Games Inbox: What is BioWare’s best game?

The Thursday letters page is upset to see what’s happened to BioWare, as a reader worries about Microsoft’s sanity when making decisions about Xbox.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

BioWare’s best
Absolutely awful to hear about BioWare being shut down. When will developers learn that being bought by EA is a death sentence? To be fair, I don’t think BioWare has been doing themselves any favours in the last few years, especially if they still haven’t produced anything substantial for Mass Effect 4, but I’m sure that’s down to EA management and budget cuts.

It’s so sad because 15 years ago they were the absolute best and everyone acknowledged it. When Mass Effect and Dragon Age were both at full strength, they were probably the most respected developer in the world, or at least in the West.

Nothing lasts for ever, and it’s probably all the top talent leaving over the years that’s done a lot of damage, but you can’t help but be upset. I expect there’ll be a lot of talking about what their best game is over the next few weeks but for me it’s Mass Effect 2. Best BioWare game and best ending/final battle in any game ever.
Taylor Moon

Inevitable disgust
I’ve just seen the appalling news that EA are closing BioWare. I think we knew things were going to be bad with the leveraged buyout, but this might be worse than my worst fears.

Mass Effect was a defining game of the Xbox 360 and easily in my top 10, maybe even top five games I’ve played. I enjoyed the sequels as well, but for me the original hit the sweet spot of balancing its role-playing and shooting elements, whereas the latter games felt more shoot first, ask questions later.

Having said all that though, their output in recent years has been, at best, mixed and at worst non-existent. Unfortunately, it seems in this wonderful world of post-capitalism, reputation and history really don’t count for anything.

Wishing the talented developers all the best, I hope they all land swiftly on their feet.
StellarFlux

Rock on
I had to read that story about Xbox encouraging people to sell their Xboxes twice. Not because the text wasn’t clear but because none of it made any sense. It was like anti-sense. The company that makes the Xbox has emailed people that own the console to tell them to sell it if they aren’t using it, for… reasons. Has the world gone mad?

I mean, it increasingly feels like it has but whatever they’re doing over there at Xbox… they just seem completely off their rockers. And a console that’s more expensive than the $1,000+ PlayStation 6? Are they trying to get Xbox shut down for some reason? Is this some Trading Places style bet to see how out of control things can get, just for their amusement?
Gonch

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

Compendium of Zelda
I have to say I absolutely agree with Ciara’s take on the ocean music in Zelda: The Wind Waker, it is easily one of my favourite Zelda scores ever.

I do have my fingers crossed that Link will visit the open seas again in the next major instalment. As the GameCube was limited via its exploration, and as good as I thought the map was, it was essentially just a grid with a guaranteed surprise on each unit of the map.

In fact, if I had my way, I would go one further and have an old man sitting in a rocking chair reading a book to a bunch of children, sitting around him listening to him babble on about The Legend of Zelda.

I would have the cel-shaded The Wind Waker, the top-down cartoonist graphics of A Link To The Past, the almost stop motion looking Link’s Awakening graphics, and the eerie Twilight Princess, all of the old stylised graphics would get in.

Completely new levels of course, but it would have you as the gamer jumping in and out of the story so the children could see what was going on as it was being narrated.

All leading up to a climax where Ganondorf requires you to use all of your experience gathered from each individual story to beat him.

Then it only leaves the matter of the old guy telling the story. Is he Link? If so, which Link was he? Or maybe he wasn’t any of them at all, as Link never talks.

I’m not exactly in love with Breath Of The Wild or Tears Of The Kingdom. I always preferred the more linear games.

Hopefully, if sales go well for Ocarina Of Time, Nintendo might see that there is definitely still an appetite for that old school format.
freeway 77

Veteran fans
Has this been a bad year for Nintendo? I think the sales numbers would say no, but at the same time while I know they’ve released a multitude of games this year, I’d struggle to name any of them.

Until I saw an advert for Nintendo Switch Sports Resort I’d also have said all advertising seems to have disappeared, and this is the company that had constant adverts for Animal Crossing right up to the launch of the Switch 2. Speaking of which, the main reason my kids can think of to get a Switch 2 is just so they can start a new game of Animal Crossing without losing the ones we have across various Switch 1 devices.

They just don’t seem to have a cultural hit like they’ve had previously. Nothing (apart from maybe Metro) has been described as bad, but none of it’s been classed as amazing either.

We’ve still got Zelda to come this year, but I can’t help but think maybe the people most excited for that are nostalgic blokes in their 40s.
Tim

GC: There are plenty of amazing Switch 2 games.

Leave well alone
Now it’s been out a few weeks, wondered how people have been getting on with The Witcher 3 Remastered? I decided to give the release a few weeks to bed down before checking it out, given CD Projekt’s history with bugs and glitches, but started a new game from scratch over the weekend hoping it would tide me over as the ‘the immersive experience for rainy evenings at home’ game for the winter. Let’s just say… I’ve deleted it from my PlayStation 5 already.

Now, I did finish the game back in the day, but I am surprised just how badly it has aged and how little this remaster updates it. I don’t care about the updated graphics but the real reason to play this again was updates to controls, traversal, combat et al. and despite that the game still plays like a pile of broken biscuits. It’s almost unplayable even with the ‘modern’ camera and control schemes. I’d also forgotten how funny Geralt prancing around with his sword and lethargic animations were, it makes Monster Hunter look like Sekiro. Oh yeah there’s still loads of bugs too.

The story (mostly) and immersive world do still hold up, even if I was reminded that you pretty much spend half the game riding your horse between two waypoints on a map soaking up the vibes. In this aspect it reminds me of the PlayStation 2 GTA games, which played terribly on original release but worked as experiences and that is what everyone remembers about them today.

Anyway, needless to say, think CD Projekt should not have bothered and just moved on…
Marc

Interactive adverts
If the future is deemed to be streaming I think games are in trouble. Netflix has had to go the advertising route and it was a runaway behemoth for a time. Now it’s struggling and having to use Sky and Virgin to keep it going. Imagine Sony going this route. Advertising breaks every six or seven minutes when you’re gaming. Reading might make a comeback if this is a future. No ads on books, unless it’s a Kindle book.

I may have watched too many Black Mirrors recently.
Bobwallett

Uncertain future
I agree with GC viewer The Colt, regarding the PlayStation 6 and it being difficult to imagine what its capabilities are and just how much more a console can do without it turning in a PC.

But as the PC can be upgraded as and when, at a cheaper cost than a PlayStation 6’s probable price, it does limit the PlayStation 6’s advantage with top tier games.

I can only assume Nintendo will be level-headed and the gameplay will always be the number one priority for them. Graphics are great, but artwork does not need the ultimate gaming engine to be able to achieve the highest tiers of art design.

We just want, as normal respectfully normal wage-earning fans, to be able to play these titles as long as possible and not be forced to call it a day with gaming. Fingers crossed all will be okay to experience newer and older titles when retired in the near or far future.
Alucard

Inbox also-rans
Do you have any plans to review the new Saros DLC release?
Lizardpudlian

GC: Since it’s not a major expansion, no.

So Xbox is to get an update from AMD for FSR 4.1, which helps render better graphics and upscaling. Great you think, buts it’s AI driven, so they are introducing AI quietly to Xbox through a future update whether you want it or not.
TWO MACKS

GC: Upscalers like DLSS have been around for a long time now and are generally regarded as a benign form of AI. In fact, they were rarely referred to as AI until the recent boom.

Email 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 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.

MORE: Games Inbox: What is the best Nintendo game of 2026?

MORE: Games Inbox: Is the PS5 the last real console generation?

MORE: Games Inbox: What will Fallout 5 be like?

Comment now

Comments

Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google

Add as preferred source