Games Inbox: GTA 5 vs. Red Dead Redemption 2

The Monday letters page fears that Halo is a dead franchise, as one reader hopes that Starfield takes some inspiration from FTL.

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Rockstar battle
If these rumours about a Red Dead Redemption 1 remaster are true I really hope Rockstar has learned their lesson from GTA: The Trilogy. Although, as CD Projekt has shown, that may be hoping for too much. Despite Red Dead Redemption 2 being my favourite game of all time I’m not actually all that bothered about the original being dug up again.

I doubt they’re going to do anything to change or improve it, just up the resolution and frame rate, which is fine but I’d rather it have been a bigger deal than just a quick cash-in. But it’s fine, the original version is still completely playable and so even if they mess up the remaster you can still go back to that, which is more than you can say for the old GTA PlayStation 2 games.

Not only is Red Dead Redemption 2 my favourite game but I strongly believe it is better than GTA 5, which if you ignore the online is all over the place. The story and characters in Red Dead are much better, the mission design and action is better, and the graphics are much more impressive – although admittedly that’s more a question of age.

The best news about the remaster is that if they’re hoping to raise the series’ profile again, then hopefully that means they’ve started thinking about a third game. I realise that’s never going to happen until after GTA 6 but perhaps work has begun on it in the background?
Keaston

Barely started
Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom again. To say I’m taking my time with this would be a colossal example of understatement. My course has been meandering to say the least. I’m about 100 hours in.

Wind Temple (my first) is done (getting there though, whoah!) and despite the tempting distractions of many side quests (which I will get around to) I am now in the Fire Temple.

I guess it’s been worked on for about seven years now and that’s blindingly apparent.

Pardon the monologue, I quite like this game.
Chevy Malibu (PSN ID)
PS: I posted this before but you gotta love the Japanese imagination in games and this is that at the summit.

It’s dead, Phil
I enjoyed reading the feature about Halo. I am a big Halo fanboy and I have all the novels (the Nylund trilogy is surprisingly good), art books, soundtrack CDs, the film DVDs, etc.

I agree that Halo is at a crossroads as 343 have pretty much killed it. Halo 4 was enjoyable but it felt like a cheap rip off of Bungie’s Halo; Halo 5 was bad and I enjoyed Infinite but they had those awful non-stop boss battles which were game-breaking.

I think Halo is probably a dead franchise now, which is a shame. I hope it can come back as I still play through the original games all the time and enjoy them.
Simon

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Like buses
Good weekend topic. Not surprised that Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom was many readers’ favourite. I am sure it is a great game, but it doesn’t appeal to me personally.

I have only played two 2023 releases so far this year. Both of them, I think, are great and I was disappointed neither got a mention over the weekend. So better late than never I thought I would instead!

WWE 2K23 on PlayStation 5. This, for me, is up there with the best wrestling games ever. Gameplay, graphics, match types, roster it’s got everything a wrestling fan like me could want.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Switch). I enjoy murder mystery games and this sounded like an original take on the genre. After GC’s praise and trying the demo I pre-ordered it and so far haven’t been disappointed.

It’s my birthday this week and I will be receiving Resident Evil 4. I’m sure it will be a contender for my game of the year when it is time to do our annual votes.

As for the rest of the year, it is not looking too bad. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the two Poirot games, Alan Wake 2, and Spider-Man 2. Just to name a few.
Tony- -1975 (PSN ID)

GC: Oh yeah, there are two: Murder On The Orient Express and Hercule Poirot: The London Case.

No comparison
Starfield is going to beat Spider-Man 2? It’s got no chance! Spider-Man 2 is buy-only, no deals, no Game Pass. It’s hard cash, nothing else. Whereas Starfield is Game Pass let’s be honest, if you own an Xbox or PC you would get it via Game Pass for £11. You can try the game if you like it, you carry on with Game Pass for the few months till you get board or it’s too much of a grind.

Don’t get me wrong, looks a fantastic game, but I don’t think it will bring in the same amount of cash as Spider-Man 2 or in sales. I’m not putting it down, but cash is king in console market, and you can’t keep losing money over and over again. No matter how much you got in the bank sooner or later your bank balance is going to be zero.
David

GC: Nobody knows how much money Microsoft makes from Game Pass, so it will be impossible to compare Starfield’s sales with Spider-Man 2. Instead, it’ll have to be the critical and fan response.

Back to the source
Has anyone theorised as to why Nintendo is remaking Super Mario RPG. I know Occam’s Razor suggest it’s just something that can be done quickly and easily to fill out the schedules but I’d like to think there’s a bit more to it than that.

It’s no secret that Nintendo has had trouble with the series since The Thousand-Year Door, stripping out the role-playing elements and no matter how much people say they don’t like that they keep doing it. I actually like The Origami King but it has relatively little in common with the first two games in the series. Or first three if you count Super Mario RPG.

I wonder if Nintendo might be testing the waters with this remake and then if it goes well, which early reports suggest it has, they could create a direct sequel and create a whole new subline without even touching Paper Mario.

In my ideal world I’d like them to expand on the Metroid and Zelda references and start building up to a Kingdom Hearts style crossover series, but that’s probably asking for a bit much.
Quinn

Medium to high
I’m really, really excited about the FTL element of Starfield. I always wished for a 3D FTL style game but without the stress of being chased, etc. Micro-managing, constantly DJ’ing where the energy levels go, whilst dealing with random encounters.

Also, I’m hoping the DLC will have a longer tail (although Skyrim did get an official fishing DLC after 10 years).

All in all, I’m really excited but I’ve kept my expectations upper moderate.
Luke Harris

Six months later
It still blows my mind that Sony released the PlayStation VR2 – a £500+ piece of hardware in the middle of a cost of living crisis – and they still haven’t announced a single new first parry game for it since it came out in February. I mean, you can argue as to whether they’ve done enough about their normal games or not but the way they’ve handled PlayStation VR2 is completely bizarre.

It’s six months now and for all we know they’ve abandoned the format completely and have no intention of ever releasing anything else for it. I’m assuming that’s the not the case but at what point does that no longer seem a ridiculous suggestion? Another six months? Another year?

They haven’t so much as hinted at another Astro Bot game, let alone announce it or release it and whatever else they’re planning, or not planning, can’t even be guessed at. I was considering buying one this year but everything that’s (not) happened since February makes me feel I’ve dodged a bullet.

I realise there are third party games on it, but that’s true of every headset. What has Sony done to support it themselves?
Danson

Inbox also-rans
Sorry, but have played Halo for years and love it. Bring on Halo 2!
Paul

GC: Did you mean to send this email in 2001?

Am I the only one that doesn’t think the Switch 2 in 2024 is a given? I could easily see Nintendo trying to stretch things into 2025. I doubt they were lying when they said they originally wanted it to last 10 years. And while that wasn’t 10 years and then the follow up I don’t think they’re in any rush – that Nintendo Direct was busier than I expected.
Tttler

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Marbon, who asks what is your favourite type of role-playing game?

With Final Fantasy 16 just out, and Starfield set to be one of the biggest games of the year, the role-playing genre is as popular as ever, but few people enjoy all the many different types. It’s not just a case of Western and Japanese style role-players, with many other sub-genres, including action role-players, tactical role-players, and variants like dungeon crawlers, roguelikes, and massively multiplayer online games.

Which do you enjoy the most and which particular game do you think is the best example of its type? Which sub-genre do you wish was more prevalent and how would you like to see it evolve in the future?

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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 don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: Best games of 2023 – half year report

MORE : Games Inbox: Elden Ring as game of the generation, Spider-Man 2 pre-orders, and Sega Saturn blues

MORE : Games Inbox: What to do about Halo Infinite, Starfield on PS5 petition, and unwanted GTA 4 remaster

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