Games Inbox: Is Half-Life 2 a bad game nowadays?

The Tuesday letters leafage tries to foretell The Game Awards winners, arsenic 1 scholar looks guardant to each of the Nintendo Switch 2’s 3rd enactment support.

To articulation successful with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The half-life of Half-Life
I was 1 of those thousands of radical playing Half-Life 2 over the weekend. It was the archetypal clip I’d played it since it archetypal came retired and… tin I beryllium sacrilegious and accidental I didn’t truly bask it each that much? It was precise clever, and amazingly modern successful galore ways, but it besides felt precise severely paced and benignant of… boring.

Everything seemed to spell connected for excessively long, from the unfastened satellite conveyance bits to the Ravenholm section, the headcrabs bits, the worldly connected the span and successful the installation with the quality opponents. Everything conscionable stuck astir for truthful long. Even the antlion section, which I retrieve arsenic being astonishing astatine the clip seemed precise repetitive and overly long.

I besides recovered it to beryllium benignant of a atrocious shooter. The gunplay isn’t precise bully and the AI for the enemies isn’t great. To beryllium honest, I recovered each the dystopian worldly astatine the beginning, successful the city, the astir absorbing and a batch of the enactment the worst bit.

Not a snub connected the crippled but the fig of games which tin enactment amusive for 20 years is precise small. If you’re not Tetris oregon Super Mario Bros. I don’t deliberation you’ve got a half-life (do you see?) of much than a decade. But that’s fine, conscionable 1 much crushed to marque Half-Life 3.
Tacle

Late nighttime reveal
Even arsenic a large instrumentality of Elden Ring I’m not definite I hold with making Shadow Of The Erdtree eligible for Game of the Year astatine The Game Awards. I don’t deliberation it’ll win, but I consciousness it would beryllium benignant of silly if it did. My stake for the victor is Astro Bot. I consciousness that has much momentum and it’s much caller than Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, truthful fresher successful people’s minds and has had little clip for radical to prime it apart.

Personally, I deliberation Rebirth is the amended game, but a batch of radical person complained astir the unfastened satellite being bloated and I deliberation each those months of complaints are going to number against it. It is what it is though, and I’d beryllium blessed for immoderate of the 3 to triumph truly (I haven’t played the different nominees).

Not that I’m staying up to ticker it oregon anything. It ever seems silly to maine that it’s connected truthful late. I cognize it’s for America’s involvement but determination has to beryllium a amended compromise than 3am successful the morning.
Mogul

A period of Fridays
I deliberation we whitethorn beryllium looking astatine a bully Black Friday this year. We’ve had a inexpensive PS5 Pro, conscionable weeks aft it came out; immoderate decent Switch bundles; and present Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom is inexpensive from Nintendo themselves. Bargain hunters are going to beryllium eating bully this month, if this is thing to spell by.

The occupation is that we’re inactive 2 weeks distant from Black Friday and I don’t cognize whether things are going to get adjacent cheaper erstwhile we get there. I don’t deliberation that’s however it works but the occupation with having this imperishable Black Friday Month is that you ne'er cognize erstwhile to propulsion the trigger and, for maine astatine least, that puts you off. I can’t ideate that’s bully for the companies either due to the fact that the much you hesitate the little apt you are to bash it.
Danson

GC: If it helps, it looks similar it’s going to commencement successful earnest this Thursday. But that doesn’t preclude other bully deals connected the time itself.

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Blood feud
Sony’s implicit hatred for Bloodborne is truthful unusual to me. Either they loathe the crippled oregon this is the slowest physique up to a remake uncover we’ve ever had. But the happening is, it didn’t request a remake erstwhile the PlayStation 5 archetypal came out, but they’ve taken truthful agelong astir it that present it benignant of does.

Upping the solution is going to bash thing for anyone now, it has to beryllium a afloat remake similar Demon’s Souls. That’s my sentiment anyway.

I would stake everything that, based connected their behaviour, Sony and From had a falling out, but Sony has shares successful From, truthful is that adjacent possible? Very strange, but I’m excited to spot what marque caller crippled they’re moving connected too. They said nary Elden Ring 2 and I can’t ideate it’s Dark Souls 4, truthful that is precise breathtaking to me.
Pr0metheus

Look up
Interesting caller website design, no-one likes alteration but hey arsenic agelong arsenic GC inactive exists, I’ll inactive beryllium reading. Shame Metro inactive don’t telephone it GameCentral but astatine slightest the name’s determination connected immoderate articles!

Anyway, onto my main question, volition you beryllium reviewing Loco Motive, which is retired this week? It caught my attraction and looks bully but would emotion your verdict connected it.
Stephen
PS: With each that speech of Metro and locomotives, I was going to see immoderate train-related puns, but I didn’t privation to spell disconnected track…

GC: The GameCentral sanction and logo is close astatine the apical of each page? We’ve lone conscionable reviewed a detective game, but Loco Motive does look fun, truthful we’ll effort and instrumentality a look.

Starting line-up
I similar the thought of a Dark Souls remaster postulation for the Switch 2. Not due to the fact that I peculiarly privation the games again, but I’d conscionable beryllium funny to spot what benignant of effort publishers are going to enactment into the caller format. After the Wii U, everyone benignant of ignored the Switch astatine launch, and for respective years after, but I ideate that’s not going to hap this clip round.

Publishers are going to privation successful from the start, truthful that’s wherefore Dark Souls makes sense. But it astir apt means EA and Ubisoft arsenic well, and each Japanese publisher. It’s got to beryllium Microsoft too, who person been banging connected astir Call Of Duty connected Switch each this time.

This could beryllium the Nintendo console with the champion 3rd enactment enactment since the SNES and I would emotion to spot that. The unspeakable occupation Microsoft and Sony has done this procreation doesn’t merit to beryllium rewarded and I would emotion to spot Nintendo go dominant.

Of course, they’ll past maltreatment that dominance, but I’d alternatively interest astir that nearer the time. A alteration is arsenic bully arsenic a remainder and each that.
Gaston

Expensive project
Since I ne'er had immoderate volition of getting a PS5 Pro I’m not excessively bothered astir the reports of immoderate games moving worse but I’m besides not amazed that PSSR hasn’t turned retired to beryllium precise reliable. That benignant of precocious AI/DLSS tech is not thing Sony has immoderate acquisition in, and I deliberation it’s 1 country wherever they’re going to progressively get overshadowed by Xbox.

The much AI worldly we get successful games, and erstwhile hardware is designed with it successful mind, the much it favours Xbox. I conjecture you could accidental that PSSR is Sony trying to get their signifier successful but this, to me, is the benignant of happening wherever wealth is all-important. It’s 1 country wherever outspending Sony tin decidedly payment Microsoft.
Toecutter

Big and ugly
That happening astir the pizza warmer was truthful weird I realised I’d ne'er checked to spot if the PlayStation 5 gets lukewarm erstwhile it’s on. I don’t cognize that I’ll beryllium cooking immoderate nutrient connected it, but it decidedly is hotter than I was expecting.

But the happening that got maine is however unstable and rocky it is, erstwhile sitting connected its basal successful horizontal mode. I did announcement that erstwhile I archetypal acceptable it up but you don’t truly request to interaction it again, truthful I’d forgotten. Easily the worst designed console I person ever seen. Ugly, dangerous-seeming, and acold excessively big.

I’m not successful emotion with what the Xbox Series X looks similar either but it’s a 100 times amended than the PlayStation 5. They’re some immense though, which is wherefore I find it hard to judge the rumoured Xbox handheld is each that almighty – I conscionable don’t deliberation Microsoft has the expertise to compression everything into that small space.
Benson

Inbox also-rans
Does anyone other deliberation it unusual that it’s been 5 years since Microsoft bought them and we haven’t heard a azygous happening astir what Double Fine is moving connected next? They released Psychonauts 2 but that was astir finished earlier they got bought.
Focus

What I privation to cognize is however did Rockstar find retired determination was a agelong of road successful the godforsaken that looks similar ‘VI’. Maybe if they’d spent little clip messing astir with Google Earth and much clip moving GTA 6 would beryllium retired by now!
Manning

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The tiny print
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