The Wednesday letters page hopes Pokémon Scarlet/Violet is more like Pokémon Legends: Arceus, as one reader recommends GameSave Manager.
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Classic Amiga
Loved your trip down memory lane with the Amiga 500 mini-console and great to see the old computer getting some respect at last. I understand why it’s difficult to make the included games any better, but I agree that it’s still a pretty good line-up, that at least hints at all the things the Amiga was great at.
Sensible Software are sadly missed, as are LucasArts, MicroProse, and whoever owns U.S. Gold nowadays (also, couldn’t Frontier have allowed Elite?). It’d be great to Rainbow Islands and Lemmings on there as well, but that doesn’t seem very likely given the companies involved.
All of which raises the question of what are the best Amiga games that are not on the mini-console and what’s the best of them all? I would’ve loved to have seen Sensible Soccer, The Secret Of Monkey Island, Jimmy White’s ‘Whirlwind’ Snooker, Shadow Of The Beast, Flashback, Syndicate, Turrican 2, Dune 2, Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis, Laser Squad, and Mega-Lo-Mania.
The very best though? I think that’s gotta be Cannon Fodder. Not just because it’s a great game but because it only really works on the Amiga (and Atari ST, I guess), since you need a keyboard and mouse. The SNES and Mega Drive versions are terrible by comparison.
Tony T.
GC: Square Enix owns U.S. Gold (Eidos bought them originally) although a lot of their games were imports or licensed titles so that may not help much.
16-bit exclusives
Nice review of A500 Mini. I love the Amiga as much as the next guy, but as mini consoles go this looks pretty difficult to justify buying. The Amiga didn’t have enough exclusives to make me desperate to play those old games again and the strongest, most fondly-remembered Amiga-style ones were the Sensible games.
I had an Amiga 1200 for many years and some of the best games from that era are also missing. Does anyone remember Super Skidmarks, Flight Of The Amazon Queen, Shadow Fighter, and the excellent port of Mortal Kombat 2?
I really think some old consoles should be left in the past unless they’re going to load it up with a lot more games (which I know isn’t always possible). Although I suppose this one will be good for game preservation.
NongWen (PSN ID)
GC: You say that, but officially maybe three of the 25 pre-installed games are available in any other way at the moment. The rest haven’t seen the light of day for decades and many are part of dead or dying genres that have no modern equivalents.
Onwards and upwards
I started playing Pokémon Legends: Arceus this weekend and I am really enjoying it so far. On a gameplay level it is a clear step above Sword and Shield and has provided the shot in the arm the franchise needed. I just hope that Game Freak use it is a base to build on for Scarlet and Violet and don’t rest on their laurels (or worse revert to Sword and Shield’s gameplay). On a technical level Arceus is still shocking but thankfully the gameplay more than makes up for it.
Separately, I am so pleased to see the positive buzz for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Only a couple of weeks to go, I can’t wait!
Pigfish2 (PSN ID/NN ID)
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Auto save
For the reader who had a corrupted Elden Ring save file on PC: I use GameSave Manager on my PC to back-up my saves in case my saves become corrupted or deleted. It is a free program that I have been using for years, it backs up from multiple launchers including Steam. I have used it for so long now that last month I made a donation to the developer as it takes the hassle of having to go to all the games folders individually to back their saves up.
I have found that it backed up the saves of all my games except one or two, which is very good because I have lot of games on my PC free and also many paid for. It tells you if there are any games that it fails to back-up but I have hundreds of games and only two would not back-up. The program searches your whole computer to find the saves and then you click on ‘make a back-up’ to back them all up.
Andrew J.
PS: Xbox Series X is in stock right now on Amazon. Tuesday, 8.51 am.
GC: It’s still there as we type this.
Returning to Returnal
With the new free DLC from Housemarque I decided to return to Returnal and by Jove it’s still amazing. All the new games that have come out thick and fast this year means I semi forgot how tight the controls are.
You’re fully in control of Selene and you easily put trust in the game’s mechanics. Probably the best I’ve played for years and especially good in terms of no input lag or unhelpful plodding camera. No obsession with realism either. Just good old fashioned heart attack, buttock clenchingly fantastic run and gun madness.
Can’t wait to see what they’re cooking up for their next IP.
Wonk
GC: We hope to have a chance to try out the co-op later. It’s definitely our favourite PlayStation 5 exclusive.
So Nintendo
The way Nintendo has done folders on the Switch really is the most Nintendo thing ever, isn’t it? If I was trying to come up with a parody idea of how they could have messed it up I’m not sure I could have come up with anything better.
Last time I wrote in was to mention the inexplicable lack of streaming services on the Switch, and GC said it could still happen. Well based on how they’ve handled the folder situation I think that we can expect an announcement in 2024 of the arrival of Netflix, but only the free mobile game portion – not any of the actual films or TV shows…
Sparky the Yak
Mixed thoughts
Any thoughts about ANNO: Mutationem? I played the demo a while ago and while it looked good, it didn’t have that much gameplay to go on.
Seemed to be much more of a beat ‘em-up than anything, even though the trailers made it look like an adventure game.
Ali K
GC: We’ve never heard of it until your letter, but the graphics certainly look nice. Although the Steam reviews so far are mixed.
Walk don’t run
I’ve recently purchased a second hand PS4 Pro to enjoy the many Sony exclusive single-player games that I have missed out on whilst being an Xbox One and Switch owner.
I have finished the two The Last Of Us games and have very much enjoyed both of them, despite not agreeing with the final ending, and am now working my way through Uncharted 4, which I’m also very much enjoying – particularly the beautiful graphics the extra power of the PS4 Pro enables, with a notable mention to Naughty Dog’s ability to use lighting and colour to such great effect.
Now to the downside of these games, which may seem petty to some, but really destroys the immersion of the games for me. Why does my character have to run everywhere?! These beautiful and realistic game environments must take so much time and effort to create, yet all my character wants to do is run into and over anything that is in their way.
I’m aware that pushing lightly on the stick will make the character walk, but push ever so slightly too hard and I’m darting to the nearest bit of cover or just straight into a wall or inanimate piece of derelict furniture. I want to explore, I want to scavenge, I want to discover. It seems such a shame for the games’ designers to pour hours and hours into creating these worlds, only for most people to rush through from one enemy to the next without taking it all in. All down to a simple technical choice.
Red Dead Redemption 2 had it right where your character would walk as standard and each push of the ‘X’ (or ‘A’) button would have you up your speed when needed.
Mbeet
Inbox also-rans
I don’t get these 4 vs. 1 multiplayer games like the new Ghostbusters. They sound like a cool idea at first but they get boring within just a few goes, and that includes Evolve.
Tonshan
Immortals Fenyx Rising 2 would be great but maybe Ubisoft could promote it this time, and not release it just days before Christmas? I’d almost assume it was sent out to die on purpose.
Crompton
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader 84Colbat, who asks what’s the last game you played?
In order to make sure the answers are interesting, please also include the last game you played that wasn’t released this year – to ensure everyone doesn’t just say Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West.
What do you think of the game and is there any particular reason why you’re playing it right now? Have you played it before and if not why did you pick it? is the game part of a backlog and have you already decided what you’re going to play after it?
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
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.
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MORE : Games Inbox: Gran Turismo 7 microtransactions, Ubisoft open world bloat, and Psychonauts 2
MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: The worst parts of great games
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