Games Inbox: What is the best generation of video game console?

The Monday letters page has some interesting ideas for the next God Of War game, as one reader looks forward to a Donkey Kong Bananza sequel.

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

Anytime but now
As we head towards another, unwanted, new generation I’m still using my PlayStation 4 and wondering whether it’s worth upgrading to a PlayStation 6, let alone a 5. Maybe it feels different if you own one, but I can’t imagine anyone saying this generation of consoles has been the best but that started me think on what was the best?

I think there’s three obvious contenders: the SNES/Mega Drive, the Xbox 360/Wii, and the PlayStation 4. It’s difficult because I feel nostalgia gets in the way and it’s hard to look at things definitively. You also tend to only remember the good stuff. No matter how many classics it had, there was a ton lot of identikit platformers in the Mega Drive era.

Likewise, I think we forget how many brown coloured shooters there were on the Xbox 360. You then start worrying about recency bias, but I really do think the PlayStation 4 was the best, especially if you include the Nintendo Switch. Two great consoles, tons of all-time exclusives, and Sony and Nintendo at arguably their best.

Curious to know what others think but that’s what I’d choose if they were giving out awards.
Kogan

Dragging it out
RE: Unicorn Overlord. It was mentioned in the Inbox the other day and I have to say how great it is. I’m about 50 hours in and I’m nearing the end, but I’ll make sure I drag it out, doing all of the side and liberation missions. It’s such a great game, especially on the big story missions where you have to send different units off to fight different targets (although my Alain unit is so buffed and varied that if I’m struggling I just send them in to beat almost anyone).
Simon
PS: I wrote in the other week mentioning Resistance 3 and how good it was. I have finished it, and it is an absolute classic – I’m surprised this game doesn’t ever seem to get mentioned. I’ve got out my old PlayStation 3 and will go through the original God Of War games. The Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 generation was one the best in gaming history, in my opinion.

Recurring issue
I feel like no matter how much hype there is for Battlefield 6, the real problem with the series is that it always falls flat on its face at launch. That’s why Battlefield 4 didn’t beat Call Of Duty and almost all of the games have had the same problem, to some degree or another.

The cause always seems to be the same too: EA unwilling to wait until the game is finished and being so full of themselves they’re convinced the game is too big to fail. The fact that has happened so many times makes me believe that EA is never going to learn their lesson. Maybe the open betas have been enough to iron out any problems, but they seem more like marketing schemes than something that’s being done as a genuine test.
Zeiss

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Reaction time
So there’s going to be five weeks between Battlefield 6 and Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7? I’m not sure why Activision is leaving EA an open goal like that, but if that’s proof of them thinking that it’s no threat to them I’ll laugh if they end up wishing they’d taken things a bit more seriously.

I don’t think there’s any chance that Battlefield 6 will ‘beat’ Black Ops 7, but if it proves itself to be a real contender than that means there’s huge pressure on next year’s Call Of Duty, which we’ve already had leaks on. They seem to plan them all at least three years in advance, so there’s no way Activision will be able to react until there’s a Battlefield 7, at which time EA can try and outfox them again.

I don’t really have a horse in this race – I’d much rather see a new game take over dominance – but anything that shakes up the status quo for me is good. The more complacent a publisher is, the worse the games are.
Focus

Final purchase
On the subject of buying a new gaming PC. I spoke to PC Specialist for an hour on Friday and they recommended a few changes to Magnum’s pre-build PC, not many, mainly the graphics card and tower. Could GameCentral readers and the Underbox give me advice on this build that PC Specialist recommended, please?

Is it good, in your opinion? They did say if I spent another £340 I would get a really good 4K graphics card but I couldn’t afford that, so went with the next one they recommended after the more expensive one. Thank you in advance for any advice you can give.
Andrew J.

Going bananas
I’ve just finished Donkey Kong Bananza and I’m kind of in two minds. It was 80% great, but it was surprisingly janky for a Nintendo game and the camera can be a nightmare. You could argue there’s no way round that problem but that doesn’t stop it from seeming annoying while you’re playing.

I’d also say it was fairly inconsistent in terms of level design, with some amazing ones and some that dragged on (that Zebra level). I’m willing to bet the desert island level was made after they knew that this was going to be a Switch 2 game, because it’s awesome and seems to be pushing the console the most.

The ending is also great, and I think that does a lot to leave you with a good overall impression of the game, once you’ve finished. It’s a shame it and the other boss fighters weren’t tougher though. Some of them I beat so quickly I never really understood exactly what was going on, which is a shame as a lot of them seemed quite clever.

I think it’s the sort of game that needs a sequel to really perfect what it’s trying to do, and I would be interested in playing that if they made it. In terms of positives, I think it makes Donkey Kong a much more interesting character with more defined abilities (was he ever meant to be super strong before? I don’t really remember that).

In terms of negatives, I think the lack of challenge and the amount of jank is going to upset some people and stop it from winning any game of the year awards, even though it is definitely one of the best games I’ve played in a while.
Coolsbane

No parity
I really don’t think we should be treating the fact that the Switch 2 can’t run a game at exactly the same level as the PlayStation 5 as some sort of surprise. That was never going to happen, especially with Borderlands 4 being open world.

I’m not advocating getting the Switch 2 version over the other others, but anyone expecting to buy any multiformat game and having it run the same as the PlayStation 5, or the Xbox Series X/S, hasn’t been paying attention. Personally, I think getting anywhere close is pretty impressive. The more important test will be if it can run things like Elden Ring as good or better than the PlayStation 4 version.
Tolly

Modern gods
A few months ago there were rumours of a new ‘half-sequel’ God Of War game, but I see that never got announced and the rumours have gone away. Does that mean it’s been cancelled? Or maybe that it’s been upgraded into a full game, as sometimes seems to happen.

I don’t envy Sony working out what to do next, as even as a fan I’m not sure what would be best. I know I don’t want to play as Atreus but has Kratos got any story left to tell? His character arc seems to be over and while it would be funny to have him running around as a pure good guy, I don’t think that leaves much room for anything interesting to happen to him.

There’s also what seems like the inevitability of setting it in Egypt, but so inevitable that it risks feeling like it’s just going through the motions. We all know how the formula works by now and pop culture means most people have a fairly good idea of the basics of Ancient Egyptian mythology.

I think what I would do is set the game in the modern day. Maybe after Kratos has destroyed all gods everywhere and what that kind of world would look like. Maybe the gods are trying to get back in and have people worship them again or something like that.

I feel something new and daring has to happen or otherwise we’re just going to be going round all the ancient world religions, then rebooting at the end to start again in Greece. And who wouldn’t want to see Kratos in jeans and a T-shirt?
Paulie

GC: The last rumour, from June, was of a 2D Metroidvania. But as with all the other rumours, there’s no evidence and things have gone quiet since then.

Inbox also-rans
If there’s really going to be a Capcom Vs. SNK 3 I hope it includes more than just fighting game characters. The other ones were just a bit too hardcore for me. Either that or do a different team-up and have wackier fighting. I mean… the DCU is just sitting there now, if Capcom’s ben jilted by Marvel.
Limpton

Will you be playing Hollow Knight: Silksong at Gamescom? I don’t see how that game is ever going to live up to the hype, but I’m curious.
Milo

GC: We should be. It’s supposed to be at both the Xbox and Nintendo stands. But we won’t believe anything until we see it.

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