Rank Starfield and Bethesda's games, compare Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to WRC, and debate Unreal Engine.

The Friday letters page has some very mixed opinions on Starfield, as one reader has an expensive VR experience with his dog.

To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]

Making the list
I’ve played nearly every Elder Scrolls game and each of the Fallout series. In order, after 30+ hours of Starfield so far, I’d rank them as follows: Oblivion, Fallout 3, Morrowind, Skyrim, Starfield, and Fallout 4. Which doesn’t look great for Starfield, in list form. However, the games above it are such behemoths to contend with. Starfield is a great game in its own right and if you love the Bethesda game model, it’s another fun trip out.

I think a few things really let it down. For starters, a lot of us were maybe expecting something more impressive in terms of the mechanics/engine. When in reality it looks and acts like a slightly shinier Fallout 4. I sincerely hope they create a new engine, or go with Unreal Engine 5, for the next Elder Scrolls. Which may explain some of the delay.

Also, the exploration just doesn’t have the same feel, with every planet being a separate instance. I actually have to remind myself this is an open world Bethesda game sometimes and that I can go/do what I like. The problem being, a lot of the planets are quite empty. (A vehicle would have been the perfect middle ground.) But there is still so much to enjoy, it’s an absolute steal on Game Pass and probably a 7/10 in my book.
Mr K

Non-starter
So I’ve been staying out of all the Starfield chatter because, honestly, I know I’ll love this game no matter what. The same way I always do with Bethesda games. It’s Thursday evening and I’ve excitedly sat down to load the game up. After the initial intro from the ship’s captain the game wants me to move. Except I can’t.

Nothing at all will work and for some reason the game won’t even recognise my controller to restart it. First bug of the game and it’s before I can even do anything. Typical Bethesda. So typical, actually that’s the first time I tried to play Fallout 4 the exact same thing happened. I’m going to have to delete the game and upload once more. So it’s gonna be another evening before I get to experience it.

Don’t ever change Bethesda!
Chris (frustrated) in Belfast

Strong Force
A little late to the party, but I’ve been playing through Star Wars Jedi: Survivor the past few days and have to say that I am absolutely stunned by it – for me it genuinely feels like playing through a Star Wars movie! I did worry that it would be too similar to the previous game, but this has not been an issue at all in the 10 or so hours I’ve been playing and so far it’s definitely made its way into contention for my game of the year.

But there are at least three other games so far that could make my top spot, with the likes of Spider-Man 2, etc. all still to come. Without really feeling like it, 2023 has been a pretty good year for gaming!
Rickandrolla (PSN ID)

GC: You’re right, it’s a good game and a notable step forward from the first.

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Doggone expensive
So here’s a salutary tale of why you should listen to your other half. My wife is always reminding me to be tidy and put things away. Her obsession with tidiness and organisation extends to the point I cannot even have my PlayStation 5 out on display. I literally have to bring it out and put it back again each time. It’s fine, I can live with it.

The other day I took my PlayStation 5 out and my beloved PlayStation VR2 for a Gran Turismo 7 session, but then got distracted momentarily, meaning I had to leave the house for about an hour.

Upon returning and entering the front room I was confronted with the sight of the PlayStation VR2 cable now in two pieces, one end of which was in my 10-month-old dachshund’s mouth. It’s a USB cable but has a proprietary end so not an easy fix (he is fine, it wasn’t plugged in).

Long story short, I needed to pay for an out of warranty fix (£265 – Sony).

For the avoidance of doubt, I couldn’t even bring myself to scold Max, as ultimately it was my fault, albeit relations were a bit frosty for a while.

The reason I thought I’d write in was I wondered if any readers had similar tales of either woe, or joy, as a result of their pets interfering with gaming?

I include a picture of the offender for reference.
r-s-w

GC: Out of warranty? But the PlayStation VR2 could only be six months old at most?

Engine of change
Next thing… The new WRC game on Unreal Engine? That is an… interesting choice. Not sure if they are using version 4 or 5, but Unreal doesn’t seem the best choice for racing games. Asseto Corsa Competizione in the only racing sim using the Unreal Engine and as magnificent as that game is, it needs seriously beefy hardware to look and run anywhere near as well as the likes of Automobilista 2 on Slightly Mad Studio’s (so now EA’s) Madness engine or Codies (so also EA’s) Ego engine.

I may be proved wrong, but these engines designed for racing games provide smooth, incredibly pretty visuals, with little compromise, and will run well on VR, whereas Unreal, in the one game it’s used in, is notoriously resource intensive, needs lots of graphical tweaking on lower end hardware, and is a pain to get running well in VR. Oh well, happy to be proved wrong!
The Dude Abides

Littered with problems
I’m kind of happy that Starfield is far from an essential experience. Not from some weird fanboy stance, but for several other reasons:

• Any company only buying existing huge franchises to make exclusives, rather than actually creating their own, is bad. You’re not adding anything, just limiting access to what would already exist.



• The creators trying to manipulate review availability to give consumers a false impression of quality leaves an extremely bad taste in the mouth.



• I don’t have time for many huge games, so ideally the ones I do play should be worth it. A reduction of the potential backlog is never a bad thing. I also don’t really get the appeal of these super-long games for Game Pass. I picked up Fallout 4 for £4 – it took four years to slog my way through, which would have been considerably more expensive playing for ‘free’ via a Game Press sub.



• Starfield feels emblematic of a general lack of progress in games design this generation. With most previous generations, the new tech would drive forward the experience. Now things are just a bit shinier, and often a bit bigger (i.e. more padded). But the fundamental mechanics are often the same as two generations ago. And Bethesda have been reusing the fundamental gameplay mechanics in their games for a decade already. But also interminably dragging each individual experience out to the point where any enjoyment has long since gone and you just long for it to be over (see above Fallout 4 experience). I read people say these games are all about the joy of exploration, but regardless of what you find, it is the same shonky mechanics at the heart of every sub-quest. In contrast, you have the Mario approach of a new gameplay idea or mechanic for every level. Bethesda basically have about two to three mechanics for 200 hours of game. And one of those is picking up rubbish. Their games are more effective litter-picking simulators than they are combat simulators. And that’s the power of marketing for you!

Ernie

Sole benefit
I’ve just read the article about mandatory disc drives in consoles and I couldn’t agree more. Personally, owning a physical copy has more benefits compared to a digital copy.

With a digital copy you rent the licence and not own the actual game, you can’t lend to friends (I don’t use Game Share, etc.) or trade them in. The only main advantage I can see from digital copies is ease of access.
The Conkster17 (PSN ID)

According to plan
Watching Digital Foundry’s weekly video, they brought up the delay of review copies of Starfield for UK magazines and websites.

While the narrative from many websites has been one of conspiracy and the play for higher day one Metacritic scores the presenters suggested this was more of an issue with separate PR or press departments in the UK and US.

There were no issues for reviewers in the US, with seemingly every request for review code met and the lukewarm response from some of the bigger sites suggesting protecting the Metacritic score seems an unlikely reason for the delay.

Is it possible that Hanlon’s Razor was at play.

‘Never attribute to bad intentions that which is adequately explained by other causes.’

Could the review snafu could be down to different (stupid) decisions by parts of international corporations or their PR departments, etc.?

I’m not saying that makes it acceptable, especially as reading the comments and letters page shows the public discourse fully embraces the conspiracy theories, but the Digital Foundry video was the only time these differences in press relations was brought up.
DarKerR (gamertag)

GC: No, that’s not what was happening at all. Digital Foundry was given a copy and told they could not share it with the Eurogamer editorial team. Bethesda absolutely did not want certain UK websites reviewing the game before launch. We doubt they were expecting those review scores from IGN or GameSpot or they might have tried a similar tactic there.

Inbox also-rans
I just read the Starfield review in progress. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that I didn’t buy an Xbox Series X to play it.
Mitchell
PS: If I didn’t get on with either of the Divinity: Original Sin games I should give Baldur’s gate 3 a miss, yes?

GC: Well, we suppose, maybe. It’s very good though.

PlayStation have been allowing remote play on the PC and almost any mobile phone for years and years. No need for a Portal and no need to move your PlayStation.
Anon

GC: It’s the function that’s supposed to be the draw so much as it being a device specifically design to play PlayStation 5 console, what with the authentic DualSense controls and everything.

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Hammeriron, who asks what is your favourite co-op video game?

Online and local co-op both count but try and give examples of both if you can. Who were you playing the game with and did you choose them for the game or the game for them? How experienced was the other player and how did that factor into the experience?

Do you prefer local or online co-op and would you like to see more of them? Which game that doesn’t have co-op do you wish did?

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]

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.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

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