Weekend Hot Topic, part 2: Games you hated at first, then loved

Dark Souls – its difficulty defines it (pic: Bandai Namco)

GameCentral readers name their favourite games that they never got on with at first, from Destiny to Red Dead Redemption 2.

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader ‘Daley’ Thompson, who asked what game that you like now did you not initially enjoy? How long did it take to change your mind and what finally brought you around?

A high difficulty or lack of explanation was the most common reason, with SoulsBorne games being mentioned a lot, but not liking the main character or story also put off a lot of people at first.

 

Making the effort
I would imagine the most popular answer for this is going to be Dark Souls/Blooborne/Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. These have got to be the least accessible games ever, with the absolute opposite of a gradual introduction to the game’s painfully difficult gameplay and obscure story and items. When I played the first Dark Souls I thought it was some kind of joke and hated it, feeling like I’d been tricked into it by the positive reviews.

I put it away after an unhappy afternoon trying to get anywhere and was all ready to sell it on (this was back in the day when games came on discs). Then I saw all the rave reviews start to appear on the Inbox, of people that had clearly been getting a lot further than me. But it wasn’t that they said it was good that made me go back, but that they’d had just as much trouble at first.

That was enough to get me to buck my ideas up and after a whole weekend of getting virtually nowhere it all started to click and I gradually became a fan. So much that I’ve played everything FromSoftware have done since and love them all. Fantastic games that almost wouldn’t seem as magical if they didn’t put you off so much at first.
Korbie

 

Fly catcher
I was like this with Destiny. After all the hype I was completely underwhelmed at first, with the complete lack of story and the simplistic missions with no kind of puzzles or complication. The shooting was fun, of course, but it all seemed very note. It still is I suppose. But then I started to get into upgrading my characters and trying to get the right loop.

I understand Bungie used psychologists to design the game and it kind of shows. On paper it’s really boring and repetitive but once you get into it it’s really hard to get out again. The clever thing is that even once you know you’re being manipulated you don’t really care as long as it carries on being fun. I don’t play it or the sequel anymore but it still lasted me about as long as any other game I’ve ever played.
Watson

 

Playing properly
I get the feeling I’m a bit backwards on this compared to most people but I didn’t really like Red Dead Redemption 2 at first but after forcing myself to play it for a few days in a row I gave it a rest for bet then came back with a more dedicated attitude.

I started playing it ‘properly’, instead of just running around killing everyone and really started getting into the Western atmos and the story and characters. It is a slow burn and I can see why some people say it’s too slow, but for me I like the way it takes it time. Especially considering the start was what put me off.

That often happens with me and open world games though, where I’m always desperate to be left alone and do things at my own pace. Once I did is when I fell in love with being a cowboy again.
Dante9

 

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Love at second sight
Hated NieR:Automata when I first got it and felt I’d basically been tricked into playing it. I always prefer role-playing games to action games and I hated the action and shooting and that there wasn’t really any sign of traditional role-playing bits at the start of the game. I don’t like to be beaten though, so a couple of weeks later I sat down and tried to get into it.

I think that helped actually, because I was better at the action the second time round, once I’d got the gist of it, and was able to get through to the open world area and get a feel for what the game was really about.

Now I’d say it was one of my favourite games, ever with an amazing story that really does shame the vast majority of others in terms of themes and emotions. It simultaneously feels more mature than other games and has a childish silliness to it that is both charming and very honest. I love it, even if it was a rocky start to our relationship.
Mazzy

 

Thrice more into the breach
After all the talk about Into The Breach on the Inbox I gave it a go because although strategy games aren’t usually my thing it was pretty cheap and everyone seemed to agree it was great. I absolutely hated it. The graphics were terrible, the instructions didn’t explain anything, and I kept dying almost instantly.

I gave up after less than half an hour and didn’t go near again for days. Tried it again for 10 minutes, still hated it and gave up again. Only after talking to a friend, who explained the best way to get started and that you have to play defensively, did I play it a third time and start to get the hang of it.

I’ve now put so many hours into it I couldn’t even tell you. 100%ed every achievement and unlocked every mech. A fantastic game that is completely different to everything I’ve understood and enjoyed about games up until now. Can’t wait to see what the same dev does next.
TAGS

 

Story issues
I must’ve tried Overwatch at least three or four times before I got into it. I’d heard so much about it, and managed to get a copy cheap, but I just thought it was a bog standard first person shooter. I think it’s the lack of story campaign that put me, it just felt like there was no way to get into it and it felt weird playing random multiplayer battles to learn the characters.

I finally pushed past that when I started to main Soldier: 76 and then moved onto some of the more complicated ones. Great game but I hope the sequel does have a story because it still seems weird not knowing what it’s all about.
GFD

 

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

 

Window of opportunity
I think the two biggest examples for me are Bayonetta and Mass Effect (the first one). I think I owned both for well over a year before they clicked with me.

In Bayonetta’s case I found it hard to understand the appeal of the game and it all felt very ‘arcadey’ and disposable at first. I think I attempted about four restarts before I actually finished what’s easily a sub-15 hour game.

But it turns out the satisfaction wasn’t about progressing through the game as you normally would. Once I understood how to properly utilise the moves and combos and how satisfying these were to get right, I coupled it with the compulsion to get platinum trophies for every sub chapter and it all suddenly made sense.

The fact it took so long is what put me off getting Bayonetta 2 and Astral Chain right away, but they’re both still on my shopping list.

With Mass Effect, I think it was the various dry and slightly overwhelming role-playing elements. I’d find myself with a ton of gear and ended up bored with the menus and inventories. Once I got used to just disposing of 80% of my loot in exchange for ‘omni-gel’ things became a bit more streamlined and I started to enjoy going through the codex and getting into the excellent lore.

Going forward, the biggest wall I’ve hit this gen is with The Witcher 3 but I’m hoping if I try it on Switch at some point it’ll work out better than the last three attempts, as I’m more inclined to give it a chance playing portably.

I think part of the difficulty with some games nowadays is to do with looking at what else is on your plate and feeling like what you’re playing only has a small window of opportunity to keep you on board. Back when there was less choice, often for financial reasons, there was way less chance I’d just chip off any of the above games.
Panda

 

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

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Game Freak should not be making Pokémon games anymore – Reader’s Feature

Pokémon Sword and Shield – if only the actual game looked like this (pic: The Pokémon Company)

A reader is unimpressed by Pokémon Sword and Shield’s graphics and insists that Game Freak should be replaced as the primary developer.

Having now spent some considerable time with Pokémon Sword/Shield (Sword to be precise) I feel perfectly qualified to say that Game Freak should not make the next one. I absolutely do not want to accuse any of the developers of being lazy but I think it’s obvious that they’ve become complacent, especially when reading interviews where their attitude towards adding any kind of new idea, or explaining why they keep removing existing ones, is a sort of self-satisfied ‘mother knows best’.

Having played the game it seems obvious to me that their main problem is simply that they have no idea how to work with modern technology and, more importantly, seemingly no interest in finding out. The graphics in Sword and Shield are just terrible. It looks much worse than Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, despite that game world being much bigger and more interactive and actually originally being designed for the Wii U. So it wasn’t even made for the Switch from the ground up.

Pokémon games always sell much more than any Zelda, so the idea that the first one on the Switch wouldn’t get at least as much tender loving care and budget is madness. If you don’t count Mario – which includes basically any game that he made so much as a cameo in – according to Wikipedia, Pokémon is the biggest video game franchise in the world. Bigger than Call Of Duty and bigger than GTA.

As GC pointed out in their review of Pokémon Sword and Shield, this game should have whatever budget it needs but it looks like something made on the cheap as some sort of side project while the rest of the team worked on something else. The lack of detail and geometry in the backdrops are embarrassing, the way the camera jerkily moves around in the non-Wild Area sections is like some first year computer student’s first demo, and the amount of pop-up in the open world is just sad. All that and there’s frequent slowdown too!

Then there’s the pokémon themselves. Why do they still look like this? Ignoring the fact of whether most of the old ones have been ported over from Sun and Moon or not (I think it’s pretty obvious they have) why are they all just flat-shaded textures? The pokémon in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where there is a lot, lot more going on at once are much more detailed in terms of features and they have fur, scales, etc. Why not in Sword and Shield as well? Smash even has the proper pokémon noises!

Having hundreds of pokémon reacting and interacting with each other in battles is difficult, of course, but it’s really just a question of manpower and budget, both of which should not be an issue for a game like this. The most important new sequel to the biggest franchise of all time should not be penny-pinching and having lame animations where moves like Slam just have what looks like a generic white tadpole flop onto screen or where Double Kick is just a stencil of a foot appearing on screen.

That was clever when it was on a low powered portable console but when the Switch is putting out games as graphically impressive as Luigi’s Mansion 3 there’s only three possible explanations: laziness, lack of money, or incompetence. I really don’t think it’s the first, I know it’s not the second, so the only conclusion is that Game Freak just aren’t up to the job. Which is totally understandable really, considering they’ve barely ever made any home console games and Pokémon is usually only on portables.

But they should have accepted that lack of experience and either staffed up enough to get around it or brought in someone else to help. But they’re too arrogant for that and so we get a game that looks two generations behind where it should be and, because it’s been super successful, they’ve now got no incentive to try harder.

Everyone talks about having their ‘dream Pokémon game’ and the main reason for that is because it’s so easy to see how the games could be improved – and yet everybody knows Game Freak are never going to get around to doing it. Not only that, they can’t do it; not with their current level of experience and technical ability.

If Pokémon was done by Microsoft or Sony, or even just the Zelda or Xenoblade teams, it would be completely different: great graphics, huge open world, decent dialogue and story… there’s nothing that could’t be instantly improved by any developer with just a bit more vision and ambition. Maybe Game Freak can be kept on in an advisory role – the one thing I will say about Sword and Shield is that the majority of the new designs are good – but that’s all.

In terms of actually making the games… they’re not up to the job and they should have been removed or put into a different role as soon as possible. Preferably 10 years ago.

By reader Joshdarn

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.

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Why Champions: Return To Arms is my gaming guilty pleasure – Reader’s Feature

Champions: Return To Arms – a least one person remembers it (pic: Ubisoft)

A reader explains why he still has fond memories of the standalone expansion to Diablo clone Champions Of Norrath, despite not thinking it’s all that good.

In our collective collections, we all have keepers. Games we would never part with, not for love nor money. But not all of those are going to be the ones we consider to be masterpieces. There is also the odd guilty pleasure in there, ones we couldn’t wholeheartedly recommend to others.

As a complete and unabashed nerd, I have a weakness for sword and sorcery type adventures. Even the bland ones. Which accounts for a lot. I have an especially soft spot for Diablo clones, or dungeon crawlers if you will. Sometimes I even like to call them loot ’em-ups. As I’m primarily a console gamer, my first of these games was the entirely workmanlike Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes for the old Xbox. I had played Neverwinter Nights on a friend’s PC and was hungry for something similar. Needless to say, it didn’t hold a candle to the BioWare classic. Nor is this feature about that game. But playing it put me on the lookout for more like it. And there were a few of them knocking around in the sixth generation.

For the record, I thought Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 was the best of the bunch at the time and Diablo 3 and Torchlight are even better still. But they never had quite as much replay value for me as Champions: Return To Arms on the PlayStation 2 – the expansion pack style sequel to 2004’s Champions Of Norrath by Snowblind Studios and published by Ubisoft, of all people.

And I say expansion pack as it appeared just one year later! It was not a sales juggernaut and soon found its way to bargain bins very quickly. I picked it up in 2006, I think – paid less than £20 for it from a market stall in Hinckley. It is very much the kind of rough-hewn gem that you would find in a market or expansive second-hand section. Not very valuable, like something you would see for a few quid in a Wiccan-hippy type shop that also sell dreamcatchers and shiny handbags with cool hologram designs on them.

It re-used a lot of the previous game’s levels and assets to the point where I’m not sure what was new. Possibly the Planes of Disease and Nightmares, but I can’t say with certainty. The plot, such as it was, had you select an adventurer from one of seven classes and gather up some tedious trinkets that will resurrect the last game’s villain – and so soon after you had put him down, too. Can’t he wait at least the prerequisite three thousand years or something? Very rude. Nobody’s had a chance for celebratory drinks yet!

You begin in the Plane of Tranquillity which is basically a platform in the sky with a nice lady on it who tells you where to go next and sells you stuff. Her name is Firiona and she wears blue. Her dress sense is surprisingly practical and overall the game doesn’t sexualise the female characters too much. Yes, there is something of chainmail bikini aesthetic, but nothing insanely inappropriate. Each character type will now have a ‘legendary’ set of armour, and for the barbarian lass, who seems to hail from the West Country, this does not cover much. But hey, she’s a barbarian! It’s kind of their thing! Plus, she still gets to have some very handsome plate armour, it just won’t offer as much ‘protection’ as the legendary stuff. Ha ha. Her legendary boots are well worth you having, though – real stompy boots with a thick metal sole that could probably crush skulls.

And there’s no high heels in sight. All the female adventurers wear something they can run in, including the Erudite Wizard, the most flamboyant of the classes. They wear conventional armour, but rather exquisite finery like silk and damask. I didn’t even know what damask was until I played this game and I thought they’d just made it up – but no, it’s real. Both the male and female seem the most ridiculously dressed for battle, but it does work. Especially their hats. Wow. You have got to see their hats! They’re mad about hats!

Which leads me to this game’s main appeal: the loot. No other game gets loot drops as right as this. None. Not Diablo, not Borderlands (which is only guns), not Fallout, not Elder Scrolls, not Torchlight, not anything. I have literally cooed over a picture of either those stompy, barbarian boots or a really gnarly looking sword. The artistic variety on display here is amazing, which is just as well, as that is the core gameplay loop.

Other aspects, like the level design are very hit or miss and often entirely uninspired. There is often a clever ‘challenge’ level where you collect optional trinkets on your way to bagging an optional super sword, which I have never been able to do. Some are bland, like fight some sub-bosses, or others are like a game of Pac-Man against enemies who can one-shot you as you try to squish all the frogs in a maze or destroy eight slow-moving automatons before they can escape the area. These challenge levels only exist for the main levels: the planes. The main planes, if you like. But there are two other sidetrack levels: the wonderfully named Pit of Ill Omen and Faydark Forest, where there are optional areas that you can open up if you meet certain criteria.

It all helps to inject a bit of fizz in a game that can get very dull. The worst level, and by a long way, is the Plane of Water. You are given the ability to breathe underwater and must trudge around a seabed and a few caves, all of it surrounded by an infinite, blue expanse. Being underwater, you mover slower than normal. This was not a good idea. It’s no fun to look at and it’s no fun to play.

This game also had another hook where you could choose to switch sides and go work for the bad guys. This has much less impact than you may think. A sultry lady by the name of Natasla offers you the chance to go over to turn evil in the first level. She wears an odd, hooded mini-dress suggesting she might be bald – but is otherwise your typical sexy, bad chick. Her offer is limited, however. Whatever you decide in that moment sticks for that entire playthrough. It will change the layout of the next level and mean different bosses. Evil players are really punished, though. Evil characters will have to run a gauntlet of five very tough bosses at the end of the first level and the final boss, Mithaniel Marr, is a nightmare.

It almost makes you wonder why the good guys ever needed you in the first place with this juggernaut on the team. To even attempt to stand your ground is suicide. Melee attacks will not work. Two hits will kill you, maximum. Of anything he can do. And most of what he does is unblockable. So, you have to use ranged attacks, right? Yes, but you still need to do so from safety. Relatively speaking. His area of effect skills are devastating, knocking you down and setting you up for a second, killing blow. Want to abuse health potions like you could in the first Torchlight? You can’t. Not really. It takes a second for your life gauge to fully refill, in which time you could easily be killed. He can close any gap on you with terrifying speed and forget trying to get around his flank – his sword can find you seemingly anywhere. So, what you have to do, and it is pretty humiliating, is hide behind a tree and let off your best projectile through gaps whilst he’s chasing after you.

And you spend the entire battle like that. Marr chasing you around and around this tree while you take the occasional cheap shot. Now, yes, he will occasionally try to wrong-foot you – but you just go the other way. Like your two kids chasing each other around a table. He may use an area of effect skill but he’ll never do two in a row so you should have time to get back up and chug down on some potions. As such, the evil route is something you will only ever do once and never, ever again.

As you may have already gathered, the combat is of the Benny Hill variety. Blocking doesn’t always work against some enemies and you’ll have to run around them, taking the odd swipe now and again. Which can be unintentionally hilarious. Though, not always. There is a cave in the appropriately disgusting Plane of Disease (seriously, your character would have to burn their clothes afterwards and wash themselves continuously for a month) full of spiders, ants, and other creepy crawlies. Along with giant, spider-woman hybrids that have the torso of a dark elf female and the rest is all spider. An arachnophobe would simply be unable to play this. They move disturbingly fast, have a lot of health, can poison you and make horrible, shrieking noises.

Then there’s an enemy that looks like a giant, disembodied heart that crawls around on clawed arms called Avatars of Agony. Yes, that is what they’re called. At first, they’ll move towards you slowly and if you stand fast, you should just fire projectiles at them. Run away or retreat even slightly and they’ll pounce on you and start flailing at you maniacally. It is perhaps the most terrifying enemy of all time. You can block their attacks and strike during a lull, but it is still very unpleasant to experience.

In a late level, the otherwise disappointing Plane of Nightmares, there is an optional cave filled with treasure chests you can’t open. There seems to be some sort of magical seal on them. Get to the end and you see four chests grouped together in the middle of a suspiciously large and dark clearing. Approach them and the seal will break. But then four avatars, in each corner of the room appear. And they can all pounce on you. At once. That was just lovely, that was.

Now, I do need to mention one level that is quite ingenious. It involves a stealth section. Don’t worry, it isn’t too difficult. In the Plane of Storms you are tasked with driving some nasty invaders out of some mountain caves. Sadly, the invaders are blessed with invincibility. They get this from those all-important MacGuffins that games like this love. This means that they can murder you in one hit and cannot be hurt by you. Yay. So you have to sneak past them initially, and make your way over to where the sparkly thing is being kept. You are strongly encouraged to remove all your equipment to be as quiet as possible. You might be able to get away with your boots still on, if they’re leather, padded or that fancy wizard stuff – but anything else and you’ll just ruffle and clang too much.

Get through the mountain and you will eventually reach the Bastion of Thunder. An incredibly Christmassy looking place replete with heavy snow, warm lights from the kind of houses that Santa and his elves might live in, and a night-time feel to the place. Once you have your MacGuffin – guarded by a nasty troll – you can now go back to the mountain. And this time, you’re not going to be stealthy. Oh no. I laughed with devilish glee as I cut through these initially infuriating little buggers. ‘Not so tough now, are ya? Ahahahahaaa!’ Ahem.

It’s stuff like this, along with the promise of an even cooler sword or shield, that keeps you going. You have a better degree of customisation for your characters and can get quite invested in them as a result. The soundtrack is even pretty good in places. And once you’ve beaten the game on one difficulty setting, you can do it on the next one higher up, which in turn means better loot – which is more compulsive than it has any right to be.

Don’t get me wrong, as I’ve already said there are better role-players out there, even among this particular subset. But they don’t do the looting mechanic quite as well. If you still have a PlayStation 2, this worth a go if you see it going for a tenner or thereabouts. But it’s not worth buying the whole console for. And if it were to come out on the new consoles, I’d probably download it, if the asking price wasn’t too crazy. Should you, though? Depends.

Tara Strong does voice the Shadow Knight female and is really the only source of humour if you remain idle in either combat or the inventory screen. Tara Strong, you know, in full Raven from Teen Titans mode. If that can’t convince you perhaps nothing ever will.

By reader DMR

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.

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The genius gameplay mechanics of Papers, Please – Reader’s Feature

Papers, Please – glory to Arstotzka (pic: Lucas Pope)

A reader describes his love for the work of Return Of The Obra Dinn creator Lucas Pope and the unexpected gameplay magic of Papers, Please.

I’ve recently started Return Of The Obra Dinn on Switch, but it’s the peerless Lucas Pope’s first game Papers, Please that I want to use as my example of a great gameplay mechanic. I could also have used football games, driving games or any number of action or survival horror games, but I think the idea I’m trying to express, about how important good gameplay mechanics are, is best shown by Papers, Please. Because the whole premise lives or dies on whether the gameplay mechanics actually work.

Before I talk about Papers, Please what I think moves a gameplay mechanic from good to great is when the feeling of performing the action puts you in the mindset of the avatar performing that action fully, breaking down the barrier between player and game and immersing you completely. You feel like Spiderman when you swing building to building, you feel like Ronaldo when you hit the top corner in PES or FIFA, you feel like the Doom marine when you perform a gory glory kill or win a race by a lick of paint in Forza, gripping the controller tightly to eke out every last ounce of acceleration from your simulated supercar.

Papers, Please though is different. The gameplay takes your mind somewhere else entirely, you are a border crossing guard for the fictional eastern European country of Arstotzka and your job is to inspect the papers of the people leaving from and returning to the country. The game eases you into the action slowly, layering up the actions to be performed so you are not immediately overwhelmed. Your job is to check various pieces of paper to verify if people should be allowed to proceed on their journey. It’s clear there is an ongoing conflict and that your country is a poorly run authoritarian regime absolutely swimming in bureaucratic red tape.

As a lowly functionary you are paid on a work model that means the more people you process the higher your meagre wage to sustain your family will be. As you process people, they give you their tales of woe, sinister characters will try their tall tales on you, and internally your moral compass spins like a weather vane in a hurricane deciding whether to be merciful and poor or loyal to the regime and rich. I played this on iPad many years ago and eventually the gameplay involved frantic flick and gestures as you hurriedly checked and made quick snap decisions on the numerous entrants.

The gameplay mechanics were perfect. You felt the stress of earning a wage and you assumed the mindset of a border guard a minor cog in a grandly massive machine. It also does something I would never have thought possible, you start to empathise with how a person could find themselves actively participating in a totalitarian regime even though they derive no benefit from it. There are good people coming through that border, revolutionaries bringing new ways of thinking whose social change is needed and would lead to a kinder and more equitable government, but that very night your child needs medicine or they will die.

In my small bubble I made the decision that perpetuated tyranny and these decisions are presented repeatedly, Lucas asking you when the pressure is really on, what do you really believe? The intentional drudgery, the dehumanising lo-fi graphics, the oppressive music but most of all those flicks and gestures made me feel like a sympathiser, a shill, a heel not even given enough scraps from your master’s table to justify your rabid loyalty. Overworked and not given enough time to process the humans passing your window as humans but instead pieces of paper to be stamped or handed to the secret police, it’s a shockingly quick process too.

You can start the game the most altruistic believer of Western democracy, with the purest of intentions but once the gameplay mechanics of Papers, Please get a hold of you, you’ll be willing to accept it when the government tells you 2+2 = 5 or that we’ve always been at war with Eastasia. Which is truthfully an astonishing achievement of gameplay.

By reader Dieflemmy (gamertag/PSN ID/NN ID)

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.

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How Nvidia’s GeForce Now makes a mockery of Google Stadia – Reader’s Feature

Should Stadia be taking notes? (pic: Nvidia)

A reader looks at the many video game streaming alternatives to Stadia and points out where he thinks Google is getting things wrong.

I don’t understand the reasoning of the early adopters of the Stadia service. The service from Nvidia, GeForce Now, has been in free beta for much longer. It has compatibility with various stores including Steam, so if you own a game on that platform you can stream it for free with the service. This automatically negates the appeal of a services such as Stadia where you have to pay for the game specifically to run only on that service.

For Nvidia Shield customers, beta access comes with the device; for everyone else there is a waiting list. Now this service has been made available to Android users with beta access, although you have to hunt for a compatible APK installation file online. I have personally signed up for beta access to Project xCloud as it looks far more interesting and appealing than Stadia and have been placed on a waiting list.

I have been experimenting with various DIY cloud streaming software for a while now, including KinoConsole, Remotr, Moonlight, Rainway, Steam Link, and Parsec. They all have their own pros and cons but my favourite is Parsec, which is very low latency and is usable in a similar way to traditional VNC (virtual network computer) software such as TeamViewer.

I expect these technologies to take off when 5G home broadband and 5G mobile data plans become more widespread. One critical feature which DIY cloud gaming software should have is Wake-on-LAN (WoL) to allow a user to remotely wake up their PC from low power sleep mode, saving energy costs by removing the need for keeping the PC on all the time.

What Stadia needs to invest in drastically is permanently 100% exclusive games and either access to their entire catalogue for an affordable subscription fee, like Netflix, or an entirely free service with existing stores integration, to compete with the existing GeForce Now.

If Stadia offered access to more stores than its competitors, instead of trying to be its own store, it would have a great advantage. Logically there is no reason for anyone to adopt Stadia.

I expect Sony to improve their remote play feature in the next iteration of the PlayStation series. My question is, why pay for services to stream games? Especially when you can do it yourself with ease and little to no technical ability.

By reader Sheel

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.

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Weekend Hot Topic, part 1: Games you hated at first, then loved

God Of War – Kratos is never easy to get on with at first (pic: Sony)

GameCentral readers name their favourite games that they never got on with at first, from Monster Hunter to Oblivion.

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader ‘Daley’ Thompson, who asked what game that you like now did you not initially enjoy? How long did it take to change your mind and what finally brought you around?

A high difficulty or lack of explanation was the most common reason, with SoulsBorne games being mentioned a lot, but not liking the main character or story also put off a lot of people at first.

 

Tutorial troubles
Games I didn’t get on with? Easy as this one is very recent. God Of War. I really got annoyed with this one. I was getting pummelled by the minions early game and this took me to the brink. Thankfully I then learned of the block button. Daft I know, but I’d be fairly sure there was no mention of a block until a few hours into the game. Like most of the series, I assumed you learned it later. After I received the relevant info I died a lot less frequently and grew to really enjoy the comeback of one of my favourite game series, after hating God Of War 3 due to the Zeus fight at the end.

Another fairly recent one was South Park: The Stick Of Truth. It was due to a very slow start and some bafflingly frustrating training sections involving fart throwing, no really. But apart from those issues, it was a great game and showed that you can have good TV to game adaptions.
bobwallett

 

Stay on target
After all the hype and buzz surrounding its then cutting edge polygonal graphics and being the first game to use the Super FX chip, I had to give Starwing (aka Star Fox) a thorough play through. Imagining I was a reviewer for Super Play and had to write up a review, I plugged in the cartridge and immersed myself into the whole new world of polygons and barrel rolls.

Needless to say, I initially wasn’t impressed. The graphics looked crude and jagged, consisting of what seemed like shapes associated with a school geometry lesson, rather than a fun, cutting-edge SNES game. I didn’t like the lack of freedom either, as the game was on rails, and I felt the whole experience was underwhelming and over very quickly.

After some perseverance, due to valuing the glowing reviews of many games magazines, I decided to play it some more.

I soon realised that the game had more to offer, with multiple secret paths and routes which dictates the game’s difficulty depending on which path is taken. The scrolling became fun and I began to appreciate the 3D perspective and aerial combat, always aiming to better my score at the end of a level.

Slippy aside, I really enjoyed the game after my initial first opinion, and was in high anticipation for the follow up, Lylat Wars, upon its reveal.

I felt the same about Unirally, which I warmed to after more play and that was also highly rated. The same can’t be said about Bubsy The Bobcat, the more I play it the more it frustrates me and I resent its existence!

I suppose the old proverb rings true, one man’s meat is another man’s poison.

Or Bobcat, in this case!
Steve Derricourt

GC: Who ever rated Bubsy The Bobcat that highly?

 

Third time lucky
Metroid Prime is a game it took me three attempts to get into. I first borrowed it off a friend and really didn’t enjoy it. I then borrowed it off another friend but still couldn’t get into it. But the acclaim and love for the game kept increasing so I finally borrowed it again and it clicked.

Not sure why it took so long, possibly because of its less action focused gameplay. Now I regard it as one of the best games of all time and still try and play it (or its sequels) when I get a chance. It also made me a Metroid fan and I’ve since played Super Metroid and Samus Returns. Incredible franchise.
Barry

 

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

 

First go
I think from a meta perspective the answer to this has got to be Monster Hunter, but it’s true for me personally as well. I’d played the Wii version a bit before selling it on, and never thought too much about it. Then all the hype began for the new game and I was a bit surprised as I just thought it was a niche Japanese game that nobody here really cared about.

I picked it up a few months after launch at £20 off and at first found all the same problems as on the Wii. Sure, it was all one map now but otherwise the combat was still clunky and the whole thing seemed glitchy and kind of broken.

But then I teamed up with a mate that already had it and I started to get the appeal. It’s a great game really, one you have to learn and gain experience in, rather than just beating once and not forgetting again. I wouldn’t say I was a rabid fan but I certainly appreciate what people see in it now, which I wouldn’t have expected on my first go all those years ago.
Partrick

 

Zero to hero
The game that immediately springs to mind for this hot topic is Max Payne 3. I remember playing it after it had been out a few months on a recommendation from a friend. Initially, for the first few chapters, I didn’t find it much fun at all and very difficult, even when I reduced the difficulty. I eventually became frustrated and stopped playing.

A couple of months later I seem to remember watching two things, the first was a Game Makers Toolkit video which featured the game and also watching the fantastic Denzel Washington film Man on Fire, which kind of has a similar storyline to Max Payne 3 in its premise, so it inspired me to give the game another go.

I don’t know what it was but I think it was just through practice that I began to grasp the mechanics of the game and realised that it needed to be played as Max Payne should and not like other third person shooters. With this in mind I began to enjoy the game a lot more and eagerly anticipated every shootout, which was perfectly orchestrated by the HEALTH soundtrack.

The ending mission where you’re shooting your way through an airport terminal remains in my top three missions/levels of all time. So glad I went back to it and I would love Rockstar to do a sequel.
Angry_Kurt (Twitter)
Now playing: Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch)

 

Online humour
Bloodborne for me. I swear I just thought it was awful at first. I thought I’d been tricked into buying a terrible game by some sort of Internet joke that I wasn’t in on. And then, well… you know what comes next. After persevering out of a mixture of confusion, boredom, and stubbornness I fell in love with what I genuinely consider to be the best game ever made.

Bloodborn is one of those rare games that only gets better and better the more you play it, expanding its scope in a way that still seems impossible to me considering what I assume to be a fairly modest budget. The Lovecraftian style is some of the best in all gaming and so good I genuinely fear the prospect of a sequel in case it doesn’t live up to the near perfection of the original.
Gunship

 

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

 

Slow start
For me this has to be The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. I bought it on the Xbox 360 solely because it was the highest reviewed game on the system at the time. I took a punt on it after finding it on eBay at a discounted price.

I remember I started in a cell and some character, that I wasn’t interested in, came talking to me about a story that I wasn’t interested in either. I got out of jail and killed a few rats. I got lost in a watery sewer system and it took me about ab hour to get outside that first area. I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing.

I remember exiting the area and being met with a beautiful, sprawling landscape of lush greenery and hills. A huge open world to explore. I lasted about 10 minutes playing around in this area and saved and turned the game off.

A month later I came back to Oblivion and started the main quest again. I ended up in someone’s home that was talking to me and they were boring me, so I ran upstairs and stole something from their bedroom, as you do. I think it was a pewter mug that had little value or use.

A guard came in as they’d caught me and this was where the fun began. I reloaded and this time went and stole the mug without being spotted. The mug was useless, but I got a high from being able to get away with it on the second attempt. It was even more fun when I got to the point that there was a Thieves Guild that I could join and open up my petty crime spree even further.

The start of my Oblivion adventure was a terribly slow one, but I’ll never forget it because it was in fact hiding what would eventually become one of my most fond gaming memories ever.
Nick The Greek

 

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

 

The small print
New Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

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Mario Kart Tour Driver with Horns Challenge: how to complete it

(Picture: Nintendo)

How exactly do you get 8,000 points in Mario Kart Tour with a horned driver?

With the next major event in Mario Kart Tour now having a specific starting date, players may be feeling pressured to try and earn as many rewards as possible before the current Christmas event ends.

One of the Gold Pass challenges in particular demands that you earn 8,000 points in a single race, which is no simple feat on its own, but you must also do it with a racer that has horns.

As of right now, there are only two characters that fit that criteria – Bowser, who is classified as a Super character, and Dry Bowser, a High-End character, meaning both of them are exceptionally rare to acquire, especially Dry Bowser.

Both characters have a random chance of appearing in the game’s pipe, which costs five rubies per use, or in the Daily Selects shop where they can be bought with coins. Bowser costs 3,000 and Dry Bowser costs 12,000.

Bowser the horned driver (Picture: DeNA)

Since this challenge is only available to Gold Pass subscribers, you most likely already own at least one of these characters if you’re attempting it, assuming you’ve had the Gold Pass since the game’s launch.

The best way to rack up points with them is by picking one of their favoured courses, as doing so means they can get three items at a time and thus get a chance of entering Frenzy Mode if they get three of the same item, which helps rack up the points immensely.

In the current tour, only one of Bowser’s favoured courses is available: Neo Bowser City. It’s the same with Dry Bowser, who favours Neo Bowser City T. Make sure you don’t get the two mixed up.

You’ll also want to pick a kart and glider combo that also favour those two courses, as they will multiply your bonus points by two and increase your combo-time and provide a combo bonus multiplier of three respectively.

Dry Bowser is one of the rarest characters (pic: DeNA)

If you pick Bowser on Neo Bowser City, select one of the following karts and gliders:

• DK Jumbo (kart)
• Black Circuit (kart)
• Ghost Ride (kart)
• Wario Wing (glider)
• Full Flight (glider)

As for Dry Bowser on Neo Bowser City T:

• Wild Wing (kart)
• Black B Dasher (kart)
• Black Circuit (kart)
• Ghost Ride (kart)
• Wario Wing (glider)
• Fare Flier (glider)

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Also, be sure to race on either 150cc or 200cc, as coming in first will get you the highest amount of possible guaranteed points.

Mario Kart Tour is available now on iOS and Android devices.

Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter

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FIFA 20 players organise street protest against ‘manipulative’ EA

(Picture: EA Sports)

A group of disgruntled FIFA 20 players have gathered outside EA’s headquarters in Bucharest to complain about the game.

FIFA 20 may have been a solid entry in the long-running sports series, but it was not without its faults, and some players have taken their grievances directly to publisher EA.

A small group gathered outside EA’s headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, in order to protest against a number of issues they have with the game, such as control lag and how acquiring Ultimate Team packs work.

FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) allows players to form their own superstar teams with some of the sport’s greatest players, like Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard, who can be earned by purchasing packs with either the in-game currency or real money.

The players argue that the odds of getting individual Ultimate Team players is skewed against them and that EA has made it deliberately difficult so as to encourage players to spend more money on the packs.

People protesting right now in front of EA HQ in Bucharest complaining about pack luck in weekend league rewards, button delay and the script. from FIFA

The story was shared on the official FIFA Reddit and, while it is 97% upvoted at the time of writing, it has drawn a very mixed response.

Some people support the protest, calling EA ‘manipulative’, while some have mocked the protesters and called them ’embarrassing’; others think they’re protesting for the wrong reasons.

A few users claimed that the one who organised the protest is a YouTuber who is simply using this as a publicity stunt to help promote his own channel.

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This isn’t the first time EA’s use of lootboxes has drawn ire. While the UK Gambling Commission has ruled that lootboxes and EA’s FIFA packs aren’t officially gambling, it hasn’t stopped concerned gamers and parents from criticising the company, who appeared in a study about how children are growing addicted to gambling.

The lootbox craze has since drawn the attention of various other countries around the world. The US government is working on implementing possible lootbox legislation and Belgium has declared them as a form of gambling and thus illegal, forcing EA to stop offering FIFA Points for sale in that country.

FIFA 20 is available right now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter

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Mario Kart Tour heading to London in next week’s update

Stonehenge (Picture: DeNA)

The next Mario Kart Tour update is coming next week and will include a new London-themed track and two new characters.

While Mario Kart Tour players continue to enjoy the current Christmas-themed event and wonder why there is still no multiplayer, developer DeNA is already preparing for the game’s next tour.

Set to begin on Wednesday, 4 December at 6am, the new tour will be London-themed and come with a brand new race course set in the city itself, complete with familiar iconography like red double-decker buses and Big Ben.

While this does mean an end to the Christmas tour and, with it, a chance for you to acquire the exclusive characters, karts and gliders, DeNA has also confirmed that Santa Mario will still be available until 31 December, probably because it would be weird for the Christmas character to be unavailable that month.

We can safely assume that the London tour will come with new unlockable karts and gliders as well, but DeNA has already teased the two new characters that will be included for the tour’s duration.

We only have silhouettes to go off of, but they are clearly meant to be new versions of Waluigi, Luigi’s purple-clad rival, and Daisy – Peach’s fellow princess pal.

Deck the halls with boughs of Daisy (Picture: DeNA)

 

Would you let this man drive a bus? (Picture: DeNA)

As for their new costumes, Daisy is likely wearing a fur winter coat, and the present she’s holding and holly in her hair suggest it’s Christmas-themed too. Waluigi’s is harder to discern, though. Maybe a bus driver’s outfit?

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This follows the recent 1.2.0 update, which added a ticket screen so you can keep track of what tickets you have, a new control scheme that has a drift button, and a new type of bonus where players can earn extra points by finishing a race while in Frenzy Mode.

As for the lack of multiplayer, DeNA will be holding a beta test for it in the future, but it will be limited to those subscribed to the game’s Gold Pass.

Mario Kart Tour is available now on iOS and Android devices.

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Capcom has two ‘secret’ games to reveal at Jump Festa 2020 in December

Could the Resident Evil 3 remake finally be announced? (Picture: Capcom)

Capcom will be showing off four games in total at its Jump Festa 2020 booth late in December, including at least one unannounced title.

Jump Festa may be more of an anime and manga convention, but it’s no stranger to showing off new trailers and playable demos for highly-anticipated games.

It’s been revealed that Capcom has two unconfirmed titles that it plans to have at its own booth during the event, thanks to some leaks from a Japanese games magazine, as translated by Gematsu.

Recent rumours suggest that Capcom is planning to remake Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, following the critical and financial success of this year’s Resident Evil 2 remake, which shipped 4.2 million units worldwide and made the Resident Evil series the company’s best-selling IP ever.

There’s also a possibility that we could see an old IP making a comeback, as Capcom has stated it would like to ‘awaken dormant IPs’. Some popular choices include Dino Crisis, Viewtiful Joe, and Okami. Or maybe this could even be a brand new IP altogether?

There’s always a chance Capcom will show one of their already confirmed titles (Picture: Capcom)

Jump Festa doesn’t seem quite the right venue for a reveal as big as the Resident Evil 3 remake though, so a more likely possibility is perhaps something like Ace Attorney 7, which Capcom confirmed in 2018 and hasn’t been mentioned since or got an official trailer.

But the rule of thumb for any event like this is to assume as little as possible, so the other unconfirmed title is likely to be just something like Resident Evil spin-off, Project Resistance or the Switch port of Devil May Cry 3.

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Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, the expansion of the action role-playing game that’s already out on consoles, but won’t be coming to PC until January 2020, is the first of the two confirmed titles.

The second is Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection, which will contain all six games from across both series, fully remastered and with additional features. This is also due to come out in January.

Jump Festa 2020 will be held 21 December to 22 December in Japan.

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Best Tesco in-store Black Friday 2019 video game deals – FIFA 20 and Borderlands 3 for £35

Black Friday the old fashioned way (pic: Tesco)

The best Black Friday video game deals aren’t necessarily to be found online, as most of Tesco’s best bargains are in-store only.

Black Friday started off as a retail-only thing, with Cyber Monday the weird online spin-off, but while online has taken over for a lot of companies nowadays some of the best deals in gaming can still only be had by walking into an actual store.

Tesco’s deals are amongst the best of the week, as you can see here in our round-up of the absolute best Black Friday video game deals, but here’s a complete list of everything you can get in-store at Tesco.

Obviously not every Tesco is going to sell games or consoles, but if it’s a fair-sized one they’ll probably have at least the games – assuming they haven’t sold out yet.

As with most shops these deals run until Monday, 2 December; although waiting that long makes it even more likely there’ll be none left.

FIFA 20 (Xbox One/PS4) – £35 (SAVE £15)
Borderlands 3 (Xbox One/PS4) – £35 (SAVE £15)
Need For Speed Heat (Xbox One/PS4) – £35 (SAVE £15)
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox One/PS4) – £40 (SAVE £10)
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare (Xbox One/PS4) – £45 (SAVE £5)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Xbox One/PS4) – £25 (SAVE £10)
Gears 5 (Xbox One) – £25 (SAVE £20)

PS4 500GB FIFA 20 bundle – £189 (SAVE £60)
PS4 Pro 1TB FIFA 20 bundle – £299 (SAVE £50)

Xbox One S All Digital Edition with Minecraft, Sea Of Thieves, and Fortnite – £109 (SAVE £90)
Xbox One S 1TB with extra controller – £159 (SAVE £90)

DualShock 4 (blue, black, red, or white) – £30 (SAVE £20)
PS4 Gold wireless headset – £45 (SAVE £24)

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The absolute best Black Friday 2019 video game deals – FIFA 20 for £35, COD for £40

Today’s the day to buy a new console (pic: Microsoft)

Black Friday 2019 is finally here and if you’re looking for a cheap Xbox One, PS4, or Nintendo Switch then these are the best bargains of the day.

It’s been a very odd Black Friday this year. Promotions have been running for upwards of two weeks at many stores and yet a lot of the deals aren’t that great, especially not for more recent video games – although there are some better ones today if you actually go into a store.

That’s where some of the best console deals are to be found as well, although there are plenty of bargains online as well, with the Xbox One S All Digital Edition (the one without a disc drive) being discounted by almost 50% in many places.

At the moment these are the cheapest video game deals in the UK, both online and off, but do be aware that stock is likely to run out on many of the better deals as the days go on – and shops do change the contents and prices of deals without notice.

Best PS4 console Black Friday 2019 deals

PS4 500GB FIFA 20 bundle – £189 (Tesco in-store)

PS4 500GB FIFA 20 Bundle + Marvel’s Spider-Man OR extra controller and PSN – £199.99 (Very.co.uk)

PS4 Pro 1TB FIFA 20 bundle – £299 (Tesco in-store)

PS4 500GB PlayStation Hits bundle (Horizon, Uncharted 4, and The Last Of Us) + Red Dead Redemption 2 + GTA V: Premium Edition – £229.99 (Amazon)

PS4 Pro 1TB + Death Stranding OR Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare OR Days Gone – £299.99 (Amazon)

Best PlayStation VR Amazon Black Friday 2019 deals

PSVR Mega Pack (PlayStation VR Worlds, Skyrim VR, Astro Bot, Resident Evil 7, Everybody’s Golf VR) – £249.99 (Amazon)

PSVR Mega Pack (Skyrim VR, Astro Bot, Doom VFR, PlayStation VR Worlds, WipEout Omega Collection) – £229.99 (Amazon)

Blood & Truth – £16.99 (Amazon)

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission – £16.99 (Amazon)
Everybody’s Golf VR – £13.49 (Amazon)

FIFA is always a Black Friday favourite (pic: Sony)

Best PS4 video game Black Friday 2019 deals

The Outer Worlds – £32.95 (TheGameCollection)
Borderlands 3 with 5 Gold Keys – £34.99 (Amazon)
FIFA 20 – £35 (Tesco in-store)
FIFA 20 – £37.99 (Smyths)
Need For Speed Heat – £35 (Tesco in-store)
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare – £39.99 (Smyths)
Star Wars: Fallen Jedi Order – £40 (Tesco in-store)
Star Wars: Fallen Jedi Order – £44.95 (TheGameCollection)
Borderlands 3 with 5 Golden Keys – £34.99 (Amazon)
Control – £29.99 (Smyths)
Mortal Kombat 11 – £16.95 (TheGameCollection)
Resident Evil 2 – £15.95 (TheGameCollection)
Kingdom Hearts 3 – £11.99 (Amazon)

Best Xbox One console Black Friday 2019 deals

Xbox One S All Digital console + Minecraft, Sea Of Thieves, and Fortnite – £109 (Tesco in-store only)

Xbox One S All Digital console + Minecraft, Sea Of Thieves, and Forza Horizon 3 – £129 (Lidl in-store only)

Xbox One S All Digital console + Minecraft, Sea Of Thieves, and Fortnite + Now TV – £129 (GAME)

Xbox One S 1TB All Digital bundle + Minecraft, Sea Of Thieves, and Forza Horizon 3 – £129.99 (Argos)

Xbox One X 1TB Forza Horizon 4 Lego Speed Champions bundle – £299.99 (Amazon)

Xbox One X 1TB Gears 5 Limited Edition bundle – £299.99 (Amazon)

Xbox One X 1TB Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order bundle – £299.99 (Amazon)

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Best Xbox One video game Black Friday 2019 deals

The Outer Wilds – £32.95 (TheGameCollection)
Borderlands 3 with 5 Golden Keys – £34.99 (Amazon)
FIFA 20 – £35 (Tesco in-store)
FIFA 20 – £37.99 (Smyths)
Need For Speed Heat – £35 (Tesco in-store)
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare – £39.99 (Smyths)
Star Wars: Fallen Jedi Order – £40 (Tesco in-store)
Star Wars: Fallen Jedi Order – £49.99 (Amazon – cheaper elsewhere but currently sold out)
Gears 5 – £19.99 (Amazon)
Control – £29.99 (Smyths)
Resident Evil 2 – £17.95 (TheGameCollection)
Mortal Kombat 11 – £16.95 (TheGameCollection)
Kingdom Hearts 3 – £11.99 (Amazon)

Best Nintendo Switch console Black Friday 2019 deals

Switch + Pokémon Sword and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – £299.99 (Very.co.uk)

Nintendo Switch + Nintendo Labo: Variety Kit and The Witcher 3 Complete Edition – £299 (Amazon)

Switch Lite – £169.99 (Asda in-store)

Switch Lite + Pokémon Sword/Shield OR Luigi’s Mansion 3 – £199 (Tesco in-store)

Best Nintendo Switch video game Black Friday 2019 deals

Pokémon Sword – £39.85 (Base.com)
Pokémon Shield – £39.85 (Base.com)
Super Mario Odyssey – £34.99 (Nintendo)
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – £41.99
The Witcher 3 Complete Edition – £34.99 (Amazon)
Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 – £20.13 (Amazon)

Probably the best Switch deal of the week (pic: Very)

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