Games Inbox: The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum as the worst game ever

The Monday letters page is surprised that Mortal Kombat is bigger than Street Fighter, as one reader thinks Jim Ryan needs to up his game.

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Belated polish
So it seems as if there is a genuine new contender for the role of worst game ever and it’s The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum, funny how it’s so often licensed games, eh? Just like GC’s review said, I had no interest from the start, and it sounds terrible even before you consider the bugs. I know the developer has promised to fix them all but how long is that going to take? And, more importantly, if it’s only going to take a few weeks why didn’t they do that before it came out?

I’m sure the actual worst game ever is some bit of rubbish on Steam, that nobody has ever heard of, but this really does sound like the worst modern game that is both terrible and something that people could actually come across fairly easily.

Although the biggest issue here is that, once again, a publisher thinks it’s a better idea to release a completely broken game straight away than give it the time to be fixed properly. If this is meant to be a bottom line thing, what are they looking at as evidence that it’s a good idea?

Not Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, apparently. One year of polish gets you the best-selling game in the franchise. What has a broken mess that will take months to fix gained Gollum?
Taken88

The buck stops there
It’s standard operating procedure for a certain kind of nerd (the wrong kind in my experience) to demand an exec be sacked for the slightest perceived transgression but I have to admit that Sony boss Jim Ryan does seem to be an increasing problem at PlayStation.

Ever since he’s taken over all these weird decisions, and the current veil of silence, have come into play and I can only assume it’s down to him. I doubt he’s in any danger of losing his job because the PlayStation 5 is selling so well at the moment but I think he should be feeling some heat at least.

Like many I’m perplexed and disheartened by PlayStation’s current attitude and if Ryan really thinks the recent showcase was the ‘best and most varied’ possible then I think he has to buck his ideas up a bit.
Focus

Shining a light
Although the whole ‘puddlegate’ thing with Spider-Man 2 is stupid, at least in terms of asking for a delay, I have to admit there was something off about that whole gameplay video. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at the time, so maybe it was the unrealistic water. The whole thing just seemed off though. Like it was detailed enough that it should look realistic but somehow it didn’t?

That doesn’t really make sense, I realise, but I think it’s probably a problem with the lighting. It’s usually that when things don’t look ‘right’ in my experience.

I’m also dubious about the character switching. It seemed really clunky how it worked in the trailer and fighting alongside another AI Spidey just seems a bit of a weird idea, especially as the computer isn’t going to be sitting there trying to remember the buttons and probably outdoing you at every moment. I’m going to need more convincing for this one.
Rooker

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Money talks
‘Mortal Kombat is a bigger franchise than Street Fighter’ – I was surprised by that statement. I always thought that Street Fighter was more popular, as it would be recognised in pop culture. I thought the Street Fighter characters were memorable, with their controversial stereotyping.

Apart from Sub-Zero and his clones the rest of the MK roster could be from any other fighting game, in my opinion. There has been a recent film of Mortal Kombat but that was awful. Or are your referring to sales figures when you say ‘bigger franchise’?
Alek Kazam

GC: How else would you measure the size of a franchise? Mortal Kombat 11 sold 15 million copies and was the fifth best-selling game of 2019. Street Fighter 5 only managed 7 million over the whole generation.

Live service fighter
I’m finding myself a bit hyped for Street Fighter 6 on Xbox Series X/S this week, although I am concerned with regards to how Capcom will handle the DLC.

I found the Deluxe Xbox version for £15 cheaper than its listed on the Xbox store at ShopTo and CDKeys, which contains a one year character pass and what I thought were four additional DLC fighters. It turns out though, however, that the one year character pass is just those four DLC characters. I know I would’ve liked a bit more for the money but looking at the fighting games £5 for a character seems to be the going rate currently.

I guess I’m concerned about how much DLC there will be over the years if Capcom are treating Street Fighter 6 like a platform (which I guess is the preferred option by fans?). If it is essentially £20 per four DLC characters then it could get pricey if there are a few passes and whilst I do have the option to wait until the end of the generation and pick it up cheaper, I’m a big Street Fighter fan and I’m itching to get started after playing the demo.

Do GC know what the long-term DLC plans are? And also when the review will be up?
Chaosphere616

GC: Capcom plans to release four DLC characters between autumn 2023 and 2024, but that seems to be what you’ve already come across. We imagine there’ll be another set of four each year after that.

Missing a chance
I 100% agree with the Reader’s Feature at the weekend, saying we’re not interested in Sony majoring in live service games from now on. Like Gantz I am baffled as to where this obsession has come from and why Sony has suddenly decided that the thing that won them the last generation is now something they should abandon in favour of chasing trends that have already mostly ended and which have put Ubisoft in dire straits.

It really is amazing how games companies love to shoot themselves in the foot. Now watch Xbox completely mess up their big chance next month. I bet they won’t be able to help themselves.
Collar

Small but perfectly formed
I play in my bedroom – where I belong! No, but my room is my sanctuary, despite being much too small. I have the Street Fighter 6 calendar that Edge Magazine gave away over last Christmas, as well as a large poster of Zelda: Majora’s Mask on my door, a Zelda: Skyward Sword poster on one wall, and a map of Skyrim opposite. Oh, and I have a little Shenmue 1 & 2 poster with Ryo and Shenhua on it, which I must have got from the PlayStation 4 HD release of the same games.

Yes, I really am the clichéd overgrown man-child.

The TV in my room is really only for my gaming consoles, of which four are hooked up right now: a dusty Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast, a PlayStation 4, and a Switch. I do like to keep a bag of snacks on hand in my room for my sessions. As I said, my room is quite small so not really suited for multiplayer with actual people. Not that I encourage this very often.

I have a Classic Mini SNES as well, that is downstairs somewhere. I had that hooked up to the main telly a while ago and one of my housemates had a recent obsession with Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, despite the game being too sadistic for my liking.

We had one of those rock salt lamps and it started to… melt? Decay? Hopefully the little thing wasn’t damaged by the spread of salt. Which would be a weird way for a console to go out.
DMR

PC cave
As someone who primarily plays on PC my main game playing room also doubles as a study/work office when working from home (which is most of the time).

A couple of years ago I went through a tough time, and was really struggling at work, this actually affected my gaming as I associated that space with work and therefore my main hobby, rather than relaxing me, became associated with that stress. Anyway, it’s all good now, I have a new job I love!

So this works pretty well, the room has a desk, with the PC underneath and 49″ superultrawide monitor on it. My wife got me a personalised headphone and controller stand, where (unsurprisingly) my headphones and controller sit when not in use.

Racing wheel pedals are permanently under the desk, they really don’t get in the way when I’m not racing, with my shifter to one side. The only thing I would like is a better solution for my wheel, as it usually sits on the floor. I do have to switch away from my gamer chair when racing – wheels on a chair don’t work with a stiff brake pedal!

I also have speakers I can plug in if other people are playing, and a sofa in there for guests… so it’s quite a nice space, especially when I clear away the work paraphernalia that can easily take over!

There are however times when gaming in the living room is more convenient, usually for a couch multiplayer game like Overcooked. Then I plug in my trusty Shield tablet to my TV, connect a couple of controllers to it, and Steam Link said game through the tablet (thanks Nvidia for shutting down Gamestream… grrrr).

So, all in all, it works well for me. Personally, I like the closeness of the monitor that desk gaming brings – I’m usually about 70cm from it.

However you game… Have fun y’all!
The Dude Abides

Inbox also-rans
Loved the photography Reader’s Feature over the weekend for Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom. Anyone that says that game is ugly is a crazy person, as far as I’m concerned.
Dent

I’ve always loved GC’s obsession with Etrian Odyssey and now Atlus is giving you exclusive videos? If you can buy them separately I may actually try one out this time, as I never had a DS at the time.
Icehawk99

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