The Thursday letters page suggests giving Chris Pratt a chance as the voice of Mario, as one reader is unexcited at the idea of Uncharted 5.
To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]
PS Then
I don’t know exactly what’s going on with PS Now right now, and its transformation into PS Plus Premium, but just before it happens is a weird flex. I’m not sure what it means, except that Konami and aren’t on board, but whether there’s more to come (or rather go) doesn’t really matter, as it’s now confirmed that Premium won’t just be PS Now with a different name.
If I had to guess I’d say that they were being removed because PS Now isn’t just retro games, as there’s a lot of PlayStation 4 games in there too and I guess the idea now is that Premium is retro only and Extra, the second tier (I had to check that, this is getting confusing) is the Game Pass equivalent.
That still doesn’t really explain why they’d suddenly change PS Now at the last minute, but maybe it’s just something boring to do with licences and contracts. I do have worries about the whole thing being too complicated and stretching itself too thin though. What if I only wanted the retro games? I’ve got no option for that, whereas right now I could just buy PS Now and get other games on top.
As far as I’m concerned PS Now has always been good value, especially as it would often add much more modern games. Its major problem was a lack of marketing. If you ask me, I’d much rather have seen Sony just do an ad blitz for it than a stealth increase of the price. It’s too late for that now though…
Franky
Real people
Can’t believe some people were criticising the look of Selene in Returnal and saying she wasn’t beautiful enough. She’s such an enigmatic character and although not beautiful she’s definitely not ugly.
It made me think of the whole Abby criticism in The Last Of Us Part 2. I’m glad Abby and Elly looked the way they did as I actually know people who look like that. It made them more believable. There’s way too many beautiful people on TV but at least gaming can be more adventurous with its protagonists.
The Last Of Us Part 2 really annoyed me initially, when I had to play as Abby, as I just wanted to kill her for Ellie. However, as the journey progressed my allegiance switched and as the finale built I found myself shouting at the screen, don’t you kill her Ellie.
Definitely the best movie I never saw.
Vaughan (Tiddleydwarf – PSN ID)
God Of War 9 vs. Uncharted 5
So I’ve recently heard of the . The good news is that it may give us Nolan North returning in his most iconic role. The bad news is that I’m failing to muster a care in the world. I’ve noticed that Naughty Dog are focusing heavily on their two mainstream franchises, one being a zombie tale set in a cruel and bloody world. The other is a franchise that spent three games laying on a repetitive foundation of a barebones story.
Linear and boring gameplay and the same objective: search for treasure, shoot some mindless goons and hear some one-liners. It’s fun and it used to be great, in the days of the PlayStation 3. But it’s a tried formula and we should be moving on.
The Last Of Us worked because it was something new. The second game, although I enjoyed it immensely, was more of the same and the story was disappointing. I don’t know about everyone else, but I can’t find myself caring for the next Uncharted game. I’ll just wait for God Of War Ragnarök.
Shahzaib Sadiq
GC: Hang on, you said you were giving up on video games in order to concentrate on ‘growing up’?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
Too well hidden
I think proper stealth in games has been sorely underused over the last couple of decades so your has got me interested. Very interested…
I really enjoyed Hitman 3 and it looks like this might be of a similar ilk, so fingers crossed the final thing knits together well when you review it.
FoximusPrime81 (gamertag/NN ID/Twitter… for now)
May the 4th be with you
Star Wars Pinball VR is on sale on PSN Store. It is £9.99, usual price £19.99! I expect it is on sale for May 4th next week, as most people know that is an important date for Star Wars. It is on sale until 11th May. Just a small fact, if you didn’t know George Lucas’s birthday is the 14th May.
Andrew J.
PS: Free on Epic Store from 4pm today is Just Die Already (not a very nice name!) and Paradigm. They have not been given away free before by Epic Games Store. Even if you don’t like those games and still go ahead and get them for free the developer will get paid by Epic, unless GameCentral can correct me?
GC: We think that’s how it works.
Electric hell
Once you master the Dreadbound gun in Returnal you can completely devastate the enemy onslaught but a great weapon to use, most certainly for the Abyssal Scar Malformed Typhonops fights, was the Electropylon Driver. Set up a field of electric hell and then grapple hook regularly to avoid the malfunction hits whilst slicing and dicing the lesser enemies whilst the big guy fries.
For the Ascension Tower though, nothing beats a maxed out Dreadbound for me. The high score, which stands at over a ludicrous 250 million, is on YouTube and it’s mesmerising watching mini-bosses get pulverised by it. Whoever the player is gets a thumbs up from me. Must mention the fabulous Algos fight too, which during the final phase is like watching the greatest fireworks display to celebrate the birth of a new universe.
Favourite boss fight for readers and GC would be?
Wonk
GC: It’s definitely Hyperion for us. Apart from anything the use of music is fantastic.
Unnecessary resolution
Last year I messaged saying I was going to buy an 8K Samsung TV and was told I’d be wasting my money and to get a top of the range 4K and save some money. Can I say, me buying the 8K has saved me money. My TV is primed for PlayStation 5, I’ve found out my TV will happily do 120fps and I’ve also found out my TV does full VRR support, which means I don’t have to upgrade my TV anytime soon.
If I’d of got a 4K I’ve got a feeling I’d be upgrading twice, once four 120fps and again for VRR. Just remember, you buy cheap, you buy twice. Luckily I bought right first time.
David
GC: Neither of those features have anything to do with 8K.
Pratt fall
In regards to Chris Pratt being somewhat out of favour for voicing Mario without the trademark Italian twang.
I remember a few years ago, well quite a few years ago now, there was a guy by the name of Daniel Craig who had his fair share of hardcore Bond fan critics when he was announced as the new 007.
He was blonde, looked slightly wimpish, and wore a life jacket on a boat when being introduced to the press. It looked all kinds of wrong at first glance.
Yet it probably took Daniel Craig all of about five minutes into Casino Royale to wipe everybody’s minds clear of what Bond used to be and what Bond is now. Incidentally, I expect Idris Elba would probably do likewise if he was ever to get the role as 007, but I digress.
Same goes for Will Smith in the live action Aladdin movie. Ignoring his recent appalling behaviour at the Oscars, he took all sorts of criticism for playing the genie, but I think he did a sterling job of it.
Let’s not forget he was following Robin Williams’ role and those are some incredibly big shoes to fill. Nobody was ever going to top that performance and never will.
Anyway, what I’m getting at is Chris Pratt seems to be getting a bit of stick before anyone’s even heard what his performance as Mario is yet.
This is not exactly Illumination Studios first rodeo and they seem to know what they are doing.
What did interest me though was Jack Black being cast as Bowser. That guy always seems to put so much fun into his voice and performances that it’s almost impossible to be offended or threatened by him. Which makes me ask myself ‘Did he originally audition for the Mario voiceover work and landed another role?’, which I understand happens a lot with voiceover acting work.
Of course, I’m only surmising here, and I’m sure it will all come out in the wash eventually, but if that was to be the case, then they must have seen something in Chris Pratt’s performance worthy of note that made him stand out.
All I’m saying is let’s give this guy a chance. I’m sure there were plenty of actors going out of their way to audition for the role of one of the most famous gaming characters of all time, so he must have done something right.
On another note, I really hope Charles Martinet gets his name on the voiceover credits in some capacity. I think we can all agree he at least deserves that.
freeway 77
GC: For the record, we never liked Daniel Craig in the role – he’s such a sourpuss. That’s an interesting point about Jack Black though, even if he does seem a good pick for Bowser. Thankfully, Charles Martinet has already been confirmed to have a cameo.
Inbox also-rans
Can you tell us anymore about the forthcoming Monkey Island 3, Return To Monkey Island, by Ron Gilbert!? This is surely Inbox magic happening. I know there have been lots of intermediate reboots, but this looks like the real deal.
Matt Kirk
GC: It’s not Monkey Island 3 and there’ve never been any reboots of the series. Although it will continue on from the ending of Monkey Island 2 the new game will apparently , even Escape From Monkey Island.
Razzledazzle, you are not the odd one out! I only have one game on the go at a time too! I used to dip in and out of games, which meant I had loads of games started but never finished, so now I focus on one before moving onto the next.
LastYearsModel
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Cubby, who asks what is your favourite game of the current generation?
It’s obviously been a strange start to the new generation but it’s being going for a year and half now, so what do you think is the best game on the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S?
Since there are so few next gen exclusives you can talk about cross-gen games but which one has impressed you the most and why? What, if anything, do they say about the new generation, and what do you hope to see from the new consoles in the future?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
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, 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 Metro Gaming on and email us at [email protected]
For more stories like this, .
