza Horizon 6 and 007 First Light, released within a week of each other, both scored 9s deservedly. Stellar reviews everywhere. But most gameplay mechanics have been seen before. Still, they are great games, and quality usually sells. GTA 6, coming late November, is the most eagerly anticipated game ever. Bigger, better? Hopefully yes. Innovative? Probably not much. It might fry servers when it launches. I hope it lives up to the hype and becomes one of the best games ever. This is a problem for the industry: most everything has been done to death. Not much turns up that I haven't seen since Space Invaders. That said, it's been a good year, with more to follow. If they keep making games of this quality, I'll keep buying them, unless I get priced out of the next gen market. Rising hardware prices are another problem. 800 or 900 quid for a PlayStation 6 or Xbox Next? If that's the launch price, I'll go retro and backlog.
PS: Looking forward to Assetto Corsa Rally and Le Mans Ultimate on Xbox Series X in late 2026 or early 2027. PPS: Any news about the Splinter Cell game supposedly in development? Haven't heard anything for ages.
GC: 007 First Light might not be innovative mechanically, but the mixture of components and presentation is unique. There isn't a new Splinter Cell game in development, but a remake of the first game was announced five years ago and apparently isn't cancelled yet.
Inbox Also-Rans
I was going to say I don't see why Rayman Legends needs a remake, but adding 3D is a big change. It's a big step, and it will look bad if those bits are worse than the 2D sections.
I never intended to get a Steam Deck, but a £200 price increase is insane and makes me worry about the PlayStation 6 price, especially since a new PC is out of the question. Could be a good time for streaming to step in.
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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. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader's Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and follow us on Twitter.
