Playstation 5: Thread 01

[Leon Retro]

Whilst I'd be happy to see a Paradise sequel it'd make a lot of sense for Burnout 6 to return to track based,

I think a lot of gamers expect an 'open-world', which I wouldn't mind if there was also a 'quick play' mode with set routes to enjoy.

There's something about open-world world racers that makes me feel like I'm just playing GTA. I don't like racers to feel like a 'sandbox' experience, but if a developer allowed the user to choose between an open-world or preset courses, I'd be happy.

It often feels like the industry panders to the majority with little regard for minority tastes/wants. I wish publishers/devs would have a bit more consideration for the smaller - but significant - group of gamers who like arcade-style racers with preset courses/tracks.

If you had racing games that offered the best of both worlds, with plenty of options to please all tastes, then everyone could be happy. I'd really like the next gen to be more about catering to all gamers. I definitely feel marginalised in the modern gaming scene.

[Team Andromeda]

What Evolution did with PS3 tech is astonishing, so they could have delivered an amazing 60fps MotorStorm game with the PS4.

I remember the day I got my launch Pal PS3. I had a Tax rebate and instead of putting in the bank to my savings account. I went straight into Woolworths and got a launch PS3 along with Motorstorm and 2 BluRay films.

I was simply jaw dropped at the graphics in Motorstorm, it did make most 360 games look like nothing and it was also a fantastic game to boot. That night I think I played it for 5 hours solid and just had an amazing time with the game and also loving the feeling of seeing new Hardware do stuff that the previous gen couldn't.

That's why I quite looking forward to seeing what the XBox II and the PS5 can do and hopefully we'll get a glimpse of it, come E3

I didn't know about this game. Looks like Gran Turismo 3 but with modern graphics.

It's a SEGA Japan Arcade racer, it doesn't get any better. I loved to see SEGA bring it home.

[CMcK]

I had the opposite experience with Motorstorm at the PS3 launch. Yes it looked cracking but it wasn’t much cop otherwise. I downloaded a load of demos that day too but nothing that hit home with me. And the controller isn’t great. I think it really gave me a poor first impression of the system. If it hadn’t been for the promise of Gradius VI (ha!), Blu-Ray playback and Folding@Home I would have binned it sooner.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Motorstorm was amazing!
I think about how good the XboneX looks with some games; the next set of consoles will be a leap above that!

[CMcK]

If both consoles feature hardware acceleration for ray tracing, as per some of the leaks and the Wired interview, we could see some interesting new graphically techniques and a new level of positional audio.
I’m just concerned about the costs of all the assets for these games at 4k.

[Leon Retro]

I remember the day I got my launch Pal PS3.

I was simply jaw dropped at the graphics in Motorstorm, it did make most 360 games look like nothing and it was also a fantastic game to boot. That night I think I played it for 5 hours solid and just had an amazing time with the game and also loving the feeling of seeing new Hardware do stuff that the previous gen couldn't.

It's the game that convinced me to buy a PS3 back in 2007 when Asda had a bundle offer. I knew it would be like an arcade game with amazing graphics. It really showed me that the PS3 was really powerful -- and also maybe better than the 360 in some respects. I've certainly not seen anything similar on the 360 that's as impressive.

It's not just the graphics though -- the physics and overall feel of the game help to make it so special. I know some people moan about all the "brown mud", but there's plenty to enjoy if you spend time with it. The only bad point is the long loading times.

I was really hoping Evolution would deliver a MotorStorm for the PS4, as it could have taken the series to an amazing new level.

It's a SEGA Japan Arcade racer, it doesn't get any better. I loved to see SEGA bring it home.

It just shows how apathetic big publishers can be towards the home market. Sega should have announced the game for modern systems -- even if it were digital-only. It seems like publishers look at all the big name sim racers and don't think they can compete. Well, there are plenty of people who would buy a top quality racer that has an arcade vibe. The main thing people don't want is racers with poor graphics and horrible handling, which is what a lot of wannabe sim racers offer.

We also didn't get 'Sega Race TV' for the 360 & PS3.

Why couldn't the gits just bung it on a digital marketplace? It's such negative behaviour.

If it hadn’t been for the promise of Gradius VI (ha!),

Motorstorm was amazing!
I think about how good the XboneX looks with some games; the next set of consoles will be a leap above that!

It's funny how some people on the net(especially YouTube) are acting like the PS5 won't be a big leap over the PS4. The specs suggest that it will be significantly more powerful and better in all areas. I have zero doubt that the next generation games will be amazing. Racing games will really benefit from all the extra grunt and RAM.

[Nico87]

My PS4 Slim is just a HBO box these days - no idea why HBO isn't on Xbox One in Norway. Totally done with Sony apart from PS3 for PS2 remasters, Puppeteer, and Ni no Kuni. Trading in my PS4 along with my One X for the new Xbox if GameStop is still alive by then.

Yes, it has a few amazing exclusives but I'm never gonna re-play God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn or Spider-Man. Couldn't get into Bloodborne and Uncharted 4 and I'm never gonna play The Last of Us despite owning it for two years. Days Gone and Ghost of Tsushima doesn't really interest me.

PSVR couldn't hold my interest past Astro Bot so I sold my set off a few months ago.

[Leon Retro]

My PS4 Slim is just a HBO box these days -

I bought my PS4 Slim for £100 off here, so I didn't mind taking a risk. The only game that I really wanted to play was Polybius. But I've ended up liking a few other games -- including the excellent Astro Bot. I'll probably have 15-20 PS4 games by the end of its life that I'll want to keep.

Gran Turismo Sport impressed me at first, as it looks very nice and runs really well, but I ended up feeling it lacked charm and creativity. It's just too bland for my liking. I went back to GT3 on the PS2 and like it far more than GTS. I think I'll never buy a sim style racer with only real life tracks again. It doesn't matter how good the graphics are -- I end up finding sim racers immensely dull.

[Neon Ignition]

Gonna just say it, I have a lot of fondness for Evolution but the only great game they ever made was Motorstorm RC. They were always on the verge of cracking the racer gold vault but never accomplished it and in hindsight it's not hard to see why Sony cut them loose from a business perspective.

[Leon Retro]

Gonna just say it, I have a lot of fondness for Evolution but the only great game they ever made was Motorstorm RC. .

I'll always stand by the orignal MotorStorm as being a truly stunning game that's immensely fun to play. It sold around 4 million copies, which was pretty good for the time.

But the sequel Pacific Rift only sold around 1 million copies. So it's safe to assume that a large chunk of the people who bought the oriignal ended up not liking it much. I guess the style of game just isn't appealing to a large audience. It's probably why MotorStorm copycat titles have only appeared on digital marketplaces.

The third MotorStorm, Apocalypse, was a huge flop. It sold 180,000 copies. It took the design of the series in another direction though, which probably turned off the million or so people who were still interested in the franchise. I personally think it's pretty good, but a bit clunky. A proper MotorStorm taking advantage of the PS4 would have been interesting, but Evolution were tasked with creating Driveclub instead.

So as much as I really like the first and second MotorStorm games, I accept that they don't have the mass appeal of traditional road/track racers. A new game like MotorStorm would probably do OK as digital-only at a cheapish price.

I need to download MotorStorm RC for the PS3.

[Neon Ignition]

They always felt within touching distance of greatness, from snagging on small objects to questionable geometry and over-enthusiastic rubber banding etc Evolution seemed to go out of their way to mix up every game but never fix what people disliked. I wouldn't be surprised if it was less the direction the series took that put people off and more their reputation that killed them. As much as I gave it a large shot, even the reveal of Apocalypse felt off putting because by then there was little faith it wouldn't be a minefield for Evolutions failings... and it was. Artic Storm on the PSP was solid but again, the hardware meant simplifying their ambitions which is why it and RC work better.

[Team Andromeda]

I'll always stand by the orignal MotorStorm as being a truly stunning game that's immensely fun to play. It sold around 4 million copies, which was pretty good for the time.

But the sequel Pacific Rift only sold around 1 million copies. So it's safe to assume that a large chunk of the people who bought the oriignal ended up not liking it much. I

Both those games were amazing and 1 million copies sold would be good enought today I feel, on the PSP game was awesome fun too. MotorStorm:Apocalypse was just a terrible step backwards, it didn't look as good as Pacific Rift and the gameplay wasn't any fun.

Such a shame we'll never get another one or a Drive Club II

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-04-26-playstation-5-wont-launch-before-april-2020-sony-says

Sony does the world a favour and says what common sense doesn't always say for many - Playstation 5 will not launch before May 2020 at the earliest

[Leon Retro]

They always felt within touching distance of greatness, from snagging on small objects to questionable geometry and over-enthusiastic rubber banding etc Evolution seemed to go out of their way to mix up every game but never fix what people disliked.

I've played the game on and off for around 12 years and I don't think it's severely broken in any area. I really like how your vehicle really feels part of the environment and there's weight to everything. It really creates an intense racing environment.

Of course, it could have been more polished/refined in some ways, but that's true of any first iteration. I wouldn't say there are any glaring problems with the way the game feels and plays. There's a brutal, punishing feel to the action that I really appreciate. I'd say it's very much an arcade-style experience but with advanced modern physics. I think it works really well, even if you could say it's not perfectly refined.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was less the direction the series took that put people off and more their reputation that killed them.

I think it's clear that out of the 4 million people who bought MotorStorm, a large percentage ended up thinking it wasn't really their cup of tea. So when it came to Pacific Rift, only a quarter of those people still had interest in the franchise. I remember being really happy with Pacific Rift and liking how it added new environments etc... I thought it was £35 well spent.

I would guess that the big problem for the MotorStorm series is the fact that it was very much arcade-style. It's clear to see that by by 2005 onwards, more and more gamers had taken an anti-arcade pro-simulation stance towards racing games. Arcade-style racers were becoming a niche taste. MotorStorm got lucky because it was a first wave game that showed off the tech, but in reality it wasn't the sort of racing game most people wanted. So it probably would have sold far less had it been released a few years later.

I think Pacific Rift highlights how much interest there probably really is in arcade-style racers in the modern era. A top quality arcade racer can probably expect to sell around 1 million copies. Obviously, that isn't an attractive proposition to the big publishers. It's probably why we haven't seen OutRun 3 or Ridge Racer 8 -- because Sega and Namco look at market trends and probably think a new arcade-style racer would be lucky to sell 1 million copies. That's just not an attractive number to a big publisher.

which is why it and RC work better.

I've just bought RC and played it for an hour or so. It's a very nice looking game that feels just like an RC game should, but it's far removed from other MotorStorm titles. In its own right, it's a very good game. I wouldn't say it's better than the first two MotorStorm games, just something different that's also top quality. You could release it on the PS4 today and lots of people would think it looks good and enjoy playing it.

[Leon Retro]

Both those games were amazing and 1 million copies sold would be good enought today

I don't think a big publisher selling boxed copies would be happy with 1 million copies sold. An indie team working for a smaller publisher would be happy with 1 million copies sold digital-only.

It's why I wish the big publishers would help indie devs produce top quality digital-only games. Fostering the creation of all sorts of games away from the mainstream blockbuster hits would really boost creativity within the industry. It would also lead to some 'big hits' that take people by surprise. The indie scene is fertile ground for creativeness -- but financial and development help from big publishers would be beneficial.

MotorStorm:Apocalypse was just a terrible step backwards, it didn't look as good as Pacific Rift and the gameplay wasn't any fun.

As much as I prefer MotorStorm and Pacific Rift, I think Apocalypse is quite a fun game. It obviously pushes the hardware too much, so it feels a bit clunky, but there's still a nice arcade-style feel and sense of fun. I think the concept would have worked better with the more powerful PS4 tech.

Such a shame we'll never get another one or a Drive Club II

As much as I love what Driveclub offers, it was never going to be a huge success when the racing market is very much focused on sims. Driveclub looks modern but feels like a late-90s experience. Now, that's not a bad thing to me, but my taste is niche these days.

Of course, Evolution obviously had development problems with the game that contributed to its bad rep and lack of success. Since MotorStorm though, it has always felt like Evolution Studios were creating games with a very old-school flavour that were never going to gel with most modern gamers.

Times have changed, so as much as I like MotorStorm and Driveclub, they just couldn't compete with the big names like Gran Turismo, Forza, or even the Project Cars series. I guess that Forza Horizon is the biggest 'must-have' racing franchise. It's not my cup of tea, but the Horizon series is top quality and gives a lot of racing fans just what they want. I don't think there's much room for new racing games in the modern market, which is why something like Horizon Chase Turbo is cheap and digital-only.