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Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 review – solid sneak

10:00 am | October 23, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Consoles & PC Gadgets Gaming | Tags: Metal Gear Solid, PC, Solid Snake | Comments: Off

Platform reviewed: PS5

Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC

Release date: October 24, 2023

It’s rare to see a series commit to a feeling as hard as the Metal Gear stealth games. Whether you’re diving into Metal Gear or Metal Gear Solid 2, you’ll fill the same role: a super-spy sneaking his way into an enemy stronghold with nothing on you but a pack of smokes and a will to succeed.

From there, each game plays out like an action-thriller, equal parts stealth and explosive violence as your operative pulls a thread and unravels a sprawling conspiracy as time ticks away. Often this will involve throwing down with some fantastic bosses and a few giant mechs too - the Metal Gears hinted at in the title. Meanwhile, the same motifs come up again and again: terse radio calls, military firepower, and that slightly anxious feeling in the pit of your stomach, the nervousness you get just before you get spotted in a neighborhood-sized game of hide-and-seek tag.

Later games in the series amp up the cinematic production but also the intricacies of the stealth action and the combat - the latter of which making you feel like a cornered animal with your back to the wall, desperately trying to hit the enemy hard before scurrying back to a safe place to lick your wound and count your remaining ammo. But no matter how much extra computing power flows into the series, the original Metal Gear and the games that crept out after it never lost that core feeling of stealthy action.

Excuse the history lesson, but there’s no way around it. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 packages up the first five games in the franchise into one bumper collection of tactical espionage action. This means you get Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, in addition to a heap of special features and regional add-ons like the superb VR Missions. These are re-releases rather than full remasters, so fans of the original games will find that they play exactly how you remember, and look a tiny bit shinier.

A solid recommendation

Screenshot of Snake's face in Metal Gear Solid 3 — (Image credit: Konami)

For new players, it’s hard to emphasize quite how influential the Metal Gear Solid games in particular were, and the good news is that they’ve mostly aged well, and are definitely worth picking up even now all these years later. Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 are top-down and have a sort of retro chic because they’re old enough to be the sort of games that current indies are trying to riff off of. Metal Gear Solid is the only one in the bunch to have aged badly, but there will still be a good audience for how difficult the stealth actually is here to pull off, compared to the more forgiving - and much more interesting - detection systems in Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3.

In every case, the mechanical act of playing the game is tight and interesting. The systems here are every bit as solid as stealth games like Hitman, Combat still works. Later games have location based damage and you can take soldiers out of the fight by shooting their gun arm, or slow them down by hitting them in the legs. However, it's imprecise, so often you'll find something cool has happened by accident - a grenade you threw in panic has crippled a response team's ability to keep up with you, or a stray bullet meant for someone else has stopped a guard being able to shoot you. Better yet, hit an alert guard in the radio in Metal Gear Solid 2 and he'll be unable to report seeing you, keeping the alarm un-raised and giving you time to clean up your mess.

Best bit

Snake hiding on board an oil tanker — (Image credit: Konami)

Metal Gear Solid 2’s tanker prologue was iconic then, and it’s iconic now. Sneaking around a rain-slick tanker’s deck picking off Russian Spetsnaz is a perfect example of how auteur Hideo Kojima obsesses over not just the vibe of his work, but also the way each mechanic interacts with each other.

But the controls are where things start to suffer. Holding your gun ready to fire and moving requires you to hold two of the face buttons on your controller in tandem, and it’s often easier to move yourself into position to take out an enemy than to actually aim your weapon. Bizarrely, this works to make combat feel like something to be avoided, and it encourages you to get your sneak on.

Although how you do that is up to you. Something quite incredible about all three of the Metal Gear Solid games included here is how intricate they are, and the options that they give you. Take the humble cardboard box. In Metal Gear Solid you can use it to hide yourself from enemies and surveillance cameras, but you can also use it to ship yourself around the Shadow Moses facility by stowing away on trucks like an early iteration of fast travel. You can even get a wolf to urinate on it, covering you in their scent so that wolves in the game no longer attack you.

This is a recurrent theme - the intricate interactions, not the wolf urine. Although cardboard boxes do play a large part of every Master Collection game - who knew - there’s a huge number of simple systems that actually turn out to be incredibly complex, making the games feel impossibly deep even though they’re actually very simple.

Sneak and destroy

Solid snake hides in first area of Metal Gear Solid — (Image credit: Konami)

Soldiers in all three games feel intelligent but are actually very stupid indeed. They follow pre-set paths and behave in predictable ways, but the first time you’re cornered in Metal Gear Solid 2 and the game’s radar turns off to give way to a tight-angle shot of a squad clearing out the area they had previously trapped you in? You’ll jump to your feet. You’ll feel a rush of adrenaline that few games can match. Better yet, each of the stealth masterpieces have tight runtimes. Players used to the long-winded arcs of modern games will probably be stunned by how quickly Metal Gear Solid lets you get into the heart of its mystery, and it’s easily finishable in a handful of hours if you’re moving with purpose. The other games in the collection are the same: you get to the meat quickly, and then things keep moving at a steady pace until the credits roll.

I don’t know how much I subscribe to auteur theory, but I will say Hideo Kojima and his team of collaborators managed to make one of the most interesting stealth games of all time with Metal Gear Solid, before doing it all over again with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and then accidentally inventing the survival genre with the slightly lesser Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 10 years before anyone else. Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake are also worth playing, but don’t quite hit the same high notes.

The games’ stories pinball between spy fiction and some absolutely ridiculous conspiracy theories and supernatural elements. It’s to the credit of the writing team that these twists always feel earned and no matter how ridiculous things get, most players will be along for the ride every step of the way. Where it gets grim are the archaic parts that fans have long tried to wave off as foibles of auteur Hideo Kojima. There’s no other word for it but gross when Metal Gear Solid hero Solid Snake celebrates sneaking into an enemy base by skeezing all over his school-age intelligence operator Mei Ling, before immediately changing tack to hit on the older doctor that was on the same call. It’s easy to see the tip of the hat to James Bond , but it feels less like leading-man charm and more like 007 had drunkenly staggered into a family reunion to try his luck with everyone he wasn’t related to.

In Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake can hide inside a locker and kiss the posters of half-naked women taped inside with a loud lip-smacking noise. I grew up with these games, and I adore them even now, but it’s hard to defend the treatment and view of women in just about every game in the series. Metal Gear Solid 3 lets you switch to first-person mode during cutscenes just to look at the barely concealed chest of the KGB spy Eva during cutscenes. It won’t hinder most people’s enjoyment of the game, but this is the sort of thing that titillates teenagers, and as a man now in my mid-30s often spending cutscenes trying to shovel snacks into my mouth, I often found myself wishing Hideo Kojima and his team of writers had made their spies a little less horny and a lot more covert with their intentions.

Regardless, this collection is both a treasure trove in terms of video game preservation but also a terrific option for new players who are starved by the drought of top-notch stealth. While the fact these versions are a repackaged collection of the 2012 remasters may annoy some, there's no denying that every game here has stood the test of time, despite the fact half of the games included are over 25 years old.

Dig in, they don’t do tactical espionage action like this anymore.

Accessibility

Outside of basic subtitling, there's next to nothing here. Each of the games in the collection comes with its own option menu, but it's exclusively full of options to turn off blood or other details related to how the game works. Accessibility isn't catered for at all here.

How we reviewed

I played through each of the games in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 on PS5. This took around 35 hours, but I found I already had the muscle memory to get through most of the areas in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 promptly, massively reducing how much I had to puzzle or stealth my way through as long-optimized routes from over a decade ago appear to be seared into my brain.

I also tried several of the included extra content packs, which added more stealth but felt somewhat superfluous; a nice addition for players who may feel the need to sneak even after the credits have rolled.

If you're craving more sneaking, see how Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the series’ first true stealth game. For more general recommendations, check out the best single-player games on PC.

Intel Arc A770 review: a great 1440p graphics card for those on a budget

4:00 pm | October 16, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Computing Components Gadgets | Tags: AI, CPU, GPU, PC | Comments: Off

Intel Arc A770: One-minute review

The Intel Arc A770 has had quite a journey since its release back on October 12, 2022, and fortunately, it has been a positive one for Intel despite a somewhat rocky start.

Right out the gate, I'll say that if you are looking for one of the best cheap graphics cards for 1440p gaming, this card definitely needs to be on your list. It offers great 1440p performance for most modern PC titles that most of us are going to be playing and it's priced very competitively against its rivals.

Where the card falters, much like with my Intel Arc A750 review earlier this year, is with older DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 titles, and this really does hurt its overall score in the end. Which is a shame, since for games released in the last five or six years, this card is going to surprise a lot of people who might have written it off even six months ago.

Intel's discrete graphics unit has been working overtime on its driver for this card, providing regular updates that continue to improve performance across the board, though some games benefit more than others.

Naturally, a lot of emphasis is going to be put on more recently released titles. And even though Intel has also been paying attention to shoring up support for older games as well, if you're someone with an extensive back catalog of DX9 and DX10 titles from the mid-2000s that you regularly return to, then this is not the best graphics card for your needs. Nvidia and AMD drivers carry a long legacy of support for older titles that Intel will honestly never be able to match.

But if what you're looking for is the best 1440p graphics card to play the best PC games of the modern era but you're not about to plop down half a grand on a new GPU, then the Intel Arc A770 is going to be a very solid pick with a lot more to offer than many will probably realize.

An Intel Arc A770 LE graphics card on a table with a pink desk mat — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Intel Arc A770: Price & availability

How much is it? US MSRP for 16GB card: $349 (about £280/AU$510); for 8GB card: $329 (about £265/AU$475)
When was it released? It went on sale on October 12, 2022
Where can you buy it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

The Intel Arc A770 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia, with two variants: one with 16GB GDDR6 VRAM and an official US MSRP of $349 (about £280/AU$510), and one with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM and an official MSRP of $329 (about £265/AU$475).

Those are the launch MSRPs from October 2022, of course, and the cards have come down considerably in price in the year since their release, and you can either card for about 20% to 25% less than that. This is important, since the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 are very close to the 16GB Arc A770 cards in terms of current prices, and offer distinct advantages that will make potential buyers want to go with the latter rather than the former.

But those decisions are not as cut and dry as you might think, and Intel's Arc A770 holds up very well against modern midrange offerings, despite really being a last-gen card. And, currently, the 16GB variant is the only 1440p card that you're going to find at this price, even among Nvidia and AMD's last-gen offerings like the RTX 3060 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT. So for 1440p gamers on a very tight budget, this card fills a very vital niche, and it's really the only card that does so.

Price score: 4/5

Intel Arc A770: Design

Intel's Limited Edition reference card is gorgeous
Will fit most gaming PC cases easily

Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition Design Specs

Slot size: Dual slot
Length: 11.02 inches | 280mm
Height: 4.53 inches | 115mm
Cooling: Dual fan
Power Connection: 1 x 8-pin and 1 x 6-pin
Video outputs: 3 x DisplayPort 2.0, 1 x HDMI 2.1

The Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition that I'm reviewing is Intel's reference model that is no longer being manufactured, but you can still find some stock online (though at what price is a whole other question).

Third-party partners include ASRock, Sparkle, and Gunnir. Interestingly, Acer also makes its own version of the A770 (the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770), the first time the company has dipped its toe into the discrete graphics card market.

All of these cards will obviously differ in terms of their shrouds, cooling solutions, and overall size, but as far as Intel's Limited Edition card goes, it's one of my favorite graphics cards ever in terms of aesthetics. If it were still easily available, I'd give this design five out of five, hands down, but most purchasers will have to opt for third-party cards which aren't nearly as good-looking, as far as I'm concerned, so I have to dock a point for that.

It's hard to convey from just the photos of the card, but the black finish on the plastic shroud of the card has a lovely textured feel to it. It's not quite velvety, but you know it's different the second you touch it, and it's something that really stands out from every other card I've reviewed.

The silver trim on the card and the more subtle RGB lighting against a matte black shroud and fans really bring a bit of class to the RGB graphics card I typically see. The twin fans aren't especially loud (not any more so than other dual-fan cards, at least), and the card feels thinner than most other similar cards I've reviewed and used, whether or not the card is thinner in fact.

The power connector is an 8-pin and 6-pin combo, so you'll have a pair of cables dangling from the card which may or may not affect the aesthetic of your case, but at least you won't need to worry about a 12VHPWR or 12-pin adapter like you do with Nvidia's RTX 4000-series and 3000-series cards.

You're also getting three DisplayPort 2.0 outputs and an HDMI 2.1 output, which puts it in the same camp as Nvidia's recent GPUs, but can't match AMD's recent move to DisplayPort 2.1, which will enable faster 8K video output. As it stands, the Intel Arc A770 is limited to 8K@60Hz, just like Nvidia. Will you be doing much 8K gaming on a 16GB card? Absolutely not, but as we get more 8K monitors next year, it'd be nice to have an 8K desktop running at 165Hz, but that's a very speculative prospect at this point, so it's probably not anything anyone looking at the Arc A770 needs to be concerned about.

Design Score: 4 / 5

Intel Arc A770: Specs & features

Good hardware AI cores for better XeSS upscaling
Fast memory for better 1440p performance

Intel's Xe HPG architecture inside the Arc A770 introduces a whole other way to arrange the various co-processors that make up a GPU, adding a third, not very easily comparable set of specs to the already head-scratching differences between Nvidia and AMD architectures.

Intel breaks up its architecture into "render slices", which contain 4 Xe Cores, which each contain 128 shaders, a ray tracing processor, and 16 matrix processors (which are directly comparable to Nvidia's vaunted tensor cores at least), which handle graphics upsampling and machine learning workflows. Both 8GB and 16GB versions of the A770 contain eight render slices for a total of 4096 shaders, 32 ray processors, and 512 matrix processors.

The ACM-G10 GPU in the A770 runs at 2,100MHz base frequency with a 2,400MHz boost frequency, with a slightly faster memory clock speed (2,184MHz) for the 16GB variant than the 8GB variant's 2,000MHz. This leads to an effective memory speed of 16 Gbps for the 8GB card and 17.5 Gbps for the 16GB.

With a 256-bit memory bus, this gives the Arc A770 a much wider lane for high-resolution textures to be processed through, reducing bottlenecks and enabling faster performance when gaming at 1440p and higher resolutions thanks to a 512 GB/s and 559.9 GB/s memory bandwidth for the 8GB and 16GB cards, respectively.

All of this does require a good bit of power, though, and the Arc A770 has a TDP of 225W, which is higher than most 1440p cards on the market today.

As far as features all this hardware empowers, there's a lot to like here. The matrix cores are leveraged to great effect by Intel's XeSS graphics upscaling tech found in a growing number of games, and this hardware advantage generally outperforms AMD's FSR 2.0, which is strictly a software-based upscaler.

XeSS does not have frame generation though, and the matrix processors in the Arc A770 are not nearly as mature as Nvidia's 3rd and 4th generation tensor cores found in the RTX 3000-series and RTX 4000-series, respectively.

The Arc A770 also has AV1 hardware-accelerated encoding support, meaning that streaming videos will look far better than those with only software encoding at the same bitrate, making this a compelling alternative for video creators who don't have the money to invest in one of Nvidia's 4000-series GPUs.

Specs & features: 3.5 / 5

Intel Arc A770: Performance

Great 1440p performance
Intel XeSS even allows for some 4K gaming
DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 support lacking, so older games will run poorly
Resizable BAR is pretty much a must

At the time of this writing, Intel's Arc A770 has been on the market for about a year, and I have to admit, had I gotten the chance to review this card at launch, I would probably have been as unkind as many other reviewers were.

As it stands though, the Intel Arc A770 fixes many of the issues I found when I reviewed the A750, but some issues still hold this card back somewhat. For starters, if you don't enable Resizable BAR in your BIOS settings, don't expect this card to perform well at all. It's an easy enough fix, but one that is likely to be overlooked, so it's important to know that going in.

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Synthetic benchmark results for the Intel Arc A770 — (Image credit: Future / Infogram)

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In synthetic benchmarks, the A770 performed fairly well against the current crop of graphics cards, despite its effectively being a last-gen card. It is particularly strong competition against the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti across multiple workloads, and it even beats the 4060 Ti in a couple of tests.

Its Achilles Heel, though, is revealed in the PassMark 3D Graphics test. Whereas 3DMark tests DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 workloads, Passmark's test also runs DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 workflows, and here the Intel Arc A770 simply can't keep up with AMD and Nvidia.

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Non-ray traced, non-upscaled gaming benchmark results for the Intel Arc A770 — (Image credit: Future / Infogram)

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In non-ray-traced and native-resolution gaming benchmarks, the Intel Arc A770 managed to put up some decent numbers against the competition. At 1080p, the Arc A770 manages an average of 103 fps with an average minimum fps of 54. At 1440p, it averages 78 fps, with an average minimum of 47, and even at 4K, the A770 manages an average of 46 fps, with an average minimum of 27 fps.

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Ray-traced gaming benchmark results for the Intel Arc A770 — (Image credit: Future / Infogram)

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Turn on ray tracing, however, and these numbers understandably tank, as they do for just about every card below the RTX 4070 Ti and RX 7900 XT. Still, even here, the A770 does manage an average fps of 41 fps, with an average minimum of 32 fps) at 1080p with ray tracing enabled, which is technically still playable performance. Once you move up to 1440p and 4K, however, your average title isn't going to be playable at native resolution with ray tracing enabled.

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Ray-traced and balanced upscaled gaming benchmark results for the Intel Arc A770 — (Image credit: Future / Infogram)

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Enter Intel XeSS. When set to "Balanced", XeSS turns out to be a game changer for the A770, getting it an average framerate of 66 fps (with an average minimum of 46 fps) at 1080p, an average of 51 fps (with an average minimum of 38 fps) at 1440p, and an average 33 fps (average minimum 26 fps) at 4K with ray tracing maxed out.

While the 26 fps average minimum fps at 4K means it's really not playable at that resolution even with XeSS turned on, with settings tweaks, or more modest ray tracing, you could probably bring that up into the low to high 30s, making 4K games playable on this card with ray tracing turned on.

That's something the RTX 4060 Ti can't manage thanks to its smaller frame buffer (8GB VRAM), and while the 16GB RTX 4060 Ti could theoretically perform better (I have not tested the 16GB so I cannot say for certain), it still has half the memory bus width of the A770, leading to a much lower bandwidth for larger texture files to pass through.

This creates an inescapable bottleneck that the RTX 4060 Ti's much larger L2 cache can't adequately compensate for, and so takes it out of the running as a 4K card. When tested, very few games managed to maintain playable frame rates even without ray tracing unless you dropped the settings so low as to not make it worth the effort. The A770 16GB, meanwhile, isn't technically a 4K card, but it can still dabble at that resolution with the right settings tweaks and still look reasonably good.

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The final average performance benchmark scores for the Intel Arc A770 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

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Final performance scores for the Intel Arc A770 — (Image credit: Future / Infogram)

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All told, then, the Intel Arc A770 turns out to be a surprisingly good graphics card for modern gaming titles that can sometimes even hold its own against the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti. It can't hold a candle to the RX 7700 XT or RTX 4070, but it was never meant to, and given that those cards cost substantially more than the Arc A770, this is entirely expected.

Its maximum observed power draw of 191.909W is pretty high for the kind of card the A770 is, but it's not the most egregious offender in that regard. All this power meant that keeping it cool was a struggle, with its maximum observed temperature hitting about 74 ºC.

Among all the cards tested, the Intel Arc A770 was at nearly the bottom of the list with the RX 6700 XT, so the picture for this card might have been very different had it launched three years ago and it had to compete with the RTX 3000-series and RX-6000 series exclusively. In the end, this card performs like a last-gen card, because it is.

Despite that, it still manages to be a fantastic value on the market right now given its low MSRP and fairly solid performance, rivaling the RTX 4060 Ti on the numbers. In reality though, with this card selling for significantly less than its MSRP, it is inarguably the best value among midrange cards right now, and it's not even close.

Performance score: 3.5 / 5

Should you buy the Intel Arc A770?

Buy the Intel Arc A770 if...

Don't buy it if...

Also Consider

If my Intel Arc A770 review has you considering other options, here are two more graphics cards for you to consider.

How I tested the Intel Arc A770

I spent several days benchmarking the card, with an additional week using it as my primary GPU
I ran our standard battery of synthetic and gaming benchmarks

Test Bench

These are the specs for the test system used for this review:
CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K
CPU Cooler: Cougar Poseidon GT 360 AIO Cooler
Motherboard: MSI MPG Z790E Tomahawk Wifi
Memory: 64GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5-6000
SSD: Samsung 990 Pro
PSU: Thermaltake PF3 1050W ATX 3.0
Case: Praxis Wetbench

I spent about two weeks with the Intel Arc A770 in total, with a little over half that time using it as my main GPU on my personal PC. I used it for gaming, content creation, and other general-purpose use with varying demands on the card.

I focused mostly on synthetic and gaming benchmarks since this card is overwhelmingly a gaming graphics card. Though it does have some video content creation potential, it's not enough to dethrone Nvidia's 4000-series GPUs, so it isn't a viable rival in that sense and wasn't tested as such.

I've been reviewing computer hardware for years now, with an extensive computer science background as well, so I know how graphics cards like this should perform at this tier.

We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.

Scheme and slash

Wargroove 2’s combat is top-down, turn-based, and tactical, similar to games like Fire Emblem Engage and Advance Wars. Facing off against an army of foes, you’ll take turns positioning units, engaging in combat, picking up resources, and capturing landmarks. While it might seem a lot to juggle at first, Wargroove 2 is surprisingly approachable in its design and felt intuitive to control. I relished the opportunity to create killer combat formations that could sweep out my opposition with efficient calculated strikes.

Terrain formations add an extra consideration, bringing environmental effects like mountains and fog to the game’s animated landscapes - all of which burst with pixelated detail. This led to difficult flashpoints, as my army’s numbers dwindled. During a particularly difficult battle, I had to choose between funneling my swordsmen across a bridge or taking a different risk; sending them through shallow water that would hurt their defense but lead to a quicker attack. While pond walking paid off on this occasion, there were plenty of times where the dice didn’t roll my way, leaving my sweet warriors to take overwhelming damage in swampy riverbeds.

Best bit

Wargroove’s adorably lethal character designs summon a sense of accountability in battle that makes losing your soldiers a painful process. Every spear-wielding mouse, puppy warrior, or intergalactic flower fighter that falls is salt in the wound of your miscalculations. Your cutesy companions will be avenged.

Learning to keep a level head and make wise choices as the triumphant music boomed was a persistent impulse check, and it consistently pushed me to think laterally about my forthcoming plans. Lytra and the other commanding officers each have a unique Groove weapon, which draws its power from defeating enemies and capturing buildings in battle. Groove attacks have the ability to shift the combat narrative, and were particularly useful in a pinch when I needed to save my commander.

As I progressed through the story, I found myself frustrated at the tight nature of certain maps which bottlenecked my movement, leading to some painfully slow engagements that I was glad to see the back of. Even if I was more patient, it would just be a case of waiting for units and constantly resetting rounds rather than setting up careful plans.

Fire in the hole

Wargroove 2 has a distinctly polished pixel art style that is best seen across the varied animations of its sprites. Central characters interacting with magical ruins would cause them to flicker and come to life with a neon aqua glow. Each geographical area in Aurania has a unique color palette that helps put the vastness of the continent into perspective. Snowy regions are doused with cool-toned greys and purples, while the coastal areas are full of sandy browns and turquoise blues. I was almost always delighted to see new structures as I explored the realm - every pixel had clearly earned its place.

Wargroove 2’s sleek style extends into its battle units, with unique visuals depending on a warrior’s faction and archetype. Flying attackers across all factions have their own idiosyncrasies, such as the science-minded Faahri’s steam-powered jetpack-wielding Flight Engineers or the forest-dwelling Floran troops who use flying Leafwings with fern feather appendages. The technical capabilities of the units remain the same, but the faction differences keep cutscenes fresh as you move between Wargroove 2’s campaigns, grounding each army in its own ambitions.

I would also be remiss not to mention one of Wargroove 2’s best assets: its soundtrack from Dale North, which sets up dramatic and comedic scenes with awesome heavy brass arrangements and intense percussion. The intensity was maintained as I battled my way through a rogue’s gallery of adversaries, with many songs tailored to the environment or character I was facing up against. Wargroove 2’s whimsical pirate tunes wormed their way into my head quickly, and have taken up a residence - I don’t see them forfeiting anytime soon.

Swashbuckle to success

Once you’re finished taking on the story, you can jump over to the roguelike Conquest mode, which speeds up the action. Here, you choose a commander with an associated starting bonus and soldier formation before working through a league of challenges. Failure in this game mode results in permadeath - no matter how far you get, you’ll have to start over if your commander goes down. If you succeed, you’ll work along the nodes of a combat spiderweb, choosing perks as you go to bolster your army. These perks do cost you gold, so early successes are key to completing the extremities of the web.

Conquest is an exciting change of pace from the exposition-heavy campaign, and it was brain-teasing to grapple with the procedural options and attempt to curate a perfect run, or explore new tactical approaches.

Wargroove 2 also features a map and campaign creator that enables players to use the game’s catalogue of assets to build bespoke narratives. The process can be a little finicky to navigate (especially on the Steam Deck), but it’s a fully-featured and hopeful inclusion that signals a future full of player-made content, an enticing prospect for those who wrap up Wargroove 2’s story and are looking for more challenging fights to sink their teeth into.

Wargroove 2 is a moreish strategy game that repeatedly put my best-laid plans to the test across the linearity of its campaigns and the chaos of its all-new roguelike mode. Even with the handholding and some awkward maps to contend with, the call of "one more battle" was hard to ignore.

Accessibility features

Chucklefish has included a range of features players can use to tailor their experience in Wargroove 2, including difficulty sliders that modify offensive and defensive stats. The accessibility menu has further settings like a colorblind and photosensitivity mode, as well as the ability to toggle vibration.

How we reviewed Wargroove 2

I played through Wargroove 2’s trio of campaigns and Conquest mode between my Steam Deck and PC. Across Wargroove 2’s missions, I modified the difficulty settings to see how I fared in different circumstances and against certain factions. In Conquest mode, I used a variety of commanders and formations, and tried my best to take new paths where possible. When testing the custom content creation tools, I switched between handheld and mouse and keyboard to see how easy it was to put together a map on a portable controller-mapped device.

The best single-player games might offer new experiences if you're looking for the next title to sink your time into. However, we've also got a list of the best multiplayer games on PC if you wanted to play through something with a companion.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) review: upgradable impressive power

2:49 pm | October 7, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets | Tags: Far Cry, PC, Red Dead Redemption, Tomb Raider | Comments: Off

Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Two-minute review

Acer, always a competitor where price is concerned, is better known for cost-effective laptops than high-end gaming PCs, but they’ve been producing some of the best gaming PCs since 2008.

The newest of its Predator line, the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023), is a monolith of a PC, which is to say it looks like a proper sexy space monolith, except it's nowhere near as quiet. Rather, it’s so loud that if you wanted to go on holiday but couldn’t, you could get part-way there by closing your eyes and make-believing you’re on a plane. That’s how loud the fans get on “gaming mode”.

On the normal power setting, the fans don’t spin up all that often even while gaming – but they definitely will at some point during a gaming session. If you value immersion while playing, you will find it broken by the Orion 7000.

But the PC excels in all other ways, making it one of the best computers we’ve seen in a while. It’s gorgeously designed; particularly its ARGB lighting is lovely. It’s got more ports than a leopard has spots. Its very large chassis is very well laid out, affording you ample opportunity to customize and upgrade the PC in the future.

Performance-wise it delivers everything you could ask for. It performed well in all the benchmarks we ran, and when we very enthusiastically played the brand-new AAA game Starfield at max settings, it was utterly smooth, with nary a frame-drop.

The fans will be a real problem for some. You wouldn’t be able to record live audio on it. Even voice chat is affected. The 2022 version of the Predator Orion 7000 (2023) had the same problem and was criticized for it, so it’s not like Acer didn’t know.

It’s clear what Acer’s priorities were, though: The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is not all that expensive – for a high-end gaming PC, you understand – and Acer has thrown in a decent mouse and keyboard combo. For this decent price, you may well be happy to slap on a good noise canceling headset with directional mic and enjoy the power you’ve bought.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Price & availability

How much does it cost? Starting at $3,000 / £3,300 (about AU$4,655)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

Starting at $3,000 / £3,300 (about AU$4,655), the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is expensive, but considering its specs, the price is actually pretty OK. Acer is known for producing more budget-friendly laptops and PCs, and, for a high-end gaming PC, the Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is not egregiously budget-un-friendly. Anyone looking for a PC armed with an i9 and RTX 4090 is already girded to pay at least this much.

Still, it’s a lot, and you don’t need to spend this much just to play the latest games. If you're looking for anything under $4,000 / £4,00 for the specs of our review unit, then you might want to look at older models like the superb Predator Orion 3000, which we’ve pronounced the best value gaming PC out right now.

Price score: 4 / 5

Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Specs

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) comes in four configurations in the US, three elsewhere. The cheapest of the US’s configurations has an i7-13700KF, a RTX 3080, and 10 GB dedicated memory; the other three can be succinctly summed up with GPU numbers: 3090, 4080, and 4090. Of Australia’s three configurations, two have an i9-13900K, and either an RTX 4090, or 4080. UK customers also have three configurations, the cheapest of which comes with an i7 hexadeca-core 3.40GHz and an RTX 4070Ti. The other two configurations come with an i9 and an RTX 4080 or 4090.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) on the author's desk — (Image credit: Future / Rosario Blue)

Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Design

Humongous chassis
Gorgeous RGB lighting effects
Easy to upgrade

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is a no-nonsense PC. Its exterior alone proclaims “hard as nails”, meaning it’s serious business, serious gaming business. It scores almost full marks on aesthetics, and no, not simply because of its delicious ARGB – we’re not so shallow we’re completely swept away by a few million colors.

Well, regardless of whether we are or not, the whole package is gorgeous. Its massive ATX chassis is black all over with rounded edges, and the interior is spacious and very neatly arranged. The interior is visible through a crepuscular glass side panel paired with the gorgeous 16.7m ARGB LEDs. To finish is a matte black metal door with a shiny Acer logo printed in black, and topped with mesh.

The front of the chassis has two Predator FrostBlade fans in a raised glass casing with a shiny plastic frame; most of the glass is the same shadowy glass as the side panels, and part of the upper part of the glass is opaque with an Acer logo that lights up blue.

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While it’s gorgeously designed, the Predator Orion 7000 (2023) really is huge. At 485mm x 219mm x 504.8mm and starting at 14Kg in weight, it’s not easy to carry and takes up a lot of space, so you’ll want to recall your manual handling training when you lift it and position it where you can access the back and not have to move it ever.

And it’s designed to keep you from having to. It’s designed to be easily-upgradable. It’s “toolless” – that is, you don’t need tools to access its internals. And its spacious interior means you don’t need to sweat and curse and get cramps while replacing parts.

As for ports… there’s a really impressive selection both at the back and the top of the chassis: 1x HDMI, 4x USB 2.0, 4x USB 3.1, and 2x USB-C. As for storage, there’s a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, and 3TB HDD SATA 3 (and you can have up to 2 of each), and on the top, a 2.5-inch bay for hot-swapping USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C drives (one of our favorite features).

Also, there’s some cool free wallpapers on the Acer Predator site to finish off the look of your PC if you’re interested.

Design score: 4 / 5

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Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Performance

The 4090 is superb
Not a single game exists today that cannot be played on it
Very upgradeable

Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Benchmarks

Here’s how the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark: Port Royal: 25679 Speed Way: 10026; Fire Strike: 46869; Fire Strike Ultra: 24059 Time Spy: 31781; Time Spy Extreme: 17409
GeekBench 5.5: 1908 (single-core); 21380 (multi-core)
GeekBench 6.1: 2896 (single-core); 17399 (multi-core)
GeekBench 6.0.3: 2764 (single-core); 16780 (multi-core)
Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Ultra): 251.7 fps;(1080p, Low): 559.5 fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p): 117.1 fps; (4K): 41.1 fps
Dirt 5 (1080p): 256.5 fps; (4K): 187.3fps
Assassin’s creed Valhalla: (1080p): 204 fps; (4K) 117 fps
Borderlands 3: (1080p): 258.95 fps; (4K): 129.11 fps
Grand Theft Auto V: (1080p): 186.032240 fps; (4K): 84.786770 fps
Far Cry 6 (1080p): 129 fps; (4K): 109 fps
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (High 1080p): 153.91fps (4K):127.50 fps; (Ultra 1080p): 144.91 fps (4K): 105.92 fps; (Extreme 1080p): 134.95 fps (4K): 72.65 fps
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium 1080p): 186.1147 fps (4K): 79.3755 fps; (Ultra 1080p): 109.0437 fps (4K): 36.7910 fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: (1080p): 244 fps; (4K): 129 fps
25GB File Copy: 1233.809283
Handbrake 1.6: 2:26
CrossMark: Overall: 2,305 Productivity: 2,151 Creativity: 2,631 Responsiveness: 1,904

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) performs, well, fantastically. It'd be surprising if it didn't. The review unit we received comes with an unlocked AIO liquid-cooled i9-13900KF processor with 24 cores, 32 threads, a stock frequency of 3000MHz and a clocking speed of 5.4GHz, and the scrumptious beast that is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

That partnership alone needs no explanation, it is the creme de la creme of gaming parts. Most games we benchmarked it with stayed above 100 FPS even at 4K. A couple managed to tax it at 4K, like Red Dead Redemption 2.

For everyday tasks – browsing, watching Netflix, emailing, programming – well, of course there were no problems. Even playing games while doing most of those things at the same time didn’t disturb the Pool of Performance at all.

The cost is fan noise. When Predator Orion 7000 (2023) gets into full gaming mode they hum in an endless high-speed harmony – as Acer says, hilariously. What they mean is they can’t deny the fans are loud. While voice-chatting, we had to use a headset with noise canceling, and a directional mic, which definitely improved things, but it’s such a shame it’s necessary.

The noise means you won’t always get to appreciate Acer’s DTS:X Ultra audio, which, Acer says, allows you to experience “real-world spatial sound” by transforming your speakers and headset into a 360 degree high-end surround sound system. We can confirm that the sound is full, clear and feels immersive.

Where internet connectivity is concerned Acer has installed its 2.5G “Killer Ethernet” and 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E, so fast and efficient internet access will run whether you want to use Wi-Fi or ethernet to get online.

The Orion 7000 comes preinstalled with Acer’s PredatorSense software. Despite the name it doesn’t alert you to predators or prey but to problems in your system: it’s the obligatory system-specific hardware monitor/configurer, one of the nicest we’ve seen, though; it shows temps and speeds very clearly, and lets you control the fans, power settings, lighting, and the clock speeds without having to go into the BIOS.

Performance score: 5 / 5

Should you buy the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023)?

Buy it if...

You want a behemoth PC that can take on anything
Performance is at the heart of the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023). It can take on any task from general day-to-day use to intensive gaming sessions. It’s perfect for old, new and future games, so you won’t need a replacement any time soon.

You want an easy-to-upgrade PC
The opportunities to upgrade the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) are almost endless. With its toolless, spacious chassis, you won’t be fiddling and stressing when you’re ready to tweak it.

Don't buy it if...

You’re looking for a more cost-effective gaming PC
The Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is expensive, and understandably so, but if you don’t have enough in your budget to fork out for its cheapest configuration, then there are more-than-decent cheaper alternatives to purchase instead.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Also consider

If the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) has you considering other options, here are two more laptops to consider...

How I tested the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023)

I used this beaut as my main gaming PC for almost three weeks
Gaming-wise, I played various games, old and new

I used this beaut as my main gaming PC for almost three weeks. Gaming-wise, I played various games, old and new, mostly very new (Starfield, at max settings, which was glorious, loud at times, but glorious). Benchmark tests were carried out using games like CyberPunk 2077, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and GTA V. I browsed the internet, joined video calls. And I, of course, wrote on it.

There’s very little the Predator Orion 7000 (2023) can’t do. Play your favorite games. The newest titles are nothing to it. Surf the web, watch shows, compile the Linux kernel, hell, do all of those things at once; it’ll look at you serenely like a lion challenged to a fight by a cat.

I have over 25 years of gaming experience and several years of testing gaming peripherals, PCs and laptops under my belt. I don’t just review these things in an “I have a job to do” type of way: I’m their manufacturer’s target audience; I thoroughly, honestly and fairly review and test all units. I pretty much live and breathe games, computers, and all the extras and have opinions about what is good and important, and can identify deficiencies and suggest improvements.

Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra): Two-minute review

The original Mac Studio, with the first iteration of Apple processors, was an impressive development in Apple’s desktop lineup showing the true potential of Arm chips in a permanently powered system by out performing almost everything else available. In 2023 Apple updated this creative professional desktop with the M2 processor, an upgrade that the company believes can be powerful enough to drive its most powerful desktop device the Mac Pro as well as the new line up of Mac Studio devices.

The new M2 processors boast improved performance, larger memory capacities and improved memory bandwidth. There are also upgrades to the Neural Engine that translates non-native MacOS programs into RISC language and takes on the workload of AI processing tasks.

The 2023 Mac Studio is a desktop PC that continues to sit above the Mac Mini, without costing as much as the $6,999 / £7,199 / AU$11,999 starting price for the Mac Pro. The M2 Max variant of the Mac studio starts at a very approachable $1,999 / £2,099 / AU$3,299, but what is perhaps even more interesting is that the higher performing M2 Ultra configuration that can be purchased from $6,599 offers the same processor, Unified Memory allocation and SSD as the notably more expensive entry Mac Pro configuration.

Apple Mac Studio 2023 in various places — (Image credit: Future - Joel Burgess)

Intel and AMD have worked hard to ensure they made the latest generation of processors to outperform Apple’s M2 offerings, so the Mac Studio doesn’t offer the same uniquely high performance as the last generation, but both M2 configurations do still improve over the M1 Mac Studio devices by up to 20% in CPU benchmarks and over 40% improvements in gaming framerates. Some applications are even further optimised allowing improvements that are even bigger than these baseline processor improvements.

If your workflow demands additional memory, increased processing power or frequently includes graphically intensive applications then it’s likely that you’ll benefit from the additional power of a Mac Studio over the top spec Mac Mini. When you consider the power on offer at the price you get it, the Mac Studio is an exceptionally good value PC. The sleek desktop doesn’t take up much space, it’s quiet and it’ll even meaningfully reduce power costs for intensive work users. With a good overall port selection and the latest wireless connectivity options there’s really nothing missing from the M2 Max and M2 Ultra Mac Studio configurations.

Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra): Price, availability and specs

The entry Mac Studio uses a similar M2 Max chip as the one found on the top spec MacBook Pro. They’re not identical since the entry Mac Studio SoC has a GPU with fewer cores, but you can upgrade it to match the MacBook Pro offering for an extra $200 / £200 / AU$300.

This entry level Mac Studio is paired with 32GB of memory and a 512GB SSD for a pretty powerful configuration considering the overall $1,999 / £2,099 / AU$3,299 price. You can easily opt for up to 64GB of RAM and up to 8TB of storage (if you feel like doubling the cost of the unit), but the 1TB storage upgrade and 64GB memory upgrade aren’t excessively expensive for those that need a little more than the base configuration.

For anyone wanting to really push their device into workstation territory there’s the option for the M2 Ultra configuration that starts at $3,999 / £4,199 / AU$6,599. This model starts with 64GB of Unified Memory and a 1TB SSD, but can contain up to 192GB of total memory and an 8TB SSD. Pricing here is really about what you need to get your work done, but it’s not unreasonable considering it’s straddling the enthusiast gaming and custom workstation PC space and it’s great against the starting Mac Pro configuration.

We’re not exactly sure why the devices seem to have a relatively high price in the UK although it’s likely due to different local product taxes.

Price and specs: 4.5/5

Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra): Design

The 2023 Mac Studio uses the same extruded aluminum chassis as its predecessor, so it still looks like a pair of Mac Mini’s stacked on top of one another. Funnily enough, the M2 Ultra chips use the UltraFusion technology seen in the original Mac Studio (M1 Ultra) to sandwich two M2 Max processors together without a significant loss of performance from each chip — So it really is a MacMini sandwich.

You can get somewhat comparable sizes of compact desktop PCs this year if you look really hard. Something like an Intel NUC 13 Extreme Raptor Canyon, for example, with discrete graphics and plenty of RAM will equate to a PC with comparable performance for roughly the same price as an entry Mac Studio.

What is still different is that the footprint sits at just under 20cm squared with a height of 9.5cm, which is an impressively compact 3.8 litre volume for something this powerful. To put that in perspective the Intel NUC 13 Extreme Raptor Canyon, the most compact off-the-shelf PC available, is 3.5 times larger than the Mac Studio overall. The Mac Studio’s lower power draw against x86 based PCs means heat is more manageable, so the fans are quieter than you’d expect for something so compact.

The Mac Studio has a higher bandwidth HDMI for 8K or 240Hz displays and can connect up to six Pro Display XDR screens this time around. It’s also got updated Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 compatibility for faster connectivity compared to previous generations. The SSD has been updated to the latest generation PCIe connections, so you’ll get 7,000 and 5,759 MB/s read and write speeds respectively.

There’s nothing we can fault in the connectivity options since if you’re working with Mac you’re probably going to want to connect everything with Thunderbolt/ USB-C ports anyway. If not, you’ve got an Ethernet, SD Card reader, HDMI and two USB Type-A sockets to interface with non-Apple devices. The device also comes with a built-in speaker for when you don’t have speakers connected.

Design: 5/5

Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra): Performance

Benchmarks

Here’s how the Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra) performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

Cinebench CPU: Single-Core: 1,733; Multi-core: 28,550
Geekbench 5 Single-Core: 2,058; Multi-Core: 28,833
Handbreak (1080p, Fast): 100fps
Blender monster: 1,751
Blender junkshop: 930
Blender classroom: 798

The Mac Studio we were sent to test came with an M2 Ultra with 24 CPU cores and 76 GPU cores, 128GB of Unified Memory, and a 4TB SSD, a configuration that retails for $10,799. This is, unsurprisingly, a seriously powerful device capable of outpacing an Intel Core i9-13900K CPU by up to 25% on Geekbench 5, but it also underperforms against the same chip by up to 20% on other benchmarks like Cinebench R23. The CPU performance here is more in line with offerings from Intel and AMD offerings in the enthusiast gaming space, so it’s not quite the standout performance we saw from the M1 Ultra when it launched. But otherwise, if you're a creator looking for the best laptop for video editing or similar, this machine offers more than enough power.

The Mac Studio we tested doubled the core count against a MacBook Pro 16 (M2 Max 38-core GPU) that we had on file, but this translated to a graphical performance bump of just 58% on synthetic benchmarks, with the two offering equivalent framerates in some gaming applications.

There was a noticeable performance jump from last year’s 64-core Apple Mac Studio (M1 Ultra), offering 40% better scores on synthetic benchmarks and up to 80% better gaming performance according to our testing, however, and there are a number of creative workflows that offer meaningful GPU performance increases.

Mac Studio on desk — (Image credit: Future - Joel Burgess)

When comparing graphical performance to a PC, the 76-core GPU on the test Mac Studio is roughly equivalent to a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (notebook), at least in terms of synthetic benchmark performance. If you do use it for gaming you should expect performance to be significantly lower since we were only able to get around 64-90 frames per second on titles like Sid Meier's: Civilization VI and Total War Saga: Troy using Ultra 1080p settings, respectively. This means current, graphically intensive games are unlikely to be particularly well optimised.

Fortunately Apple’s Unified Memory architecture allows memory to be accessed directly by the GPU, which will be a massive bonus for some creative workflows. The Apple Mac Studio using the most powerful M2 Ultra also has a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 90W, 35W lower than the base power consumption of the desktop Intel Core i9-13900K. Once you add the power consumption of a discrete GPU, the Apple offering is going to consume two or even three times less power than a PC that performs similarly well.

Performance: 4.5/5

Should you buy the Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra)?

Buy it if...

You do a lot of video, music or 3D modelling work
If you work a lot with applications like Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve then this is a great workstation to use.

Desk space is important
The Apple Mac Studio is one of the most compact workstations money can buy delivering a lot of power per pound.

You’re a creative power user
Anyone who appreciates being able to load entire projects into memory will love the Unified Memory capabilities on M2.

Don't buy it if...

You Could get away with a Mac Mini
Many of us just don’t have any need for the power on offer in the Mac Studio. So you could save yourself thousands by opting for a more powerful Mac Mini than going all in on a Studio.

You use PC software
For anyone that is used to working on PC software the jump will include a learning curve that may not be worthwhile and you’ll find the lack of upgradability challenging down the track.

You want to be able to play games
While Apple’s platform is getting better at adding game compatibility, it’s still a long way off what you can get on a PC and the integrated GPU isn’t optimised for games like discrete GPUs are on Windows.

Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra) review: Also consider

If our Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra) review has you considering other options, here are three more mini PCs to consider...

How I tested the Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra)

I used the Mac Studio over a work week
I edited 8K video on it and performed other tasks
I ran our usual suite of standardised benchmarks

Apple delivered the Mac Studio (2023) at the same time as the MacBook Air 15-inch back in June. I spent a week using the Mac Studio as my main PC and wrote up parts of the review using it.

I loaded up some 8K video files to see how the Mac mini handled intensive creative tasks, as well as transcoded a 1080p video and browsed the internet using both Safari and Chrome.

I’ve reviewed and used many small form factor PCs and laptops, including all of the best MacBook Pros, Mac minis, MacBooks and the previous Mac Studio, which allows me to make direct comparisons to alternative devices.

First reviewed October 2023

Synced review – number crunching

5:43 pm | September 18, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Tags: Final Fantasy, PC | Comments: Off

Review info:

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S
Release date: September 8, 2023

SYNCED stands apart as a uniquely lopsided proposition in the free-to-play space. On the one hand, NExT Studios has managed to craft a startlingly high-quality PvE shooter with an engaging upgrade loop and a novel roguelike mod system that will have you coming back time and time again. On the other, all of this co-op goodness has been inexplicably paired with a mundane battle royale that suffers from poorly balanced design and a muddled overall structure.

The disappointing PvP component is almost entirely distinct, however, so doesn’t detract from the excellent co-op, but does make the overall package harder to wholeheartedly recommend. If you’re looking for a solid free alternative to the likes of Back 4 Blood or World War Z to enjoy with a thrifty group of friends, SYNCED’s co-op mode will certainly do the trick - just don’t expect to give up Fortnite as you rush to make it your go-to battle royale any time soon.

Sync or swim

The action is set in a distant future where the evil Shinar corporation (a name so close to Shinra that it makes me wonder if someone’s been copying Final Fantasy 7’s homework) has managed to bring about the collapse of civilization with its rogue nanomachine technology.

You play as a Runner, one of the few survivors who is brave enough to venture into the Meridian - a perilous wasteland filled with swarms of deadly robots called Nanos. Your goal in excursions into Meridian is primarily to kill Nanos and scoop up lots of glowing blue Nerva (a valuable energy source that’s being used to power what’s left of human society) to bring back to your camp.

As you can probably tell, the plot is reliant on a frankly absurd number of proper nouns that are deployed with almost alarming frequency. It’s by no means the most easy to follow narrative on the planet, but the frequent cutscenes do introduce some much-needed variety to what would otherwise be a series of back-to-back online matches.

These matches are split into two distinct game modes: PvE Dead Sector Runs and PvP Nerva Runs. The two modes feel markedly different but do share some underlying core mechanics. Both allow you to absorb (or sync) defeated Prime Nanos - roaming minibosses that can then be unleashed to fight by your side. There are four types of Prime Nano to choose from, each smartly designed and offering their own unique approach to combat.

The Guardian, for example, carries a huge defensive shield that can help protect your team against incoming fire while the Crusher lives up to its name by effortlessly plowing through hordes of enemies. Each Nano also grants you a unique movement ability, including a fantastic super-powered jump that feels pleasantly reminiscent of the strong traversal in series like Infamous.

The roster of Prime Nanos pairs well with the selection of available Runners, who each boast their own special abilities including an invisibility cloak and radar vision. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but experimenting with new Runner and Nano combinations adds some pleasant variety.

In two minds

Of the modes on offer, I found that Dead Sector Runs were by far the most enjoyable. They are a series of PvE story missions centered around uncovering the sinister secrets concealed by Shinar in the build-up to the collapse. It feels like something straight out of any of the best horde shooters - dropping your team into an environment filled with waves of robots that need to be culled in order to progress.

In addition to a smattering of Nerva, every slain foe drops Radia - a temporary currency that only lasts for the duration of your current run. Radia is spent on upgrading the power of your current weapons and unlocking one of two randomly selected mods. While the shooting is all mechanically solid, with fluid animations and a robust sense of feedback, mods are really where the combat comes into its own.

Some are small, offering basic buffs to stats like health or attack strength, while others introduce whole new mechanics like the ability to spawn decoys or ricochet bullets between enemies. There is a seemingly endless number to choose from and, most importantly, they can all be upgraded and combined in interesting ways. This opens the door to a huge amount of strategy as you carefully try to craft the perfect combination. It can feel slightly too reliant on luck at times, but when it does all come together the results are incredible. In one particularly memorable run, I bought a series of weapon knockback upgrades leading to a hilarious situation where I could use a fast-firing SMG to send whole groups of enemies flying around the environment like some kind of deadly robot confetti.

All of these upgrades are vital for success against the mission’s final boss, a challenging gauntlet designed to put your combat skills to the test. They’re mostly just big bullet sponges with powerful attacks, but there are some novel gimmicks thrown in here and there to keep things fresh.

Best bit:

There are a smattering of more open-world Dead Sector Runs that allow you to explore huge environments freely while collecting upgrades. It’s a delightful change of pace.

Your haul of accumulated Nerva can then be spent on permanent upgrades back at base, including a selection of starting mods and more powerful weapons. Despite being mostly centered around increasing your overall power level, a numeric measure of the power of your starting mods, the whole loop feels extremely rewarding with plenty of significant unlocks to keep you going.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that Dead Sector Runs can be enjoyed solo or as a pair. The overall difficulty adjusts depending on the size of your team, a clever inclusion that also means you're not heavily punished if someone disconnects halfway through a match.

Unfortunately, the Nerva Runs are far less enjoyable. A strange take on the battle royale formula that brings in elements of extraction shooters and territory control modes, your main objective is to loot gear and gain Nerva by capturing marked points on the map. Hordes of Nanos are still present, as is the same Radia upgrade system, but it all seems a little out of place in a PvP context. Railing against AI enemies with random overpowered abilities is one thing, but it feels incredibly unfair to find yourself eviscerated by a rival player who just happened to roll better mods.

Add in a pricey battle pass, multiple premium currencies, a gacha system, not to mention the ability to buy some Runners directly with cash (which could potentially put paid players at an advantage) and there’s little here to make SYNCED’s PvP component more appealing than its strong competition in the battle royale genre.

Accessibility features

SYNED accessibility menu — (Image credit: Level Infinite)

The accessibility options in SYNCED are fairly basic. Subtitles are enabled by default (for both cutscenes and in-game radio transmissions). Controllers are supported on PC and you also have the option to switch a number of actions that are commonly associated with holding down keys (like crouching or aiming down sights) to a toggle.

How we reviewed

I played more than 20 hours of SYNCED on PC and managed to complete most of the co-op Dead Sector Runs either solo or as part of a team. I also spent several hours getting to grips with the PvP mode, Nerva Run, where I experimented with as many weapons and abilities as I could get my hands on.

Our list of the best co-op games will offer you unmissable multiplayer experiences, as will our list of the best multiplayer games on PC, but if you're looking for something to suit a solo experience, then it's worth checking out the best single-player games.

Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed review: best grip on an affordable wireless gaming mouse

6:15 pm | September 14, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Tags: PC | Comments: Off

Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed: Two-minute review

Imagine the Razer DeathAdder V3 in wireless form. That’s basically what Razer’s new gaming mouse offering, the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed, is.

There are some differences, of course. It’s got an ever so slightly thinner body and a more pronounced hump for better palm support. It’s heavier. It tops at 4,000Hz polling rate (as opposed to 8,000Hz) and weirdly has a 60M-click rating as opposed to the DeathAdder V3’s 90M. And, as its name implies, it’s a wireless gaming mouse that utilizes Razer’s HyperSpeed Wireless connectivity so you can do away with the cable.

In fact, you’ve got no choice really as there’s no need for cables here, seeing as it’s AA battery-powered. That’s the biggest reason why this one sits at the same price point as the DeathAdder V3, despite being wireless (that typically gives manufacturers an excuse to jack up the price of a product).

At $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$129.95, the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed is easily one of the most affordable brand-name gaming mice I’ve tested, especially in the wireless realm. But don’t take that to mean that you’re sacrificing a lot here.

Yes, there’s the lack of rechargeability, which no doubt a lot of wireless peripherals fans will miss, but it’s a small sacrifice in exchange for all the premium features that you are getting.

It comes, for example, with Razer’s Focus Pro 30K Optical, a maximum speed of 750 IPS, and 8 programmable controls like the aforementioned wired mouse. It also inherited the DeathAdder V3 much-lauded smooth-touch finish – Razer’s own creation that allows the mouse to offer that luxurious, smooth-to-the-touch feeling while brilliantly delivering better grippage than all other gaming mice I’ve tested (and I’ve tested a lot).

It’s so similar to the DeathAdder line that I’ve started to wonder if Razer made a mistake when they were naming it. While it belongs in the brand’s Viper line, it actually looks nothing like the Razer Viper V2 Pro, its intended premium counterpart and one of the best gaming mice on the market.

Veering away from the Viper’s gaming-esque aesthetic, the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed sports the more elegant design and cleaner look for the DeathAdder line. Looking more like the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro, its left and right buttons are nicely grooved toward the front for better ergonomics and grip, as well as, in my opinion, easier pressing. And again, it comes with the DeathAdder V3’s smooth-touch finish, which is quite a departure from the Viper V2 Pro’s textured one.

It’s got its own design improvements and changes as well. Its palm rest has a nice, rear-rested hump that supports both palm and claw grip styles as well as allows your palm to contour nicely and enjoy that necessary support, no matter how big your hand is or how long you’ve been playing.

According to Razer, the company opted for flatter sides (as opposed to curved) to also help it fit different hand sizes and grip styles, but I just found the sides to be a little less supportive, especially where my pinkie usually rests.

I prefer ultra-lightweight mice for gaming and productivity so while I understand that Razer had to go with AA batteries to keep the price down, I didn’t really enjoy gaming on this one as much. Especially so soon after testing the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed (review to follow). A single AA battery to keep it powered bumps its weight from 59g to 82g and makes it noticeably rear-heavy and unbalanced.

Then again, this is a matter of personal preference. Not all gamers want or enjoy using a lightweight gaming mouse, and there are definitely others out there that are a lot heftier.

While we’re on that subject, inside the battery compartment is a USB garage in which you can keep your wireless receiver safe. Thank goodness – I already lost the original dongle for my Viper V2 Pro, and I have no idea where to properly store its replacement when I’m not using the mouse. As I write this, it’s sitting on my desk vulnerable to my insolent cats’ restless paws.

Like the Viper V2 Pro and the DeathAdder V3, it has six physical buttons, which are all strategically positioned so they’re within easy reach, no matter the size of your hand. However, for added versatility and an easier gaming experience if you’re not too lazy to customize and reprogram, it has a total of 8 programmable controls (the scroll wheel adds front and back scroll to the list).

If you have limited USB ports, you’ll be glad to know that it’s one of Razer’s several peripherals that’s compatible with the HyperSpeed Wireless multi-device support. That means that you can connect it and a supported Razer keyboard to your PC with just a single dongle. If you’re a competitive player and need that considerable bump in polling rate, it also supports up to 4,000Hz with Razer’s HyperPolling Wireless Dongle. That one will cost you extra, but Razer currently has it bundled with the mouse for a little less.

If I’m being honest, though, its native 1,000Hz polling rate is more than enough for most people. On its own, the Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed is already a fast performer, seeing me through my CS:Go sessions as well as those Hogwarts Legacy trials without missing a beat.

It helps that it also boasts that 30K optical sensor that apparently not only gives it a 99.8% accuracy and better power efficiency but also allows it a wider surface compatibility. I’ve tested it on a couple of different desk mats, a slightly textured office desk, a marble countertop, and other surfaces, and while its pads aren’t the best for the harder ones, that tracking stayed on point.

As I had received my unit days before launch, I really didn’t get a chance to properly drain that one AA battery, but Razer promises up to 280 hours of battery life. While that longevity is nice, the downside is that you’d have to stock up on AA batteries, which I’m not really a fan of as there are other things to consider like proper disposal. And again, having that one battery in there makes the mouse heavier and more unbalanced.

Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed: Price & availability

How much does it cost? $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$129.95
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

Unlike the Razer Viper V2 Pro, which will set you back a whopping $149.99 / £149.99 / AU$259.95, the price of entry for the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed is much closer to the ground. In fact, at $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$129.95, it’s the exact same price as the wired Razer DeathAdder V3, touting the same marquee features but with that cable-free flair so you don’t have to stay tethered to your desk.

However, if you prefer something more lightweight and more premium, the $149 / £149 / AU$279 Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro is certainly worth considering, if you don’t mind the fact that it doesn’t have that smooth-touch finish.

Value: 4.5 / 5

Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed: Specs

Should you buy the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed?

Buy it if...

You want a premium-feeling mouse for less
The Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed boasts that grippy smooth-touch finish you’ll only ever find on Razer’s wired DeathAdder V3, a beautiful and elegant form that’s supportive, and switches that are comfortable and satisfying.

You need a gaming mouse with the best grip
Razer swaps out the Viper V2 Pro’s textured finish for its smooth-touch finish that feels more luxurious yet somehow offers a better grip for gaming.

You don’t mind a heavier mouse
Due to the price and Razer’s attempt to offer a longer battery life, this one is AA battery-powered, which adds considerable weight to its rear.

Don't buy it if...

You want the most lightweight and balanced mouse
If you want something more balanced and incredibly lightweight, better go for the DeathAdder V3 or the Viper V2 Pro.

You prefer something rechargeable
Stocking up on AA batteries is a thing of the past. If you want a wireless gaming mouse that’s rechargeable, this isn’t the one for you.

Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed: Also consider

How I tested the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed

Tested the mouse for a couple of days due to time constraint
Used it for playing PC games and for work
Put its marquee features through their paces during testing

Usually, we spend at least a week testing a peripheral, including a wireless gaming mouse like the Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed. Unfortunately, because I received it at the last minute, I only had two days to properly test its functionality and features, which means that I didn’t really have enough time to drain its battery and see for myself if it does indeed last up to 280 hours at 1,000Hz polling rate.

That said, I was able to spend enough time with the mouse to test the rest, from its marquee features like the smooth-touch finish and more pronounced ergonomics to its actual performance, utilizing it as my main work and gaming laptop for two days.

I’ve been testing and reviewing PC gaming peripherals for about 10 years now. Not only do I have plenty of experience with them, but I know what makes the best ones tick and can intuitively tell you which ones are not worth your time and money.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed September 2023

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D review: a fantastic premium performer, but its price holds it back

8:17 pm | September 13, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Tags: CPU, Intel Core, PC, Total War | Comments: Off

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D: One-minute review

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D is the middle child of the current 3D V-Cache processors from Team Red alongside the 7800X3D and the 7950X3D. It launched alongside the rest of the line back in February of this year and offers heightened gaming performance, but comes at a price.

Without a doubt, it is one of the best processors for gaming on the market. But even as gamers are going to be able to get the most out of this chip, it's productivity performance isn't too bad either.

Armed with a significantly lower TDP than the rest of the current AMD Zen 4 lineup, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D packs in 12 cores and 24 threads on a 120W TDP with a base clock speed of 4.4 GHz out of the box, and that's honestly the core appeal of this chip.

It's more power efficient and offers better raw gaming performance than its non-3D counterpart, but the addition of AMD's 3D V-cache means it can hold up with far pricier processors as well.

It should be stated that overall, you're falling into one of two camps with the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D, as it is impressive for gaming, but won't necessarily set the world on fire with the creativity or productivity side of things at the higher end of the spectrum.

The raw gaming performance at its $599 / £479.99 / AU$859.99 price point is decent, but chances are if you're spending this much on a CPU purely for gaming, you could argue that an extra $100 / £130 / AU$279 for the top-end 7950X3D could be a better bet instead.

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D: Price and availability

Comparable price to the Intel Core i9-13900K
$50 / £50 / AU$64 more than base 7900X

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D was released on February 28, 2023, and currently retails for $599 / £479.99 / AU$859.99.

That's around $100 / £130 / AU$279 less than the flagship AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D which features 16 cores and 32 threads. As a point of comparison, this AMD processor comes in a little cheaper than the Intel Core i9-13900K in the UK and Australia, where it currently sells at £699 / AU$929, and is just $10 more expensive in the US.

That is only one side of the story, though. That's because the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D requires an upgrade to the latest AM5 socket, which means an entirely new motherboard as well as the exclusive use of DDR5 RAM, and the best DDR5 RAM isn't cheap (even if it has come down in price).

Essentially, you'll be building an entirely new system around the chip as there's no more backward compatibility with AM4 as we saw with the two previous Ryzen processor generations (though the best CPU coolers for AM4 processors will still work with the new AMD chips).

This is owing to AMD's transition from a PGA to LGA socket, which just means that the processor no longer has pins the way previous generations did, much like with the best Intel processors.

Price score: 3.5 / 5

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D: Chipset & features

Close up on the Ryzen 9 7900X3D — (Image credit: Future)

Improved power efficiency
Zen 4 3D V-cache for under $600 / £500 / AU$900

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D features a lot of the same broad strokes as its non-3D variant. You're getting the same 12 cores and 24 threads on the AM5 socket with a total boost clock of up to 5.6GHz. The core difference here, however, is the 3D V-Cache which doubles the stock version's 64MB L3 Cache for a total of 128MB.

The higher the L3 cache is, the better gaming or intensive processing workloads can perform, that's because it's the largest level of cache available on a processor.

Added cache aside, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D is also significantly more power-efficient than any current non-3D Zen 4 processors available, as it clocks in with a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 120W, which is much lower than the substantially higher 170W of its stock variant.

While a higher TDP usually relates to higher performance, the inclusion of the added 3D V-cache means that the processor can access a larger pool of superfast cache memory, which is even more useful when gaming than just throwing raw power at the problem. With its own dedicated extra cache, there are fewer fetch operations to the PC's main memory, so the chip runs more efficiently, and potentially cooler under load.

This is reflected when contrasted against the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X's core clock speed of 4.7 GHz to the 3D variant's 4.4 GHz. It's a little slower out of the box despite the overclocking potential being the same, however, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D is still far faster than any of the current Alder Lake or Raptor Lake processors in terms of the raw speed.

Ultimately, the reduced memory latency means that you're getting a chip that runs cooler, draws less power, and performs better thanks to the addition of the second generation of AMD's V-cache.

Design & features score: 4 / 5

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D: Performance

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D up close — (Image credit: Future)

You won't be shocked to hear that the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D is one of the most capable CPUs for gaming that I've ever used, holding its own against the flagship 7950X and the Intel Core i9-13900K.

This is evidenced by some of the most impressive synthetic scores to date in industry-standard programs such as GeekBench 6, PCMark10, and Cinebench R23, among others, and you can see how the Ryzen 9 7900X3D compares to competing high-end processors below.

Where the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D falls behind the Intel Core i9-13900K and the 7950X3D in terms of the productivity benchmarks, the gap is greatly closed with the raw gaming performance. Turning to the gaming benchmarks, this chip's 3D V-cache makes all the difference in demanding titles such as F1 2022, Returnal, and Total War: Warhammer 3.

As with our other CPU reviews, the games tested in the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D review are tested at 1080p at the lowest graphics settings in order to isolate the processor's contribution to gaming performance. Below, you can see how this chipset compares to the best AMD processor and best Intel processor respectively.

Compared to the more expensive chipsets, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D absolutely holds its own with the 7950X3D and the 13900K, with the largest gap visible seen with how AMD's flagship handles Returnal. This is likely due to the fact that the 7950X3D utilizes an additional four cores and eight threads, and Total War series has always been Intel's strongest gaming benchmark, which remains the case here.

Still, with the Ryzen 9 7900X3D, we're still talking about an absolute powerhouse of a CPU, with framerates well above 100fps in demanding games, and upwards of 400fps in tamer titles. Realistically, you can expect this chip to be an absolute behemoth for 1080p, though you'll get diminishing returns at 1440p and 4K if you don't have the beefiest video card in your rig that can keep up with the processor.

Overall, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D is an impressive processor for the money which is definitely geared more toward gaming than productivity or creativity tasks. If you're purely interested in playing games then this processor offers strong price-to-performance at the $600 / £480 / AU$860 mark, but with the Ryzen 9 7950X3D so close in price, a lot of buyers out there are likely to be torn.

Performance score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also Consider

If my AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D review has you considering other options, here are two more processors to consider.

Intel Core i9-13900K
There's very little that we can fault the Raptor Lake flagship on with its performance. That's due to the excellent Raptor Cove and Gracemont cores with its hybrid architecture that makes it a processor that's difficult to beat outside of its expensive price point.

Read the full 5-star Intel Core i9-13900K review

How I tested the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D

Used in main gaming PC rig for almost a month
Played a variety of titles including those benchmarked
Industry standard synthetic benchmark tests

Test system specs

CPU cooler: NZXT Kraken Elite 360
GPU: Nvidia RTX 4090
DDR5 RAM: 32GB (2 x 16GB) Kingston Fury Beast RGB @ 6,000 MHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte X670 Aorus Elite AX
SSD: Seagate FireCuda 530 2TB
PSU: Corsair RM1000x
Case: NZXT H9 Flow

I tested the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D inside of a newly built machine utilizing Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 RAM, an Nvidia RTX 4090, and a brand new RM1000X PSU. The chip was utilized heavily for gaming in the benchmarked titles as well as in games such as Mortal Kombat 11, Cyberpunk 2077, and Tekken 7.

I've also been using the machine as my main computer for both work and play and have racked up dozens of hours word processing as well as with media playback. Through the real-world testing, the benchmarking, and the stress testing, I came to my four-star conclusion on the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D as a recommended CPU for gaming.

Price and availability

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro is available in the US, the UK, and Australia for $169.99 / £149.99 / AU$269 which positions it as one of the more expensive Xbox and PC controllers on the market. For a point of comparison, that’s a comparable sticker price to the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 ($179.99 / £159.99 / AU$249.95) for a similar level of functionality. It should be known that the Asus ROG Raikiri is also available for $99 / £102.99 / AU$169. This version drops the ‘Pro’ moniker, is a wired variant, and lacks the OLED screen.

Design and features

Screen of the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro — (Image credit: Future)

The Asus ROG Raikri Pro shares a lot of the same DNA as the standard Xbox Wireless controller in terms of its ergonomic shape and design with a few hallmarks of the angular Republic of Gamers theming. This manifests most notably in the form of a monochrome OLED display which can be customized with wallpapers and gifs - which is a nice touch. It’s essentially a modern version of the Dreamcast controller’s VMU and adds something completely different that no other modern controller has, even if it is largely superficial and non-functional. However, it does look good in combination with the RGB light strips on the front.

On the more practical side of things, the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro is a controller aimed at competitive play which means you’ve got trigger stops and rear paddles. The functionality is closer to the Nacon Pro Revolution X than Microsoft’s official second-generation pro pad, and that’s due to the fact that software can be used to further tweak the sensitivity of sticks and remap more granularly. There’s also built-in ESS DAC technology which reduces noise and distortion and acts as a booster for some of the best wired gaming headsets when one is connected.

There’s also a 2.4 GHz wireless dongle and Bluetooth for wireless play, however, this functionality is exclusively limited to PC gaming or for use with the Asus ROG Ally - not the Xbox Series X or Series S. Despite having the ‘Designed for Xbox’ badge and labeling, this controller does not feature the ability to be used wirelessly on any of Microsoft’s consoles. That means you’re essentially paying $50 / £50 / AU$100 extra for lighting and the OLED screen while remaining tethered by the 3m / 10ft cable, which makes this one truly expensive option.

Performance

Options menu on the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro's screen — (Image credit: Future)

In my testing with the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro, primarily on PC, I found that the controller worked well wirelessly with the 2.4 GHz dongle and also when plugged in via the USB-C lead. The buttons, triggers, and bumpers all feel responsive enough, however, with the all-matte membrane construction, this gamepad ultimately feels like a marginal step up from the standard Xbox wireless controller instead of a sweeping improvement matching the premium price of a controller that costs 40% more.

In contrast, the hairline triggers themselves and the rear paddles feel solid and satisfying, which are easy to map and use without too much tweaking. In my testing, I found that the battery lasted around 35 hours with the lighting and the screen disabled, but you’re looking more at 10-15 hours’ use when going all out.

I found the trigger stops on the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro to be some of the best that I’ve experienced, feeling similar to the Victrix BFG Pro, and making for satisfying feedback when more precision was needed. If you prefer playing some of the best FPS games armed with a gamepad then the reduced pull distance really helps. What surprised me the most was how the ESS DAC built into the 3.5mm jack elevated the SteelSeries Nova 1X’s sound quality significantly when compared to being plugged into the front I/O on my machine.

While the OLED display looks cool, it ultimately doesn’t add to the user experience in any meaningful way. There’s no way to utilize the panel in games or sync up with what you’re doing. Instead, it’s there along with the lighting to look cool, but it’s more of a gimmick than a major selling point when all is said and done.

Ultimately, the Asus ROG Raikiri is a good performer, but it doesn’t offer enough functionality for its high price point to be the essential gamepad for either PC or Xbox consoles outside of its looks.

Should I buy the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro?

Buy it if…

You want a PC controller with a good battery life

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro has a lengthy battery life with its 2.4 GHz wireless and Bluetooth functionality when playing on PC.

You want a unique-looking gamepad

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro looks stunning with its screen, aggressive angular design, and bright RGB lighting for a controller that really stands out from the crowd.

Don’t buy it if…

You want to play wirelessly on Xbox consoles

Despite being officially licensed for Xbox systems, the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro can only be used with a wired USB-C connection on the Xbox Series X|S.

You’re looking for top-tier value for money

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro is one of the most expensive Xbox and PC controllers on the market, and you’ll be better served by the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 for the same price.

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro will pair nicely with one of the best gaming monitors or one of the best monitors for Xbox Series X.

Starfield review – deep, space

7:00 pm | August 31, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Tags: PC, Star Trek | Comments: Off

Review info

Platform reviewed: Xbox Series X
Available on: PC, Xbox Series X|S
Release date: Early access: Sept 1, regular release: Sept 6

Starfield wants to cast you as the lead in a brand new mystery of the week sci-fi series. Whether that’s Firefly, The Mandalorian, Stargate, or whichever flavor of Star Trek takes your fancy, Starfield has you covered. The role-playing game is best enjoyed like this too; as a lightweight and competently made amusement box that lets you interact with the world around you in whichever way suits you best.

It’s quite an achievement. While some situations are going to require a quick trigger finger or an orbital dogfight, you’re often free to explore at your own pace and solve problems in your own way. I prefer to jetpack around and shoot all of my problems with a laser pistol, but if you want to try to persuade people or even forge a new life away from the game’s main story running resources between outposts and making a mint you can. Several of these paths can even be blended together, something I expect most players will do in their first playthrough as they get to grips with the game.

Bethesda Game Studios’ latest RPG will feel familiar to fans of Fallout’s 3D outings and even perennial fantasy favorite The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. The offering here is much more polished, and there are notably fewer bugs than many meme accounts would have you believe. Ultimately there’s a whole universe here for players to dip into.

Playing the ‘Field

An astronaut in a Starfield Unreal Engine 5 demo — (Image credit: Pasquale Scionti)

But you won’t do it alone. Starfield pits you as a starship captain and you’ll slowly accumulate people to man your vessel, accompany you as you explore, and even staff your outposts. While the majority of the writing in Starfield is somewhat patchy, the companion characters are fleshed out and interesting enough to jet around the universe with.

You can hire your future space friends from bars, but you’ll also get a regular flow of recruits from the game’s main story or side quests itself. Many characters in Starfield are looking for a bit of hope and something new. Often, your arrival brings that hope and you can then choose to add them to your crew - whether they can get their new life depends on whether you add them to your galaxy-hopping A-team, or assign them to oversee water production on a dead world.

If they’re on the ship, they’re getting a ticket to the main event. Building spaceships is one part of Starfield that feels expansive and, even on a controller, toggling power between your ship’s different systems is easy to do but feels surprisingly intricate. The way parts of your ship slowly thrum to life as you power up various systems is satisfying, the clunky way you power through space makes fights feel tense, lasers and ballistic rounds bouncing off your shield as you keep an eye on the all-important hull strength.

There’s even ship-based stealth, where you cut the power to all of your ship’s systems and chug slowly forward in the hope of avoiding detection. When this goes wrong, and it likely will, you’ll get into dogfights that feel thrilling but also mechanically complex. Tweaking your shield and weapon power levels to try and get an advantage in fights feels crunchy and satisfying, while you can also board disabled ships and take them for yourself if you’re that way inclined, making space combat a satisfying diversion to scuffling around planetside.

Conversely, on-world combat feels very similar to Fallout 4 or Fallout: New Vegas, although many planets have their own gravity and the addition of boost packs - a jetpack, proving that a rose by any other name does smell just as sweet providing the rose is a jetpack - means that firefights feel quite different to most other games. If you want to pretend to be Boba Fett, you can do that. I, in fact, did that fairly regularly.

Unfortunately, enemies feel spongy, and often you’ll pump round after round into an opponent without much in the way of feedback. Combat often feels quite weightless, but can be helped with a few damage-boosting skills.

Skills to pay the bills

An astronaut looks out over a snow covered mountain range with a ringed planetoid in the distance — (Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield’s skill system is one of my favorite parts of the game. You can buy skills in any order that you want and some of them will unlock new game mechanics: the stealth skill gives you a detection meter to help in skulking around, while the targeting skill allows you to use your ship’s weapon systems to target individual parts of a ship. Use these skills enough and you’ll finish their challenge - killing enemies with a pistol, crafting objects, getting sneak attacks - and can then buy the next level of the skill which will give you even more benefits.

There are several different families of skills and you can slowly progress through them, and it’s really clear to see how these different trees can intersect to create unique situations. My character started with skills in speech, pistols, and piloting but I quickly found myself swotting up in research, gaining proficiency with melee weapons, and then - due to my innate desire to gather items like some sort of spacefaring magpie - skills in weightlifting to let me carry everything.

Best bit:

A lone space explorer stands at the bottom of a vast canyon as the sun rises in the background — (Image credit: Bethesda)

Docking with a space station that wouldn’t respond to my hails, I found myself in the middle of a zero-G shootout in a space casino. As spacers descended on me from all sides, my pistol rounds were knocking bodies and props flying through the station as I used a boost pack to float through the station and outmaneuver my enemies.

There are some games that you just don’t want to write reviews for. Starfield is, unfortunately, one of them because of the weight of expectations, fans clamoring to hop into a spaceship and throw themselves into the vast inky blackness of space. There’s something about space that seems to do this to people: just look at No Man’s Sky or Star Citizen, both games about pirouetting through the void that have been victimized and lionized by people in equal measure. Writing about Starfield, then, is a bit of a poisoned chalice. If it’s bad people will get grumpy. If it’s good, people will get grumpy. I’m not sure how people will react to the reality: that Starfield is competent and well-made but has the same lifeless eyes as the uncanny valley NPCs that inhabit its sprawling cities.

Starfield isn’t like those other space games: there is a full universe to explore but the playspace here is actually broken up into a lot of little chunks. You won’t be flying your ship from orbit down to the planet, and you can’t even use your ship to get around on the planet. There are a thousand different worlds to explore, but many of them are barren and good for nothing more than gathering resources in a pinch, the planet able to provide a platform for your building but very little else. On the ground itself, you also can’t explore willy-nilly - the planets are parceled up into little packages of land for you to charge around. You’ll rarely notice that the universe is split up into these vignettes: you’ll fast-travel around much more often, and in all of my playtime I’ve run into this issue once or twice.

For some, that will be an unforgivable error: an open-world game portioned off by loading screen toll gates. If this is you and you’re bristling away, my advice is just to get over it. It won’t impact your enjoyment of the game. Hardly any of the little qualms in Starfield will impact your enjoyment.

A titanic undertaking

I could have spent another 100 hours with Starfield and I’m still not sure if I’d have managed to see everything. However, the 40 hours I’ve spent with the game have left me certain that this is a well-made game made by people who really do want to offer up the sort of RPG that most developers can’t find the resources for anymore. It’s titanic, and this is easy to see whether you’re running across frozen tundra trying to escape alien spiders or navigating a course around a fractured asteroid field.

But, I’m somewhat concerned about the soul of the game, which is largely absent. This soul - raptured away at some point as Starfield’s multitude of systems were layered into place - isn’t something you can touch, but it’s what I've come to blame for the fact that Starfield is almost completely devoid of character. There’s an entire universe to explore and you can go anywhere, but none of it feels like it’s anywhere.

The cities and planets might have a different aesthetics, but they often feel like the same place. New Atlantis’ shining spires and the cyberpunkish Neon couldn’t look more different, but they feel like the same place once you’ve adjusted to the look. Ultimately, Starfield feels like a game made for screenshots. It even has a great “Oblivion moment” when you step out of the mines that act as a tutorial. Sadly, in play it’s rare to find something truly breathtaking. There’s a wide range of sci-fi here, but it feels like the rougher edges have been sanded off, and what’s here is fun if uninspiring, competent enough that there’s rarely a misstep even as you seek to get to the bottom of every mystery the game throws at you.

I’ve enjoyed the time that I’ve spent with the game, and I fully expect scores and scores of people to be playing this for years. There’s so much here for willing captains who want to explore every different station, survey and map out every world. For me, I’ll be left looking up from the ground, wondering if a more interesting version of the game is out there in the stars somewhere.

Accessibility features

Slim picking here. You can turn on subtitles for dialogue and general play and also adjust the size of the text in the menus in Starfield, but otherwise, the accessibility options just offer you the chance to bring up ironsights (aim down sights) as a toggle option rather than requiring you to hold it.

A disappointing offering for a game with this much time and money poured into it.

How we reviewed

An astronaut staring at a distant ringed planet in Starfield — (Image credit: Bethesda / Microsoft)

I played 45 hours of Starfield on the Xbox Series X, with a 4K HDR-ready TV, playing with an Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2. During my play session, I did some main story and then decided to explore some random worlds and answer some distress beacons, ostensibly with the goal of getting enough money to buy a huge spaceship.

I eventually wasted that money fitting the biggest laser cannons of all time to my existing spaceship, but I regret nothing.

Our list of the best RPGs might be worth checking out if you're not sold on Starfield. But, if you're looking for a journey to share with friends, you might want to check out the best multiplayer games on PC too.

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