Games Inbox: What is Rockstar Games' best game?

Metro

20-05-2025

The Tuesday letters page asks whether video game execs need to be gamers or not, as one reader predicts Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe will be a while yet.
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Rockstar #1
Interesting to see people having the confidence to speak out against GTA, which I don't think we're going to see a lot of as the game gets closer. I won't pretend I don't enjoy the games, and still play GTA Online occasionally, but what I will say is that GTA 5 is not my favourite Rockstar game at all and I do feel it's a shame they don't make a wider range of games like they used to.
Bully was great and so was The Warriors, but I especially liked the first Manhunt and I'm very upset that never became a regular franchise. I don't think Midnight Club or L.A. Noire were as good but at least they were something different, as was Max Payne 3 (although I prefer Remedy's two games).
I would say that Red Dead Redemption 2 is easily their best game. It has all the scope and size of GTA but none of the flaws that people have been pointing out. It has a good, clear plot. The characters are all interesting and many of them are likeable. They act like people too, not just try hard characters.
The gameplay still isn't great but it's no worse than GTA 5 and I definitely prefer riding a horse to driving a car, at least one designed by Rockstar. So while I am looking forward to GTA 6 there are quite a few other Rockstar games I'd rather see get a sequel first.
Focus
One for two
Is it me or has Shuhei Yoshida been acting like a bit of chump in his recent round of interviews? He was very down on Switch 2 for no reason that I could really see, other than he's ex-Sony, and now he, who is presumably very rich, is trying to tell us all that £80 for a video is a bargain and we shouldn't complain?
I'm sure it is good value for money but at the end of the day that's money that a lot of us don't have lying around spare. Only a few years ago I would've been able to get two triple-A games for £80, at least a couple of months after launch, and soon I'm only going to be able to get one.
I don't see how that's good for gaming or publishers or anyone else. It's definitely not good for my wallet.
Brian
Summer secrets
So, the Switch 2 is out on June 5 and the Summer Game Fest is June 6… does that mean there's going to be some kind of big annoucement? I know people are 50/50 on whether there's a secret Christmas game still to be revealed but if there was I would've though this would be a good time to do it.
I can't see anyone getting all that excited when Nintendo try to make the reveal of the release dates for checks notes Hyrule Warriors 3 and Kirby Air Ride 2 seem like some epic reveal. I'm with everyone else that thinks they are very strange things to be out in the first year, especially when that could mean there's really only big first party game out all year.
I'm not going to try and predict anything, because it's Nintendo and who knows, but does GC think the two dates are coincidence or are they going to end up being connected?
Paulie
GC: Our guess is that it's just a coincidence. Nintendo doesn't tend to use third party events to announce anything significant. They may try and squeeze something in at the last minute, just because the timing is so odd, but we wouldn't count on it.
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Strange ideas
Like a lot of readers, I find Hideo Kojima a fascinating but flawed character. He's got so much obvious talent, but he's squandered so much of it on one franchise, that faded from public view surprisingly quickly. Dead Stranding was interesting but I'm not sure how a sequel is going to work if the core gameplay is still… walking very slowly and delivering parcels to holograms.
I'm painting the game in its worst possible light there but even so, Death Stranding was just flawed as anything else Kojima has done and I would've liked to see him give it another roll of the dice with a different idea. Instead, he's working on a sequel, and what seem to be spiritual sequels to Silent Hills and Metal Gear. By which time he'll be well into his 60s…
If all the ideas on the USB stick are as weird as the guy forgetting his abilities over time, I'd rather he do them now. It just feels he's permanently got one foot in the past and it's a real shame.
Kurgen
Come back later
If Nintendo does do a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe edition for the Switch 2 do we have any idea who could be added to it? I would've said someone from a new Switch 2 IP but there really hasn't been one yet, which is a real shame. Maybe they could try and do one of the wheelchair basketball people, but I can't see many people queuing up for that.
I also thought maybe a couple more Microsoft games, back when I expected them and Nintendo to be all chummy. Now it seems that was all just talk and Xbox doesn't have any plans at all, or at least none so urgent they've felt the need to talk about them so far.
So if a Deluxe edition does happen, I don't think it's going to happen for a while, for the simple reason that there isn't anyone new to add, because they're all already been done.
Roel
Dungeons master
I was going to compose a missive contemplating the likelihood of Dungeons 4 being ported to the Switch 2, only to find out that it's actually already out on Switch?! That would be an amazing feat if it worked but apparently it's a bug ridden, almost unplayable mess from the only review I can find (I literally had no idea and can't be the only one unaware of the port).
So now, instead I'm wondering if they'll release a Switch 2 Edition or complete edition with all the DLC, or even just put some fixes through so the game runs better on the new hardware. I hope they do the same for Tropico 6 (both are by Kalypso, so if ones done the other will probably be too).
As an aside, put me on the boat for people not really interested in GTA 6. Five or six years ago I'd been down for it but current, me who replayed GTA 5 before getting shot of my PlayStation 4, I found it pretty awful actually.
The characters, the controls, the story, were all just urgh. I appreciate the characters aren't supposed to be likeable (except Franklin, maybe) but my god what were they thinking of with Trevor? Every time I had to play as him it felt like my soul was dying a little more, until I just gave up playing. I don't expect much from the single-player campaign of GTA 6, if there even is one…
Solabound
Glory days
I don't think I'm the first person to say it on here but if Bungie lasts to the end of the year I will be shocked. I'll also be relatively surprised if Marathon isn't cancelled within the next few months. It's a game no one wants, in a genre no one will admit to liking, by a developer that seems to be in a downward spiral.
It's sad to think how this sort of thing can happen. Halo 3 was 18 years ago now, and it's at least five years since Destiny 2 was relevant. It's unfortunate but Bungie were never the same after leaving Microsoft and I think the initial success of Destiny 1 just hid that for a while and now it's obvious.
Tony T.
Management sim
I'm in two minds as to whether the head of a big games company needs to be a gamer or not. It feels like it should be a thing but at the end of the day what's most important is that they're a good business person, which the Take-Two guy seems to be. At least going by how long he's been in the job.
Nintendo's Satoru Iwata was a great leader and actually used to make games, but his replacement is just a businessman with no developer background at all, and yet he seems to be doing a decent job.
Then there's that other obvious example: Phil Spencer. He can't stop talking about what a keen gamer he is, and I think he genuinely is a fan, but I also think it's increasingly hard to pretend he's doing a good job at Xbox.
Ultimately, I don't think it matters whether you're a gamer or not, whether you've ever been a developer or anything. The only thing that matters is being good at your job, which has nothing to do with making games but backing the right people that do, making sure they have the resources, and not interfering with them. I believe that's pretty much what the Take-Two guy himself said.
Where you get a bit of a grey area is something like EA or Ubisoft, where you definitely feel like their leaders could stand to actually play some games once in a while, instead of just making decisions by spreadsheets.
Remember that the team that made Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 used to work on Ubisoft, so they clearly weren't being creatively fulfilled there and that's a management problem.
Lemmy
Inbox also-ransI was thinking of getting Doom: The Dark Ages after the positive reviews but I was shocked to discover it was £70. This isn't Call Of Duty, this is a single-player only game that apparently is quite easy. I'll come back on Black Friday.
Pancus
If Red Dead Redemption 2 is out on Switch 2 this year I think that could be a really good selling point, because the obvious comparison, in terms of graphics, is Zelda and Rockstar's game is lightyears ahead of that.
Bosley More Trending
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