#this is the first time my framerate (?) dropped this much. surprisingly! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pinchraccoon · 2 years ago

Text

I think I'm gonna write an actual like, real review of it, but here's my mini review of Pokemon Violet to get my thoughts summarized.

The latest entries to pokemon, while a bold step in a new direction, may be a step into Alaskan snow in flip-flops. The game has some great ideas and lofty ambitions, and for what it does accomplish, there's clearly a lot of fun to be had with the product that was delivered, however, the preparation given to bring these ideas into fruition was far under prioritized.

To speak kindly of the game before speaking ill, I have always, and will always, love pokemon. It's a series that is very near and dear to me, and there's a certain magic that comes with learning all about the new creatures that have been added to the growing roster of canonized monster designs I've come to love, especially on a semi-blind playthrough, the magic of learning about and hunting down as many new pokemon is unmatched. SV does deliver on this, as I feel that this generation has a series of lovely pokemon designs that I have fallen in love with in my short time with them. (Tinkaton, Revavroom, Ceruledge, Meowscarada, and Chi-Yu are all new favorites)

Additionally, the story of SV is quite well done, easily one of the best-executed stories in pokemon in a while, and while I don't think I'm comfortable calling it "better than" the story of BW/BW2, I feel that it's comparable in quality. Characters, themes, and plot points all feel surprisingly natural in a game that theoretically allows you to go off and challenge its many hurdles in any order, utilizing the scripted events that it does have cleverly, and to great effect. I particularly enjoyed the Team Star narrative, and how it takes the "evil team" formula that pokemon has had for a long time, and juxtaposes the idea of a group of bullies onto it, only to learn over time that they're just bullied people sticking together, and aren't bad, just misrepresented.

On the basis of the typical gameplay loop, SV delivers Very well. The incorporation of overworld encounters and optional trainer battles allows the player to feel free and uninhibited by the game itself, and free to engage with exactly as much content as they would like to, whether this be picking and choosing what pokemon to battle in the wild, or which trainers if any, they feel the need to battle. SV's design philosophy seems to be prioritizing freedom as much as possible, while also meaningfully rewarding progression, and I feel that the game flow comes off as organic.

This is to say, that this game has more team-building potential out of the gate than just about any other pokemon game, with countless pokemon accessible to the player even moments from starting the game, appealing to collection freaks and competitive fans alike.

Then, what's the problem?

In short, the game is unfinished. The game, at launch, would routinely dip to what I could ascertain to be 12-17 FPS regularly, and while steps have been taken already to make the drops in framerate far less drastic, the time to do that incredibly important work is before release, not after. The framerate, the chief among issues, and generally its lack of optimization for switch hardware, sometimes spoils the other wonderful parts of the game. Finding pokemon is less intriguing when extreme pop-in only allows you to look at pokemon less than 20 feet away from you, and somewhat harms the immersion of the experience. And while updated models and style of the pokemon have been made, and they're quite impressive, it's hard to say that the pokemon "look good" when after 4 appear on screen at once, or even two pokemon with some attacks, their frames drop far below what they should.

Additionally, while this game loads quickly traveling between areas, smaller, more subtle, but similarly important loading times feel far, far too long. The boxes take far too long to load the images of your pokemon in each individual box, which somewhat harms the collection fantasy, and upon starting a battle with a wild pokemon, their "low poly open world" model will still be loaded long into the first turn. Additionally, menuing remains rather clunky and sluggish, which quickly becomes annoying when things like Wonder Trade or other such "quick" menuing activities take a minimum of 45 seconds due to their lack of optimization.

The issues I'm listing sound comparatively minor, however, in an experience as dependent on a lack of obstruction as SV are clearly trying to be, the failure to deliver on a product that runs consistently and reasonably is a major slight against it.

These issues are not deliberate design choices that simply do not work, these larger issues are a product of the dev teams' inability to put out the product that wouldn't have these problems, and the issues with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are by and large issues with management, not the dev team themselves. The worrying pace at which Pokemon games are released, especially considering that SV is not even our first major open-world Pokemon release this year, is clearly harming Game Freak's ability to provide a product that will meet the expectations of both fans AND the artists themselves.

SV is in many ways, an extremely fun game that has been weighed down by the weight of the industry, and as much as I loved the time and fun that I had with it, its issues cannot be overlooked. I can't say that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, in their current state, are "good" games. Violet is a game that I enjoyed, it's a game that perhaps will be good in the future following patches and performance updates, but at current, the development issues that are so apparent and the clear lack of optimization for switch hardware made by these issues genuinely harm my perception of the game quite a bit.

Is it fun? Yeah. Is it good? No.

#Vtuber #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon review #game review #mini review #i played this on stream and you can watch just about all of my time with it developing this opinion on my YT channel if you'd like #honestly it's a shame that this game ISN'T as good as it could be #even a delay to summer 2023 would have likely solved a lot of the issues at hand #but no we just NEEDED fall 2022 release #anyway thanks for reading this

4 notes · View notes

notasingleclue20 · 4 years ago

Text

Risk of Rain 2

一年前程に突如（アーリーアクセス）リリースした、カルト的人気のあるRisk of Rainの続編。１の方を６年ほど前に５時間程マルチでプレイした記憶はあるんだけど、割と記憶がなかったので新鮮な気持ちでプレイできてる。基本コンセプトに変わりはなくって、ローグライトなアクションゲーム。１が２Dドットだったのに反して、突如の３Dでびっくりしたんだけどずっとやってみたかったので最近になってようやく手をつけられて良かった。正式リリース後も新キャラ・アイテム・フィールド、バランス調整やらのアプデを繰り返しているようで、古いプレイ動画を見るとまたちょっと違った感じがするよね。プレイ感想としては、楽しい。すげえやってしまう。「後一回だけ」が命取り。っていうのは割とローグ系全般、最近のだとLoop Hero、HADESとか…に言えることな気がするんだけど……時間泥棒、楽しい。ソロでも充分に楽しいけれど、マルチだとヒーラー、近距離、遠距離…ってまた役割やら考えてみんなで出来るのが楽しい。ゲームバランスとしてもそこそこの難易度がしっかりあって、時間をかければかけるほど難易度が上がっていく仕様。出てくるアイテムによっては「マジイージーモードじゃね？ｗ」とか感じたりもするけど、そんな壊れビルドでも死ぬときは一瞬で死ぬので気を抜けない。キャラクターのバラエティも充分あって、やり込み要素も満載なので、はまってしまえば100時間はゆうに遊べるのではないかと思う。人を選ぶゲーム、ではあるかもしれないので、ローグ系とか3Dアクションが好きって人向けな気はする。あと手とり足取り教えてくれるゲームではないので、ある程度放り投げられても楽しめる人向け、という感じ。ゲーム内（世界観、キャラ設定などの） Loreに関しては１の続編という位置づけらしいが、まあ……この手のゲームでのLoreって知ろうとしなきゃ知り得ないよね、程度。色々背景設定はあるが、説明を放棄しているので見つけられるものを自分の中で関連付けるしかない。というか、ストーリー重視のゲームではなく、ゲームプレイ自体を楽しむゲーム。テクニカル面としては割と画面が忙しないことになっても、あまりフレームレートが落ちることもなく、スムーズなのでストレスがなくて、最適化されてるなあという感想。ただまあバグはお約束程度には存在するし、マルチではホストが落ちることもまあまあある。といってもAバグレベルのものががそこらにあるわけではないので、愛嬌かなとは思う。依存性が高い３Dローグライトアクションゲームです。完。

It's a sequel to a game with a cult following. I played the first game about six years ago with my friends, but nothing much I could remember before revisiting this deadly planet that murdered me in 30 seconds in my first run. Ah, good old Risk Of Rain. The premise is the same - a rogulelite action game. One that's very addictive. I don't know how many times I muttered "One more run" before realising that countless hours had already passed. All the good rogue games are alike; they deprive my sleep. Moving from the 2D to 3D took me by surprise and I was honestly a little taken aback by the change of the visual at first, but I'm glad I get to finally play it. There has been multiple patches/updates since its alpha release and the overall game balance/items/characters are apparently quite different from how it was in the beginning. Watching a comparison video of each version is pretty entertaining.

It's enjoyable going solo, but when you play with friends, it adds another dimension to the game and changes the entire run by who does the healing (usually an engi) and who does melee/ranged. It's also a challenging game; the game difficulty increases as the time passes, so even if you are playing in Drizzle, the easiest difficulty with a Command artifact that allows you to choose items, a few hits can still kill you at a later stage of the run.

There are many playable characters (’Survivors’) and each of them has a different playstyle and changes the run drastically. Once you get a hang of the game, spending 100 hours is an easy achievement, as it was for me. Though, it's not a game for everyone and does not tutor you at all, so players must 'die and learn', literally.

There's also... a lore to this game which you can learn from collecting logs of items/environments/characters. It's surprisingly a really deep, complicated one too with all the history between the godly brothers and a deity that controls life and death and a twisted time and space and [redacted]... But you don’t see the whole picture unless you have the 'will' to learn about it. After spending hours reading/watching about the game’s lore, I’m still clueless, but the game is fun. Also, I really enjoy the writing in this game - they are so well written I can spend hours reading logbooks (my favorite is Mercenary and Transcendence).

Onto the technical-side, it's pretty buggy still, even after the 1.0 release. As I main Merc/Huntress, a few times I've experienced warping through walls, falling to the dark void. Once the game crashed on me and my friend at the last phase of the final boss, and once I knocked Solas (a one of the bosses) out of the field and it never came back, so we couldn't progress the game. Still, the devs are constantly fixing those issues with the patches, and it runs okay for PC. A framerate hardly drops even with all the chaos happening on the screen at Stage 20, and there aren't many S-tier bugs.

It's a really good game, and I'm looking forward to playing the coming expansion this year.

#感想 #risk of rain 2

1 note · View note

smokeybrandreviews · 5 years ago

Text

Smokey brand Reviews: What Is a Man

I wanted my next review to be The Invisible Man but i keep putting that thing off. I think it’s the pacing. it’s kind of funky. I’ll get around to it eventually. Spoiler alert, it’s pretty interesting so far. In the meantime, i finally caught up on a show that dropped and didn’t see when it first released; Castlevania! I passed on actually reviewing he first two season, well, season and a half. That first season was, like, six episodes. This ain’t the BBC, son. Thirteen or bust! Anyway, since we’re about three days from being under marital law, i figure i got time to revisit and review the series so far. Plus, i mean, i need to catch up since the fourth season has already been announced. F*cking Netflix, man. In that vein, pun in tended, here is my review of the series as a whole so far.

The Good

This show is not anime. It’s not. Avatar is not anime. It’s not. This is a sanitized facsimile of what the Japanese do with their animation. Stop calling this sh*t anime! That said, on it’s own, outside of that hilariously unflattering comparison, it can be pretty dope. I don’t think this sh*t holds a candle to studios like Trigger, Madhouse, Gainax, or Shaft, but it’s the best animation coming out of the US i’ve seen in years. The fight scenes in particular are absolutely gorgeous. You can really tell that Netflix invested the necessary resources to make this show look dope, even if the framerate is a little iffy between set pieces.

Now that i’ve died on my anime cross, i just want to acknowledge how good this show looks. It’s f*cking gorgeous, man. I mean, the world, alone, is a feat for the eyes, but i am absolutely in love with the character designs. If you google the characters from the games they are mad cluttered and full of extra nonsense. I’m never a fan of, like, flair on my characters. That’s why i hate the look of Mortal Kombat. That sh*t is gross. Castlevania has that same issue, culminating in the design vomits of Judgement. That game was gross to look at. Gross. This show takes the ludicrously gaudy designs of the games and make them presentable while still paying homage to the core design of the games. Sh*t is miraculous and i can’t help but marvel at that ingenuity. I mean, f*cking Carmilla, dude. Just look up Carmilla in the games and tell me this show ain’t good at it’s job.

Castlevania’s writing is kind of miraculous. As a cat that’s been playing these games since the late 80s, I’m mildly aware of the interconnecting lore between titles. It’s a mess. It’s a goddamn mess. There’s a dope story there, in the muck, but it’s so mired in melodrama, retcon, and years upon years of independent development, it’s completely lost. I appreciate Konami giving storytelling a shot during a time when gameplay was the principal seller of games, they didn’t have to do any of that, but, at some point, clean your sh*t up with a manga or reboot or something, man. The later titles do this sh*t fine. I adore Shanoa and Soma. Their games got the best of both worlds. The Belmonts? Not so much... This show does an amazing job of cutting through the bullsh*t and sharpening that story to a fine point. This is Trevor’s story, the first Belmont we take control of in game, so watching his line grow through the years, with this quality of storytelling, is mad compelling. I mean, you get right into it and it grips you from start to finish. I can’t wait to see where this goes.

The character work in this show is pretty legit. I was thoroughly surprised since the games themselves are rather bare bones and nauseatingly campy at times. Not this show. Nope! This sh*t is grim, dark, and violent. I love it! You can feel the plight one people and the rage of the vampires. Each main character s is beset with pathos and trauma and consequence, for two seasons. Season three is kind of light on growth but does a decent job explaining certain things. Like, this is Belmont’s tale but Sypha is definitely the most interesting character in the show. Everyone does a great job but there are, of course, a few standouts.

Speaking of my girl, did i tell you that Sypha is f*cking amazing? Ma is the most adorable, most badass motherf*cker in this show! I thought she was going to be kind of a weenie, like she is in the games, but nope! Ma is out here, burning motherf*ckers alive and slicing dudes up with ice blades, all the while being her peppy, adorable, kind of bloodthirsty self. F*ck, love Sypha and her voice actress, Alejandra Reynoso, is perfectly cast! She bring a levity and vulnerability to a woman who can take on an army all y her lonesome. I love that sh*t!

I have to mention how dope Dracula is in this how. He’s f*cking badass and, surprisingly, hilarious. His wit is as sharp as his fangs. Even with such overwhelming power, dude is still amazingly human, often time reminding you that he is just a broken, lonely, man. It’s incredible to see. you actually empathize with an entity hellbent of slaughtering humanity. I couldn’t believe that sh*t. A lot of that has to do with the writing but Graham McTavsh does an excellent job delivering those subtle emotional cues.

I feel like is should say something about Richard Armitage’s Trevor Belmont. Dude is dope. he’s how i always imagined Trevor to be. And Armitage is a seasoned veteran at this voice acting game so he does a great job. I’m not blown away or anything but he’s dope. Considering dude is kind of a supporting character in his own show, i think my indifference is warranted. He’s good, though, don’t misunderstand. I’m not decrying his performance or anything. Gold star for sure.

The best thing about season three, outside of my darling Sypha, is Lenore. Holy sh*t is she a great character! I was thoroughly surprised by how brazenly manipulative she turned out to be. Lenore is a f*cking genius and her feigned naivety is brought to life by an absolutely outstanding performance from Jessica Brown Findlay. Ma is on the long con and Carmilla might have some competition to look for.

I like Issac. This last season did wonders for developing his character. His arc is probably the best after Syph’s, mostly because he’s the only other character that even had an arc. His voice actor, Adetokumboh M'Cormack, does a great job developing the enigmatic Forgemaster into a character more than his humdrum game origins.

The Bad

This show is not anime! Stop telling me it’s an anime!

Alucard’s arc in season three was a little... me. I thought he was the one character let down by the writing but it’s not a terrible slight. I just felt he deserved more of a exploration than what he received.

Season three was straight up filler. I guess it has that in common with anime, even though most modern anime ha move away from the Filler system. I mean, i liked a lot of what went on and the character work was delightful but none of this is really of consequence. Most characters either didn’t grow or are exactly who we thought they were. It feels cheap.

Hector. What the f*ck, Hector. What the f*ck.

The Verdict

Season One showed a ton of potential. I enjoyed the whole Dracula arc, even though this was more a story about his disillusionment with humanity rather than how he became Dracula. Season two is the Castlevania know from the games. It was dope seeing that narrative removed from the shenanigans of that Konami narrative jank. I thought they id the characters dope ass justice and the story itself, was rather compelling. I didn’t mind the character changes and the stuff they added felt organic. Season three is the closest thing to a slice of life anime i’ve seen in this show and it’s ridiculous. Like, nothing really happens of consequence and it feels like setup for later seasons but it’s easily the best looking of the three seasons.

Overall, as a whole, Castlevnia is really good. It’s easily one of the best video game adaptions available. This show takes it’s liberties, of course, but it does so in a very respectful manner. The core of the Castlevania lore is revered and embellished with creative additions while keeping the characters true to their game selves. For the most part. I really enjoyed thee character of Dracula when he was around and, oh my god, Lenore is the goddamn best! Sypha is the MVP of this show, though, and i need you people to know that. The art style is beautiful, the narrative is compelling, and you’ll fall in love with the character work. Castlevania is dope and you should go binge all of it since there is literally nothing else to do under quarantine.

#Smokey brand Reviews #Castlevania

6 notes · View notes

smokeybrand · 5 years ago

Text

Smokey band Reviews: What Is a Man

The Good

The Bad

This show is not anime! Stop telling me it’s an anime!

Hector. What the f*ck, Hector. What the f*ck.

The Verdict

1 note · View note

pink-rathian-official · 5 years ago

Photo

At the beginning of 2019, I mentioned I would keep track of every game I finished, and sum up my thoughts on all of them at the end of the year. And now I’m half regretting it because I’m gonna have to write out a short summary for each of these games. Oh well. You’ll be able to find all of them under the Read More, if you’re interested. Will be including an arbitrary score next to each game based on how much I enjoyed them.

Just some fun numbers before we jump in to the meat of the post- In 2019, I beat a total of 41 games. That’s an average of 3.41 games per month, which actually isn’t too bad of a rate!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (5/5) 100% complete! Beaten twice! Without doubt, the best Smash game yet. You didn’t need me to tell you this- if you’ve got a Switch, then you’ve probably got Smash.

Bayonetta (4/5) A classic character action game, and an immense source of nostalgia for me. Play this game or I’ll break your knees.

Bayonetta 2 (4/5) I actually went into this game with low expectations, I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as the first game. Fortunately I was stupid and wrong and ended up loving it just as much as Bayo1.

Splatoon 2 (3/5) The story wasn’t particularly the most enjoyable thing ever, although I did sink a pretty decent amount of time into the multiplayer. Still not my go-to game if I’m looking for a quick match.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (4/5) It was enjoyable, although kinda started dragging on towards the end. The side content started feeling very repetitive, especially the shrines- but it was still a genuinely great time.

DOOM (2016) (3/5) I raged a wee bit, gonna admit. Although it was fun, I had a lot of frustrations with the late game.

Cthon (3/5) Doom, but a Lovecraftian roguelike. I’d recommend picking it up on Steam, it’s only USD$4.99 regularly, and USD$1.69 during the Steam sale currently going on.

Fire Emblem: Awakening (4/5) I suck at strategy games because I’m a smoothbrain, but FE:A is totally one of the best 3DS games ever released. Lucina is my daughter and the story made me cry.

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (2/5) I already played the 3DS version, and went into the DE expecting it to be a bit more enjoyable- and while it was, I did find myself getting bored rather quickly.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (5/5) The best TES game ever released according to many fans. While I do still prefer Skyrim more, I can see exactly why so many love it. Planning on returning to do the DLCs soon.

Night in the Woods (4/5) I hate story-centric games, but I liked NITW a lot. The exploration was nice, seeing the town change day-to-day was nice, and the ending was freaky in a good way

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (4/5) An incredibly fun game, very similar to Left 4 Dead but fantasy themed and with rat monsters. Launched my obsession with the Skaven.

Fallout 3 (2/5) Yeah just play New Vegas instead mate.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (3/5) If you separate it from the rest of the relatively mediocre AC series, Black Flag is pretty gud. I like being a pirate. I don’t like tailing missions. I really don’t like ship tailing missions.

Ib (3/5) I played this game a few times through during my obsession with RPGMaker horror games. Still holds up pretty strong, although it’s a wee bit short.

Amorous (3/5) 100% complete! Yeah it’s just a lewd furry dating sim. Does have a decent character maker that I use as a reference for my fursona now though!

Way of the Samurai 3 (4/5) I don’t know why this game slipped under everyone’s radar back on release. Just overall a very Nice samurai simulator, albeit with some combat that takes some getting used to.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (5/5) The best MonHun released yet. World is great, but for some reason it just doesn’t hold me like GU does. Maybe I’m just a boomer.

Super Mario Odyssey (3/5) It’s definitely what you’d expect out of Mario. Not a bad game by any means, but I just didn’t really keep attached to it like most others seemed to.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (4/5) I like being a lawyer, and I love the serotonin rush that I get when cornering a criminal on their logic.

Resident Evil 7 biohazard (4/5) The first RE game I’ve played to completion. I don’t regret it at all, because it was super good. Got some great DLC as well.

SoulCalibur VI (Libra of Soul + Soul Chronicle) (4/5) Loved the character creation, loved gitting gud- did not love some of the side missions in LoS because holy Hell a lot of them are bullshit.

Borderlands 2 (4/5) I hated the first Borderlands, and went into 2 expecting more of the same. Ended up leaving surprisingly satisfied. Great loot n’ shoot all around.

Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition (4/5) It took me a few tries to really get into this one, but once I did I was totally hooked. The ending battle could’ve used a little more love, but it was still by all means a great game.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (4/5) Despite being a clearly rushed game with a drop in quality towards the last few hours, VtmB is still one of the most solid action RPGs I’ve ever played. Still not exactly gonna excuse the last couple of boss battles though.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (5/5) This went from “tumblr meme game that I had no interest in” to “one of the best fucking games I have ever played, and it hurt me deeply.” I don’t think I’ve ever been so invested in a story before, and the trial system was very refreshing.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (5/5) How did they make a story with twists even more mindblowing than the first game? While THH invested me into the series, GD solidified my newfound love for it.

Which (3/5) 100% complete! A very short experimental horror game by indie animator and developer Mike Inel. Not bad at all, and completely worth the free download.

Skullgirls: 2nd Encore (3/5) I never really got good at this game, although the story mode was still very enjoyable. Not particularly something I’m probably gonna be coming back to.

Hollow Knight (5/5) Absolutely spectacular Metroidvania that gives quite a unique challenge. Fell in love with this game so bad that I was constantly thinking about it at work. Please stop comparing it to Dark Souls, it’s such an amazing game on its own merit without needing that comparison.

Undertale (5/5) It’s Undertale, do you really need me to tell you how amazing it is?

Devil May Cry 3 (Dante story) (4/5) Extremely fun and challenging. If you haven’t played this game yet then you are wrong. Beating the first Vergil battle without being hit filled me with very unneeded confidence- the spectacular final battle against Vergil stripped that confidence away.

Ion Fury (3/5) Very challenging, but still super enjoyable. The heroine is a genuine badass, loved hearing her quips. The final boss was garbo though.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (5/5) Sekiro absolutely deserved the GOTY award. Loved the combat, loved the challenge, loved everything about this beautiful game.

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition (5/5) DQXI singlehandedly changed my opinion on JRPGs. A story that’s equal parts awesome and tearjerking, combat that feels truly satisfying, and a quirky world that had me hooked for all 98+ hours.

Danganronpa Another Story: Ultra Despair Girls (4/5) While it absolutely was a good game, something about it didn’t really hold the charm that the other Danganronpa games had. The story was still superb, and the twist at the end was hooh.

Spyro the Dragon (3/5) 120% complete! The nostalgia factor drew me in, the level design kept me. Except for Tree Tops, fuck you Tree Tops.

WarioWare Gold (3/5) Packed with the best microgames from WarioWare’s history, but not enough content to keep me there past the main story mode.

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (3/5) MGS3 is one of my favorite games ever, but the 3DS port’s framerate issues really killed the fun for me.

Halo: Reach (4/5) The story mode was good, but the multiplayer was absolutely sublime. I raged, I cheered, I had the fun I missed out on growing up without an Xbox.

#video games

5 notes · View notes

m39 · 2 years ago

Text

Doom WADs’ Roulette (2004): Deus Vult

Ladies, Gentlemen, and Others! I would like to welcome you to the Silver League of Cacowards WADs.

This League will be dedicated to WADs that didn’t exactly earn Cacoward but were good enough to end up either as Runner-ups (in most cases), and/or Honorable Mentions.

In 2004 there were three Runner-ups and an Honorable Mention.

And today we will be taking a look at the WAD that combines Doom with another (and unfortunately very polarizing) franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog.

...

Or rather we WOULD be talking about the WAD (titled Super Sonic Doom) if I managed to properly run it. Which I couldn’t do it (Check out my previous post for more details).

That doesn’t mean I’ll leave you all with nothing. There are still three WADs to look at. So we will properly start the Silver League with-

S1: Super Sonic Doom S2: Deus Vult

Main author(s): Huy Pham (Doom Marine)

Release date: May 25th (original release)/28th, 2004 (database upload)

Version played: Official

Required port compatibility: Limit-removing

Levels: 1 (in the original form (MAP05 replacement) and in four parts (MAP01-MAP04))

Ah yes. Deus Vult. The map so big that at the time of its release, it had to be split into four parts in case it was too much for your PC. The map that ended up in 2nd place in the Doomworld’s Top 100 Most Memorable Maps. The map that has over 2,5 thousand enemies.

So as you can see, we are going to have a hellishly special treat today.

From what I’ve gathered, it was in development for almost 7 months and used a 1995 map SQUARES (regarded as possibly the first-ever slaughter map) as a foundation, influenced by hard-ass MegaWADs like Hell Revealed and Alien Vendetta. Deus Vult is also the first Doom map Huy ever created. So yeah, he started up high.

Now let’s take a look at this map, and see if I won’t lose my marbles while beating it.

The plot is your typical last man/men standing (this time on Deimos) going to Hell to Rip and Tear and that other shit.

Now look, folks, this map looks magnificent! Almost all of Deus Vult feels like another milestone in terms of presentation. The sheer size of some of the locations might give you goosebumps, filling you with awe, fear, and disgust to some degree. I also really like Lord of the Rings’ aesthetics showing up in some places, particularly by the last fourth of the map.

I don’t know what else to say. I think it’s better to play the map without monsters to see it for yourself.

The music choice is also good. I like how it somewhat pumps you up despite the Hell that surrounds you. My favorite track was the MIDIfied version of Krook's March from Donkey Kong Country 2. The only problem I have with the soundtrack is that Big Boss Blues from Donkey Kong Country 3 feels too short as a track for a level with such a magnitude. I’ll get more on this stuff later.

If you probably didn’t realize by now, Deus Vult is fucking gigantic. According to the text file included in the ZIP file, the PAR time is around two and a half an hour. So you better take some breaks to not go insane.

And yet, surprisingly enough, this map doesn’t really feel that complicated. Sure, there are moments that might make you think for a while when going blind but Deus Vult is far from being cryptic.

As I mentioned earlier, when this map was released, most of the computers were incapable of running it without framerate dropping like a fly (including my first PC if I had the internet to download this map). Seriously, the text file says that you would need a computer with a processor with over 1.8 GHz of power to smoothly run the full map. And so in that case, Huy Pham split the map into four parts:

Insurgents,

Torture Chamber,

Cathedral (of which I really like how it has the Heretic logo while the music from that game plays),

and End of Days.

Basically, you can play this map in two configurations: either in the original form (MAP05) or in parts (MAP01-MAP04).

I played this map in parts because:

One, the music changes when you reach the next part of the map (and I don’t think there are people who wouldn’t be bored by Demons on the Prey looping for the 40th time when playing this map).

Two, it allows me to take a break without the need of doing that in the middle of the map.

And three, as the text file says, it’s a very good choice for people who aren’t really that fond of gigantic maps like Deus Vult. Each part can be completed Pistol-starting as the author says.

Not only the map is gigantic, but some of the lifts/lowering platforms are long as shit. In some cases, you have to wait a few minutes for a lift to completely lower. Thankfully, in the worst cases, you will also be fighting armadas of demons, so chances are you won’t even notice that the lift lowered down completely or is very close to the end.

By the way, I don’t usually talk about secrets, but I recommend searching for them. Many of these have some funny moments worth a chuckle. Take a look at hidden teleporters that have an evil eye inside.

Look, there is no doubt that Deus Vult is hard as nails. I mean, come on, it has 2640 enemies just on Hurt Me Plenty, and it was inspired by HR and AV as I said. Do you need more proof? I guess it is technically harder than these MegaWADs since the text file says that HMP is recommended for people who finished these two on Ultra-Violence. But I didn’t really feel that way.

For starters, there are many Health and Armor pick-ups spread across the map. So even if you make a mistake, there is still a rather huge chance that you can restore your health.

Secondly, there are at least three moments where you can circle around the area for some infighting. It will definitely help conserve ammo.

The hardest part of the map is definitely Torture Chamber. Mainly due to the main section of it with a sprawling area that has a miniature Eye of Sauron, where you get bombarded by every mid to high-tier monster. Especially Arch-viles.

Especially Arch-viles...

...

Wait, where was I? Oh, right.

The latter half of the map wasn’t as hard as the second part of it, mostly because battles are much more manageable.

Is Deus Vult fair? Well, yes, for the most part. Ignoring the main section of Torture Chamber (which feels like it went too far with Arch-viles), I feel like some of the fights were a bit too tight, like when you reach the marble area in Insurgents (I can’t even remember how I managed to beat it the first time I played this map).

Thankfully this map doesn’t end on an Icon of Sin boss. It’s really satisfying to shoot the top of the real Eye of Sauron at the very end. It’s like a relief and catharsis after finally finishing the map.

In terms of bugs, the one that I remember encountering is where 105 Imps in the Torture Chamber part don’t appear since they don’t have set flags on any difficulty level.

Aside from that, the text file mentions messed up new sound effects on Legacy and PrBoom, music from MAP02 and MAP04 not working on the versions of Legacy later than 1.41b, shadow casting effect working off with ceiling and floor lightning if the map is played in OpenGL, and some of the other source ports (including PrBoom) displaying more slime trails than they should have.

Deus Vult is a map that doesn’t fuck around. It will test your skills and unlock the sixth sense if you didn’t unlock it already while playing other slaughter maps/WADs. It might be going too far in some places, but most of the time, it feels satisfying to finally kill the last demon of the armada that spawned. It rewards tactical thinking and using Invuns at the right time. Plus, it’s gorgeous for the 2004 map to look at. It’s still a good map to play, and I recommend you to play it. Just don’t go straight into the full map on Ultra-Violence blind.

Will I ever play it as a whole thing instead of parts? Probably. I know that the revamped version of this map appears in Deus Vult II, so I’ll definitely play it when I’ll reach that WAD.

If you want to hear more opinions about Deus Vult, check the section dedicated to it in Dean of Doom’s second Sawed-Off WADs pack (even though it kind of felt like a sore loser moment for me). It starts around 11:12:

youtube

As for the second Runner-up from Cacowards 2004... let me tell you this folks. The timing for the review of that WAD couldn’t be more perfect!

See you next time.

Bye!

#doom #Doom WAD #review #Doom 2 #doom mod #doom 2004 #cacowards #2004 #deus vult #doom deus vult #deus vult wad #Doom WADs’ Roulette

0 notes

clickbliss · 6 years ago

Text

Insurgency Sandstorm occupies an awkward place in the shooter landscape

by Amr (@siegarettes)

For my money the war in the Middle East, at least within fiction, is separated by two eras: The Bush and Obama Eras. The first marked by “shock and awe” bombing campaigns and boots-on-the-ground military action, and the latter defined by the increase of drone warfare and escalating tech fetishism. Insurgency: Sandstorm is strictly rooted in that Bush Era, War on Terror understanding of the Middle East, and while it’s not any more morally comfortable, there’s a certain fervor to the era’s perspective that feels anachronistic today. It’s in the very name: the idea of an insurgency feels outdated, and its presentation of the insurgent enemies certainly is.

Voice acting is rendered with broad Arab caricature, removed of specificity and delivered with accents that would honestly be hilarious if not for the severity that each line is delivered with. Avatars shout dialogue with desperation, convinced of the immediate danger of each situation. Insurgency believes in its verisimilitude, and wants you to believe as well. These are real people, and they’re really gonna die.

The guns, the guns are real too. Insurgency sells itself on the promise of that realism. The tech fetishism might be missing, but there’s plenty of military fetishism elsewhere. Weapons are modeled in detail, with functioning scopes and mechanisms. Bullet physics--from their trajectories to the way each caliber of bullet penetrates material--are given the same affectionate treatment. Team chat is audible if an enemy is in close proximity. Avatars choke and cough in smoke. All in the service of a creating a more lethal, more tactical game.

Insurgency: Sandstorm occupies a space somewhere between Rainbow Six: Siege and Battlefield. The quick kills call to mind the intimate firefights of Siege, but maps are generally spread over more open space and several control points, with some modes even giving access to vehicles. It doesn’t use a health based system, but you drop so fast you’ll rarely have a chance to recover from a shot. As a rule, an enemy with a sightline to you is one that’s got the kill. High lethality means that combat becomes an exercise in calculating risk, sprinting between cover and trying to find an advantageous position. Escaping disadvantage requires smart use of tools like smoke and flashbangs, or cooperation between a Commander and an Observer to bring in fire support.

Class dynamics as a whole are important, since loadouts are restricted by class and only a few players can fill each position. That prevents broken team dynamics and encourages everyone to play a role (though almost every time I ended up as a general rifleman). Respawn waves prevent formal squads from being formed, so I had to improvise a team with whoever was currently part of the reinforcements. This being an online game, that meant that most of the time there wasn’t much cooperation.

A team commander is basically needed to get anything done in Insurgency. On one memorable skirmish one player took over chat as commander, calling out points to capture and prepping the next point for a push as a group finished the capture. They called out good kills, gave good advice and warnings. Their map knowledge proved crucial, pointing out what sides were viable to move in from and which points had sightlines we could use to move into the current objective. They led us to a victory and a close call, then left as we tied up. Without them the toxicity of the space took over and the game quickly became disorganized and sour.

Rounds of Insurgency in general served as a reminder of how toxic online shooters can get. Co-op generally remains positive (generally), but any PVP match will be regularly full of either obnoxious or downright toxic players. Expect to hear a lot of shit talk, slurs and the like, as usual. Matches never became the angry shouting matches they could have been, but I assume that was just my luck. Part of this is the usual problems with unmoderated playerbases, and part is that this is exactly the kind of crowd a “hardcore” focused shooter tends to draw. Either way there’s a general low level discomfort to contend with at all times.

That’s Insurgency at its worst. At its best it reminded me of why exactly this style of shooter draws in such dedicated players. Its shooting model demands you learn each map, its sightlines and chokepoints, and doesn’t forgive anyone foolhardy enough to believe they can simply walk into the open and not get shot.

And unlike other shooters, the entire kit makes sense here. I found distinct uses and advantageous situations for each piece of equipment, and started to understand why you’d use them. Flash and smoke grenades feel useless in most shooters, but here smoke is an essential tool needed to approach and flash grenades make approaching a room with an unknown number of enemies inside a lot more comfortable. Suppression also makes approaching more than a single enemy alone a lethal encounter, which gave me a newfound appreciation for the danger of frag grenades and the area of denial ability of molotovs.

Guns, are of course, given just as much consideration. Shotguns are surprisingly lethal at medium range (which by all accounts is accurate), but are a liability in packed quarters, just as likely to cause friendly fire if you’re not careful. Rifles dominate mid to medium-long ranges, though recoil basically makes them useless at range without very short controlled bursts or single shots. And of course the snipers dominate long range and can keep enemies pinned down thanks to their suppressive fire, but need to shot with controlled breath and are subject to more physical forces thanks to the long travel of the bullets.

The general feel aims for just enough realism to sell the aesthetic and force tactical play, but avoids the parts of military sims that are cumbersome or produce long bouts of boredom and dead air. It’s a game for people who want to play soldier but don’t care enough for accuracy to engage in the bit where you walk for 20 minutes to be shot out of nowhere.

Theoretically, that’s me. And I’d even be able to look past the toxicity of the community (you sadly get used to this playing any game online), if it wasn’t for how terrible the game ran. Even on the lowest settings, at low resolution, Insurgency stutters and performs inconsistently. This isn’t even when things are going on--in otherwise quiet situations the framerate will go from entirely stable stuttering. I’m not sure what causes it (though texture streaming and anti-aliasing seem to be big problems), but what I am sure of is that there are some serious technical problems with Insurgency and a real lack of optimization.

Between the thematic problems, the community, the tech problems, a general lack of resources to properly learn the game and the unforgiving pace of rounds, Insurgency: Sandstorm is difficult to recommend. You might be able to find a server with a decent group, and outside resources might eventually help you understand the core tactics better, but Insurgency is going to make you WORK for every inch of progress. Which is a shame, since the tactical options and weapon modeling genuinely feel great. The core of the game is solid, and with some work it’s possible that Insurgency: Sandstorm could become a great shooter, if one that still carries a lot of baggage. As it is now, I can’t say that’s true.

#insurgency #insurgency sandstorm #review #pc #shooter

2 notes · View notes

stray-tori · 6 years ago

Text

ToCo | Dragon Prince

First two episodes and I was pretty much ready to drop it. The visuals were absolutely nice, but the low framerate did more harm than good to it.

I like 2D, and I like CGI. But CGI trying so hard to be 2D hurts sometimes. In this case, the mending of 2D and CGI is pretty well done, so I don’t mind. But watching a show that feels like I’m playing a game at like 5 fps is kinda ugh. If you’re CGI at least take advantage of how smooth it can be.

LUCKILY it improved a lot after episode 2. Towards the end I never really noticed these really laggy expressions and movements anymore (in slow movements it was especially jarring, like when the King and Callum hugged, it really took my out of the moment). Everything was pretty smooth and I enjoyed the visual style. So props for that!

So yeah, some thoughts under the cut (sorry mobile users this is a pretty long one):

What happened with the King? Is he really dead? I mean, I assume? But I don’t trust that wizard-guy at all and I think he did something before he left, but I’m not sureeeee. HMMMMM

Okay, how they humanize dark magic is awesome. Sure, the villain uses it, but when Claudia uses it, it’s almost always charming. It looks dark and she looks dark, but it’s not that way at all. It hits home less of a black and white idea of good and bad, and more of the inbetween and i like that. That’s something my friends and I where going for when we did our game and we failed, but it’s nice to see a really good way it’s done. So kudos! <3

It feels like all of the characters are there to be funny, which sometimes hurts their characterisation. I’m still not sure what Rayla is supposed to be. She’s serious, but then she starts being really sarcastic, and then she starts being really cheerful while she’s sarcastic and then she starts goofing around as well in a time that feels too short to me. But people can have layers, I just felt she was everything and nothing at the same time sometimes.

her voice tho, smexyyyyy

CALLUM “I can only draw” STEP-SON OF KING, if you don’t WANT that skill, I can gladly take it >:((((

Also why do you look like Keith from Voltron and Frey from To Belong at the same time, you remind me of both XD

Ezran is even more there to be goofy I feel like. He can talk to animals apparantly, he likes these jelly-things and honestly that’s it to me. He’s not blank but I feel like there’s nothing really there. Callum at least had his arc of “I can’t do anything, except draw a skill which I probably trained but who cares :))))”, tho I guess he doesn’t fit in, but we’ve never really SEEN that, I think, so it’s not as impactful imo.

Hey, it’s moon-allura. kinda. not rly. but she reminded me of Allura lol.

I’m a little sad that Rayla got rid of the armband. All those moments of “It doesn’t matter if I lose a hand, meeting you was worth it” mean less if you know it’s not gonna happen. At the start, I actually thought the armband would start mindcontrolling her to like try to kill him when she was around him, but this way it’s a lot more organic and less tropy in the long run, so I like it. I’m too sadistic I’m sorry X’D She deserved to get rid of it, so out least it wasn’t out of pure luck. But if something with consequences would have happened, it would have elavated the show in my eyes. I’m glad she still has her hand though, losing it that way must be painful.

Claudia is surprisingly likeable, even though I have a similiar problem with her as with Rayla. But she’s more consistent, because she’s less serious I think. She’s an airhead, goofy and I think mostly kind-hearted. I like that she looks a lot like a villain, but she seems to have her heart in the right place overall. She kinda seems naive too and sometimes kind of dumb, but in a really adorable way??? The same can be said for Callum, I feel like he’s the more dumb-kind of goofball, but it’s endearing.

THAT DRAGON is the CUTEST thing EVER.

so where’s s2. I need it. Honestly, these dump-releases make really impatient. Just air one episode a week, and you already have 2-3 months more time where people are kept busy so they actively have less jarring wait-time. I’m a huge binge-watch fan but more of finished or concluded stuff. When it’s ongoing, I actually prefer the kind of weekly format. Yes, cliffhangers are evil, but while watching some ongoing anime I noticed, it’s actually kind of healthy. It helps discussions and keeps communities active; also it always makes me happy if I have something to look forward to each week (noo hero aca, steins gate 0 pls don’t ennddddd :’’’(). Plus, you don’t have to like, make room to watch 3 hours of something, it’s just 20-30 minutes each week, which I can make room more easily. Because the problem is: If there IS more, I WILL watch it. It’s the law of physics X’D ANd boom, 3 hours gone, oh god it’s 11 pm. I’m dead. I just wanted to watch one episode lol. But the episodes were over so fassst ;v;

#original post #the dragon prince #toco #tori comments #tori talks #tori talks about trash nobody asked for #opinion

1 note · View note

bltngames · 7 years ago

Photo

Game Review: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild might just be one of the best games Nintendo has ever made. Ever. Is that too hyperbolic? Should I reign it in a little?

So where does that put us? The Nintendo game I hold in the highest regard is Super Mario 64, which on top of just being a really good game, basically defined 3D character movement for the entire game industry. Everything from Uncharted to Grand Theft Auto and NieR Automata owes something to Super Mario 64 for establishing how to use an analog stick to control the action on screen. It was a revolution.

Breath of the Wild isn’t a revolution. This is a game cut from the same cloth as Skyrim or The Witcher 3 — an open-world fantasy game, with towns full of people and quest logs designed to distract. You’ve technically seen this game before, or at least parts of it, and on the surface it can be easy to brush it off as nothing more than a thinly veiled “me too” clone by way of The Legend of Zelda.

But here’s the deal: you’ve never played Nintendo’s version of this. Those other games I mentioned often prioritize production quality and narrative depth. A quest’s story in my examples is often more important than what you actually have to do in it, with the worst example being multiple quests in Skyrim that send you from one edge of the map miles away to the other edge just to kill a single enemy and then hike the entire distance back for your reward. Even on horseback, a quest like that would take hours of mind-numbing transit. The obvious (and likely intended) solution is to use the game’s fast travel system to teleport to the destination, complete the objective, and then teleport back, turning an all-day gameplay excursion into a something that takes less than 15 minutes. The problem is that this creates a disconnect where everything stops feeling real, because there’s no reaffirmation that these are places that exist. You come to view the world as nothing more than a piece of software that lets you materialize at your destination. There’s no sense of distance, no journey.

That’s simply not true with Breath of the Wild, which goes out of its way to make you feel like a part of the land of Hyrule. Not only does it feel like a real, lived-in space, it feels like one with thousands of years of tangible history. Ruins of what used to be litter the land, some more recent than others, but all purpose-built with a legacy of their own. The environment of Hyrule is as much a character here as anyone else, and its battle-scarred vistas tell a lonely, somber tale.

Zelda is one of Nintendo’s most narrative-rich franchises, which allows it to slip into Skyrim’s skin with ease. Just the same, Breath of the Wild is a game about journeys. It’s a game where you look over your shoulder and think: an hour ago, I was on top of that mountain. I have come so far, done so much, and seen so many things. Yes, it has fast travel and horse riding if you really need to get somewhere quickly. But why would you? Breath of the Wild is a game where there’s always something on the horizon calling out to you. Horses and fast travel might get you in the general vicinity of where you want to go, but never close enough. Eventually you have to take matters into your own hands (often literally) and venture forth by yourself to discover Hyrule’s mysteries, one cliff face at a time. Literally the entire point of this game is to meticulously sift through the world inch by inch, and it manages to feel like magic basically the entire time.

You also connect to this world in other ways. Breath of the Wild features surprisingly robust artificial intelligence and physics systems, and you’re given tools perfect for playing around in this space. Rather than acquire a stable of items from dungeons (as in past Zelda games), Breath of the Wild gives you five core abilities during its tutorial and then turns you loose on the world to use them as you please. Unlike, say, Ocarina of Time’s hookshot, which could only be used on specific hookshot targets, these five abilities are far more utilitarian in their approach. They allow you to interact with the environment in ways most open world games shy away from, like picking up physics objects or generating platforms over tricky terrain. In addition to helping you solve puzzles and navigate the world, many of these abilities have combat applications, leading to fun games of cat and mouse with Ganon’s minions.

In one particular example, I came upon a camp of pig-like Bokoblins that had set up inside the ruins of an old building. I had mostly cleared the place out, but there was still one lone Boko on patrol outside completely unaware of what had happened to the rest of the camp. From the door, he peered inside. Bokoblins don’t have great eyesight, so from the distance he was at, he didn’t really have a chance to identify me before I darted out of sight. He obviously knew he saw something suspicious, so he walked over, grabbed a club from the camp’s weapons pile outside, and then headed inside the ruins to investigate. By this point, I’d climbed on top of the ruins and was watching him from what would be the roof, if this building had one (it did not). He headed to the last place he saw me and sniffed around, hoping to figure out what he’d seen. By now his back was turned to me, so I jumped from my vantage point above him and came down on his head with my spear for a quick kill. This kind of emergent gameplay is a first for The Legend of Zelda, and it makes every combat encounter feel unique.

Perhaps Breath of the Wild’s greatest strength is its willingness to embrace this kind of emergent player expression. Nintendo could have very easily locked a lot of its puzzles and encounters down, discouraging all but the one “true” solution, but they didn’t. It brings to mind the elements that made a game like Minecraft so captivating; the only thing stopping you from getting somewhere or doing something is your own ingenuity. Nothing in the game ever has just one solution, and it fully embraces whatever ways you can find to bend its rules. Previous Zeldas were full of jigsaw puzzles that had to be assembled in the same way every single time. Breath of the Wild is more of an actual test of problem solving skills, and one where my answer might be different from your answer and neither one of us is wrong.

Of course, even the best games have their flaws, and Breath of the Wild is definitely not a perfect game. In particular is the game’s performance — I played on the Wii U, and there, Breath of the Wild suffers occasional choppy framerates and sometimes more significant stuttering. Knocking down a Moblin can sometimes make the whole game freeze for up to two full seconds. Zelda is undoubtedly simulating a lot of stuff behind the scenes, between physics, climate systems, fire propagation, and artificial intelligence, so it’s understandable when the game threatens to buckle under it’s own weight, but it’s still a problem worth talking about. My understanding is that the Switch version is also affected by many of these technical issues, but with less severity. But, even on the Wii U, I found them to be momentary annoyances and not anything to really cast the game in a negative light. For 75% of my time in Hyrule, the game performed just fine (and it’s worth mentioning that during the process of writing this review, Nintendo published a patch for Zelda that optimizes the game just a little bit more to reduce framerate drops).

The other elephant in the room deals the game’s systems, particularly in weapon durability and weather. If you use a given weapon too much, it will eventually shatter. Often, I’d leave a combat encounter with fewer or worse weapons than when I started, but once I learned not to get too attached to any given sword, shield or bow, it ceased to be an issue. Breath of the Wild is a game about making do with what you’ve got and building an ever-changing strategy around that. Enemies also scale in strength over time, providing you with a drip feed of slightly more powerful gear as you play. That being said, the game definitely could have benefited from ways to repair fragile weapons, because just about everything breaks after only a few minutes of use.

Weather, on the other hand, was probably the single biggest point of frustration for me in Breath of the Wild. You’re given an on-screen weather forecast, presumably so you can plan accordingly should something like rain come up, but sometimes it can be unpredictable as you move through the world and suddenly shift into a new biome with different weather patterns. In one particularly ridiculous scenario, I found myself stranded on a rocky alcove because if I climbed up even ten feet it would trigger a biome change and begin raining, making it too slick to continue upwards. The moment I’d drop off the cliff (or more likely slip off), the rain would suddenly vanish. Sometimes, it doesn’t make any logical sense at all, such as the time I had to light fires as part of a quest and it began raining just long enough (about six seconds) to snuff out my flames and make me start over. Nothing in the forecast called for rain, nothing on my HUD changed, it just started pouring rain and then instantly stopped. You very quickly learn to dread rainstorms, because there’s not a lot you can do about them except wait for the weather to clear.

Regardless, these problems barely register as a blip on the game’s radar. I know it can be easy to sometimes get frustrated with Nintendo’s output and design philosophies, specifically with regards to past Zelda games like Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, but when this company pulls together and fires on all cylinders, the end result is something truly incredible to behold. Breath of the Wild is a tremendous game; even after finishing the game and putting in more than 140 hours, I wasn’t ready to leave Hyrule. I was still finding new discoveries. New places I hadn’t been to yet. No game that I can ever remember playing in the 30+ years since the NES has gotten its hooks into me this deep for this long. It may not be a revolution, but with Breath of the Wild, Nintendo has still run circles around the industry just the same. Under no circumstances should you allow yourself to miss this game.

#writing #review #the legend of zelda #breath of the wild #wii u #nintendo

2 notes · View notes

tirorah · 8 years ago

Text

Strike Witches/XCOM 2 Adventures [1]

A while ago, I finally decided to upgrade my computer. As it stands my trusty desktop is now 7 years old and, surprisingly, still going strong for most of my games. The only games it couldn’t really handle were Black Desert Online and XCOM 2; I couldn’t get 60 FPS even on low settings with those.

This week, all of that changed. I bought a 6GB EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 SC, and boy does it make a difference! I can now run both games at pretty much maximum settings with no noticeable FPS drop.

So now I have finally returned to XCOM 2. Not just to finally get to see the game with an acceptable framerate, or to do a playthrough where I know what the hell I’m doing, but also to experience the game with a full custom squad.

After months of delay, it’s the start of my Strike Witches character pool! My eventual goal would be to include all of the 50+ Witches from the Strike Witches universe, but for now, I’ve only gotten around to making the 501st Joint Fighter Wing.

Each and every one of them has gone through careful customization on my part, including armor style, accessories and a fully written bio, which explains the character’s history, motivation, combat style and personality.

This is still a work in progress, but I was happy enough with their looks (despite XCOM 2’s rather limiting selection of hairstyles and faces, grumble grumble) to start a new game on the default difficulty setting.

Aside from The One True OC(tm) Ranger Jane Kelly, my initial squad consists of Gertrud, Eila and Lynette.

A pretty well-rounded team to be honest, with Gertrud filling the role of Grenadier, Lynette being a Sharpshooter, and Eila...well, I want her to be a Psi Operative, so she’s going to have to wait with that promotion. She won’t be happy about that.

Trude was content, though.

Pictured: Gertrud’s canon reaction to getting her Big Fucking Gun. Oh, and let’s not forget she gets to use explosives too! John McClane, eat your heart out.

Like the good sport she is, Lynne was immediately in-character and missed her first shot. I complained while being very amused. (Sadly I also forgot to take a screenshot of this magical moment. I’ll try and record her next miss, as I’m sure she will have many. Sorry, Lynne.)

I gave Lynne the Hard Luck attitude, because it looks like it fits her low self-esteem. It could be too negative for her though...she keeps complaining about things. I might switch her to twitchy and see if that makes a difference.

Other highlights of the 501st’s first mission was Lynne making up for her miss by lobbing a grenade that set an entire transport vehicle on fire. I’d forgotten that was a thing. Good show, m’dear! May your tea and crumpets reign forevermore.

Eila, as expected, was a solid all-around addition to the team, and was the first to get a kill and thus a promotion. I’m sure she will be very useful in an age and a half, when I finally get to train her in the ways of psychic badassery.

Gertrud blew up a gas station. I see no errors in characterization here.

My other initial recruits are Minna, Shirley and Yoshika. Minna and Yoshika will both end up as Specialists, with Minna filling the role of an offensive scanning one, and Yoshika specializing in healing.

Shirley is trickier; she’s good with machinery and she’s fast, so she could be either a Specialist or a Ranger...which we already have enough of. I’m honestly not sure what I’ll turn her into at the moment. Maybe I’ll even turn her into a pistol-whipping Sharpshooter! That might be fun.

Mio is also there. Mio is not supposed to be there. Now, before those of you who know me well poke fun at my hatred of Mio, let me just clarify why she should not be here.

Short answer: Mio is awesome.

Long answer: I marked Mio as a Ranger, not as a Rookie, which means she shouldn’t show up at the start of the game. It’s my plan to choose one veteran from each Wing and place them into the game as “special rewards” so to speak. It makes them more special. So it’s really the opposite of hatred in this case.

As you can see, most of the 501st is available for recruitment, for a small fee. Yes, I did give Erica the super garish sunglasses. She’s the Black Devil, she can get away with it!

Anyway, that’s it for now. I’ll be back with more mishaps another time.

PS: I’m open to suggestions for better nicknames, especially for Perrine, Lynette and Yoshika.

#gaming #xcom 2 #hmm...or should Minna be a sniper? dang too many options #I'll have to fix Mio's status though #I also downloaded some voice packs so Sanya could have a proper Russian language voice #unfortunately it did not include Finnish for Eila #so in order to differentiate her from Sanya...I gave her a Polish voice #I'm so sorry Eila. so very sorry.#strike witches

2 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 4 years ago

Text

Marvel’s Avengers Review: It’s No Spider-Man

https://ift.tt/3mebTlm

A developer assumes a measure of responsibility when making a superhero game. These characters typically have a longstanding fanbase that is oftentimes overprotective and overly precious about how their favorite heroes are portrayed. So when it was announced that Crystal Dynamics and Marvel Games were working on an action-adventure, narrative-driven, loot-based Avengers game, I was skeptical because a) it sounded like an overly ambitious game to make regardless of licensing, and b) this isn’t just any superhero license—these are the most popular, beloved superhero characters on the planet right now. How could the developers possibly meet Marvel fans’ lofty expectations?

My takeaway from Marvel’s Avengers after completing its story campaign and playing through hours of its online multiplayer component is that the game will not meet your expectations. It’s ultimately a bit of a letdown. Certain aspects of the game are even extraordinarily good, but there’s a lack of consistency that runs throughout the game on several levels as well as fundamental flaws that keep it from standing alongside the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man and Rocksteady’s Batman Arkham series in the superhero game pantheon.

Marvel’s Avengers as an experience is divided into two big modes. The first mode is a story campaign, which is designed as a mostly solo experience and focuses on the hero’s journey of would-be Avenger Kamala Khan (voiced wonderfully by Sandra Saad). Upon completing the campaign, the game transitions into its Avengers Initiative online multiplayer component, which continues the story through largely standalone single- and multi-objective missions you can take on with up to three teammates. If you want to get to playing with your friends right away, you do have the option to skip the campaign entirely, but then you’d be missing what for now is the stronger half of the experience.

The story itself is pretty standard fare for comic book fans. It sees the Avengers disassembled and then slowly reassembled in dramatic fashion before they ultimately save the day. The inciting incident is A-Day, an event in San Francisco in which the Avengers, along with scheming scientists George Tarleton and Monica Rappaccini, were meant to unveil a new mineral called Terrigen as the key to a clean energy-fueled future. But when terrorists led by Taskmaster attack, most of the team rushes to the rescue while Cap tries to secure the volatile Terrigen crystal fueling the Avengers’ helicarrier, the Chimera.

After defeating Taskmaster, the ship unexpectedly explodes, claiming the life of Captain Rogers and spreading Terrigen mist across the city, imbuing normal people with extraordinary abilities. The world comes to refer to these new superpowered citizens as Inhumans. Fearing for their own safety in an Avenger-less world, humanity quickly begins hunting and persecuting these Inhumans, who are forced to hide their powers or risk imprisonment — or worse.

Years later, young Kamala Khan, who met the Avengers on A-Day as a participant in a fan fiction contest and is now secretly an Inhuman with incredible shape-shifting powers, embarks on a journey to uncover the truth about what really happened on that fateful day. Along the way, she reassembles the Avengers and joins the Inhuman resistance and what’s left of SHIELD in their fight against Tarleton’s evil tech organization Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM). Like Kamala, Tarleton is also going through his own transformation, morphing before our eyes into the grotesque MODOK, who’s never been one of my favorite Marvel villains but is serviceable here.

What sets the game’s narrative apart from other Avengers stories and pretty much every video game story out there is that Kamala is at the center of it, which is cool not only because she’s a great character from the comics, but because she’s a Pakistani American woman starring in a AAA video game. I can’t overstate how much decisions like this mean to underrepresented communities. Best of all, Kamala’s storyline is handled with care, as we watch her grow into a powerful hero that inspires the rest of the Avengers to get back to work. She’s truly the heart and saving grace of the game’s story campaign.

The game’s larger storytelling is far from perfect, however. Kamala is a great protagonist, and the mentor/mentee relationship that develops between her and Dr. Bruce Banner (Troy Baker at the top of his game) is perhaps the title’s best storyline. But the other Avengers—Iron Man, Thor, Cap, Black Widow—aren’t nearly as compelling. They feel like shallow versions of what we’ve seen before in the comics and movies, which would be fine if you only saw them from Kamala’s point of view…but you don’t.

At different points throughout the campaign, you take control of each Avenger, turning the game into more of an ensemble piece meant to explore all of the heroes individually. But other than Kamala and Bruce, none of them has an interesting character arc. Larger than life Marvel staples like Tony Stark and Thor are woefully underwritten here and even their Iconic Missions, hero-specific side stories that tie back into the main plot, leave much to be desired. While these missions are each meant to highlight a specific character and their powers, they mostly play out like every other mission type. More on that in just a bit.

It doesn’t help that Marvel’s Avengers doesn’t do enough to distance itself from its movie counterpart. All I see when I look at the OG Avengers in the game is “Store-Brand Avengers,” lesser versions of their MCU counterparts (don’t get me started on the atrocious Tony character model). And since their individual stories are underwritten, we virtually have no choice but to reference the MCU to fill in the blanks. The game just doesn’t have a strong identity of its own.

Fortunately, combat is pretty solid all around. Crystal Dynamics has done a good job making each hero feel different from the next, from Kamala’s stretch-based powers to Iron Man’s high-flying maneuvers to Hulk’s environment-shattering smashing, and the combat feels smooth, with timed dodges, parries, and ability gauges adding depth to what is essentially traditional beat-em-up gameplay. There are imbalances here and there (like when a dozen off-screen enemies attack you all at once and you have no choice but to, well, die), but it’s generally fun to punch and shoot your way through AIM’s robotic and human goons.

That said, the combat is sometimes hindered by a camera that can’t quite keep up with the action. Things can get so hectic during intense combat sequences that it’s very possible that you’ll lose track of what’s happening on screen all together. I also experienced pretty severe framerate drops at points when there were too many enemies on screen. And although you can tackle multiplayer missions by yourself with three AI companions—which is a nice touch for those who don’t particularly like playing online—expect to grow frustrated with the AI at times.

All of this is compounded by the uninteresting enemies you’ll face throughout the game. No one really thinks of AIM when counting down the best evil factions in Marvel history and the shadowy organization isn’t made any more spectacular here. You’ll mostly spend your time in Marvel’s Avengers fighting bullet-spongy robots, drones, mechs, and jet pack-wearing soldiers, with almost no hint of an actual recognizable Marvel villain in between. How is it possible to have this much access to the Marvel license and include pretty much no fan-favorite villains in the game? Sure, you’ll face one or two, including Hulk villain the Abomination, who was revealed in the beta, but don’t expect to see any A-listers in this game.

Games

Marvel’s Avengers Post Credit Scene Explained

By Bernard Boo

Games

Marvel’s Avengers Ending Explained

By Bernard Boo

Marvel’s Avengers also puts a big emphasis on loot and character progression. Each hero has their own skill trees, gear to equip, and unlockable cosmetics. Skill points you earn by completing missions and taking down enemies can be redeemed for new abilities on the skill tree, while cosmetics (new costumes) can be purchased with in-game currency at different vendors, bought with real money, unlocked by progressing through the story, or earned through each hero’s Character Card, a progression system structured like a traditional battle pass. As you complete challenges in the game, you’ll earn challenge points that unlock new items on the Character Card.

The gear system is a bit more involved. You’ll need to do a lot of grinding to outfit your character with the best gear and raise their power level, the most important number in the game. Your character’s power level, which is an amalgamation of each piece of gear’s individual power level, defines how strong your character is and whether they can take on increasingly difficult missions.

Each mission has a recommended power level, and it’s in your best interest to heed that warning. If you’re even five below the recommended power level, you’re likely to get annihilated on the battlefield. Unfortunately, this means that you’ll find yourself grinding levels for more powerful gear quite a bit in the game, replaying War Zone missions at higher difficulties in the hopes of getting better item drops. All that said, loot isn’t represented cosmetically, and while there are seemingly countless perks and customization options tied to the pieces of gear you find, at the end of the day, the combat kinda feels the same no matter what loadout you’ve got. There’s a severe lack of variety here.

As we wrote in our preview of the game back in August, War Zone missions get old very quickly. They’re repetitive, are largely set in surprisingly uninteresting environments, and usually involve one of only a handful of mission structures, from attacking and defending control points to destroying AIM tech to simply taking out enemy waves. This is all fun at first, and playing with others online does add dimension to the experience. Coordinating attacks, watching each others’ backs, performing devastating combos on giant robots–the combat is definitely conducive with online co-op.

But the recycled mission structures and environments just aren’t enough to keep me going for as long as the devs want me to. There are some storytelling elements bookending the War Zone missions, especially in the case of the aforementioned Iconic Missions, which is appreciated. But after breaking into the umpteenth AIM lab and destroying the three valuable pieces of tech or holding down the three important control points or destroying another giant mech, you begin to wonder what you’re actually working towards in the game.

As far as I can tell at launch, you grind missions to earn better gear in order to take on tougher missions that feel exactly like the last batch of missions…but more difficult? All in all, repetitive missions make it so that you want off the gameplay loop as soon as possible. I certainly don’t feel the impetus to keep playing now that I’ve finished the story campaign and written this review.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Another annoyance I have with online play is the matchmaking. It often took forever to find other players and launch a mission. I ultimately enjoyed playing solo with AI companions much more, which really says something about a game that’s meant to be played with others, especially since the AI heroes almost never help you actually complete objectives. They just kind of follow you around the stages.

I’m looking forward to the Hawkeye DLC that’s on the way for Marvel’s Avengers, as well as the PlayStation-exclusive Spider-Man content coming out next year, but I’ll most likely give the game a rest until then. I wish that Crystal Dynamics had focused more on the campaign because, man, some of the set pieces and Kamala moments show signs of life in a game that mostly feels dead on arrival. I would have loved to play 10 more hours of a Kamala single-player campaign. But alas, I’m left with the bitter taste of a middling, Destiny-like action-looter that unfortunately undermines the truly great things that the game does have going for it.

The post Marvel’s Avengers Review: It’s No Spider-Man appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3hqivJv

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

1 note · View note

operationrainfall · 5 years ago

Text

Title Contra Anniversary Collection Developer Konami Publisher Konami Release Date July 11th, 2019 Genre Platformer Platform PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One Age Rating E for Everyone 10+ – Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco Official Website

Every gamer has those series that helped define them. Games that spoke to your first perception of what made a game fun, and despite quirks or faults, are still seen through the rose colored glasses of nostalgia. One of those series for me was Castlevania, which I covered last year. But there’s another big series published by Konami that also helped define who I am, and that’s the Contra series. Admittedly, they’re both very different, since one focuses on precision and strategy and the other focuses on adrenaline pumping mayhem. Contra taught me patience and the importance of learning enemy patterns, amongst other lessons. It wouldn’t be fair to cover one series and not the other, so today I’m gonna review the Contra Anniversary Collection. Yes, it came out a while ago, but the gaming world has been ridiculously jam packed for a long period of time now, and it’s better late than never. So I’m going to cover the 10 main games in the Anniversary Collection, as well as the bonus features I spent time with. Unlike my Castlevania Anniversary Collection review, this one won’t have games listed in the order I played them. Instead, I will list them in order of preference, starting with my least favorite and working up to most. So go ahead and crack your knuckles and pop some drops in your eyeballs, cause this is gonna be a big one!

Game # 1 – Contra (Arcade version)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I really wish I could say I loved the arcade version of the original Contra. After all, I had never played either of the arcade cabinets, so the opportunity to tackle them now seemed like a good idea. The graphics were definitely more impressive here than on the NES or Famicom, which should have translated to a better experience. Unfortunately, I ended up disliking both of these arcade variants. Sure, they’re pretty, but they’re also completely unbalanced. And that’s saying something considering how hard this series is. But there’s a difference between fair and unfair difficulty, and this Contra fell into the latter category.

For one thing, enemies move much faster than usual, and the turrets that track you are no joke. They are rapid firing mechanical death machines that track your every move and trip you up in streams of bullets. Worse, there’s not any invincibility frames in this game, so you’ll respawn and think you’re safe, just to get gunned down again. This happened many times during one boss fight, and even against the basic enemies I had a rough time.

Much like in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, I made use of the save states here to spend less time reviewing, and even then I was getting destroyed. While I did beat nearly all the other main games in this collection, I made an exception here. I just didn’t have the patience to beat this particular game. I’m happy I got a chance to see what the Contra arcade experience was all about, but I’m much happier that I don’t ever have to play this one again. Let’s move on with a step in the right direction.

Game #2 – Super Contra (Arcade version)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Yes, I know I just said I didn’t like the arcade Contras, and while that’s largely true, at least this one felt a bit better balanced. So much so that I was able to actually beat it! Sure, it’s still a rollicking ride, and largely unfair, but not so unbalanced that it’s unbeatable. Especially with my good friend, save states. The biggest challenges I encountered here were in the top down stages, most notably the final boss. It managed to pin me in place many times with projectiles and other threats, and it took a good amount of practice to finally put it down. But at least I mostly had fun, and didn’t find the other bosses overwhelming.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In many ways, this one reminded me of the first console versions of the original game put into a blender with Super C. Which sounds weird, but it does make sense. The thematic focus was more on organic creepy critters than robotic threats. But don’t worry, there’s still a good chance a surprise turret will take you out. I guess my biggest issue with this particular entry was it wasn’t clear which upgrades you were collecting. I grew up with Contra III, and I like knowing exactly what upgrade I’m picking up. But at least it took the sour taste out of my mouth after the last arcade experience.

Game #3 – Probotector

I should point out here that until I bought the Contra Anniversary Collection, I had never played the European releases of the games. I honestly wasn’t even that familiar with them, and initially thought they were unique entries. Imagine my disappointment when I learned that both European entries were just remakes of Contra III and Hard Corps, but with some new quirks. For one, to get published they had to replace the humans with robots (probably cause blood was too scary for the rating board back then). More importantly, both Probotector and the other EU variant had a slower framerate. At first I didn’t notice that, but when I played the games they were based on, it became very apparent. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, since both Contra III and Hard Corps are incredibly fast paced and challenging games. In a way, Probotector is a more laid back game.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The one downside that I saw very clearly when I was playing Probotector was the screen size. I’m not sure if this was originally the case or is due to faulty emulation in this Collection, but it’s odd. Everything looks fine, but it’s super tiny and scaled down, which hurts the eyes. And that’s a shame, cause Probotector is actually a pretty good entry, quirks aside. It just can’t live up to Hard Corps. Honestly, once I found out that both games were essentially the same experience, I stopped playing this one and moved onto the real deal. But we’ll talk all about that later. Next up, time for a portable Contra experience.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Game #4 – Operation C

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Much like for Castlevania, Contra had a surprisingly great portable game. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was the best in the series or anything, but it does take many elements I associate with a real Contra and made them work. There’s various weapons, difficult bosses and long stages. In fact, the final boss in this game, some flying mecha that harasses you with missiles, was one of the harder bosses I’ve faced in this notoriously difficult series.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Even with a limited color palette, Operation C was very visually impressive. I would even go so far as to say I liked the visuals more here than in either of the arcade games. Everything was more clear, albeit less colorful. The only real low points are that the game is relatively short, which was likely due to the Game Boy’s limitations, and that the music wasn’t that compelling. For better or worse, I grew up with fond memories of Contra III, so whenever I think about the series, I think about that game. And that game had some incredible music. Sadly, unlike Castlevania, the Contra series isn’t known for having consistently amazing music, but there are still some standout games. Operation C just wasn’t one of them. But, mechanically, this was a very solid entry, and one I’m glad I finally got the chance to play.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Game #5 – Contra (NES)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It was very cathartic for my childhood self to play through and beat this game. Because when it originally came out, I was a young whippersnapper, and I was not nearly as good then at gaming as I am now. I hadn’t yet learned true patience or developed the reflexes I rely on, which made the first Contra a real pain. Playing through it now, it actually holds up remarkably well. You could tell Konami was just figuring out what they wanted the series to be, and there are distinct influences from other sources, such as the Rambo tough guys, some levels that reminded me more of Ninja Gaiden, and some bosses that could have worked in the TMNT games.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

You wouldn’t be faulted for initially thinking the series was just about humans fighting other humans. Eventually you’ll come across some high tech crazy and start to wonder, and then the final level goes full Alien, with horrifying biological nightmares and monstrous entities. I feel that final stage really set the tone for later games, and how they alternate more fluidly between mechanical threats and the alien bastards behind it all.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

All in all though, the game which gave me so much trouble as a child was a lot more fun as an adult. Sure, it’s still a bit frustrating at times, and you can easily die from jumping at the wrong time, but overall this was a fun entry with the tight controls the series is known for. The biggest thing holding it back was the version that came out in Japan…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Game #6 – Contra (Famicom)

A common refrain from gamers of a certain age was that Japan got all the best stuff. That ranged from swag to special editions to pre-order bonuses, but it also often applied to versions of games. The Famicom version of Contra was frankly the superior one. Not only was it graphically more impressive, allowing for effects like trees swaying or snow falling, but it was just more ambitious. This game has a full introduction, and even though I can’t read a word of it, it’s evident they put some real effort into making an interesting plot. One that was totally missing from the US version of the game.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I especially found it interesting how this version has cutscenes after each stage, as well as a map that was very reminiscent of Ghouls ‘n Ghosts. While most of the bosses and enemies are the same, those foes more dependent on speed are much harder, like the spiked tank in the snowbound stage.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Though this entry is in most ways identical to the NES one, I am very glad I could finally compare the two. The only thing I wish this Collection had was a way to translate all the dialogue into other languages. But I know that’s a tall order, and ultimately the plot is the least important aspect of any Contra game.

Keep reading for the top 4 games plus more ->

Game #7 – Super Probotector Alien Rebels

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Now, I know I spent some time earlier talking about the EU Contras. And yes, this one is pretty much an exact clone of Contra III. But that doesn’t change the fact I adore that game, so I found this one entertaining as well. It’s still a very pretty game, with tons of mechanical and biological threats to combat. I also found the robotic heroes looked really cool, and in some odd ways it makes more sense to have powerful robots fighting aliens than bare chested humans with guns.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Honestly the only real complaint I have about Super Probotector Alien Rebels is that they didn’t try something new. With the whole robots versus aliens theme, it would have been cool if Konami had thrown in a new boss or two, or even a unique stage. Cause honestly, I’m invested in that concept. That said, if you like the series but feel the other games are too hard, this slowed down adventure should be more your speed.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Game #8 – Super C

Now we’re really starting to get to the good stuff. While the original Contra was fun but a bit of a mess, Super C is where the series started to come together. There was no question that aliens were up to no good here, and they mixed horror with action very well. Infected soldiers, creepy skull ships and much more made this a game worth remembering.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Not only was the balance better in Super C, but they had some really iconic fights that were echoed in later games. A noteworthy one is the freaky final boss, which is reused later in Contra III, but there’s a lot more that I loved. Take the dangerous metal spider you have to stand on top of and shoot bullets into. Also, the top down sections here were much more interesting than the first game.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

All in all, I feel Super C did a memorable job of bringing Contra into a more coherent place. It wasn’t afraid to try crazy shit, and the bosses were more significant and fun to battle. But the next game is one that has a very special place in my heart.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Game #9 – Contra III: The Alien Wars

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This is the game that I have held up for years as my example of what the best Contra is. And there’s a few reasons. One is the nostalgia factor. I can still clearly remember playing this with my friend in elementary school on a giant TV, yelling and screaming as we blasted aliens to bits and got destroyed in return. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was great at the game way back then, I didn’t care. I kept playing cause I enjoyed it so much, and in the process got better and better.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Another really obvious reason I love Contra III is the music. This is the entry in the entire series that has my favorite soundtrack. I can still hear the haunting tunes from Neo Kobe Steel Factory, the upbeat tracks of Road Warriors and the tense tenor of the boss track, Invasion. While the tunes are definitely better blaring at you from a giant sound system, they also are quite enjoyable on the portable Nintendo Switch. But it wasn’t just the music, I also loved the gameplay in this entry. Not only is it rock solid, it’s very well balanced. You won’t die for stupid reasons once you get down the patterns.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I feel Contra III did the best job of streamlining the action while still keeping it complex. Dual guns you could swap between, bombs and shields all were in this game. And that’s a good thing, since it had some gnarly boss fights. The whole game is almost a boss rush, with grunts rushing you in between. Sure, the final stages are a bit much, and the fact you have to play through it more than once to get the best ending is a challenge, but that’s just part of the special sauce that makes a Contra. Next, we have the game that stole the gold from Contra III in a surprising upset.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Game #10 – Contra Hard Corps

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As a lifelong Nintendo fan, this is hard for me to admit, but the sole Sega Contra in this collection has become my favorite Contra game. Which is a sentence I never thought I’d write. The primary reason is this – the staggering ambition of this game. Konami wasn’t content to sit on their laurels and phone this game in. It’s almost so over the top I can’t classify this as a Contra. There’s multiple endings, for one. For another, the primary focus of the game are out of control robots (at least initially). But then you throw in things like multiple playable characters with different weapons, and I was just staggered.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Now, while in many ways I still feel that Contra III is the purest experience, this one is worth owning for how nuts it is. You won’t know what’s coming down the pipe next, other than the fact it’ll be angry and bloodthirsty. This is also a rapid fire Contra, making Contra III appear like it’s standing still in comparison. One jungle stage has hordes of angry critters that rush you, and if you’re not ready they’ll tear you to ribbons. Oh and did I mention there are bosses that also get some character development? Not much, mind you, but still that’s impressive. I love Colonel Bahamut, who reminded me of Dracula mixed with Dr. Wily. Or take Noiman Cascade, an obese hacker that attacks you with virtual constructs.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In many ways, I think Hard Corps is remarkable, and it’s evident now how fully it inspired another game I love, Blazing Chrome. But Hard Corps is also really, really difficult. Even with save states, you’ll be replaying fights over and over til you get the patterns down pat. I do think the balance is a little skewed, but I still had a blast. I managed to get two different endings, but I know there’s still a handful more waiting for me. But this is one of the few games in the Collection I’ll be replaying multiple times just for the hell of it.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Now, while those 10 are the main reason you’ll buy the Contra Anniversary Collection, there’s still more. There are Bonus JP versions of some of the games, but I didn’t have the time or inclination to play those. Mostly because I don’t believe there was enough new variation in any to justify playing them. But if you want some added replay value, you certainly have it there. Or if you want to play with a friend, I’m pretty sure all the games that originally had co-op can be played locally with a friend on Switch. Which is a nice touch.

Aesthetically, there’s really not a bad game in the bunch. Sure the series started more primitive, but even the earliest examples here had great and vibrant designs. I would definitely point to later games, such as Hard Corps and Contra III, as having the best monsters in the Collection, but there’s nothing ugly here. Even the arcade games I disliked are well animated. Musically, the game is good, not great, with the exception I mentioned earlier. Overall, the design is very solid, and I love the creativity on display in all the games.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Another cool bonus in the Anniversary Collection is the gallery. Not only does it include tons of artwork, but a lot of behind the scenes info and even an interview or two. It even features a Contra Timeline (proving Konami didn’t learn their lesson from Castlevania) as well as a really nifty list of how many games each of the iconic weapons from Contra appeared in. My favorite is still the good old Spreadshot, but I have some affection for the Crush and Homing guns as well. However, just like the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, this compilation lacks one key feature – a music box. Now it’s not as unforgivable here as it was there, since all Castlevania games have amazing music, compared to only a couple Contra games, but it’s still a bummer.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Altogether, the Contra Anniversary Collection is still a hell of a bargain. As a gamer that grew up playing many of these games, it’s nice having a bunch of them together in one place. I probably spent 12 hours or so playing through the entire thing. I’m a bit dissatisfied that some of my other favorite games in the series aren’t here, such as Shattered Soldier and Contra 4. But even without those, this Collection is a great deal for only $19.99. If you love over the top mayhem, giant bosses and lots of challenge, look no further.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4.5″]

Review Copy Purchased by Author

REVIEW: Contra Anniversary Collection Title Contra Anniversary Collection

#arcade #Contra #Contra Anniversary Collection #Contra Hard Corps #Contra III: The Alien Wars #Konami #Operation C #Probotector #Retro #Super C #Super Contra #Super Probotector

0 notes

vrsystem-us · 5 years ago

Text

Can you Game in VR on a Budget?

virtual reality or VR has been hailed as the next paradigm for gaming an immersion ever since it rolled out then rolled over back in the late 90s with early implementations like Sony's Glastron being described by John Carmack as like looking through toilet paper tubes fast forward to 2016 though and the tech was awesome but it still had a big problem the price because on top of the headset gamers in particular needed to shell out for much more powerful hardware than they would need to play the same game in flat mode but there's some good news since that time oculus who sponsored this video has dropped the price of the rift and continued development on some pretty neat invisible mechanisms that work in the background to make VR run on even relatively modest machines and we spent the last week testing to see just how modest a machine you can use and I think you'll be surprised [Music] let's begin with some of the efficiency improvements that are handled by your graphics card because in theory every frame of an image in VR needs to be rendered twice once for each I so technologies like Nvidia's single pass stereo make it so your PC only needs to setup the scenes geometry once and their lens matched shading actually cuts off any pixels which would not be visible anyway due to how the lenses in the headset work pretty neat then we've got the headset specific tech like oculus is asynchronous time warp and space warp which kick in anytime your machine can't maintain the steady 90 frames per second that's required to prevent motion sickness by generating synthetic preemptive frames that act like a sort of suspension mechanism to smooth out the low FPS bumps getting this tech working right was quite a bit of work because GPUs are designed for high throughput but not pre-emptive frame guessing so oculus worked with both GPU manufacturers as part of invidious VR works and AMD's liquid VR initiatives so it's more than a catchy slogan now let's introduce our bare minimum system so we paired up where is it here is a core i3 8100 quad-core processor and a gtx 1050 Ti and ran future marks VR mark which has a neat feature both the rifts minimum and V are ready performance requirements are baked into the results craft and what we found was that even our bottom of the barrel actually managed to meet the minimum spec bar so there you go video done peace out right no yeah no wrong so upon further analysis we actually found that while our rig was outputting 90 frames per second in the basic orange benchmark which matches up with the refresh rate of the head-mounted displays in the rift the actual target is 100 9 frames per second this is because aside from the graphics going on on the screen in VR the system also needs to read sensors and do a bunch of stuff in the background so with the overhead of VR the calculation is that a hundred and nine frames per second in flat mode should correspond to 90 frames per second in VR and superposition basically said the same thing so that setup was only good enough for like the very barest minimum spec so we do need to go a little higher but do we go for CPU or GPU well we were watching our CPU load pattern during the runs and our processor even though it's a measly core i3 well it is a quad core and it didn't look that busy so we bumped our graphics up to a GTX 1060 to see where that would get us usually people would pair such a card with an i-5 class chip but we're focusing on VR here and even with all the trickery it is still mostly GPU bound and check this out so it turns out that I 3 + 10 60 combo here actually looks good to go with a super rating in VR Marc orange room and a full bar in superpositions optimum preset so that puts our total system cost at just over nine hundred US dollars and bear in mind but that is including the Windows 10 home operating system which microsoft recently jacked up to a hundred and forty bucks so if you already have windows or whatever then now you can subtract that of course though those are synthetics so the next step is to go lab rat mode and put this to the test now normally I game in VR at home on a gtx 980ti so i will be able to tell the difference if this doesn't manage to stay as smooth so let's fire up the oculus performance profiler analysis tool and head-up display which should help us pinpoint the cause of any framerate drops that we experience oh cool okay so this is Aki redesigned home interface thing now you've got this control panel here that you can move to wherever it is that you want it to go and then you can go ahead and decide well you know which menu do you want to see oh close them so there's my library there's my explore tab here then you can kind of adjust this one over here Oh neat you can interact with the desktop as well oh that's trippy let's go ahead and look at the other monitor the one that's not capturing my experience right now ah yes hey you can mess with Ivan hey Ivan I am opening your Start menu what are you gonna do about it in fact you oh wait I probably shouldn't open fraps oh that just glitched it out I don't know I don't know what this thing is yeah thank you let's get our you monitors different sizes yep one is 4k one is 1080 dang it Ivan game now right walk around the place somewhere because she didn't mean it social so you can invite people to come over to your virtual home friends currently zero friends online thanks that's why you wanted me to open that isn't it alright what's next I've played VR shooters dang it yeah it's really fun all right well I think that's good I think that's all the evidence I need this is working awesome so for our last trick we're trying out the climb kind of the crisis of VR if you think about it that way like the graphics in this game or especially when it was first released are pretty incredible compared to what else there is now what I just alright oh that's a long way to fall huh this is maximum settings yeah go go go go look at me I'm like Superman oh-oh-oh Superman falls sometimes ok so actually that went surprisingly well but still the point remains that in a massive surprise to no one just because a benchmark gives you a good score and you can run many VR games well on a relatively inexpensive budget does not automatically mean that you can run any game maxed out in VRS I mean same ideas in flat mode right so just like flat mode if you do have some more budget and you're buying a VR gaming rig it wouldn't be a terrible idea to bump your specs a little if you want to play VR versions of flat games like fallout 4 and Skyrim since VR is more demanding but frankly I've actually found that the most fun that I've had is in games that were designed for VR and what's cool is that the climb in my opinion is more of a tech demo than an actual game and that one still ran decently and most of the VR games out there that I've tried some of which are good and free like Robo recall are not nearly as demanding because it's in the developers best interest to reach as many customers as possible with their games so our PC right here and of course we're not factoring in some of the RGB nonsense and stuff like that in our in our cost 4 but our PC here can enable a ton of awesome VR experiences exactly the way it is so thanks to you guys for watching thanks to oculus for sponsoring this video if you guys dislike this video you can hit that button but if you liked it hit like get subscribed or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the link in the video description also down there is our merch store which has cool shirts like is anyone wearing an LT t-shirt not no one where's your team spirit like the LT t-shirts that we have and also our community forum which you should totally join

https://youtu.be/8ZG3e_Nn2ps

#vr system

0 notes

williamsjoan · 6 years ago

Text

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Grant’s Top 10

As 2018 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2018 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2018 releases — can be considered.

After the absolutely monstrous year of video games that 2017 had, I don’t think that we are going to see a year similar to that one in a long time. Hell, I thought that last year’s excellent lineup would put a damper on this year’s games no matter how good it was. However, boy was I wrong: 2018 straight up told everyone to put a sock in it.

What most surprised me about this year was the variety of games I thoroughly enjoyed. Throw in some indie titles, your typical single-player AAA experience, multiplayer shooters, VR titles, and you are left with a something to play for whatever mood you are in. Sadly, there are plenty of games that I need to get to that could have possibly made this list such as Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Hitman 2, and Monster Hunter: World. However, I plan on getting to them as soon as the holiday ends.

That being said, here are my top 10 favorite games from 2018:

10. Mario Tennis Aces

To start the list off, let’s discuss the best Mario Tennis game yet. Yeah, I said it! Mario Tennis Aces had a forgettable and easy single-player mode. But let’s forget all about that and talk about what really matters, the online mode.

Oh my god did I play so many Mario Tennis Aces multiplayer matches. The game didn’t have all too much content, but damn was that multiplayer addicting! The tournament system was genius; even though the scoring system doesn’t mean much, there was a two-week window where winning a tournament meant everything to me.

What was surprising was the vast difference in gameplay when playing as different characters. Playing as Boo had me curving tennis balls all across the court. If I wanted to just blast some tennis balls down the other player’s throat, Bowser was the right guy for the job. Yoshi could probably return almost every ball hit his way and I can only imagine the player on the other side throwing his Switch into the wall when I won a rally of 50 or more hits. Mario Tennis Aces was excellent, but it makes me want the one true king in Mario sports titles back, Mario Golf. In due time my friends. In due time.

Check out the DualShockers review of Mario Tennis Aces.

9. Moss

In a year full of wonderful PSVR experiences, Moss was one of the standouts. It showed me how clever level design can be in virtual reality and how many different ways that the new tech can be utilized. Rather than being in the typical first-person perspective, the all-seer perspective–as I like to call it–was such a unique way to solve puzzles and control the adorable Quill.

If I could describe Moss in one word, it would be “magical.” Playing the game was similar to being at Disney; everything just felt so wondrous. The storybook narrative, the incredible environments, and unique level design had me enthralled. Polyarc created one of the best VR games on the market, and I can’t wait to see what they have planned next.

Check out the DualShockers review of Moss.

8. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — The Champions’ Ballad

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is my favorite game of all time. I have had the time to reflect on it, and I can say that without a doubt is, as no other game has captivated me like it. So, of course, I was happy to jump back into Hyrule with the game’s second DLC expansion, The Champions’ Ballad.

I know that The Champions’ Ballad released last December, however, I didn’t get to it until January of this year, so it still counts! Even though the second expansion pass didn’t live up to some fans’ expectations, I still believe that it provides some of the best shrines and I would say the best boss battle in the game.

What might have helped was that I had not popped back into the game in a while. I beat it at launch and beat it a second time on Master Mode when the first DLC launched, so it had been a while since I had popped back in. It might be a short time for some, but for my favorite game of all time, it was a while for me. Revisiting my favorite open world was like going back home and having that favorite dish your mom makes.

The Champions’ Ballad provided me with new content to the most memorable, fascinating, and wondrous game I have played, and that might be all it needed to do to make me love it. Does that make me biased? Probably.

7. Marvel’s Spider-Man

I am not as high on Marvel’s Spider-Man as many of my colleagues: I found the missions to be repetitive and not many of the side missions stood out to me. However, swinging through New York City was so damn fun. I don’t think I had ever used the fast travel mechanic just because I would much rather swing my way around and over buildings. I am not sure how Insomniac Games made it so damn easy and intuitive, but they did a phenomenal job on not only the movement but combat mechanics. Combining brutal kicks and punches along with web attacks was fast, fluid, and surprisingly easy to get a grasp of after only an hour of playtime.

Insomniac also compiled a wonderful narrative, and much of that was due to Yuri Lowenthal’s performance as Spider-Man/Peter Parker. If it wasn’t for Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War, he would have been a shoo-in for the performance of the year.

I am personally not that big of a comic book/Marvel fan. Woah, whoah, whoah, before you raise your pitchforks: I do enjoy all the movies, I am just not as into them as others. However, I was incredibly invested in the story of Marvel’s Spider-Man, and I am eagerly anticipating the second entry into the series.

Check out the DualShockers review of Marvel’s Spider-Man.

6. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

It almost became just a part of my nightly routine. Around 8:30 every night at the beginning of the year, a couple of my buddies and I would hop on the Xbox One version of PUBG and try to win a few chicken dinners before bed. Even though it was frustrating as all hell to play sometimes at launch due to frequent crashes, terrible framerate, and entire buildings taking forever to just render, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was probably the game I played the most this year. Despite its hiccups, and it had a whole lot at launch, the game is still an experience unmatched by other Battle Royal shooters.

PUBG provides some of the most suspenseful multiplayer gameplay on the market right now. You could run into ten other players depending on where you drop, or you could possibly get run into one other player and somehow get that sweet chicken dinner. I know that the game still has a multitude of issues that still are not fixed, but PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is still an experience like no other. Just one match sucks me right back in.

Check out the DualShockers reviews of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on PS4 and PC.

5. Firewall: Zero Hour

Firewall: Zero Hour, developed by First Contact Entertainment, is the game we all dreamed of when we were kids. With the power of PSVR, rather than just controlling the first-person shooter, you are now inside the first-shooter. I am still blown away by how well everything worked. Using the PS Aim controller to, well, aim of course, is incredibly intuitive and fluid. Besides learning how to move with the thumbstick on the aim controller, it is as simple as just pointing and shooting, and boy is it fun.

As a competitive tactical shooter, Firewall: Zero Hour is a mind-blowing experience and shows how limitless the possibilities are for PSVR. When an enemy was around the corner, I would peek my gun barrel around the corner and take them out. If I got pinned down behind cover, I could stick my gun over and blind fire to give myself an opportunity to get to safety. My only issues with the game were that it had some annoying quality-of-life issues at launch when it came to matchmaking, and how long it would take to start a new match.

Firewall: Zero Hour was my favorite VR experience this year, in a year that was absolutely packed with some of the best games that PSVR has to offer. Now, all the game needs is a rounds system like Rainbow Six Siege. Please, First Contact! I am begging you!

Check out the DualShockers review of Firewall: Zero Hour.

4. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lives up to the Ultimate name. It is the definitive Smash experience and even though it released just a couple weeks ago, it has provided me with some of the most fun I have had all year. I mean, what did you expect? It’s Smash Bros. except, this time around, there is much more content to enjoy rather than just regular Smash battles with your friends.

World of Light, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s single-player/adventure mode, has had some mixed reactions across the internet. However, I am a firm believer that it is the best single player offering in any of the games in the series. Running into familiar and new faces while collecting Spirits has provided me with hours upon hours of enjoyment. Collecting and switching different Spirits in and out might sound tedious to some, but I have enjoyed every second of it. With a stellar single-player mode, the biggest roster in the series by far, a knockout soundtrack, and that same old, yet refined Smash gameplay, Ultimate is the best in the series and a must-buy for Switch owners.

Check out the DualShockers review of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

3. Celeste

Talk about a game that caught me off-guard. Celeste was not only a great platformer, but also had a very emotional story that impacted me in an unexpected way. Here I was thinking that I was just booting up a new, retro-style platformer. But next thing I knew, I was up at 3 AM, captivated by Madeline’s conflict with her own inner demons and also torturing myself to find strawberries. Celeste is the best platformer of the year, and I don’t think it is even close. (I haven’t played The Messenger or Guacamelee! 2 or many other of those types of games yet, but it just sounded cool to say)

I think what stood out to me the most, along with other many other players, was how unexpected of an experience that Celeste was. When I first started, I was thinking I was going to get a fun and challenging platformer, but that was going to be most of the experience. I never would have guessed how impactful the narrative was going to be and how it tackles deeper subjects such as mental health issues. At the time, I was going through some personal problems and this game helped me to cope with those emotions, as well as tackle them head-on. Maybe in a lesser year, Celeste would have taken my personal top spot.

Check out the DualShockers review of Celeste.

2. Red Dead Redemption 2

It seems crazy that Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t the definitive game of the year for everyone’s list. After the excellent Grand Theft Auto V and the almost infinite amount of money that Grand Theft Auto Online continuously makes even to this day, the sequel to Rockstar’s classic Western seemed like it was going to be the most ambitious game ever made, and I think it just might be.

Red Dead Redemption 2 had an absolutely phenomenal and heart-wrenching story; the downfall of the Van der Linde gang was a beautiful mess, even though we all know where it was heading. The world is by far the most immerse open world ever created. Roger Clark captured Arthur Morgan and his enlightenment so well, and these are only just a few parts of why I enjoyed the game so much.

While the game is groundbreaking in many aspects, there are still some little nitpicky things that I can point out that bug me, such as the lack of traditional fast travel systems, clunky gameplay, and that it might go on just a tad too long. However, Red Dead Redemption 2, despite its minuscule flaws, is one of the best open world games ever created.

Check out the DualShockers review of Red Dead Redemption 2.

1. God of War

To me, God of War might be the closest the closest thing to a perfect video game. In my opinion, there is not one flaw that I can point out. In fact, I think that most aspects of the game can be considered as the best we have ever seen from the medium.

The narrative in God of War reached a level of storytelling that I have didn’t think the industry could reach. The simple, yet extremely detailed story left me captivated. Christopher Judge made Kratos into a purposeful character and gave one of the best performances I have ever seen. The Leviathan Axe is my favorite video game weapon I have ever used, and it was just so damn satisfying to play with.

Cory Barlog and Sony Santa Monica created an absolute masterpiece that other developers will be studying for a long time to come. God of War set the bar so freaking high that it will be hard for any game to follow this up next year. It is the pinnacle for storytelling, gameplay, level design, world building, and artistry, and because of that, God of War is absolutely one of my favorite games of all time.

Check out the DualShockers review of God of War.

Check out the other DualShockers’ staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 17: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2018 December 18: Lou Contaldi, Editor in Chief // Logan Moore, Reviews Editor December 19: Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor // Tomas Franzese, News Editor December 20: Scott Meaney, Community Director December 21: Reinhold Hoffmann, Community Manager // Ben Bayliss, Staff Writer December 22: Ben Walker, Staff Writer // Chris Compendio, Staff Writer December 23: Eoghan Murphy, Staff Writer // Grant Huff, Staff Writer December 26: Iyane Agossah, Staff Writer // Jordan Boyd, Staff Writer December 27: Max Roberts, Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Staff Writer December 28: Noah Buttner, Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Staff Writer December 29: Steven Santana, Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer December 30: Travis Verbil, Staff Writer // Zack Potter, Staff Writer

The post DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Grant’s Top 10 by Grant Huff appeared first on DualShockers.

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2018 Staff Lists — Grant’s Top 10 published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

0 notes

wolfleblack · 7 years ago

Text

Review unit on loan from Dell.

Gaming laptops are tricky business, aren’t they? The idea of having a portable games machine boasting a powerful graphics card is bloody tempting, but it usually comes with an attached price-tag that would make most people have a heart attack. For the same price you can usually pick up a much more powerful desktop computer, and while it’s a bit harder to lug around the truth is a gaming laptop is kind of useless at actually gaming on the go due to the battery power dropping through the floor. However, having something you can plug in at home, play some games on and then take with you to work is appealing for a lot of folk.

Let’s kick off with the very worst of the laptop, shall we? Everything about the Dell Inspiron’s 15.6″ IPS display falls squarely into the, “It’s okay, I guess” category. The 1920×1080 resolution is frankly a perfect choice for the display size and for gaming performance – although you can opt for a 4k display you spend a bit more cash, something I wouldn’t bother with – but the quality of the images simply isn’t very good. Bear in mind that I’m not using any professional measurements tools here, rather I’m just going by my eye, but the colors lack any depth or punch, with things that should be crimson looking more like a dull red and what should be vivid greens looking like they have the flu. The only good thing I can say is that the black levels were reasonable. Sadly that isn’t enough to make movies and games look their best. Which isn’t to say they look bad, mind you, just…dissapointing.

At least the audio performs better with the little speakers managing to come across surprisingly clear and even being able to fill a small room if you ramp up the volume. I’d still generally recommend plugging in a pair of headphones, but if you fancy letting your ears air out a little then the speakers will do just fine, although the bass is a bit muddled. That’s not surprising, though.

The Inspiron is also a bit bigger and heavier than you might expect for a 15″ laptop. The dimensions are (H) 24.95mm (0.98in) x 389mm (15.32in) x (D) 274.7mm (10.82in) with a total weight of about 2.65kg, not counting the power brick and charging cord. It doesn’t fit very well into most 15″ laptop bags as a result.

To be fair to the chunky beast, though, it’s packing some reasonable hardware. The model I got in for testing might not have the very latest 8th generation Intel processor, but it’s still rocking an Intel i7-7700HQ which is quite sufficient for everyday tasks and gaming. That’s paired with a 6GB GTX 1060 MAX-Q that comes impressively close to standard GTX 1060 performance, and then it’s all topped off with 16GB of 2400Mhz DDR4 RAM. This package comes in at £1,400 on the Dell website, with prices starting at £899 for the cheapest spec.

Storage is no slouch either. The 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD isn’t really big enough to hold much of your Steam library, but it’s pretty fast when it comes to running around the pre-installed Windows 10 with applications and menus all opening up smartly. To whack all your games, music, movies, pictures and other junk on there’s a 1tb HDD as well which did feel a bit slow when it came to loading games but was still solid.

You also get a backlit chiclet keyboard. You only get a white backlight, but it can be adjusted using the FN keys, and on the whole the keyboard is quite reasonable. The keys don’t have a lot of travel which means they don’t feel great, at least based on my own preferences, but typing out this review was never an issue and my typing speed didn’t suffer at all. There’s also a generous amount of room for your wrists to rest, too.

The trackpad doesn’t feel as good as some of the metal or glass ones I’ve used before, Dell instead opting to go for a standard plastic design. I would also have liked some tactile distinction between the left and right clicks, but these two things aside it feels quite nice, is responsive and never seemed to mess up.

In terms of connections, there’s an SD card reader, a combined headphone/microphone jack, a Gigabit Ethernet port, three USB3.1 connections and a HDMI slot so that you can hook it up to an external screen. Your wifi connection is handled via an Intel 8265 Wireless Card.

You even get a fingerprint scanner built into the power button that can be turned on through Windows Hello, and it works pretty well. The only flaw is that unlike my phone’s fingerprint scanner which turns on the device as soon as I touch it, you first have to press the power button on the laptop and then touch your finger to it in order to wake it up. Ah well.

Right, let’s get into the juicy stuff; gaming on this little beast. I put it through a variety of games, all running at 1080p with the laptop plugged in for maximum power delivery. There are a couple of things we need to note; Wolfenstein runs on Vulkan and thus my standard FRAPS benchmark wouldn’t work, so the average FPS was recorded using OCAT, a nice little piece of software that presents a lot of information regarding frame times and percentiles, but I need to become better at using it to establish minimum and maximum framerates, so for now all we have is the average. As for Hitman I ignored the built-in-benchmark in favor of simply going for a stroll through the opening Paris level where hundreds of NPCs do a good job of pushing the hardware. As for The Witcher 3, the test was done by simply through the countryside into Novigrad, while in Mad Max I went and hunted down a roving convoy for some nice wheel-to-wheel combat. The Phantom Pain was a simple run and gun around an airport. Everything else was tested using their in-built benchmarking tools.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What we see is that for the 1080p screen the GTX 1060 is an outstanding choice, able to run the games I tested at damn near 60FPS with everything maxed out. To achieve that nice, stable framerate you’re going to want to play with the settings, but for the most part the GPU and CPU handled everything nicely. Hitman can be a challenging game as its optimization isn’t great and it does tend to favor AMD hardware, but even that got impressive results. The only games it truly struggled on were Ashes of the Singularity and The Witcher 3.

To get this performance it’s important to note that you’re going to need the laptop to be plugged in, because even with all power plan settings and Nvidia settings tweaked to allow max performance it seems the battery simply can’t deliver enough juice to the graphics card, resulting in a notable drop in performance as the battery strangles the laptop. F1 2017, for example, dropped to around 22FPS when running at the highest settings. Of course, I can’t entirely rule out that I something missed something as no other reviews seem to mention this, but then it’s fairly standard to run benchmarks with the laptop plugged in for obvious reasons.

This made testing the battery during gaming an interesting dilemma as I spent a while debating whether to run games at the highest settings and tweak the power options so that it was delivering all the power it possibly could, but in the end I opted to keep the power plan at its default settings and drop the games I played down to achieve actually playable framerates. To that end I tested the battery with the screen at 100% brightness while playing Wolfenstein: The New Colossus and Mad Max, getting a grand total of 1h 15m before the laptop shut down at 10% remaining. There’s nothing amazing or disappointing about that runtime as it’s about normal, but the significant hit that performance takes while running on battery does mean that for portable gaming it’s not that great which really makes me doubt the usefulness of the product as a whole. With that said, if what you want is something you can play games on at home, then unplug and take with you for general Internet browsing it’s going to be fine.

There is a potential upgrade solution in the form of a Thunderbolt 3 port which allows you to attach an external GPU. It’s not exactly a cost-effective method of upgrading your laptop down the line, but it’s generally cheaper than buying a whole new card.

Where there was a surprise, and not in a good way, was testing the battery life while watching a looped 1080p movie with the screen at 100% brightness and a set of headphones plugged in. At just a shade over four hours the battery seemed to die much quicker than I expected, and checking other reviews seems to indicate that it should have lasted around five hours, although the max screen brightness and powering of the headphones could potentially account for this.

As for heat generation and noise, SpeedFan detected tempratures of around 62c from both the GPU and CPU, which are reasonable enough and the area where your hands sit didn’t get overly hot, something which other laptops can do. Oddly the default power plan when on battery mode leaves the cooling passive, which is fine if you’re just doing easy stuff, but obviously if you do fire up a game on the go it’s advisable to turn cooling onto the Active setting.

Once the fans start kicking in the Inspiron does start to get noisy like any other laptop, but I didn’t think it was any worse than normal.

With all of this said and done it’s a tricky machine to recommend. The screen is a major drawback and the battery life isn’t that strong. However, what you do get is a powerful GPU and CPU combination capable of running modern titles at quite high settings, and for the specs you’re getting a surprisingly good deal compared to other laptops. For the same price most others have a weaker i5 processor or come with the 3GB GTX 1060 instead of the 6GB model that this model has stuffed inside of it.

That’s quite a few positives and negatives, then. In the end, though, I think I can give this one a recommendation, albeit a slightly cautious one. If you can accept the somewhat lackluster screen then you’re getting a powerful gaming laptop for the money, and while the battery may not be superb, for some general use throughout the day it should hold up. Just be prepared to stick on it charge for an hour or two at the end of a long day.

Follow @wolfsgamingblog

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming Laptop Review – Inspirational? Review unit on loan from Dell. Gaming laptops are tricky business, aren't they? The idea of having a portable games machine boasting a powerful graphics card is bloody tempting, but it usually comes with an attached price-tag that would make most people have a heart attack.

#Dell Inspiron 15 7000 #Dell Inspiron 7000 #Laptop #review

0 notes