Games Inbox: Is Hideo Kojima a genius or overrated?

The Friday letters page worries at the lack of first party Sony games in the State of Play, as another reader looks forward to more Burnout.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Good, not greatI’d agree with the consensus on the State of Play, that it was definitely the best in a while, but the lack of any Sony-made games still left a hole in the PlayStation line-up. They obviously intended that Hideo Kojima would cover that hole, but is anyone really that excited about Death Stranding 2? The original did okay but I don’t think it set the world alight, so I’m not sure what they’re expecting from a sequel that is even more weird-for-the-sake-of-it.

I’ve always felt Hideo Kojima is overrated, which doesn’t mean I think he’s bad, just not as good as he thinks he is. He’s not a genius but he’s not a hack either. He should be collaborating with other people (developers not B-list movie stars) not just being an unfiltered weirdo who never knows when to stop. And please, quit wasting our time with announcements where it’s just you standing about being as vague as possible about games that won’t be out for years.

He’s done that twice in two months now and I for one have had enough of it. What I will say, that’s positive, is that I do look forward to OD more than I do not-Metal Gear. The horror bits in the Death Stranding 2 trailer were by far the best bits and I’d love to have seen Kojima complete Silent Hills. Hopefully OD will make up for that disappointment.Tom Meadows

Pants upIt’s pretty suspicious that everything about the State of Play was leaked out ahead of time and the only thing that was wrong was that Concord would be there. I think a decision was made late in the day not to include it and that all those live service games are going to be quietly cancelled or turned into proper games.

They’re all so late, and Sony is clearly scared of talking about them, that I think it’s obvious they’ve realised it’s a dead end. It’s like turning an oil tanker though. It took years to transition away from single-player and into live service and now it’s going to take years to go back the other way, which explains the silence.

They are so lucky that the PlayStation 5 is selling so well regardless, because if they’d been in a PlayStation 3 situation Xbox could’ve caught them with their pants down. I also think this is why they’ve been going big on buying up exclusives later, to cover their U-turn.Ansel

Sustainable resourcesThe State of Play was pretty good but there are so many third party PlayStation 5 exclusives now that Sony must’ve spent so much on them in the last few years that they could’ve easily set up a couple of new studios of their own, and not have to get any outside help.

For their existing first party studios to be AWOL for so long that means they haven’t got enough of them and that is not a quick problem to solve, so they really shouldn’t be bothering with this short term solutions and fix the real issue that their output lately has fallen away to almost nothing.

Insomniac have been the ones sticking to a steady schedule and now all their dirty laundry has been hung out to dry I imagine they’re going to be put back months, if not year.Xombie

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Gone foreverGood article on another of the many problems of going digital. I’ve never heard of Spec Ops: The Line and, yes, I am interested in playing it now, except… I can’t. It’s going, lost in time like the P.T. demo and Activision X-Men games. It really is shocking that it’s the newer generations of consoles where so many games are missing and unavailable rather than retro, where you can get almost everything in some way at least.

As others have said though, there’s no way back now. Digital-only will be standard probably even by the end of this year, never mind next gen. Then we’ll own nothing, games can be removed from our hard drive with no notice, and they can disappear from stores and never return. But hey, at least I don’t have to get up to change the discs!St1nger

Peak performanceA new Burnout game? Yes, please! My personal favourite was Burnout 3: Takedown. Many, many happy hours playing split-screen with my other half when we had just got together. (Overcooked! or retro 8/16-bit games are our gaming together go-tos now, although I reckon Tekken could be an option – we haven’t played that since 4 on the PlayStation 2.)

The removal of the split-screen option from Burnout Paradise meant, much as I enjoyed it, I never enjoyed it as much as 3.

So, if they bring back split-screen, bring back those set piece crashes where you had to cause as much carnage as possible, and (preferably, but not a deal breaker) remove the open world element…

Oh and release on PC in an unbroken state. Oh, and support super ultrawide monitors. This could be a game I actually buy at actual full price when it’s actually launched. Even though I’ll be in my 50s, so my response time is not what it used to be, so no doubt I’ll be rubbish at it.

Man, pre-Paradise Burnout really was the peak of the arcade racer. I love the Forza Horizon series but there’s something about stringing takedowns together when playing with people in the same room….

Have fun gaming y’all!The Dude Abides

GC: Forza Horizon’s greatest failing is the terrible crashes.

Interactive moviesHideo Kojima says he’s blurring the lines between movies and games for every game! Are you suggesting Death Stranding 2 wasn’t blurring the lines of cinema, once again? Death Stranding 1 was a bore fest of cut scenes. The sequel looks no different. Lots of walking in pretty backdrops, interspersed with his actor friends taking the limelight and occasional set pieces. He’s been doing this ever since he upped the ante with Metal Gear Solid 4, where he included a 45 minute cut scene! What did he say at the announcement of OD? That’s right, blurring the lines of cinema, yet again.

Look, Kojima is very talented and has come up with the occasional brilliant gameplay idea. But this fascination with cinema leads me to believe some studio head should give him a chance at directing a movie. It’s reached the point I would be more interested in his directorial debut than what game he produces.

I am sick to death of developers wasting budgets on fancy cut scenes. I play games, I don’t want to watch them. If there is no interactivity, I check out. I’m clearly not alone, either. There has been a clear shift. Ever since graphics have reached a stage most games look visually impressive, it’s gameplay which outshines high production values. Elden Ring is a perfect example.Anon

Pillow talkMicrosoft is plugged into the Call Of Duty gravy train now but what happened to all the talk about ending yearly sequels and letting Activision make other games? That was just nonsense talk to win their court case?

Or what about that whole bit about bringing the game to Switch, and pretending it would work fine? That was obviously never going to happen, right? Shouldn’t they not get into trouble for bending the truth so obviously?Iceman

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Missing in actionJust caught up with Wednesday night’s State Of Play and I have to say it was a pretty good one if you excuse the fact that Sony’s first party teams were still conspicuous by their absence. Seriously though, what the hell have Team Asobi and Bluepoint Studios been up to since 2020?!

Sony are clearly in cruise control right now, seemingly complacent that the PlayStation 5 is a massive success, and the third party support in ample supply, but would it really hurt them to show more love to Bloodborne and PlayStation VR2 at this point? Metro Awakening VR looked very good, but a new Astrobot would’ve delivered the desired effect.

Well now that the negatives are out of the way, I’d like to focus on my highlights from the presentation. I loved what was shown of Stellar Blade, this game was missing in action for a while, and I was fearing the worst, but what was shown looked very promising. The rich art direction, stylistic action and NieR Automata/Astral Chain like futuristic setting looked fantastic and I can’t wait to play this game in April. Korean Bayonetta is shaping up to be a stellar action game!

Death Stranding 2 looked absolutely phenomenal, I love that Kojima seems to be doubling down on the auteur zaniness that defined the first game. I got some major Devil May Cry 3 and Brutal Legends vibes from the guitar-wielding nutter. I’m just so happy there are still these audaciously weird and inimitable triple-A games being made, like the outstanding Alan Wake 2, in the current risk averse climate in the big budget sphere.

It also feels so good to see Silent Hill franchise hale and hearty again (the less said about the execrable Silent Hill: Ascension, the better). Blooper’s remake of the seminal second entry in the series looks visually stunning but the animation could do with some work.

I’ve read complaints levelled at the solely combat focused trailer’s tone being unfaithful to the source material’s subtlety, but considering how janky the combat was in the original I’d welcome a complete overhaul in this area, so I certainly got the impression that the combat mechanics well be better this time at least.

I just hope Blooper can emulate the measured, gnawing horror and gut-wrenching emotional gravitas of the classic original. They simply can’t afford to mess this up, can’t settle for medium quality when the stakes are so high!

The Silent Hill: A Short Message reveal and shadow drop was the best part of the showcase though and a genuinely delightful surprise. I can’t wait to experience the playable teaser and, hopefully, vicariously experience the seemingly inscrutable, circuitous horrors those who got to experience P.T. back in 2014 did.

I never did get to play P.T. for myself, because Konami had famously, vindictively redacted the hugely influential demo after their public spat with Hideo Kojima. Like with all horror games (and films) a dark setting and headphones are essential for the optimal experience!Galvanized Gamer

Inbox also-ransWeirdly, I have never even considered that it’s called The Witcher 3 and so there must’ve been two before it. Were they any good?Len

GC: The Witcher 2 was good but flawed, but the first one was pretty bad.

What happened to the James Bond game Io Interactive were meant to be making? Seems like it’s been ages and we’ve not heard anything, is there any news?Mrporc

GC: Nothing at all, we’re afraid. Games take a long time to make nowadays…

This week’s Hot TopicThis weekend’s Inbox will be devoted to the Readers’ Top 20 of 2023, where you get to vote for your favourite games of last year.

You can find our Top 20 of 2023 here but while we place certain restrictions on our list, such as no remasters or DLC, you’re free to vote for anything you like – as long as it was released new in 2023.

All you need to do to vote is send us a list, in order, of your three favourite games of last year and we’ll collate everyone’s votes into a top 20. If you want to be featured in the Hot Topic itself though, make sure you send us an explanation of why you made your choices.

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small printNew 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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