Razer Cobra Pro: Two-minute review

The Razer Cobra Pro mouse is my new daily driver.  No one is more surprised about the fact it could be a contender for best gaming mouse, I promise. Still, It’s a well deserved win for the Cobra Pro, which combines all of the high-end gaming tech of Razer’s other mice and wrapping it in a cleanly designed shell that, improbably, weighs just 77g.

It’s a mouse that does most things pretty well, but that sizzle is what Razer does best. Taking a simple chassis and putting lots of the best gadgetry into it isn’t a groundbreaking concept, but there’s an art to getting something that feels this polished, and it’s why the Cobra Pro could be a contender for this year’s best mouse.

Of course when you’re looking at the Cobra Pro’s design, the first thing you’ll notice is the underglow, which makes it look like something out of a Fast and Furious movie than a mouse. There are 11 different zones for Chroma support, and most of them provide the soft customisable glow that kicks out from under the mouse. Usually RGB lighting comes with a little bit of cringe, but it only took a tiny bit of tweaking in Razer’s Synapse software to get a soft purple glow that looks great. The Razer logo and a light beneath the scroll wheel also pump out bright colour, and it’s the only real bit of flair the mouse has. 

Otherwise, the mouse does a lot of things right, but it’s quiet about it: it’s a simple symmetrical design with a subdued look. The skates feel high quality, and I like the rubberised grip on the sides, but it doesn’t seem to be replaceable and is definitely the thing that will wear out first. If you’ve seen one of Razer’s Viper Mini, that’s basically what the Cobra Pro looks like. 

The weight, 77g, is less than the company’s Basilisk V3 Pro all-round mouse, which weighs in at 112g, but the weight distribution did feel a little unusual. I play a lot of first-person shooters, and while digging into Battlebit Remastered and Escape From Tarkov over the last few days it felt easy to adjust to the change from the Deathadder. However, the weight feels a little closer to the rear of the mouse. With huge hands this isn’t really a problem, but it could feel a little sluggish for those with smaller hands. 

There’s the usual suite of buttons: your left and right click, a scroll wheel, and two buttons on the side. DPI buttons below the scroll wheel let you adjust sensitivity on the fly. These buttons are a real highlight, using Gen-3 Razer Optical Switches that make them feel light and precise whether you’re messing with a spreadsheet or clicking on heads. 

A close second is the 30K optical setting, which is overkill for me (I usually run a mouse at 3200 DPI) but does make movement feel silky smooth. If you have the Mouse Dock Pro — which you can buy bundled in or separately — you can also get magnetic wireless charging and 4K Hyperpolling through the Cobra Pro’s 2.4ghz wireless. 

It’s one of the first mice I’ve seen in a while to offer the choice of Bluetooth, 2.4 Wireless (1K or 4K polling), or wired. I’ve opted largely for the 2.4 Wireless with 1K polling and haven’t noticed any latency or reliability issues. With the bundled-in cable, you’ll probably want a mouse bungee as the cable is quite stiff and I felt some pull. There’s also the option to save five different memory profiles, which I played with a bit but didn’t see much of a use for. 

As I’ve touched on above, the mouse is reliable and crisp. The buttons feel solid in use, and even sliding it around a desk it’s kept up with everything I’ve asked it to do, so far. 

You have a few different options for how you use the mouse. I felt some latency using it with Bluetooth, which was fine for productivity but isn’t really okay for high-pressure shootouts. The mouse with a cable is probably totally usable with the aforementioned bungee, but honestly I think I’ll just stick to wireless. 

The battery life is claimed to be 100 hours. I’ve been using the mouse constantly for around a week and have only had to charge it once, but I’ve also turned on a lot of low-battery settings to ensure I don’t get caught short mid-game. 

I’m using the mouse with a tempered glass mat, but even using it on a normal wooden desk it’s not missing a beat.

Razer Cobra Pro: Price & availability

• How much does it cost?  $130 / £129.99 / AU$234.95 
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

Let’s be honest, the price on the Cobra Pro is going to be the sticking point for many. It looks like you’re paying just for the shiny RGBs, but the price is probably worth it, mostly, for the optical switches and the beefy sensor. 

It’s about the same price as the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro and honestly I’d feel happy recommending either to just about everyone. Right now though, you can also get the Logitech G502 X Plus for about the same price, with the G502 X offering similar specs but an 106g weight if you prefer something a little weightier.   

• Value: 4 / 5

Razer Cobra Pro: Specs

Should you buy the Razer Cobra Pro?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Razer Cobra Pro: Also consider

How I tested the Razer Cobra Pro

• Tested it for a full week
• Used it for both work and gaming
• Tested it with several different PC games and work-related apps

I used the mouse solidly for a week for both work and gaming. This was around 100 hours of usage using it anywhere you might expect to use your mouse. 

I spent some time in Kovacs Aim Trainer using the mouse to compare it to my previous scores but also played shooters Battlebit Remastered, DayZ and Escape From Tarkov to test it out. I rounded this out with clicking through several spreadsheets and this website’s own CMS for a more mellow approach, but played some Victoria 3 too to round out the gameathon. 

I’ve been reviewing games for 13 years, and playing games mostly on PC for 15. I’m “a little extra” when it comes to mice, because it’s important to get any advantage you can get when you’re playing a shooter but also in your 30s. 

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2023

I have never, ever, played anything like Viewfinder before. This puzzler from Sad Owl Studios is truly ‘unique’ and could be a seachange moment in what games can actually do and be - and how they can play.

Set in a simulated world away from your character’s real one, Viewfinder tasks you with navigating mind-boggling, architecturally-impossible levels with the power to make photographs, graphics, and even children's drawings part of the world around you. Add in a camera and the art of perspective and you’re seamlessly warping reality around you as things go from 2D art to full 3D as you journey to the teleporter that ends each level. 

It sounds simple enough, but Viewfinder’s play feels like it could represent a new way in which the medium can be enjoyed, and what it can do. As a result, I can already say that it’s already one of the best indie games of 2023 and will likely make many folks’ best PS5 games and best PC games lists too.

2D or not 2D

The core act of play in Viewfinder, the ability to make the two-dimensional, three-dimensional is just fabulous. It’s moreish and never fails to pique interest and intrigue. Every puzzle is smart and fun, and there is sheer joy and delight in turning a 2D picture of your choice into an explorable 3D area in a flash. 

That delight manifests a couple of different ways too: there is the intense feeling of satisfaction not only that comes with solving any puzzle, but also a joy from knowing that the way you did it was likely different from every other player - there are different solutions on a basic level, yes, but the placement of your pictures, the particular cut you make through scenery, all will be individual to your game. I cannot understate how much fun the puzzles are; I always had a smile on my face, and couldn’t wait to tackle the next one.

Across the game’s five hubs, you’ll move through a variety of levels that progressively - and predictably - up the ante on difficulty, demanding increased creativity and lateral thinking. This can vary wildly from utilising a semi-hidden photocopier to essentially print more maps and worlds to taking pictures of scenery that can then be used to cut through, well, other scenery, and from obtaining and duplicating items through photos, to shifting your own perspective to change the world. 

Such is the brilliance of the intelligent and imaginative puzzles and the solving of them, you’ll quickly realise that no two pictures you take will be the same, and so no two solutions will be the same - in turn this means, your experience of Viewfinder’s puzzles will vary from other players. Your creations will be a distinct, personal mash-up of M.C. Escher and Dali, and the results you create are fantastic, often wild, and at times laughably baffling and weird. 

A pentiment effect

Echoing vibes of The Witness and Firewatch in art style, Viewfinder deploys a stylized simulation of the world, using color theory, and subtle visual cues - that make it a nice place to exist in. It has a near-constant sense of chill, and the ambiance and environment are so relaxing; from environmental noises like rain and leaves rustling, to the spa-like music and art of, and in, the world - all of which are enhanced by the fact that your pace is limited to a walk. You can really soak it all up as you potter around. 

And while there is a style to the game overall, draped across all its hubs and levels, there’s even space for multiple art styles in places - sometimes all on screen at once. Oh, and a quick note on screens: the game supports widescreen too so looked an absolute treat on my Acer Predator X38 monitor - being able to have more of Viewfinder’s world on-screen at once was terrific. Anyway, those differing art styles, often in the same levels, as well as your own ability to layer on pictures, scenery, textures, and 3D space can result in the world going from a stylized arty look to a crazy pentiment-layered effect. 

Encouraging exploration and engagement, Viewfinder’s world does also have some video game staples you can collect and read along the journey. There are notebooks and post-its the founders wrote and left for each other respectively, a few collectibles from squeaky rubber ducks that piqued my dog’s interest every time - sorry, Bella - to mahjong bricks, and models of planets. And in what seems like an effort to really encourage enjoyment of the world there are always plenty of places to sit and stop too - and it’s often incredibly tempting to do so to elongate the experience and enjoy pictures you’ve made, the world around, or take time to listen to one of the many Rapture-esque ‘loggograph’ recordings. These logs give an insight into the founders of the world and their workspaces in the different hubs.

As you progress through the world, both environments and puzzles become more complex - but also a little bit more dark and mysterious, adding a further level of intrigue. Puzzles become more mind-bending, developing on the principles of the melon-scratchers that came before nicely, and weird scenery is introduced that’s impervious to you and your camera.

The only disappointment in the whole world was that I just wish the story was as strong or as striking as the world it goes with. 

Some flatness develops

There is a story in here somewhere, and one that feels ‘close’ to your journey through the game, following you throughout - but it never feels strong or really shines. There were many times deep into Viewfinder where I really couldn’t have told you the story or narrative direction. Despite Cait - a loveably and friendly virtual Cat companion - doing his best to drop information and weave a story throughout. Some of those levels, while almost always brilliant, are very short indeed and could have benefited from some more meat on the bones

My eyebrows were raised a little at the end of the game too when, having greatly enjoyed that chill and relaxed approach throughout the game from the very first minute or two, I was thrown into a jarring and tightly-timed last level. The juxtaposition of this felt off and only served to annoy me a little rather than help me celebrate the climax of the game. However, with the timer off, this last level does hint at potential ambitions that Viewfinder’s devs may have - a long sequence of changing environments where pictures from previous areas can become lifesavers in future ones, and where tools such as photocopiers provide valuable ammunition in times of need.  

But even those minor downsides can’t really take away from Viewfinder and the experience it gave me: even in the short time since playing it, it’s left an imprint on me. I've been out on dog walks imagining talking pictures that'll get me and Bella to different places, or over roads, and I’ve even caught myself planning shortcuts, and extra doors through my house. 

And as it left imprints on me, it is clear that there are imprints on Viewfinder, too - it proudly shows off its Portal and The Witness inspirations (and a bit of Wall-E too) and does so in such a way that it now has carved out a video game experience that just didn’t exist before. This is level design done differently, and done beautifully. It’s just a shame it’s all over so quickly, hinting at what potentially could be. But as short video games go, it’s right up there with the likes of Firewatch and What Remains of Edith Finch for being absolutely hooked, craving more, and being a bit sad when it all finishes, and you’ve taken that last photo.  

Accessibility

There is a dedicated accessibility menu in Viewfinder which houses some dedicated options - and there are some genuinely excellent alterations that you can make. From turning off timed levels and haptics to subtitle and font changes, and also the inclusion of a photosensitivity mode, there’s a decent amount here that folks can tinker with to make sure it plays right for them.

Away from the dedicated accessibility options, the game is playable on PC with a mouse and keyboard, and controller. I have hands that require a controller to play games so mainly played the game with a DualSense - for which the support is total - but gave the mouse and keyboard controls a quick test as well.

How we reviewed Viewfinder

I devoured all that Viewfinder had to offer and completed the game in around 6 hours, in two sessions. There are a bunch of optional levels and puzzles per hub which I went out of my way to complete, while also exploring every nook and cranny of the world to look for collectibles, notes, and post-its. I tested all controls available and put every way you can create a picture in Viewfinder through its paces (often to my own journey’s detriment). I played about 90% of the game with a Sony PS5 DualSense controller and completed my playthrough on an RTX 3090-powered gaming PC and in ultrawide resolution with an Acer Predator X38 monitor supplied by Acer.

Viewfinder is out now on PS5 and PC and is a single-player game you should absolutely not sleep on.

Maingear MG-1: Two-minute review

When I opened the box for the Maingear MG-1 AMD Advantage - Enthusiast desktop gaming PC, I got a very nice surprise. The folks over at Maingear had added a customer order front plate on the case emblazoned with the TechRadar logo and, intentionally or not, a graphic design that pretty accurately captured the site's color palette. 

It's the kind of touch I'm sure Maingear's builders included as a friendly gesture, but I took it for what it is: an emblem of Maingear's love of PC building, the company's incredible attention to detail, and an understanding that it's building gaming rigs for actual people who will actually use them. 

It's little wonder then that the Maingear MG-1 is easily the best gaming PC I've laid hands on all year, and I think it really underlines Maingear's coming into its own as the premiere custom PC shop in the US. I'd honestly say this is a better gaming PC than the Maingear Turbo I reviewed last year, which in itself was a work of art.

After unboxing the PC, setting it up was a breeze. The premium packing job goes above and beyond what a lot of other manufacturers will do, and it better protects the parts inside the PC during shipping. Powering it on for the first time, the interior displayed just enough flash to keep things interesting without being overwhelming. The system booted quickly and there was no bloatware to contend with. 

Opening up the PC is easy enough if fidgeting with components is your thing, and the magnetic front panel can pop right off if you're looking to swap it out for another. As a standard mid-tower-sized PC, getting to the ports along the top of the case and in the rear is as you'd expect.

How many rear ports you get will obviously depend on which motherboard option you go with, so if you're going for a custom build, keep that in mind when making your pick. 

Speaking of configurations, a prebuilt Maingear MG-1 starts at just $1,099 (about £900 / AU$1,520), so the MG-1 is literally one of the best budget gaming PCs you can get. It's also among the most premium high-performance machines around, whether for gaming, professional content creation, or a mix of both. That is a very hard thing to do in a single product, but Maingear has put in the work to make the MG-1 as accessible as possible to just about everyone.

Performance is going to vary widely depending on which configuration you go with, so you'll definitely need to do a little research to find the best build for your needs. Maingear offers a number of MG-1 prebuilds to make the process simple or you can customize the PC to your specifications. 

One thing I can definitely say about the performance is that regardless of configuration the system stability will be stellar. I've had the privilege of touring the Maingear production floor in New Jersey, and the testing that goes into each build to ensure it will run without issue is very thorough, regardless of whether it's a prebuilt PC or a custom order. Whichever build you go with, you'll get a smooth-running machine that rivals the stability you'd get from far larger manufacturers. And if you do run into issues, Maingear's customer service will bend over backward to fix whatever problems pop up.

All told, the Maingear MG-1 is a stellar gaming PC that just about anyone, on any budget, can buy. It should be on the shortlist for everyone considering a new gaming rig this year. Whatever your need or price range, the Maingear MG-1 can slot itself into that niche with ease. You will not be disappointed.

Maingear MG-1: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? Starting at $1,099 (about £990 / AU$1,520)
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, but international shipping is an option

The Maingear MG-1 is available now in the US starting at $1,099 (about £990 / AU$1,520). And while shipping this PC within the US is going to be much easier, interested international buyers can contact the company to see about their shipping options as well.

The price you ultimately pay for this PC will depend on what configuration you choose, as well as whether you go with a prebuilt system or a custom build. Prebuilds range from $1,099 up to $4,699. There are also branded prebuilds co-developed with Shroud, the popular Twitch streamer and Valorant player, as well as AMD Advantage systems, the latter of which I received as a review sample (the MG-1 AMD Advantage - Enthusiast, to be precise), which starts at $3,199 ($3,449 as reviewed).

The lowest I've managed to configure a custom build has been $1,117, but if there's a cheaper one, it won't be less than the entry-level $1,099 prebuild. The highest-end configuration I've managed to get (seen above) will cost a staggering $7,441. It may be the only gaming PC you'll need for the next decade, but still an incredibly lux build.

That being said, all of this in a single gaming PC is a hell of a thing.

• Price score: 5 / 5

Maingear MG-1: Specs

The Maingear MG-1 comes in dozens of configurations, ranging from fairly accessible prices to sovereign wealth fund levels of luxury, and includes both prebuilt systems and custom-built ones.

As far as custom builds go, you can go to Maingear's MG-1 configuration page and play with the specs to get the build you want and find out the pricing across configurations.

The absolute breadth of configuration options is one of the MG-1's biggest selling points. It includes 13 processor options, 11 graphics card options, and nine motherboards (five Intel and four AMD), along with different RAM configurations, power supplies, M.2 SSDs, SATA SSDs, and HDDs. There are even capture cards for the streamers out there.

Throw in design customizations, coolers, and peripherals, and, well, you get the idea. Maingear has some of the best custom build options around, full stop.

• Specs score: 5 / 5

Maingear MG-1: Design

• Mid-tower case with customizable magnetic front panel
• Attractive interior
• No option for custom cooling loops

The Maingear MG-1 is easily one of the better-looking gaming PCs I've seen this year, and not just because they splashed TechRadar's logo on the front of the rig (though flattery will get you everywhere, folks).

I'm not the kind of gamer who needs their gaming PC to look like a carnival booth or the dance floor of a German discotheque, and Maingear's MG-1 provides enough gamer flair without going overboard. The acrylic side lets you admire the high-quality build inside, while the customizable front panel can be a conversation piece or an opportunity to promote your brand.

Compared to other Maingear systems like the Turbo, the MG-1 lacks the custom water-cooling loop and instead goes for Cooler Master AIO coolers with Maingear's logo on them. This means it feels more off-the-shelf, but it doesn't feel cheap in any way. 

If there's anything to knock on the design here, it's that the case is a standard mid-tower form factor (though a very nice one, to be fair). There have been a lot of really interesting case designs coming out in the past few years, so if you're looking for one of those, you won't find it among the MG-1 options.

It's also important to note the radiator on the top of the case can feel a little exposed, with bare metal slots at the top bleeding heat from the AIO cooler. Several PC cases nowadays have some form of filter or cover on top to help keep dust out, and that isn't the case here. 

Had I reviewed this PC at home, rather than at our NYC office, my cat would've established a permanent beachhead on top of this PC, and it would've taken a supreme effort to dislodge her. Cat hair being what it is, I can see a potential problem here, though my laziness in not brushing out my cat's fur isn't really something I can knock Maingear for, is it?

• Design score:  4.5 / 5

Maingear MG-1 AMD Advantage: Performance

• Fantastic system stability for a custom build
• Performance will vary greatly depending on configuration

As far as gaming and workstation performance goes, the MG-1 AMD Advantage - Enthusiast prebuild I reviewed is a phenomenal performer, all thanks to its AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU, and ample memory and storage.

If there's something I can take points off for here, it's the creative performance. The RX 7900 XTX doesn't work with CUDA, so many CUDA-optimized programs won't perform nearly as well as they would have if this build used an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 or Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090.

On the flip side of that, the gaming performance on this PC is simply incredible (which my EIC absolutely loved as I played video games in the lab all afternoon and called it "work"). What parts you end up getting will make all the difference in terms of gaming performance, but as mentioned before, the system stability for the MG-1 is top-notch, something that's not easy to do when offering hundreds of different possible part combinations. 

They really do test these PCs extensively before they're shipped out, so you can be confident that your PC is going to work for the long haul without any weird part compatibility issues that can often plague these kinds of custom-built gaming PCs.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

Should you buy the Maingear MG-1?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Maingear MG-1: Also consider

If my Maingear MG-1 review has you considering other options, here are two more customizable gaming PCs to consider...

How I tested the Maingear MG-1

• I had the Maingear MG-1 for several weeks
• I used it as my day-to-day workstation PC, which involved content creation, game testing, and more
• In addition to our standard benchmark tools, I played several of the latest games for several hours with every performance setting maxed out.

I tested the Maingear MG-1 for several weeks, using it as my main workstation PC in our NYC office, including content creation like photo and video editing, benchmark testing, and PC gaming (even on the clock!).

Given the number of possible configurations, the MG-1 will be suitable for everything from 1080p budget gaming to high-end content creation with 8K video, as well as high-performance PC gaming.

I've been reviewing computer hardware for years now, and I've been a PC gamer and PC enthusiast since I was a kid, so I know my way around a gaming PC, as well as what it needs to do well and how well it should perform at any given price point.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2023

Back when I first loaded up Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine for the Xbox 360, life was good. It was the heady days of 2011, and I was a teenager - a typically broke teenager, obsessed with the dense canon of the Warhammer universe but lacking the funds to purchase all those tiny, ludicrously expensive figurines and the paints with which to adorn them. A used copy of Space Marine, though? That I could afford, and I bloody loved it.

At the time, I thought it was what I'd been looking for: a crunching, brutal simulation of life as one of the God-Emperor's titular supersoldiers. I cleaved my way through swaths of Orks, chainsword buzzing and boltgun cracking. I was a force of nature, a thousand-kilo unstoppable fridge on legs. The ground shook as I marched, slow but inorexable, towards increasingly gory victories. And at the time, I was wrong.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is what I was really looking for. Did you know that Space Marines can fight for five days straight without rest, jump four meters straight up into the air, and run as fast as 90 kilometers per hour? I did, and apparently Auroch Digital (the developers of Boltgun) did too; here, you're not a plodding tank, you're an elephant with rockets strapped to it. 

 Okay, boomer 

Boltgun is what we affectionately refer to as a 'boomer shooter' - a first-person shooter in the vein of 90s classics such as Doom and Quake, and a genre that has enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent years since the latter series' 2016 reboot.

The enormous popularity of Doom 2016 and its speed-metal sequel Doom Eternal spawns plenty of riffs (no pun intended) on the theme. Many of these, like the excellent Dusk and early-access gem Ultrakill, have eschewed modern graphics in favor of a return to the low-poly glory of their forebears, and it is this path that Boltgun treads.

In the style of the very first Doom, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun utilizes both 3D and 2D art styles; blocky, three-dimensional polygons used to build the gameworld, and flat pixel-art sprites for the (extremely numerous) enemies that occupy it. It's a timeless style, and enemy models have the exact right amount of detail to make them visually distinct without compromising the retro aesthetic.

The environments are similarly excellent. Starting out in the snow-blasted outskirts of a derelict industrial fortress, Boltgun mixes things up every time I started to worry my surroundings might be getting stale: military settlements give way to demon-infested catacombs, gothic cathedrals, and cavernous forges dripping with molten metal. Each chapter of the campaign is broken into pleasingly bite-sized levels that can be completed in under an hour apiece.

Sound design wasn’t skimped on, either. The soundtrack provides exactly the sort of pulse-pounding combination of industrial metal and grand orchestral overtures that I’d expect from a Warhammer 40,000 game, and the sound effects - especially those of the guns - are fantastic. I particularly appreciate how much care was taken to differentiate the sounds of different spent bullet casings and shotgun shells hitting the floor; imperceptible in the heat of battle, but perfectly punctuating the final moments of a lengthy gunfight. 

 Fighting the hordes of Chaos 

There’s not much going on in the way of story here, but that’s okay: Boltgun understands that nobody is really here to watch lengthy cutscenes, they’re here to blast demons. You occupy the power-armored boots of the nameless Sternguard Veteran, summoned by an Imperial Inquisitor to investigate suspicious (read: demonic) goings-on down on the surface of a Forge World.

You get an intro cinematic, lovingly rendered in old-school pixel-art stills, and you get occasional expository dialogue from your sole companion - a hovering servo-skull, which for the uninitiated is a human skull turned into a helper drone - but for the most part, the plot takes a back seat to the action, which is fine. There are actually a few interesting little narrative beats later on (which, incredibly, relate in part to the events of 2011’s Space Marine), but I won’t spoil anything here.

Anyone who has played even a single boomer shooter will probably feel right at home here. There’s a sort of beautiful simplicity to Boltgun; you have your guns, your chainsword, and your grenades, and that’s about it. There is a sort of melee charge ability with a cooldown that can apparently stun some enemies, but I found it a bit too unreliable in the heat of combat.

I turned on sprint toggle in the settings menu after playing the first chapter with my finger glued to the shift key, since many of Boltgun’s battles encourage you to keep moving as much as possible. You really are incredibly fast and agile, deepening the power fantasy as you weave between enemy projectiles to deliver a crunching chainsword finisher. Obstacles to getting into this ‘flow state’ are minimized; fall to your death and the game resets you almost instantly. 

 For the Emperor of Mankind 

There’s no minimap (or any other kind of map) but only very rarely did I get lost. Levels are mostly linear, with some of the expected back-tracking and key-hunting here and there but nothing that takes you out of the action for too long. Quite frequently, you’ll find yourself locked in a large room with waves of enemies to clear out before you can progress, but the designs of these arenas are strong and varied enough that this never feels like a chore.

The overall level of challenge feels exceptionally well-balanced. I played on Hard and didn’t die once during the first chapter, but later levels ramped up the difficulty to a point that felt punishing but not unfair. There are a handful of mildly annoying enemies - the flying Screamers can be a pain to deal with - but for the most part, I found Boltgun to provide a sound degree of difficulty throughout.

In a rather amusing juxtaposition to the Imperium’s cold in-lore authoritarianism, there are some solid accessibility features here, including an invincibility mode that allows you to experience the whole game in true power fantasy mode. You can also adjust the ‘retro’ settings to increase pixelation or reduce draw distances, in case you’re roleplaying as a person who lives in 1995.

Naturally, as a classic shooter, Boltgun’s levels are littered with ammo and health pickups, which are frequently placed for player direction. You’ve got armor too, stylized here as holy ‘Contempt’ for the forces of evil. There are also secret items hidden around each level, some of which grant you temporary bonuses like unlimited ammo or boosted damage, which helps to encourage extra exploration.

 Guns, guns, guns 

Speaking of ammo, let’s talk about Boltgun’s boltgun. The first weapon you acquire, this iconic Space Marine sidearm is simultaneously the game’s biggest strength and its greatest weakness.

You see, it’s absolutely awesome. This thing feels so damn good to fire, like a blessed full-auto lovechild of Bulletstorm’s Peacemaker and Doom Eternal’s Heavy Cannon. Rank-and-file enemies explode into showers of pixelated gore with just a few shots, with stellar sound design and physical feedback.

Why is this a problem? Because it’s the first gun you get, and I didn’t feel enthused to use most of the ones that came after. Boltgun has a total of eight weapons, and only one - the highly enjoyable Vengeance Launcher - really reached the same level of enjoyment as the boltgun. I rarely felt compelled to use anything else. In fact, I actively avoided the Heavy Bolter due to its movement speed cap, which felt counterproductive to the fun I was having zooming around at speeds approaching Mach 1.

The problem this creates is that while the Sternguard Veteran’s signature firearm is great fun to use, the game employs the tabletop game’s ‘weapon strength vs enemy toughness’, whereby a weapon will deal reduced damage to an enemy with a higher toughness stat. This system isn’t explained particularly well (there’s very little handholding here) but it’s fairly intuitive provide you keep an eye on the numbers next to enemy health bars.

What this means in practice is that certain strong enemies are less affected by lower-strength guns; the 3-strength shotgun is fine for clearing out packs of lesser demons, but come up against a 5-toughness Chaos Terminator and you’re going to want something like the more powerful plasma gun. The boltgun itself is 4-strength, though - not even the lowest-strength gun in the game - which doesn’t really encourage you to switch off it unless you absolutely have to.

 The annihilation of your enemies 

Really, though, this feels like a bit of a minor gripe for me when the game is just this fun to play. Perhaps other players will love the Heavy Bolter’s slow but relentless stream of leaden death, or find that the charge dash mechanic is actually great for them. 

There’s enough here for every shooter fan to enjoy, and the simple fact is that I had a ton of fun playing Boltgun. It delivers exactly what it promises: high-octane shooter action that draws on some of the best its setting has to offer.

Existing fans of the 40,000 universe are certain to appreciate the dedicated recreation of an Imperium Forge World and all the horrible, demonic, no-good inhabitants you’ll gun down while exploring it, but part of Boltgun’s beauty is that you don’t need to know a damn thing about the Warhammer canon to enjoy it. You’re a supersoldier in power armor and your job is to kill demons. What are you waiting for? Hop to it.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun was reviewed on PC with a code supplied by the publisher. 

Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed: Two-minute review

The Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed clearly has some massive shoes to fill. Its predecessor, the Logitech Pro X Lightspeed, may be almost three years old at this point, but Logitech has done such a fantastic job with it, it’s kind of become iconic with its gorgeous luxe gaming aesthetic and its impressive sound making it very hard to top. 

But Logitech is nothing but inventive when it comes to its flagship products – and inventive is exactly what you need to be when you’re hoping to improve upon an already amazing release. It rolled up its sleeves not just to refine that already stunning design on the Logitech Pro X Lightspeed, but also to improve the innards – or more specifically, the diaphragm inside. You know, that part of a speaker driver that’s responsible for turning an electrical audio signal into airwaves to create sound.

Yeah, that’s right. To usurp one of the best gaming headsets of the last 10 years, Logitech went back to its labs and created its one 90% graphene diaphragm-fitted drivers all for the sake of giving you an even better gaming experience. And its efforts were not in vain.

Still, there’s an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed: is this gaming headset worth all the effort?

Before I do, let’s talk about design. The Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed, as I mentioned, boasts some external improvements over its predecessor. First of all, it’s noticeably lighter – 40g less, to be specific – and more compact, which makes it a lot more travel-friendly. It’s a nice perk as I adore its overall look that blends elegance with that pro-gamer style and want to take it with me on my travels as a pair of headphones.

There’s another addition here that lends itself well to that, the rotating hinge on each yoke, which lets you rotate the ear cups to flatten the headset for stowing (although, just like its predecessor, it also comes with a fancy travel pouch). That’s not to mention it allows the headset to conform to different head shapes and improve its overall comfort.

Adding to its versatility and travel-friendliness are the detachable 6mm cardioid mic and the three different connectivity options. You’re getting Logitech’s LIGHTSPEED wireless that has a maximum range of 30m as well as Bluetooth and 3.5mm wired connectivity. 

Back to comfort, both its earcups and headband are still swathed in soft-to-touch leatherette. But to give users another option, Logitech throws in a pair of velour earpads that you can easily switch in for the leatherettes especially if you tend to run hot and sweat a lot when gaming.

Because it is lighter, it does feel better on my head than my Pro X Lightspeed. However, I have tested even lighter gaming headsets in the past, and with Logitech really touting how light its graphene drivers are, I’m surprised it couldn’t design the actual headset to be a lot lighter. As far as the clamping force, there’s just enough for a secure but not too tight fit.

Internally, there’s considerable refinements as well, primarily in the drivers inside the earcups. As I mentioned earlier, Logitech essentially designed its own Pro-G Graphene audio drivers, each of which house a diaphragm that is 90% graphene by weight. Now, I’m not going to get into the specifics of how it works exactly, but essentially this diaphragm is better than the mylar diaphragm that most gaming headsets use as it’s more rigid and lightweight, resulting in more accurate reproduction of sound waves. In addition, Logitech set the graphene diaphragm on a live edge suspension, which also minimizes distortion.

As a result, you should be getting more accurate and more detailed audio as well as a more immersive experience. And, in that, the Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed succeeds.

The original Logitech Pro X Lightspeed was a pleasure to use but was far from neutral. Its bright frequency range with restrained mids and bass is a far cry from what its successor has become.

While on the warmer side, the highs on the Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed are present with certain in-game elements sounding just as detailed as they would on brighter headphones. Even the twinkling sounds of revealed items in Hogwarts Legacy still sparkle with clarity though the audio overall sounds darker. Meanwhile, the mids are full without getting muddy. However, that changes when surround sound is on (more on that later). Finally, there’s a big low end that is quite present but well controlled. In Cyberpunk 2077, there was a lot of low end information from music to sound cues  yet it never seemed to overpower the rest of the sound frequencies.

The soundstage is quite impressive. In stereo mode, the soundstage is already wide with excellent sound imaging. Also in Cyberpunk 2077, I can clearly hear elements off to the side even when there’s a lot of ambient noise – like when I’m walking into a bar where the music is blasting punctuated by the sounds of arcade machines, I can still distinctly recognize three or four different voices coming through the TVs and radios in the room. Better than that, I’m able to accurately place them.

I do have mixed feelings about the audio as soon as I turn on the DTS X Spatial Sound. Though that virtual surround sound makes everything much more immersive, especially compared to its predecessor, it doesn’t make the soundstage wider, just more three dimensional. It also greatly affects the frequency range. In particular, the mids, which are already prominent to begin with, tend to be even more pronounced so that while you’re still hearing all the other elements clearly, you’re hearing a lot more of the environmental sounds and score. It’s not too bad, but, after a while, you might get a slight headache.

The DTS X Spatial Sound does lend itself surprisingly well to music thanks to its Super Stereo mode. With both Rihanna’s Lift Me Up and Aoife O’Donovan’s Loretta, turning on that mode makes me feel like I’m in a concert hall watching a live performance, instead of at my desk playing something on Spotify.

Just be careful when using these headphones, however, as they have a lot of volume. I find that having the volume at 70 out of 100 is more than enough for immersion, and too much when the surround sound is on.

The mic has plenty of volume as well. Though it’s not the crispest sounding, losing some definition even to the original Logitech Pro X Lightspeed, it does come through loud and clear. It also does a good job of minimizing background noise as well as handling sibilance. As this is a Blue-enabled mic, just be careful when using all the processing available in the G Hub as the mic audio can quickly get distorted. If you decide to dive into the app and use Blue Voice, fully commit and really finetune all the settings.

Speaking of the G Hub app, there’s a lot of customizations on hand as well as game-specific presets. The Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed already sounds great without customizations, but just know that you do have things like a five-band EQ, all the surround sound settings, and game presets to play around with.

Rounding all that out is its decent battery life of up to 50 hours on a single charge. That’s not too bad, but there are certainly longer lasting headsets out there. If you play for eight hours a day, just make a habit out of charging at the end of every week.

Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? $249 / €269 (about AU$375)
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

At $249 / €269 (about AU$375), the Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed is pricier than many gaming headsets on the market. It’s also pricier than the Logitech Pro X Lightspeed, which is kind of disappointing as I was hoping it would be around the same price.

Compared to the best wireless gaming headsets on the market, it sits comfortably in the mid range, however. There are several pricier options like the Audeze Maxwell, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, and the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro. 

There are also cheaper alternatives like the Corsair HS55 Wireless and the Corsair HS80 RGB USB.

However, with its new drivers, fantastic sound stage and imaging, and comfortable fit, not to mention all the features crammed into the app, it deserves to be in the conversation with the more premium headsets on that list, which means you’re really getting a great value here.

• Value: 4 / 5

Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed: Specs

Should you buy the Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed: Also consider

How I tested the Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed

• Spent a couple of days testing it
• Used it for gaming, streaming, and music listening
• Tested it with a variety of games, songs, and movies

I used the Logitech Pro X 2 Lightspeed as my gaming headset for a couple of days, using it as my main headset for gaming, music listening, and making video calls at work.

Besides using it with games like Cyberpunk 2077, and Hogwarts Legacy, I also used it to listen to songs like Rihanna’s Lift Me Up and Aoife O’Donovan’s Loretta.

I’ve been testing, reviewing, and using gaming headsets for years as a freelance tech journalist and now as one of the Computing editors at TechRadar. My years of experience along with my discerning audio tastes make me more than qualified to test and vet these devices for you.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed [Month Year]