Games Inbox: Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 overrated?

The Tuesday letters page is very sceptical about CD Projekt’s timeline for The Witcher 4, as one reader looks forward to the launch of Metroid Prime 4.

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

Blocked off
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is no doubt a brilliant game overall. But so far, I am finding the combat so frustrating I am about to give up.

Let me say I am very early in the game (maybe three to four hours in). I have enjoyed the design, the music, the characters, etc. are brilliant so far. I am also really interested in the story, as much as I know so far anyway.

However, I find the combat awful. Specifically, the timings for parrying/dodging. I am quite used to specific timings. I love games like Elden Ring, The First Berserker: Khazan, and Space Marine 2, which all require timings to parry/dodge/block, etc.

But in this game, when to do it just feels random and really frustrating to know. Maybe it’s just me?

I am at the point where I’m not finding the game fun and ready to stop playing, which is a shame. So just wondering if anyone else felt like this and if so, what did you do?
Brand

Eternal appeal
RE: Soldat’s feature. Enjoyed reading this but think the answer – if there is one – lies in which games you show them from the old days.

I used to have an old MAME setup, and the kids really loved Bubble Bobble and multiplayer Gauntlet and Gauntlet 2 but the undoubted winner out of the old school games was… Track & Field. They and their mates went into a frenzy trying to top each other’s high scores and beat the world records. No comments at all about primitive graphics or anything else.

I’ve always thought that graphics age, great gameplay doesn’t.

And if that doesn’t work, visiting retro arcades or the gaming museum in Sheffield might be an idea to show the games off?
Paul

Sensible choice
I do appreciate GC being outraged that Capcom are still not making a new Dino Crisis or remaking it. You would’ve thought with the Jurassic World movies still doing well it’d be more than worth the risk but apparently not.

It may not be a very exciting choice but I’m afraid Dead Rising has a much more solid history of success and, well, it’s zombies. I can’t say I’ve ever particularly liked the ones I’ve played but while more daring than most publishers, in trying risky ideas, they’re not silly.

The sad truth is Dino Crisis has never been a big hit and is about a subject that’s never really sold a lot of games. Compared to that, Dead Rising has been more successful and is about something that’s a very easy sell, whether you’ve heard of the game before or not.

We just have to hope that the next Monster Hunter is an even bigger hit and they have so much money sloshing around that they can afford to be less cautious than usual. I’m not holding my breath though.
Trent

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Running commentary
In response to your reply to Freeway77’s email about cute ‘em-ups I can confirm it’s a term I’ve heard before and there are many great games/franchises that are in that genre. I guess it was probably more of a big thing in Japan but Twinbee, Parodius, Star Parodier and the Cotton series, that the original email, referred to have been around for around four decades.

To any fans of the genre I would recommend the Super Famicom Parodius game with the OTT Japanese commentary, I can’t remember what it’s called though.
John Atkinson

GC: It’s called Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius (aka Live Chat Parodius). These are all famous games, in certain circles, but we’ve still never heard the term cute ‘em-up before and it seems unnecessary.

Killer app
I really can’t agree Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the game of the year. I’m sorry but it’s far from perfect. I’ve played every Assassin’s Creed game to 100% and Shadows isn’t the best by a long shot. There is better games out there.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 isn’t on this planet as a good game; it pains me to say it, but Mario Kart World has to be, for me, that one game that sold the Switch 2. Even though people was moaning about the hardware it was the software and that one game that made gamers say yes, I want one.
David

Time paradox
As much as I love CD Projekt’s games there is something very shifty about that company. I don’t feel they ever really apologies for Cyberpunk 2077’s launch (maybe they did to their shareholders but not to us) and this whole thing about making three The Witcher games in six years makes no sense.

Unless they’ve got a time machine or going to hand the whole thing over to AI (can you imagine!) I don’t see how it’s physically possible. Even Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, which used the same map as the previous game, took six years, so what gives?

Or is The Witcher 4 trilogy going to be a kind of large scale episodic content, where each one is set in the same game world? Whatever’s going on it’s clearly not the regular way of developing a game. The fastest any of these sort of games can be made nowadays seems to be about five years, so you should really be talking a minimum of 15 years, not six.

I really hope that CD Projekt has discovered some clever new way to get over the problem of games taking to long to make but assuming they’re not using literal magic I hope it’s not something that’s only going to make things worse.

The video games business is in such a strange spot at the moment, I really don’t understand what’s going on.
Billison

GC: It seemed very odd to us too. There is no obvious explanation without more information from CD Projekt.

Milestone release
Unusual to wake to good news, but a new Dead Rising game? Yes, please.

I’m actually just waiting on the Deluxe Remaster for the Xbox to get me to 100K Achievement points. Dead Rising was the first Xbox 360 game, so I thought the remaster would be a fitting game to help me hit the milestone.

I’d actually like to get it to 99,999 but I’d have to work it out and never play the Xbox again, so I’ll abandon that plan. Anyway. Thanks for the good news guys. I just hope it isn’t a letdown like Dead Rising 4 and forces mech suits on you that break after two minutes.
Bobwallett

Indie legacy
The release schedule for this week is pretty packed with games I’m interested. Starting with Marvel Cosmic Invasion, a port of Viewfinder to the Switch, and, of course, Metroid Prime 4 finally coming out.

But among these games there’s also the Simogo Legacy Collection, which I’m hoping doesn’t get lost in the pack.

Simogo makes varied and interesting games and it’s great that they’re bringing out this collection, so their older titles are no longer locked behind legacy releases on mobile.

I’m particularly looking forward to revisiting Year Walk and Device 6 but seeing their older titles that I’ve never played and the extra content is very appealing to.

It looks like they’ve put a lot of effort into this package and it’s really cheap too. I hope GC has time to review it and bring more people’s attention to the games of one of the more interesting devs out there.
Euclidian Boxes

GC: We don’t know that we’ll get around to reviewing the compilation, but their games are great, including Device 6, Year Walk, Sayonara Wild Hearts, and Lorelei And The Laser Eyes.

Inbox also-rans
When can we expect your best games of the year list? I always look forward to it. Also, if you haven’t got one, a database of all your reviews would be great, where you can filter it down into scores, genre, year etc. It’d make it much easier to find some good new games to play.
Bobbleheaddy

GC: We don’t have a filter system like that but our Top 20 of the year is always run over Christmas, usually just before New Year’s Day.

The problem with AI is not enough people care right now but once it takes over, and everything ends up looking and playing the same, suddenly everyone will be upset, but by them it’ll be far, far too late. It’s not going to be pretty
Jonesy

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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.

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