Games Inbox: Will GTA 6 be better than GTA 5?

The Friday letters page discusses the inherent problems with previewing video games, as one reader salutes the release of Rhythm Paradise Groove on Nintendo Switch 1.

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

Evolution or decline?
As we crawl towards the release date of GTA 6 I find myself asking what some people may think is a silly question: will it be better than GTA 5? Obviously, the graphics will be better and I’m sure there’ll be more things to do and a bigger open world and all that, but none of those things make one game better than another.

The things I like best about GTA 5 are the characters and dialogue, the design of the open world, and individual missions. And with so many people leaving and joining Rockstar in the more than a decade since GTA 5 there’s no guarantee any of those things will be as good in the new game.

I’m particularly worried about the dialogue, because both the main writers have left and that’s got to have a big effect on how the game comes out. There’s very little dialogue in the two trailers so far, so it’s very hard to tell whether it’s any good or not.

There’s also the stuff like the driving and combat, which has never been great in GTA and often has strange control systems. That could be improved or it could go the other way. Thinking about it, I’d hate to work on the game because there’s just so much that could go wrong, I wouldn’t want to be making these decisions.
Purple Ranger

Portable market
Just saw some stats for Switch 2 sales in Japan and apparently it’s almost caught up with the PlayStation 5 already, at 5 million consoles to 7.5 million. It’ll easily pass it this year and that blows my mind considering Sony had an almost five year head start.

I don’t think the reasons are very hard to work out: the PlayStation 5 is much more expensive (the Switch 2 is cheaper in Japan than here) and it’s not portable but it’s still a really bad number. It makes me think that the PlayStation 6 portable is something that Sony wants specifically for Japan and they don’t necessarily care how well it does in the West. The rumours about it certainly make more sense to me now, seeing how bad the PlayStation 5 is doing.
Onibee

State of Sony
The Witcher 3 DLC and the Assassin’s Creed 4 remake are all well and good but that means another State of Play with little or no first party Sony games. The last one was good but that barely had any either. We do at least have a few on the docket at the moment – Saros, Marvel’s Wolverine, and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet – but it’s still not much and definitely not enough to make it clear that Sony has done some big U-turn on their previous policy. It’s just slightly better than the last couple of years.

If the God Of War spin-off is announced in the summer that will probably be it and I just don’t know how excited I am at playing as Kratos’ wife, who we saw for five minutes tops in the last game. I’ve seen people suggest that Sony are holding most things back for the PlayStation 6 but man, what a wasted generation this was.
Cuit

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

Classic sequel
Just a heads up to say the Broken Sword Smoking Mirror: Reforged Kickstarter has gone live, where you can pre-order a digital or physical collector’s edition of the remake of the second Broken Sword game.

I don’t know where they go after this game for remakes, as although the other Broken Sword games are very good, in my opinion, they are not classed as classics as Broken Sword 1 and 2 are. I’ve just backed for my physical edition and my name in the credits!
Andrew J.
PS: I noticed the date has possibly slipped for the Pragmata amiibo. Originally, I think it may have been due out on 17th April 2026, at the same time as the game, but it seems to have recently slipped to June 11th 2026. I presume the game is not delayed and it is just a manufacturing delay with the amiibo.

GC: The game’s not delayed.

Time travel movie
So just got back from watching Mario and I have to say I really enjoyed it. We watched it in 4D and I really think that added a lot to it. Watched a few movies that way, including the last Mario film, but this time felt extra good.

The seats never stopped moving and the vibration, air blasts, and water sprays really made it for me, the 3D effects were pretty good too. Maybe I wouldn’t enjoy it as much watching at home but overall a great experience. And made me want to dust off my neglected Switch 2 for some Mario Kart.
P B

Strategy wizard
As the Spectrum is getting Inbox attention, I feel compelled to mention what, to me, are two of its’ best games; Chaos: The Battle Of Wizards and Rebelstar, both by Julian Gollop. Chaos was up to eight-players on a single screen, with wizards given random spells to deploy creatures that could be real or illusory and is still a blast today. Top tip: always cast Disbelieve if a player manifests a dragon.

Rebelstar was Gollop honing the turn-based, limited action point strategy game that would later become XCOM. It’s one of the best value games ever, as it released on the budget Firebird label for £1.99, which wasn’t a great deal of money 40 years ago in 1986. Highly addictive for 1 or 2 players and very innovative.

Chock full of features, such as opportunity fire, diverse reloadable weapons, complex inventory management, healing items and melee weapons, as well as the ranged combat. Like XCOM, you also cared about your troops, and should Rita Rumpo be killed the turn after using AP on a reckless missed shot, that left them insufficient points to get back to cover, you were gutted.

What Gollop wrung out of the 48K Spectrum was mind-blowing. A tired Raider could even pick up a coffee token and get a brew from the moonbase vending machine or equip a lawnmower and mow the garden area if fed up of blasting robots.
Reg Smythe

Press ZR to pay respects
Can’t say I’m particularly interested in Rhythm Paradise Groove but I’ll salute it anyway as Nintendo’s last first party game on the original Switch. An amazing console and I think it’s definitely going to be regarded as one of the best ever the more distance we get from it.

The Switch 2 has got a lot to live up to in terms of its legacy, and I don’t think anyone would try and argue its first year has been as good as the Switch 1’s. It’s not been terrible, but it looks worse compared to what’s come before. Personally, I think it’s been a mistake not to have a proper Nintendo Direct before now.
Coolsbane

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Wrong impressions
Old Man Yells at Cloud incoming…

Reading your Samson review and it’s making me think that the preview sessions game journalists go to are just a big scam, or the write-ups that follow them are (not you, I genuinely believe you’re one of the good guys).

I read multiple previews of Samson gushing about how promising and exciting it was. How on earth can we believe any of that with how the reviews have panned out. I don’t think subjectivity can even be argued in this case, it’s being slammed across the board.

Same with Crimson Desert. Most of the previews I read failed to mention how truly atrocious the controls and writing, etc. were, and some of these people had hours of hands-on time. It’s disingenuous and sells people on an experience without the full facts.

It makes me enjoy your content even more, and I’d add GameRanx on YouTube to this too.
RJ

GC: Thanks. Previews are always difficult to judge, since you always have to bear in mind the game isn’t finished yet. We didn’t do previews for Samson or Crimson Desert, though, so we can’t comment on that. However, in our Resident Evil Requiem review, we did point out that our preview of it was based on the absolute best parts of the game – although, of course, we didn’t know that at the time. Not that the end result wasn’t still excellent, but what we played wasn’t an entirely fair representation of the final game.

Inbox also-rans
When I see a quote about GTA 6 making players millionaires I just want to roll my eyes but the worst thing is it’s probably true, if it’s anything like Roblox. I just hate to think of the kinds of games and modes they’re going to be making with it.
Hoover

I was going to ask if Samson is coming to consoles, but then I read the whole review and, you know, it’s fine. Keep it on PC.
Spatz

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