Games Inbox: Is Silent Hill 2 the best remake ever?

The Tuesday letters page gives up on the Nintendo Switch 2 being announced this year, as another reader worries about kids’ access to GTA 5.

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Remaking the mood
I’ve just finished the Silent Hill 2 remake and I’ve got to say it has completely exceeded my expectations. Even knowing that it was good, thanks to the positive reviews, I expected it to be a straight recreation of the original game, but with a few modern touches. But it’s much more than that, a completely new game that mirrors the original but is never exactly the same – with some parts removed and others added.

Full credit to Bloober Team, I think they’ve done a great job and I’m genuinely wondering whether it might be the best remake I’ve ever played. The other contenders, I would say, are Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Resident Evil 2 and 4. All of which are similar in that they play pretty loose with the original game – very loose in Final Fantasy 7’s case – but still manage to capture the mood and atmosphere of the original perfectly.

This is a million miles away from the pointless remakes Sony has been churning out lately, for things like The Last Of Us and Until Dawn, which just seem to be literal cash grabs, that add nothing to the original and aren’t needed anyway.

I think it’s silly to say remakes are good or bad. They can be either or just mid. But I think the best ones are great and I can’t get enough of them. I wish they were remaking Soul Reaver instead of just remastering it.
Lempton

Like what you like
Thank you for printing my (positive) take on Starfield. I wasn’t even surprised to see the umpteenth negative review in the Reader’s Feature a week later but an Underboxer did comment my continued belief that the gaming community love to hate Starfield.

I have to admit I’ve spent more time dwelling on my discrepancy of experience than I should, I don’t dispute any of the complaints that have been repeatedly levelled at Starfield, I can only say they haven’t impacted my enjoyment of the game in the way it has for others.

And shouldn’t that be OK? We don’t all like the same things, if Starfield isn’t for you there are numerous other space titles you could play instead.

While numbers for Starfield are down on other Bethesda titles, it has a (smallish) dedicated following and is starting to see some really cool mods. I can only promise to never write in on this subject again and quietly hope we see a few more expansions.
DarKerR (gamertag)

GC: Of course it’s OK. Look at us, we’re convinced Etrian Odyssey 4 is one of the best games ever made, and we’re never going to stop going on about that. The only thing we disagree with you about is the idea that there’s numerous alternatives; there are far too few space exploration titles for our liking.

Different tiers
Surprising Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn’t selling all that well.

The GC review made it sound like it was on a par with Elden Ring and Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom. A top tier title. I wonder why it isn’t performing as well as EA would have hoped?

I was tempted to give it a go and refund if I didn’t like it, but two hours to get an idea of how a complex role-playing game plays isn’t a lot of time.
P.Ella

GC: We said it was very good but Elden Ring and Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom are two of the best games of the generation, if not of all time, so it’s not on that level. And Dragon Age is selling well, just not spectacularly.

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To stalk or not to stalk
I’ve never played any of the previous S.T.A.L K.E R. games and I’m not a big first person shooter or survival game fan either, to be honest. But I recently read Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers, on which the games and the film Stalker are loosely based, and loved it.

Following that I watched a few preview videos of the new game, and I have to say my interest is piqued. I do like an open-ended role-playing game and this looks like it might hit the spot. A positive review from your good selves may probably be the decider. In any case, read Roadside Picnic if you’re a fan of dystopia sci-fi. It’s excellent.
Somasonic

GC: It is indeed, and if you’re a fan of that and Stalker we can’t see you not enjoying the games to at least some degree. The older ones can usually be had quite cheaply or there’s the recent compilation S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends Of The Zone Trilogy on all formats.

The final troll
At this point Nintendo is literally trolling us, right? There is no way a Donkey Kong expansion for the Japanese theme park justifies a whole Nintendo Direct. It’s literally only Japan; internationally speaking, who’s going to go visit that in the middle of November?!

But I think this guarantees no Nintendo Switch 2 reveal this year. They’re not going to do it in the middle of Black Friday, which basically lasts the rest of the month, and they’re not going to do it in late December. I suppose there’s a small chance they tease it at The Game Awards but what kind of chance? I wouldn’t have said any more than 10% or so.

No, all those rumours were wrong and while I appreciate they may have been right at the time the end result is nada this year. Except for probably another Nintendo Direct about a Zelda concert tour or an interactive tea machine or some other nonsense that’s just an excuse to troll us one last time.
Tacle

Home classic
One of the greatest Home Alone games ever produced, to me, has to be Home Alone on the Mega Drive. This game was not only a shoot ‘em-up platformer but also brilliantly combined the ability to explore houses as well as a neighbour, as well as being able to build weapons and collect items to build them while also preventing two thieves from robbing each house. Adding to this ,you also had the ability to set traps in each house, adding to the fun.

For anyone who has played this gem of a game they will tell you that if there is one Mega Drive game you have to own this is one of them. Even Home Alone fans who have never played this game will love it and wonder why they missed this classic.

A remaster of this game, I feel, is well deserved and should be converted into 3D 4K HDR10, as well as additional weapons and traps, combined with voice acting from the original characters (Macauly Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern).

This would make a remaster of this amazing game stand out and give it an upgrade it truly deserves, along with a revamped sound rack of remixes of the original Mega Drive soundtrack.

Here is a walkthrough of the game for anyone who has never played it. I’m sure you will agree this deserves a decent remaster.
gaz be rotten (gamertag)

GC: You can’t ‘convert’ a 2D game into 3D, it would have to be completely remade.

One good reason
I’ve been thinking about the PS5 Pro and even though I bought the PlayStation 4 and then the PS4 Pro I have no reason to think about buying the PS5 Pro.

The only reason I can thinking of them bring it out is because next year GTA 6 is out. They put a PS5 Pro and a free copy of GTA 6 and it could shift them. I still wouldn’t buy one but could twist some players arms into buying one and if the Pro does have the power to play GTA perfectly it could sell a hell of a lot more.
David

GC: It’s already selling more than Sony expected.

Easy access
I found myself agreeing with a lot of what last weekend’s Reader’s Feature said about GTA 5. Like the author, I would never call for a ban, it wouldn’t really have any effect anyway – not to mention it’s not like it’s the only game kids shouldn’t play.

The responses saying it’s down to parents I feel are a bit ignorant to what’s realistically possible. I assume we’re all just accepting that anyone in secondary school is going to play games rated 18, because how would anyone ever stop that?

By that point they’ve got friends to get games through, bank cards to buy it themselves, and phones which need parental controls removed for school lessons at school. I’m not even sure why we have 15 or 18 certificates anymore, when the only place left that can enforce it is the cinema. Microsoft and Sony certainly don’t have any way to do it.

It’s junior school ages we’re talking about. As the article pointed out, you may be able to control what happens in your own home but at some point they’re going to interact with other children. You can’t control other parents and every school has a spectrum of families ranging from fully engaged and understanding what their kids are watching or playing to the ones the NSPCC adverts are about.

I don’t think banning the games would ever help. It’s certainly not going to stop them watching it on YouTube or Twitch on their phone. And who can honestly say when they were young, the solution to your parents saying ‘No’ wasn’t to just do it anyway and not tell them. Easy access to this stuff is part of their life, just like social media and the best thing you can do is engage with them on it.
Tim

GC: Very sensibly said.

Inbox also-rans
I wonder if the marketing bods at Nintendo have considered calling the Switch successor the Switch Up? Seems to me that, while it incorporates the Switch name it also works as an instruction to existing owners.
Meestah Bull

I’m kind of torn whenever I see Nintendo sue someone for piracy. On the one hand I hate that sort of corporate bullying but on the other hand I can’t help but laugh when these cocky streamers get a face full of ninja lawyer, despite thinking the law somehow doesn’t count with them.
Jiffo

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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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