Perfectly countering any enemy’s attack in Rise of the Ronin is one of the most satisfying bits of video game combat I’ve experienced in months. The shimmer and crescendo of the violent impact of blade on blade, and the stagger of your enemy that follows; it’s all incredibly fulfilling, and immensely moreish.

Such combat thrills are at the center of this open-world action role-playing game (RPG) from Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja. The PlayStation 5 exclusive transports players to 19th-century Japan as it goes through the final years of the Edo period, Japan’s reopening to Western influences and the subsequent Boshin War. It’s a compelling choice of setting and makes for an intriguing and interesting backdrop for the adventure of the protagonist you play as: a Blade Twin, one of a pair of highly skilled assassins.

All in, Rise of the Ronin scratches the open-world itch. There’s a vast amount to do in each of the PS5 game’s regions, an interesting narrative is woven throughout, and it’s a Samurai-tastic adventure for those looking for something similar to Ghost of Tsushima or (maybe) the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Red. However, it is a little rough around the edges, gets repetitive in parts, and can’t seem to work out what kind of game it actually wants to be at points. 

Learning the ways

It’s the aforementioned combat that really shines throughout Ronin’s adventure. Countersparks are the star of the show. These moves are well-timed block-counters to enemy attacks and never get old. That’s quite the feat given their crucial nature to each and every fight with all enemy types.

Complementing the basic moves of attack, block, and dodge, countersparks are used to reduce enemies' Ki levels (stamina, in practical application), but they will reduce your own in the process. These are solid foundations for your combat moveset, but combat grows into a multi-faceted beast beyond this. 

There are different stances to master (giving me strong Ghost of Tsushima vibes); special Martial Skills that can unleash devastating attacks on baddies; a variety of close combat weapons to grow proficiency in; and ranged weaponry from excellent shurikens to powerful rifles, and you have a fulsome set of ways to inflict pain. This versatile mix leads to combat that rarely dulls, and it’s really enjoyable building a particular style and learning to nail every move.

As you level up your character, you’ll be able to develop all these further by investing in various elements of a robust skill tree that’s centered around four classic core elements of role-playing character-building: strength, dexterity, intelligence, and charm. I did find that once I’d slipped into a preferred playthrough, a lot of the skills just didn’t appeal or were relevant to my style and my effective combat, but the amount there is welcome, and you can respec at any time given you have a specific item.

The old informing the new

Team Ninja has kept some of its soulslike game elements from its Nioh series in Rise of the Ronin. Banners are quasi-bonfires, giving you save points and fast travel locations - that also respawn enemies and top up your health; and your character’s health items and ammo are limited consumables which can be refilled by touching a banner. It feels quite like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or Atlas Fallen in this respect, a kind of 'souls-lite'.

It’s a different kind of adventure to Nioh, crucially, in both its open-world offering, and in its action - the latter can be challenging, yes, but aside from boss fights’ spiking difficulty occasionally, this adventure is overall much more accessible (and can be altered across three difficulty levels).

More broadly on the action front, Rise of the Ronin seems to aspire to offer both hack-and-slash combat, as well as stealthy assassination-type sleuthing. While the former thrives for all the aforementioned reasons, I often found the stealth to never be as strong. It never felt like I could truly stealth my way through an entire outpost, with guards noticing your takedowns from a distance, or headshots with a bow not quite being effective enough. Plus, when formidable or stronger enemies can simply withstand an assassination attack, all hell can quickly break loose. As a result, it feels like Rise of the Ronin is trying to have its cake and eat it: wanting to offer a means to be stealthy, while always guiding events toward all-out action. At best, this makes it a little inconsistent, but at worst, the game’s identity is harder to see and appreciate with the two elements never truly wedding neatly. 

Guns, gliders, and grappling hooks 

Traversing the world of Rise of the Ronin is one of the highlights too. You get a glider and grappling hook early in the game, and both are crucial to getting around the city of Yokohama and all the regions of Rise of the Ronin. Both are exquisite and a huge amount of fun. As well as giving you quicker means of travel, both look cool and can be used to either get the drop on enemies or incorporate them into attacks.

The game’s setting of 19th-century Japan is undoubtedly an interesting one that many folks will be familiar with. Exploring the world and seeing Western influences encroach on the traditional Japanese way of life, while said traditions battle to stay relevant is intriguing. It’s like a modern-day Way of the Samurai, albeit much longer and with much less obtuseness.

Importantly, the setting and world are deployed in such a way that there’s just so much to do. There are guard outposts to clear in aid of returning order to a district, side quests to complete, cats to collect (yes, you read that right), landmarks to visit and photograph, shrines to pray at, and more loot and upgrade materials to pick up and find than you can poke a stick at. 

You’ll also meet a whole host of allies along the way. A further kind of mission type comes from this supporting cast in the form of Bond missions, which enable you to, well, strengthen your bond with them. These allies can join you in combat and offer in-battle bonuses, while they’ll also help you navigate the narrative and attempt to draw you one way or another along the anti- or pro-shogunate routes, providing interesting outlets and conversations through your journey.

It’s worth mentioning here that the game’s ‘bi-directional’ narrative and how it navigates, presents, and deploys the pro and anti-shogunate story is well done. Each branch can take you in different directions, and the choices you might are not just aesthetic: they make a genuine difference to you, your missions, and your allies - some characters will live and die as a result of the course you take.

The game’s open-world offering is filled with stuff to do and will scratch the itch for those looking for a world to checklist their way through. It’s borderline bloat-y but is often manageable, and its world and map retains an allure of exploration and completion.  

As a result, the relative linearity of the main story missions should be welcome. However, these main missions do become rather samey and repetitive: drop into an area, fight your way past regular enemies on your way to a mission marker, and fight a boss at the end. This structure rarely deviates, so doing a few of the main missions in a row to progress the story can become tiresome. 

Rough and ready

While the game’s world, on the whole, looks authentic and uses broad brush strokes of landscape type, color, and so on to bring the setting to life, it’s not all smooth sailing graphically.

Character models, animations, and combat moves look excellent. When you’re in tighter environments, everything looks terrific too. However, the environments of the open world take a hit and there is severe pop-in of elements and features that occurs not in the far distance, but very obviously in the fore- and mid-ground too, to the point that it is distracting. As the game’s combat almost demands you use the performance graphics setting due to its fast-paced, quick-reaction nature - it really is the best to play the game with - this exacerbates the pop-in even further than the other modes.

Graphical gripes aside, Rise of the Ronin is a robust open-world adventure game that will provide you with hours and hours of enjoyment, even if none of them really feel like anything new or fresh. It might not be the most unique, blistering, or bombastic - or crispest-looking - PS5 exclusive, but its best elements of a content-rich world and slick and crunchy combat have kept me in the game, mopping up outposts, completing bond missions, and collecting cats, after rolling the credits. 

Accessibility

Rise of the Ronin has a decent range of accessibility options to tinker with. In terms of controls, players can change the input methods for some actions, choose from a few controller layouts, and have options to increase or decrease the amount of control assists for some moves. Vibration intensity can be altered, as can camera controls and language, and there is a range of subtitle options from backgrounds, sound effect captions, and changing the size of the text. However, there are no colorblind options which is a shame.

Should I play Rise of the Ronin?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

How we tested Rise of the Ronin

I spent just over 25 hours with Rise of the Ronin for review, playing on a launch-model PS5 with the game installed on the console’s internal storage. I completed the main storyline - which totaled about 15 hours in my playthrough - and spent the rest of my time soaking up the story and exploring a variety of all the different parts of the world.

I tested all of the game’s graphical settings (performance, quality, and ray-tracing), and found that performance was the best for enjoying that game and its best parts (the combat). I played Rise of the Ronin on a Samsung Q6F 4K QLED TV as well as on the PlayStation Portal and experienced that game’s audio with a Samsung soundbar, a SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset, and the PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds. The game’s audio was a joy through both soundbar and headset device. 

The Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds give a fantastic first impression. The eye-catching RGB-on-black aesthetic of both the earbuds and the charging case lend them a premium feel. That goes for overall audio quality, too, where there’s an impressive level of detail that you won’t often find even among the best gaming earbuds. As such, we can highly recommend them as a strong alternative to the likes of the Sony Inzone Buds or the Razer Hammerhead Hyperspeed.

That said, there are some missteps in terms of both design and performance. Despite coming with rubber tips of varying sizes, there’s a lack of comfort that makes the Speednova buds not best suited for longer sessions of play. They’re also not particularly great for multiplayer, with middling directional audio and some rather tinny voice quality. These could admittedly be dealbreakers when considering the earbuds cost $199.99 (and they’re yet to launch in territories beyond the US).

However, if you typically stick to single-player games or just want a rich music-listening experience, you’ll find that the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds seriously excel in these areas.

Design and features

The Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds come packaged in a smart little box that offers all the essentials. You’ve of course got the earbuds housed in their charging case, alongside three different pairs of tips of varying sizes, a USB 2.4GHz dongle, and a USB-C cable for charging.

The charging case itself might just be my favorite among the more premium earbud offerings. The outer shell only bears the ROG logo and a light strip to indicate charging. Opening it up reveals another ROG logo, this time illuminated by some lovely RGB lighting. The buds themselves also share this RGB logo effect, and they, along with the case, are built from sturdy, high-quality plastic.

Unfortunately, the buds don’t feel particularly great in the ears after a long period of time. I tested each of the three tip sizes (small, medium, and large) over extended sessions and there wasn’t much of an improvement to overall comfort. Your mileage may vary here, of course, but I did have to take them out after one to two hours of use and swap back to my wireless gaming headset instead.

There’s quite a lot of touch-based functionality to the earbuds, too. A single tap of either bud will either play or pause audio - but doing this during a call will mute your microphone. Other functions include double-tapping to toggle active noise canceling (ANC) or a quadruple press to adjust volume. There’s a lot here, but it’s all thankfully very responsive.

Performance and battery life

Unfortunately, the buds’ level of comfort - or lack thereof - is a real shame, because the audio quality presented by the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds is exceptional. The high-quality soundscape is bolstered by the use of Dirac Opteo technology which provides enhanced sound that’s able to really hone in on those finer details. This allows for overall much richer, detailed audio seldom heard in other gaming earbuds.

This was especially clear in busy single-player games like Rise of the Ronin. Here, the buds brought the bustling, winding streets of Yokohama and its various districts to life by enhancing background NPC chatter and ambient sounds, all without drowning out the wider soundscape. The in-depth sound of Tetris Effect: Connected was another highlight here, and I was super impressed with just how well the earbuds were able to catch even the subtlest details of the game’s remarkably layered soundtrack. In short, the Speednova earbuds allowed for an impressively immersive experience.

However, it is worth noting that the heightened audio quality provided by Dirac Opteo is only available via 2.4GHz connection. Over Bluetooth, while audio is still serviceable, noticeably flatter overall. The trade-off here, then, as you might expect, is that Bluetooth connectivity is much easier on the Speednova’s battery life. According to Asus, you’ll get up to 46 hours from the charging case via Bluetooth 5.3 here, and that’s with active noise canceling and RGB effects switched off. 

You can expect this number to be roughly halved with these effects enabled, as per the description on the Speednova’s product page. And in my experience, I found this to be largely true if a bit on the generous side. On average, the earbuds themselves carry anywhere between 6-12 hours of charge based on the combinations of features enabled. Though, mostly opting for a 2.4GHz connection, I found a single charge to carry around 4-5 hours with RGB disabled and ANC switched on.

Unfortunately, the buds fall short of being absolutely perfect due to lackluster multiplayer performance. Directional audio isn’t the best here, and certainly not up to the level of some of the best PS5 headsets which are better able to hone in more accurately on footsteps and distant vehicles, for example. The built-in microphone is also lacking, rendering my voice with a pretty tinny register with an overall lower quality than some much cheaper buds on the market like the SteelSeries Tusq.

Should I buy the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds?

Despite some issues with comfort and call quality, the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds are among the most impressive when it comes to sheer audio quality, largely helped by the fantastic Dirac Opteo technology. If you’re after something for immersive single-player experiences or are something of an audiophile, these buds come highly recommended. 

Buy them if...

Don't buy them if...

How we tested the Asus ROG Cetra True Wireless Speednova earbuds

I tested these earbuds for nearly two weeks across many of the best PS5 games, as well as titles on PC and Nintendo Switch. To put the earbuds through their paces, I largely elected to test them with all features enabled, including Dirac Opteo audio via 2.4GHz connection and active noise canceling.

The buds shone in single-player titles, and I found it very hard to pull myself away from titles like Rise of the Ronin, Dragon’s Dogma 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as a result. While I did find the battery life to be rather inconsistent based on the number of features enabled, I eventually chose to disable the RGB effect to squeeze a couple more hours of use out of them before needing to charge them up again. 

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, the latest installment in the long-running first-person shooter (FPS) series, is the real deal. It offers a fully-fledged multiplayer experience that’s remarkably close to the latest console and PC release on your phone. Elevated by impressive visuals and full multi-platform cross-progression, it’s the perfect way to level up your weapons and battle pass in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 while you’re away from home.

Even if you’re not a dedicated fan, there’s still plenty to appreciate here, including an expansive arsenal of weapons, vehicles, and characters taken from across the series. The all-new 78-player Mobile Royale mode, which condenses the Call of Duty: Warzone experience into an easily digestible mobile-friendly format, is another highlight, offering all the thrills of a full battle royale in under ten minutes. 

Paired with excellent returning maps and a solid selection of fan-favorite multiplayer modes, it’s a refreshingly generous offering for a free-to-play mobile game. While it easily ranks among the best iPhone games and the best Android games right now, the demanding hardware requirements, which practically necessitate a recent high-end phone or tablet to run the game smoothly, are going to prevent a large swathe of potential players from enjoying the best experience without a pricey upgrade.

Picture perfect

One of the most immediately impressive aspects of Warzone Mobile is its visuals, which I found to be remarkably comparable to Modern Warfare 3 on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. That’s not to say that there aren't some obvious cutbacks in terms of overall render distance, shadow quality, texture resolution, and model detail, but it’s easy to overlook these when everything is running on a small screen in the palm of your hands. Even on the modest medium quality preset, everything looks pleasantly crisp and clean on the 5.42-inch display of my iPhone 13 mini.

Bumped up to the high preset on the larger 6.6-inch display of a Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, the results look even better. Warzone Mobile appears to borrow many assets directly from the recent console games so, aside from a few minor omissions, you’re getting the same sizable arsenal of highly detailed weapons found in Modern Warfare 3, all complete with their punchy sound effects and intricate animations. 

The handling of each weapon feels almost indistinguishable from their console counterparts too, making it easy to pick up and play if you’re already familiar with touch-screen FPS controls or prepared to hook up a compatible controller. All of your unlocks and purchases from that main game are automatically carried over and readily accessible in the mobile game, which is a huge bonus. 

The selection of maps at launch has also been drawn from across the Modern Warfare sub-series, including the long-awaited revival of Verdansk - a fan-favorite battle royale arena from the first incarnation of Warzone. If you’re a returning player, each of these look almost exactly as you remember and there’s something magical about seeing such intricate environments running natively on a mobile phone. 

Unfortunately, your visual experience is going to vary dramatically depending on the specifications of your device. Testing the game on a range of iOS and Android hardware, I found that the best results were invariably achieved on the most expensive recent phones or tablets. It’s not unplayable on models from a few years ago, like the iPhone 11, but you’re constantly fighting an uphill battle against an unsteady frame rate and the rapidly increasing temperature of your phone. The excellent visuals are also spoiled by the lower graphical presets which, while understandable, is a huge shame.

Even on the most powerful hardware, playing more than a few matches of Warzone Mobile rapidly drains your battery life. Playing over a thirty-five-minute train ride, I saw my phone drop from almost full to just over half charge. High battery consumption isn’t at all unusual while playing modern mobile games, but it definitely makes this one to avoid if you’re going to be away from a plug socket for a long time.

Your audio performance will also depend quite heavily on your choice of accessories. Unless you’re playing in a completely silent environment, there’s a strong chance that it’s going to be hard to discern key audio cues through your phone speakers. When you connect some wireless headphones or any of the best gaming earbuds, the sound quality is excellent with a fantastic level of depth. Even when the action begins to pick up, enemy footsteps remain clearly audible and small details like the click of your weapon whenever you switch firing modes come through well.

Head to head

Warzone Mobile currently offers three distinct battle royale modes: Battle Royale, Mobile Royale, and Rebirth Resurgence. Battle Royale follows the same general format as the mode in Warzone, albeit with the total player count increased from 100 to 120 per match. As a team of up to four players, you drop into an open world and duke it out for survival. There are a range of vehicles to help you traverse the large map quickly, while weapons and armor can be found inside buildings, by opening unlockable crates, or purchased from automated Buy Stations using cash.

You get cash by looting or completing contracts - bite-sized challenges that range from hunting down a specific target player to securing freshly dropped supply boxes - while a circle of toxic gas gradually closes in reducing the size of the map until the last squad standing wins. It’s a tried and tested formula, though matches do play out slightly differently in Warzone Mobile thanks to the constraints of the mobile format. I’m very experienced with competitive mobile FPS titles, but I still found that long-range confrontations were quite difficult thanks to the inherently imprecise nature of the touch controls. 

This can be remedied with a controller, but I still found that the best strategy was often to covertly get close before engaging. It’s a new style of play that takes some getting used to, especially in Verdansk - a sprawling city dominated by rooftops with long sightlines that would otherwise be well-suited for taking distant potshots. 

These controls are much better suited to the Warzone Mobile exclusive Mobile Royale mode, which shoves 78 players into a comparatively tiny section of the map and dramatically increases the spawn rate of powerful weapons and ammo. You can often go a good few minutes without so much of a glimpse at an enemy player in Battle Royale, but the average game of Mobile Royale is filled with near-constant close-range confrontation. A complete match generally lasts just under ten minutes, making it ideal if you’re looking for something bite-sized that you can enjoy on public transport or on a break at work.

Rebirth Resurgence is similarly strong, thanks to its small map and the fact the 36 players constantly respawn - a combination that leads to absolute chaos. I also enjoyed the suite of core multiplayer modes including Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, and Domination. They use an intense 6v6 format and take place exclusively on small maps like Shipment and Scrapyard from Modern Warfare 2. The pacing is absolutely perfect and allows the snappy gunplay and fast-movement speeds to shine. Although there are only five total maps for these modes at the moment, with the likes of Modern Warfare 3’s Rust already confirmed for a future update, it’s a very promising start.

It’s a huge amount of content in a download that currently sits at under 8GB and, as a free-to-play game, there’s practically no reason not to recommend trying it if you have enough storage space. The high system requirements are a shame, but it's almost an inevitability in a mobile game that looks and sounds this good.

Accessibility

Warzone Mobile features  a range of accessibility options. This includes the ability to enable an auto pickup function that automatically equips nearby loot, a fully customizable touch-screen control layout, automated ranged or melee attacks, the option to enable a prominent outline around enemies or allies, and much more. 

The game is also compatible with a good selection of peripherals, such as the Xbox Wireless Controller or dedicated mobile controllers like the Backbone One.

Should I play Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

How we tested Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile

I spent over ten hours in Warzone Mobile across a range of devices including an iPhone 13 Mini, Samsung S23 Plus, iPad Mini, and iPad Pro. I played using both touch controls and compatible controllers, such as the Xbox Wireless Controller and Backbone One. In addition to the native audio of each phone or tablet, I tried the game with wireless headphones including the Beats Studio Buds Plus and wired gaming earbuds such as the SteelSeries Tusq gaming headset.

During my time with the game, I tried out all of the available modes and maps at least a handful of times to ensure I tested all that the game currently has to offer. As an almost daily Modern Warfare 3 player, I was able to directly compare the game to its PC and console equivalent.