Reviews
Get the most comprehensive info on the latest games in the gaming arena.
L.A. Noire Remastered – Review
I remember when I first played L.A. Noire on my Playstation 3 back in 2011, and being blown away simply by the way Cole Phelps’ flashlight illuminated the dark alleyways. Everything about the game’s depiction of late 40’s Los Angeles is absolutely fascinating, both in part to the ‘noir’ theme and the incredibly detailed city itself. Surprisingly enough, the game still holds up fairly well in 2017 on current gen consoles. You play as Cole Phelps, recently returned from war, still fairly young, seemingly undamaged and idealistic. You join the police force and, after a brief stint as a patrol officer, move up the ranks as detective. L.A. Noire’s portrayal of the police force and the city seedy underbelly is utterly brilliant, and the way these two, supposedly opposing, segments of society int...
Hand Of Fate 2 – Review
Released in 2015, the original Hand Of Fate was an interesting mix of tabletop RPGs with deck building elements. It was a really enjoyable game, but there were definite areas where it could have been improved, especially in terms of player agency. The recently released sequel, Hand Of Fate 2, succeeds in making significant improvements, and offering a more compelling and tighter gameplay experience, making you feel in control while also trying to trip you up at every step. You have a dealer that lays out the encounter for you, and you get to decide how the encounter plays out by choosing from a deck of cards. The mission is presented as a sequence of cards, and you progress by turning over and playing out one card at a time. The Dealer sets up the encounter, and you can make choices and de...
Project Cars 2 – Review
This year has been absolutely fantastic for racing game fans, especially those with the bent for simulations. Gran Turismo Sport, Forza Motorsport 7 and Project Cars 2 are the major titles, all touting the best simulated racing experience, with meticulous details poured into all three of them. However, Project cars 2 somehow manages to come ahead in the race simply because of the sheer obsession it shows when it comes to delivering a realistic racing experience. There’s a wide range of customization available to you right from the get go. Everything from dynamic weather effects to the smallest details of the car you drive can be tweaked to your preference. The beauty, however, lies in the fact that no matter how much you customize, when it comes to racing cars at fast speeds, you’re never ...
Max: The Curse of the Brotherhood – Review
Max: The Curse of the Brotherhood instantly catches the eye. The quick initial plot shows young Max coming home to get immediately annoyed by his younger brother, Felix. In his frustration he reads out a spell, that magically comes into effect – a portal opens, and a monster grabs Felix. You jump in after them, and the story then follows Max on his journey to rescue his brother in a fantastical kingdom. The plot is simple, and honestly never reaches any great heights. However, the visuals are fantastic. Everything looks vibrant and bright, full of detail. There were many moments, even when I had something chasing me, that I would stop or want to stop and simply taking in the sights. The game is a looker, and that holds true even in 2017. The level design and vistas are gorgeous, and ...
Review: Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501 Gaming Laptop
The ROG Zephyrus reveal was a big deal for the laptop gaming industry. Fitting a GPU as powerful as the GTX 1080 that weighs barely over 2kg is a revolutionary task, not to mention unprecedented. To achieve this feat, the ROG Zephyrus GX501 uses an innovative design that we haven’t seen in a laptop before. But before we get to that, let’s take a look at the specs Processor Intel Core i7-7700HQ RAM 24GB DDR 4 Display 15.6-inch FHD 1080 IPS, 120Hz Graphics Card GTX 1080 8GB Storage 1TB SSD Ports USB 3.0, USB Type-C Thunderbolt, HDMI, 3.5mm audio The Zephyrus GX501 packs an Intel Core-i7 7700HQ along with a GTX 1080 under the hood. Now if you think it’s not something new, get this: The laptop is only 0.7 inches thick and weighs 2.2kg. Thanks to NVIDIA’s MaxQ Design, it...
Review: Ryzen 3 1300X and 1200 Processors
AMD has been creating a real hype with its Ryzen range of processors, and with our reviews of the Ryzen 7 series we found out that these are indeed a boon for content creators who want to use their PCs for more than just gaming. For anyone who’s been living under a rock, here’s a small refresher: The Ryzen CPUs are based on the new AMD Zen architecture and the AM4 socket, the direct successor to AMD’s Piledriver based FX processors with the AM3 & AM3+ sockets released over five years ago. Today we have with us the Ryzen 3 1300X and 1200, which complete the Ryzen circle, being the entry-level processors you can get on a tight budget. Both processors come bundled with Wraith Stealth coolers, so that’s an added benefit. Tech Specs CPU 1200 1300X Cores 4 4 Threads 4 4 Socket AM4 AM4 ...
Oure – Review
Announced and released at Sony’s press conference at Paris Games Week 2017, Oure is the new game by Heavy Spectrum. At a glance it’s reminiscent of games like Journey, Rime, and even a little bit of Shadow of the Colossus, and in many ways it sits among the same category of games. You play as a girl with the power of dragons, who seeks to revive ancient powers. You soar across the skies in search of Titans who can restore life to the land that been overshadowed with misery and gloom. It’s a vague yet intriguing premise, and the game soon sets you free to discover its secrets. For the most part of the game you’ll be soaring across the skies seeking your objectives. The controls take a while to get used to, but are intuitive and feel good. The game has a vibrant color palette, and everything...
Gundam Versus – Review
I’ve always been fascinated by giant mechs fighting each other, and Gundam Versus offers giant mech battles in heaps. It’s also easily one of the best Gundam games in the market right now. Gundam Versus is very much anime, which in turn leads to some really spectacular battles. It’s a culmination of over a hundred mechs from the Gundam universe, and the sheer joy of weaving around in giant mech robots is immensely satisfying. While multiplayer is where the meat of Gundam Versus lies, the single player is surprisingly robust. You can choose to play solo or with up to two other AI players. The game pits you against waves of enemies where you’ll be dodging, tackling and fighting tons of other mechs. You can also just fight against a team of other Gundam enemies, and hone your skills. There’s ...
The Sands Before Time – Assassin’s Creed: Origins – Review
I feel like I’ve waited a really long time to say this – Assassin’s Creed Origins is fantastic game, and not just that, it’s easily among the best games this year. After the last few entries in the series, I had pretty much given up hope. It was hard to imagine the series coming back from Syndicate’s dull gameplay and narrative, or living up to the graphical spectacle (not considering the bugs) of Unity. However, Assassin’s Creed: Origins not only fixes any issues I had with the series, it goes a few steps further and makes so many useful changes in gameplay design and narrative structure, making this really feel like a new start for the franchise. There’s so much I love about Assassin’s Creed: Origins that I don’t even know where to begin. This was the first time in months that I di...
Review: WD Black PCIe M.2 512GB SSD
The ‘Black’ series in WD (Western Digital) famously represents high performance and fast internal storage coupled with 5 year warranty. WD’s SanDisk acquisition has led to their entry in to the SSD market with SATA based WD Green and Blue and as NVME solutions are now available to the consumers, in comes WD Black NVME M.2 PCIe SSDs available in 256GB and 512GB variants. SATA VS PCIE M.2 Drives While SSDs offer significantly greater performance than a HDD, they were bottlenecking at 600 MB/s due to the old SATA III connection, for comparison a 7200RPM HDD provides a maximum of 200 – 228 MB/s in real world ussage. The PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 connection that WD Black SSD uses provided Data transfer speed up to 8GB/s Specifications Capacity – 512GB, 256GB Interface ̵...
Call Of Duty: World War 2 – Review
Taking a break from its venture into the future, Call Of Duty returns back to World War 2 with the latest entry in the series. And you know what, Call Of Duty: World War 2 is still a ton of fun. Regardless of what you come to Call Of Duty for, you’re more likely to find something you like, be it the spectacular campaign, frenetic multiplayer, or the co-operative Nazi Zombies mode. I’ve enjoyed Call Of Duty campaigns for the most part, even the futuristic ones. They might not tell the most thoughtful of stories, but they offer a fun 6-8 hour ride that never fails to entertain. It’s easy to jump in and get through, and adds significant value to the overall package. The same stands true for Call Of Duty: World War 2’s campaign. It’s tightly paced and tells the tale of bravery, camaraderie, an...
Killing Yourself To Live – Echo – Review
When I had first seen Echo, I imagined it to be somewhat similar to last year’s Hitman reboot. Maybe it was the stark white colors of the levels or the emphasis on spatial awareness. What’s definitely common is that you’ll be killing. It’s the way you kill and the consequences of your actions that set Echo apart from any other game you’ve played. You play as En, who has waken up from stasis and is seeking to bring back to life a loved one. In her quest, she lands on The Palace, a place of ancient power and technology. As she enters the Palace, she activates something beyond her power, which sets off a security system that learns from her actions and then uses it to kill her. And that’s the core of Echo, making it irresistibly addicting and compelling. The AI in the palace is constantly try...