Games Inbox: How important is the story in GTA 6?

The Tuesday letters page examines the full cost of only buying physical copies of games, as one reader is unimpressed by publishers selling five days early access.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Where to start
We’re in July now but it still seems like forever before GTA 6 is going to be out, even though it’s less than four months now. The whole thing is going to be so massive it’s going to be surreal just sitting down and playing it on launch day, like a normal game.

If only we knew more about it, I’d try and plan out what I was going to do but at the moment all I can say is what do I want to do more: follow the story or go off and do my own thing in the open world. I’m curious to know what other readers will choose but I think it will probably be a long time before I get around to doing the story properly.

The temptation to just drive off and try and get myself in trouble, and explore the game world, is going to be too tempting. I don’t see that as a negative or even going against what Rockstar planned. I expect to be wowed and be allowed to do exactly what I want. I don’t know if GTA 6 will live up to all the hype but I guarantee it’s going to be a great game.
Cranston

Simulation theory
I’m not going to lie, getting the World Cup winner right five times in a row is pretty impressive for FIFA/EA Sports FC. I’d be curious to know what EA puts this down to. Are they implying it’s just luck or that their stats are so accurate they can perfectly simulate every player exactly?

I guess Spain was one of the favourites going in, but it’s not like the game knew that, it just simulated the team based on the current stats for their players, right? Either way, it’s an impressive and slightly spooky thing.

I’d ask whether Football Manager made its own predictions but that game seems to have tanked its reputation, and on a World Cup year too. I wonder if that means if any other company will try and step and challenge it.
Boatswain

First release
I know that Xbox states Halo: Campaign Evolved releases on the 28th of this month but it actually releases on Wednesday the 23rd, you just have to pay 20 quid over the normal price to play it then.

Early access as it is doesn’t bother me too much, as long as it doesn’t ever extend beyond the current five days norm.

But I’m a bit tired of the release date being given as when the standard edition is available. They should be made to state the premium edition as the official release date.

Will your review be up on the 23rd?
Simundo

GC: Yes, we’re allowed to say the embargo is on Thursday.

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Worth the while
I enjoyed reading Tim Keeling’s Reader’s Feature about collecting and maintaining arcade cabinets. The inclusion of this sort of content keeps me reading your website. I do wonder how much time and effort it takes to curate and possibly edit reader submissions, such as weekend Reader’s Features and Inbox letters, but for me the daily letters and weekend features are what elevates GameCentral over its rivals.

I trust your professional reviews also, to an extent that I tend to use them as my main buying guide, but it’s the hotchpotch of reader submissions that really keeps the site interesting for me. When you invite input on any subject, as long as it’s loosely connected to video/computer games, the tastes and activities of fellow enthusiasts can sometimes prove really surprising.

I might compare reading GC to visiting an art gallery. Turn the next corner and you never quite know what you’ll see or what to expect.
Michael Veal

GC: The arcade one took a while as it was unusually long, but we didn’t mind that as a lot of effort had gone into it, including providing photos.

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Pricing issue
Just read your bit on GAME. It’s got nothing to do with the UK leaving the EU, that was six years ago we left and as for the no new consoles, like GC said, Switch 2 came out. And as for them saying it’s Sony ending physical games, that’s two years in the future.

The reason why GAME failed was the prices and the platform stores, but mostly the prices. I’ve always bought physical games, other then the odd game here and there, but the prices were a joke on PlayStation 4. They were charging £75 for a game you could buy on Amazon and in Tesco £25 cheaper.

And their reason was they pay for exclusivity for free DLC with them, which was Nuketown. They thought gamers were going to pay £25 more four Nuketown, which would be free to everyone after 30 days. The prices were too high, and no Gen Z players could be bothered to get up and walk to the game shop.
David

Great ape
That was a nice retrospective on Donkey Kong Bananza on Monday. For me it’s an immensely fun and inventive achievement that gave me over 70 hours of some of the most joyous, cathartic, tactile gameplay I’ve experienced in my 37 years as a gamer.

I revisited the game last week in the run up to its first year anniversary and was delighted by how effortlessly it still made me smile and become engrossed in its layered playgrounds.

I also continue to be impressed by how technically ambitious the destruction physics are. It’s innately enjoyable creating tunnels and levelling the carefully constructed levels to your heart’s content. The game is a smashingly successful deconstruction of the 3D platformer in general, in my opinion.

The game’s quality is such that I honestly didn’t mind that a new 3D Mario wasn’t present in the Switch 2’s first year, because the nucleus of Bananza’s game design was exactly the sort of dynamic, playful, and original thinking and execution that I have come to expect from Nintendo’s EAD.

Nintendo could’ve easily made Bananza a brand new IP if they wanted to, considering how different its structuring and mechanics feel compared to past Donkey Kongs, or really, anything else made to date for that matter.

A recurring fallacy, I believe, is this notion that Nintendo always rests on their laurels by not bothering to create new IPs. But how many new IPs from other developers actually introduce a single new idea to call their own? Far too few from what I’ve come to learn.

Personally, I’m low-key just as excited to see where Nintendo take the Donkey Kong Bananza IP next as much as I am about the moustachioed jumping maestro’s latest adventures!
GG

75% extra
Heads up if anyone has played Storyteller (it comes free with a Netflix subscription), there has been a massive free update, with new chapters, characters, updated stories, and stamps.

Even though I completed it 100% a few years ago, I found my save is now standing at only 25%!
Ali K

Digital tax
Having never really got into the Assassin’s Creed series before, I decided to get the new Black Flag remake. And it’s kind of highlighted the whole Sony digital debacle.

On the main menu screen it shows a timeline of the recent Assassin’s Creed games. If you click on a title it takes you to the PlayStation storefront to buy said game digitally. If I wanted to complete the collection of games listed, by purchasing the games I didn’t already own via PSN – these being Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, Mirage, Shadows, and the Black Flag remake – it would cost a whopping £240.

A quick look on Amazon shows it would only be £110 to buy these games in physical form and that’s without using any cashback sites or other discounts. I’m sure if I shopped around other sites I could lower the price even more.

Out of interest, I also went to a website I’d recommend for PC players called isthereanydeal.com and it would only cost £58 on PC. To me this is the issue in a nutshell. Personally, I’m not against digital games per se, just when one company has a monopoly and can dictate prices and set ridiculously high prices.
matc7884

Inbox also-rans
I feel that reader’s pain about the lack of Mass Effect but I’ve long ago accepted that there’s never going to be another one. If I’m wrong I’ll be ecstatic but I’d rather be happily surprised rather than constantly let down by keeping hope.
Preston

Just to let everyone know but there’s a free demo now of Yoshi And The Mysterious Book. A lot of people, including GC, have said it’s better than it looks, so I’m curious to give it a go.
Tibel

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

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.

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