Well known gaming peripheral maker Thrustmaster has entered the world of headset manufacturing with their Thrustmaster Y-300CPX and its a headset that works with every gaming platform you can think of. Is it worth your cash, or are you better off without it?

Read our review to find out.

Thrustmaster has been around a long time and is well known for their line of controllers, steering wheels, and miscellaneous gaming peripherals. It wasn’t too surprising to find that they moved into the headset market, as there are headsets everywhere and by everyone. Their price point for the Thrustmaster Y-300CPX is more than competitive at US$49.99 but lets take a deeper look at the product before you run out and order one.

The PR firm for Thrustmaster sent us a headset to try out and we have been using them as our primary headset for many hours of gaming. They fit snug and are pretty comfortable to wear over long gaming sessions, and our only complaint is that the pad that rests against your head isn’t rounded enough to conform to our rounded head. This was an easy fix as one only needed to slightly move the headset to where it didn’t rest on the crown of their head. Once we adjusted the fit and found a comfortable spot to rest the headset, we were able to game for hours without any discomfort.

Pre-order the Doom Edition Coming in May

Your gaming platform of choice will determine how you hook up your Thrustmaster Y-300CPX and we tried these out several ways on multiple platforms. We started out by simply plugging the headset into the PS4’s controller andf it worked flawlessly with great sound and clarity. The only problem with using the headset in that manner is that you lose the headset controller. The headset controller plugs in via USB and when in use on the PS4, and in conjunction with this headset, gives you an amount of control very similar to Astro’s Mix Amp Pro, which costs $40 bucks all by itself.

The audio controller gives you multiple options to adjust and the ability to turn off your mic when needed. You can adjust the game volume and voice volume separately, giving you the ability to have one louder than the other depending on your needs at the time. There’s also an adjustment for the bass and mic gain, and the bass is pretty darn good for a headset. The mic worked great with no complaints from teammates as our voice carried well into the game with no outside noise. These aren’t sound canceling so you’ll be able to hear things around you, but with a unidirectional mic, your mates in a game won’t be hearing those things.

The sound quality with the Thrustmaster Y-300CPX is good. We had the volume turned all the way up and they probably could have used a couple more notches as they were a little on the quiet side. Footfalls were still noticeable, depending on the game, and even directional sounds were spot on. Cranking up the base gave explosions a little more thump and the bass really is exceptional. While using the headset with our cell phone, albeit without the USB controller of course, the conversation went without a hitch and worked great. We also tried out the headset with our PS Vita and it worked well with Skype and had great sound for gaming.

The Thrustmaster Y-300CPX headset is compatible with the PS4, the PS3, the Xbox One and Xbox 360, PC and Mac, but also with Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PSVita, as well as with tablets and smartphones – including calling functions for the latter.

Thrustmaster’s first venture into the gaming headset market, much like everything else they put their name on, comes with a great product quality, a fair price point, and a multi-functionality that we have come to expect from them. While not the best headset on the market, the Thrustmaster Y-300CPX is one of the best at its price point.

The post Thrustmaster Y-300CPX Headset Review – One Headset for All appeared first on Terminal Gamer - Gaming is our Passion | PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, WiiU.

The baseball season is in full swing and that means developer San Diego Studio has this year’s edition of MLB The Show  16 ready to go. Should you step up to the plate and buy it, or are you better off sticking with last season’s edition?

Read our review to find out.

Springtime is here and that means the boys of summer are lacing up their cleats, loosening up their gloves, and are ready to play ball. That also means it’s time for the next edition of our favorite baseball game. MLB The Show 16 is here. Slight name readjustment this year, and most won’t even recognize it, but that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to new bells and whistles.

The folks over at SCE San Diego Studio know how to make a baseball game and they know how to make it look pretty. Graphics have always been a great selling point for the franchise and being a first party studio means they don’t need to worry about any platforms other than PlayStation and they can tailor everything for theose consoles. Sadly the PS Vita gets no love this year as there is no MLB The Show 16 available for it, but at least there is remote play for PS Vita and PS4 owners. Still, as launch PS Vita owners, it’s sad to us, and maybe a little telling, that even first party studios are dropping support for the powerful little handheld. Could that be the sound of a death knell for the machine? We certainly hope not.

Player models have been slightly updated from past versions of the game, and the guyliner that players were wearing seems to be gone now. The hair still has a tendency to look like someone put a ton of gel in it and isn’t very flexible. While bushy beards look great in a still shot, they look like dangerous porcupine needles when the player is in motion. Hopefully the new slide rules will keep someone from being impaled by a beard at second base. Also updated were player animations, walk-off celebrations, home run high fives, and there’s even the silent treatment in the dug-out now. Quite a few things were added and/or updated to give the game a more life-like feel.

Our favorite mode has always been the Road to the Show and new some features gives the mode even more of a RPG feel to it. Your RTTS characters can once again be imported from MLB 15 The Show into MLB The Show 16, so if you had a guy from MLB 14 The Show imported into MLB 15, you could be deep into a lengthy career. We have both a pitcher and a right fielder that have made the transition from MLB 14 all the way to MLB 16 and some new added features makes them even better than they already were.

The new Perk system gives your player some added tools and attributes to help enhance their gameplay in a variety of ways once their skill level reaches a specific threshold. For a pitcher, things like added energy after a strike out or even a boost for an extra wind when you get tired can be the difference between a complete game or a short night. Each perk is worth a certain amount of Showtime points and you only have 120 to spend, so choose wisely.

Your Road to the Show is not only enhanced by the new perk system, but there’s also presentations around your first game at each level (i.e. AA, AAA and MLB) that gives you a feeling of accomplishment that hasn’t always been there for the series. Being greeted in the dugout by one of the stars of a team when you first make it to The Show is how it should be.

Diamond Dynasty also got some new bells and whistles. In Conquest Mode, a single player online experience, you take your squad on the road, conquering territories and expanding your fan base in what goes from a turn-based strategy game to a three inning match-up with MLB teams around the country. Conquering a stronghold of a team leads to great rewards, but if your fan base is low, beating them on Legend difficulty is no easy task.

There’s also the new Battle Royale mode which is very similar to Madden NFL’s Draft Champions, where you’ll have 25 rounds to draft an entire baseball team using cards presented to you. There will be a small number of studs to choose from, a handful of good players, and a bunch of middling players. Building a team around a few studs is the key to a decent team, but other players are in the same type of draft system so the playing field is generally pretty level. Your first draft is free but once you’ve lost a couple of games and are eliminated, it will cost you 1500 Stubs thereafter.

MLB The Show 16 continues the upward trend of the franchise by adding some much needed bells and whistles to a game that was already one of the best sports franchises around. The only drawback to the success of the series has to be the masses that want to go online and play it. The game has been plagued with online issues from launch, with even the game’s website being unavailable at times. The developers have been hard at work addressing the issues and have already released the first patch for the game, and have given free stuff to everyone that has played online.

It’s impossible to make a perfectly flawless video game, but SCE San Diego Studio has went above and beyond in making MLB The Show 16 and if not for the online issues and glitches, this is about as close as you can get.

Don’t be afraid to step up to the plate. You won’t be disappointed.

9.5

 

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DiRT Rally has been unleashed on the masses. Is it worthy of your time, or is it best left in the pits?

Read our review to find out.

Developer Codemasters has been working on the DiRT series for a long time, dating all the way back to 1998. From its original inception on the PC, and its successful migration to consoles, the series has always set the bar for real world simulated rally racing. Here we are almost twenty years later, and DiRT Rally is now on the scene and continues to create an extraordinary simulation of sight, sound and realistic physics.

Let us begin by saying that if you are looking for a casual, easy to drive racer that is more arcade than sim, you are looking in the wrong place. DiRT Rally is a game that, without practice and an understanding of basic rally driving concepts, you will fail repeatedly, and by fail we mean you will crash, you will run off the course, and you will roll your car. Rally racing is inherently an unforgiving sport, and when you are driving 100+MPH down an old dirt road, you best pay attention to the your co-pilot and you best be prepared in advance by knowing your track and the terminology your co-pilot will be using. Don’t be discouraged by early failures, though, as practice will, as goes in real life, make you a better driver.

Your career starts out with a choice from some slow moving cars, and that’s not a bad thing as their is a steep learning curve when it comes to driving. We went with the Renault Alpine A110 with a whopping 135HP. At first we were thinking this would be a slow cake walk, but once we started stage one in Monaco, we realized that wouldn’t be the case. After a 9th place finish in stage one, we slowly worked our way up the leaderboard, stage by stage, until we finished on the podium with 3rd place.

Each car has it’s own feel to it, and the more you drive it the more that you can upgrade it. Hiring a team to assist you is also a key to success and more team members become available as you progress through your career. Having a good mechanic in the pits will help you get your car set-up properly for a stage covered in snow, or for a stage covered in rain and mud. For the most part, DiRT Rally doesn’t pit you against other drivers, it pits you against a given stage, the clock and the elements, and success doesn’t come easy. Each track seems like a narrow path with little room for error, so stay straight and true the best you can, and mind those cliffs on the right.

The audio for the game is incredibly accurate and realistic. We played with our HyperX headset and with the volume cranked up, the track sounded alive. You could hear rocks pinging against the undercarriage, the tires straining to hold the pavement, or the tires losing themselves on a dirt corner. The level of detail to the sounds of the game are only surpassed by the sights you’ll see if you use the bumper cam (our favorite and most successful view) as you fly along a given stage. The level of detail you’ll see from the bumper cam gives the game a realistic look that only a few games have achieved, regardless of the platform.

DiRT Rally has 43 cars to race with, and while that may not seem like a lot, they covered a wide range of years, makes, and models. From the 60’s to today, you’ll probably find a car you like and will enjoy, once you get the hang of driving it. Interior views on the cars are all nicely detailed, and driving from the interior cockpit view gives the game a real world feel. Each car is its own animal, and just because you had a great run through a certain stage with one car, don’t expect to just jump into another one and duplicate that run right away. The handling of each car really is different and makes a difference.

Rally Racing is, and always will be a fast, dangerous, and unforgiving sport. It’s video game counterpart should be the same and DiRT Rally mirrors that world perfectly. From a screaming Subaru rocketing up Pike’s peak, to a bouncy jaunt through the rolling hills of Germany in a 135HP Renault, the game brings you the world of FIA from hill climbing, to rally cross to straight up stage smashing and it brings it with a realism you’ll appreciate.

Well done Codemasters.

9

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We spent the weekend playing the Mirror’s Edge Catalyst Closed Beta and hung out with faith in the City of Glass.

We originally were introduced to Faith and her awesome parkour skills back in 2008 with the release of the original Mirror’s Edge. We quickly dell in love with the fast paced and smooth running action of the game, which gave us the choice of combat or flee, along with a linear course to run through. The original game was like no other at the time and we found ourselves running through levels repeatedly trying to beat our best times. Fast forward to this weekend, and we were lucky enough to snag a download code for the Mirror’s Edge Catalyst Closed Beta.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst isn’t a sequel or a prequel but rather a reboot to the series, even though it didn’t really need one. We aren’t trying to do a full review of the game right now, so we will hold off on discussing the story aspects of the game and just stick to the game play, which is more than enough to keep us interested in this upcoming title. Instead of sticking to a linear course, developer Dice is giving us an open world to run through, and that is a definite plus. The city of Glass is huge so getting from point A to point B can become a journey in itself. Luckily there’s a map that we can put a destination point on.

Once you have a destination, you are guided with a red streak to help you get to point B. This streak is completely optional though, so always look for a better route. The key to achieving the best times will always be finding the most efficient route, and that isn’t always a straight line. Faith runs best when she’s at full speed and keeping her momentum up unlocks abilities that makes her much more effective at eluding security guards.

The game has a bit of an RPG feel to it this time with a new menu for unlocking and upgrading several different aspects of Faith. We’ll save an in depth look at these features for our full review, but we will give you a sneak peak at her upgrade menu below.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst returns us to the game play we fell in love with back in 2008 and we can’t wait to take on the full game in June, eluding and/or taking out guards along our path. Going up against a leaderboard of times that our friends put up will add a complete second layer to the game that will have us running through events again and again.

Check out some screenshots below and if you haven’t pre-ordered this game yet, why NOT?!

 

The post Mirror’s Edge Catalyst Closed Beta Impressions – Running With Faith appeared first on Terminal Gamer - Gaming is our Passion | PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, WiiU.

Old school FPS games seem to be on the rise and developer Flying Wild Hog hopes you’ll like their remastered version of Hard Reset Redux. Read our review to find out if we did.

Back when first person shooter video games were just starting out, titles like Quake, Doom and Wolfenstein ruled the roost. No team-based action here as it was just you and your guns versus whatever the developer chose to throw at you. You start at point A and have to figure out how to get to point B, all the while blasting anything that moves. The stories were generally just tossed in with little to no real meat to them and almost always hard to follow. This sums up Hard Reset Redux to a T.

Hard Reset follows the story of our man-with-a-gun Major Fletcher, an Army Combat Veteran and soldier of the CLN, as he blasts his way through the city of Bezoar. The story is told through comic-book like cut scenes that can be skipped once a level loads in the background. We sat through them all trying to figure out exactly what was going on, but we found it hard to follow with vague plots and a vague storyline. Something about an overbearing artificial intelligence that is dead-set on taking over the world and only our Major Fletcher could stop it.

While the story was lackluster and lacking depth, the gameplay for Hard Reset is where the game really takes off. There isn’t much to choose from as far as weapons as you’ll only have to guns and a sword, but those two guns can be upgraded and turned into a bunch of different weapons. This is accomplished with add-ons that can be bought using in-game currency that you’ll earn through destruction and exploration. One of your guns is an old school bullet based weapon while the other is a futuristic energy based weapon. Grenade launchers can be purchased for both, and the energy weapon has a cool stasis grenade that will freeze bad guys in their tracks.

There are only a few types of bad guys to blast, and while that is a little disappointing, the variety is still pretty good considering. There are little guys that will roll up on you and blow up, little guys that are just a nuisance as they jump and attack you, and little guys that have propellers on their heads that can attack from above you. These little guys can be a pain to shoot, but that plasma sword you’re carrying will slice them apart in no time. As you get farther into the game, the bad guys get bigger and are harder to take down.

You’ll find that upgrading your weapons, and knowing which weapon works best against the bad guys, will help lead you to success. Keep an eye out for exploding items lying around as well, as these are key to taking down the really big bad guys. There are also electrical objects that can be used to your advantage that emit damaging electrical sparks to any bad guys near them. Also be on the lookout for walls that are cracked as they are probably goodies hidden behind them.

As you progress through the game you encounter several boss battles that, at first, seem daunting, but once you figure out that all you have to do is shoot the highlighted area, turn into a simple battle of dodge-duck-and-shoot. These bosses are huge and massive and what could have been an epic, long remembered boss battle turned into a simple and repetitive point and shoot battle that was forgettable. There was definitely a missed importunity here to create something that was epic and memorable, but they really missed the point of a boss battle.

The difficulty choices for the game range from easy to suicidal. We recommend playing on Normal as it’s a pretty good balance of difficulty and available checkpoints. We would not suggest playing on Insane mode unless you are truly sadistic and just love dying in a video game. It’s called Insane mode because you would have to be insane to try and beat it on that difficulty. Well, maybe not insane, but you will have to be more patient and technical in your game play as the bad guys are exponentially harder to kill and checkpoints are few and far between.

The graphics for the game on the PS4 are top notch with a decent frame rate. there were a few stutters along the way but mainly when there was a lot going on at one time. The game looked really polished and didn’t look like it was created for another platform. The audio for the game is also great with fast paced tunes that mt\atch the gameplay when there are bad guys to be blasted. The music stopping once you killed the last bad guy in a given encounter is always a nice touch as it tells you if you missed someone or not. If the music hasn’t stopped, then you better keep looking around for another bad guy.

Hard Reset Redux isn’t the longest game around, as the campaign can be completed on Normal in a few hours for someone just blasting through (longer for those completionists that are looking for anything and everything) but there’s still a lot of fun to be had for only US$19.99. While co-op or multiplayer would have been cool, the game is still some old-school fun.

7

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The developers of Master Reboot, Wales Interactive, now bring us a story of life after death. Was it a memorable affair, or should you just forget about Soul Axiom?

Read our review to find out.

The Story Behind Soul Axiom

Take your first steps to paradise by uploading your soul to Elysia, named by critics as “the single most important development in the history of the human race” (Era Magazine, 2027). As the latest state of the art Digital Soul Provider, Elysia is a sprawling server where your memories and dreams become reality. Our patented SoulSync system allows you to choose the memories you want to enjoy for eternity; whether you are a living user or you simply wish to leave a lasting testament of your life that the whole family can relive at their leisure.

In Elysia, death has no dominion. In Elysia, life has no boundaries. Cast off your mortal shackles and discover the secret to immortality in your digital afterlife.
Discover Elysia. Then, now and forever.

The story behind the game isn’t exactly well written and that makes it hard to follow. The idea is intriguing but the execution and the actual story line is lacking. Collectible items lying around gives you more info and helps further the story somewhat, but it’s still pretty confusing at times. More effort should have been given towards the story behind the game, as this really takes away from the experience as a whole and the premise of the story definitely had promise.

The game is set up in one large hub that leads you to multiple tiers, each with their own set of levels. Completing all levels on a tier will unlock the next tier for you, and in turn unlock more levels for you to figure out. Once you complete a level, you can replay it to collect anything you may have missed, and each level has a unique achievement attached to it. Completionists will want to make sure they collect every item and get that unique achievement.

Gameplay is centered on you acquiring different powers, and then using those powers to complete puzzles. I use the term ‘puzzles’ loosely as most aren’t all that puzzling. Your powers range from being able to move things with your mid, to shooting out fireballs from your fingers to blow stuff up. These powers, much like the puzzles themselves, aren’t all that creative and show a lack of imagination. There were a few puzzles that were fun to figure out, but most were so simple they were boring.

The graphics for the game were just as disappointing as the puzzles. Most levels were on the dark side and as such, gave you a limited view of your surroundings. This almost felt like a cop out by the developer as most of the design models felt like they were from the late 90’s with no draw distance whatsoever. What characters you do see in the game are also poorly made and could also be from a much older video game. In an age where 3D rendering has made characters and environments look lifelike in games such as Uncharted 4 and Battlefield, the developer really should have at least tried to put some effort into the 3D modeling in this game.

Developer Wales Interactive could have had a great game on their hands with Soul Axiom if only they would have spent more time in creating a better looking world, better looking characters, and more creative puzzles and powers.

4

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The caped crusader is back like you have never seen him before. In the first entry of the newest Telltale Game’s series, Batman – Realm of Shadows lets players not only control the action, but make rippling decisions that could have dire consequences for all of Gotham. Are you the hero we deserve or the one we need?

Read our review to find out

Over the last few years Telltale Games has been adapting a number of IPs for the video game industry. Each formulated into their unique tried and true episodic stories, whose outcomes are driven by the decisions that the player makes. Now, Telltale have taken on their biggest franchise yet with Batman. The first game to use their updated engine, which pushes the visuals and mechanics to make this one of their smoothest experiences to date.

Having been a big fan of just about every Telltale game to come out over the last few years, even I was starting to see just how dated some of their titles were starting to look. Thankfully, their rendition of Batman is by far the best looking entry into their library of existing titles, not only based off of the character models, but also including animation and cinematography. Being a Batman title there is a great deal of expected action, which is something that normally wouldn’t go well with the game’s Quick Time Event dynamic, but thankfully fits it quite well with the improved engine.

Working like a double edged sword, Telltale’s Batman integrates on-screen prompts into the action as it slows down between each moment. This is both great for immersion and keeping with the expected format from a Telltale title, but I did find it a bit more difficult to understand when a prompt was required of me. At times I was starting to look more for prompts than what was actually occurring in the scene. Also, I found myself accidentally entering the wrong input before hitting the right one, and was still able to proceed as if I was responding flawlessly. This level of hand holding did take a bit away from any tension of having to be on-point, and forced many cut-scenes to feel more staged than any video game touting player decisions should.

Keeping with the issues found, at one point one level of the game’s audio cut out. Leaving a fight scene to only allow voices. While the issue did correct itself after a restart, it was something that came up and did detract from the overall experience and flow of the story, as I had to redo a segment just to get it with sound.

With all of that said, Telltale’s Batman is still a fantastic experience that is both well acted and written. When it comes to what has been drawing fans to both the Batman franchise and Telltale games, Telltale’s Batman hits everything right on the head. The first episode, Realm of Shadows, introduces players to a much more troubled man, one who needs to balance being behind the cowl and the billionaire playboy stuck in the public eye. This is a genuine look at the life of a Bruce Wayne, and while this is only first of five episodes, there are already a number of consequences that could have drastic effects for the future.

Realm of Shadows is not quite a perfect entry for Telltale’s Batman series, but it that doesn’t detract from it being a fantastic experience for fans of all types. The key elements that have been making the character so intriguing over the last few decades persists here, with enough of a new spin and focus on elements that haven’t been touched up on in a Batman game before. Making this a must play for fans if Telltale can brush out some its minor issues and keep the pacing it has already started.

8

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Developer Kunos Simulazioni has brought their racing simulator Assetta Corsa to console gamers worldwide. Was it a successful lane change, or did they crash and burn their exotic sports car?

Read our review to find out

When it comes to the racing and/or driving genre of video games, you can generally split the games into two types. You have your arcade style of games like Burnout and some of the the Need for Speed games, and then you have the simulators like F1 2016 and the Gran Turismo series. There are a few games that can blur the lines simply by adjusting the difficulty and driving aids like Project Cars and Driveclub, and even F1 2016. Those allow you to slowly work your way up to the full-on simulator level, with enough on-boarding features to lead you to a successful racing style. Assetto Corsa joins the ranks of full-on simulators, but without any on-boarding bells and whistles. For those of you wondering what on-boarding means, it’s how a game helps you past the learning curve of that particular game.

The graphics for the game are slightly hit-and-miss. Standing still and waiting for a race to start, the game looks fantastic. Cars are well detailed, with a slant towards realism you would expect from a developer such as this. The cars are nice and shiny, with well detailed interiors that really look as close to real life as you can get. These are beautiful cars and it helps make for a great looking game. Problems arise as you speed around a track, though, as we experienced screen tearing, framerate drops, and graphical glitches that really lessened our overall experience. None of these were game breakers as the game never froze or crashed on us, and ran smoothly as far as the game physics went. The driver animations were a little wonky at times, as the driver tended to get a little crazy behind the wheel if you are playing in a view that shows his hands.

If a developer is going to call a game a racing simulator, they need to make sure the actual driving physics are spot on and developer Kunos Simulazioni did just that. This is a team that was founded in 2005 and have quite a few simulators under their belt, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they know what they are doing. Whether you are in a 800hp Pagani Zonda or an old Ford Escort, it is the driving physics that will ultimately make or break a game. Not only do these cars need to handle like their real life counterparts, but you should also be able to tell the difference in performance between the two, and Assetto Corsa does a great job of making each car unique to their specs.

The game can be played with a controller, but where this game becomes a true simulator is with a decent wheel and pedals, and a shifter if you have one. Thrustmaster recently sent us some units for review (in process) so we were able to experience the game as it was intended. We are currently using the T150 wheel, with the T3PA 3 pedal system, coupled with the TH8A shifter. Keep in mind that if the car you are driving in the game only has paddle shifters, then the TH8A doesn’t come into play as you’ll only use the paddle shifters on the wheel for actual shifting.

Generally when playing a racing simulator, one would prefer to be able to start out on an easier setting that will allow them to learn the ins and outs of how a game handles on a given track. Driver assists are a nice way to do this and usually that is how one learns a track. Driving lines, when done dynamically based on speed, are the perfect way to learn the best path and speed to attack a corner. Assetta Corsa really missed the mark here as their driving line seems to just be an unchanging mark on the track that doesn’t give much in the way of help. Maybe we are spoiled by how Project Cars and F1 2016 implement this in their games, but ultimately we are here to have the fastest lap on a given track, so maybe a dynamic line hurts us more than helps us in the long run?

Racing in the real world is a very competitive sport, with cars that are fairly equal when they hit the track. Assetta Corsa understands this and treats all cars accordingly. Lets say you’re 19 laps into a one-make 25 lap race and you have a 3 second lead. You misjudge your speed going into a sharp turn and your car spins out, 5 cars blow by you, and you are now in a fight to try and make up for lost time. With only 6 laps left, you might be able to make up a spot or two with only a prayer for the podium, and that’s exactly how this game will play out. As in real life, the game is very unforgiving.

We found ourselves practicing a track many times from the main menu before actually taking on a race in our career. That’s really the only way you’ll be able to dominate a given race when going for a full on simulation with all aids turned off. Practicing is the key to success, but success can still be fleeting if you aren’t near-perfect, and that does mimic real life racing. If you are successful in career mode, there are no accolades for you, and that was really disappointing. No winner circle, no podium, no champagne, no milk, no hoopla, just a back button to exit the race with. No real carrot on a stick to make you want to keep going down this difficult road, and as difficult as it is, you need something to drive you other than your ego.

There are several different modes you can play in Assetto Corsa. You can practice all you want, you can jump into a quick race, take on a full race weekend, try your luck at drifting, or just do some checkpoint races in Hot Lap mode. Hot Lap mode will have to racing around a track by yourself, trying to get to the next checkpoint before time runs out. That mode is perfect for those that want to have better lap times in Time Attack mode, and also can help you practice any given track. All three of these mode, Practice, Hot Lap and Time Attack, will help you be a better full-on-sim racer, and should be where you spend most of your time as you perfect your craft. Multiplayer mode on the PS4 works and looks the same as a regular race, but good luck find anyone online.

Developer Kunos Simulazioni’s Assetta Corsa isn’t a bad game, it’s just a tough one with little to no help whatsoever, with graphics that start out great, but tend to go downhill from there. The physics show a lot of potential, but the game feels almost unfinished and unpolished. If you are looking for a great simulator, with OK graphics, this one’s for you.

7

The post Assetta Corsa Review – Unforgiving Simulation appeared first on Terminal Gamer - Gaming is our Passion | PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, WiiU.

We have been testing out Thrustmaster’s mid-level PlayStation and PC compatible T150 with force feedback. Is it worth the price or are you better off sticking with a controller?

Read on to find out

As we pointed out in our recent Assetta Corso review, racing video games generally fall into two categories: arcade racers and simulators. While arcade racers generally don’t benefit from using a steering wheel accessory, games like Assetto Corso and FI 2016, full on simulators if you want them to be, do. These types of games were designed to be enjoyed as if you were driving the real thing, and a Dualshock just doesn’t do them justice.

Thrustmaster, as a brand, has a long history of creating quality gaming peripherals. From joysticks and flight controls, to steering wheels and driving accessories. They recently sent us several items to test out and review and we are starting with the Thrustmaster T150 Force Feedback, PlayStation branded steering wheel. While this isn’t the cheapest wheel they have on the market, it’s probably the best bang for your buck if you’re on a tight budget. Priced at US$199, it’s not exactly cheap but is a great option for sum games on a PlayStation product and/or a PC.

Right out of the box you can tell this is a quality made product. It has some weight to it, and doesn’t feel like a cheap plastic peripheral. It was packaged tightly, with plenty of protection surrounding it. The wheel is branded with the PlayStation logo and has a PS4 share button and has an options button. The only thing missing is the touchpad and a headphone jack. We ended up using a Dualshock in conjunction with the wheel as that is how we use our HyperX headphones for multiplayer chat. A headphone jack would have been a nice addition, but I’m not sure how they could have incorporated one while keeping the wires out of your way.

The wheel has upgradeable firmware and is preinstalled with PS3/PS4 software so that it is instantly recognized when plugging it into a USB port on your console. There is a slider switch on the wheel for choosing between the PS3 and PS4, so make sure it is set to the console you’re using. We tried the wheel out with both consoles and the PC (the switch needs to be set to PS3 for the PC) and really fell in love with it. On the PS3 we played Gran Turismo 5 & 6 and Driver San Francisco. For the PS4 we spent hours playing Project Cars, Driveclub, Assetto Corso, F1 2016 and Dirt Rally. The wheel works with so many games, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to try them all.

T150 & TH8A Add-on

The wheel uses a mixed belt-pulley and gears system that allows for smoother, more fluid and less noisy gaming than one with helical gears. The force feedback does a great job of helping you feel the roads and feel your current traction situation. Racing around Sonoma in a’15 Mustang GT in Project Cars, you can feel everytime your rear-end breaks out and you know when you need to lay off the throttle a little bit and counter steer. Playing Dirt Rally, you can feel the ruts in the road as you scream down a dirt road at top speed and you can feel when you are getting too loose.

The wheel comes with a standard two pedal system that works OK. They are a little light-weight and tend to move around if you don’t have them mounted to anything. They would have benefited from some added weight built into them, as we found ourselves constantly moving them back to where we wanted them. Thrustmaster also sent us their 3 pedal T3PA add-on and TH8A shifter so the 2 pedal system went back in the box eventually.

The wheel mounted OK to our desk, but finding something to mount it to for the console proved to be a bit of a challenge. There are plenty of wheelstands on the market that would have worked, but the cheapest one is $100 and we didn’t want to wait around for shipping. Luckily we had some lumber lying around, and I’m a bit of a handy man, so I built one for us to use. Nothing too fancy, but it worked perfectly and didn’t cost us anything.

Thrustmaster continues to create great products and the T150 lives up to their standards. If you are in the market for a great wheel at a decent price, you won’t be disappointed with this one.

The post Thrustmaster T150 Racing Wheel Review – Steering You in the Right Direction appeared first on Terminal Gamer - Gaming is our Passion | PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, WiiU.

To go with our recently reviewed T150 steering wheel, Thrustmaster also sent us the TH8A H-Pattern/Sequential shifter.

Read on to find out our thoughts on this well built add-on.

As we went deeper into the world of racing simulation, we found ourselves driving an old school Ford Mustang 2+2 Fastback. the game just couldn’t draw us in, though, as we knew that Mustangs didn’t have paddle shifters back in the 60’s, and we always prefer a manual transmission over an automatic. The game lost some of its immersion with this one drawback, even when using the T150 steering wheel. Luckily for us Thrustmaster had sent us their TH8A add-on shifter, and once it was added to our rig we were immersed back in the game in no time.

When we first got the package in the mail, we noticed that it was fairly heavy. As we pulled the shifter out of the package, we realized why. This isn’t some cheap plastic add-on, only designed to be used for a couple of years and tossed by the wayside. This is one of the best built gaming peripherals we have ever came across and expect it last for years to come. It’s made out of 90% metal, with contact-less shifting sensors that utilize Hall Effect AccuRate Technology (H.E.A.R.T), meaning there’s nothing to wear out over time. When you have a peripheral that needs this much movement by design, that idea is genius and makes the $150 price tag understandable.

The shifter gives you two options for shifting. The H Plate shifter comes installed and for us, using it was a no-brainer, but not everyone prefers a shift pattern so Thrustmaster included a sequential shifter plate that swaps out in a matter of minutes. Four screws and a  quarter rotation later and we were trying it out. In all honesty, if we want a sequential shifter we’d just use the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel on the T150, but we know that others may prefer the shifter itself, so it was nice of Thrustmaster to include the option. Puzzling that they didn’t opt for a chrome plated sequential shift plate though, as the shifter loses some of its sexiness with that plain black plate installed.

Mounting the shifter to our set-up was fairly straightforward as it uses a simple table top clamp. For those of you with a fancier set-up, the shifter has pre-drilled mounting holes and the table top clamp is easily removed. Whichever way you choose to mount it, make sure it’s secure as you’ll be using it a lot, and shifting can be a violent event when flying into a corner at 100+ MPH and grabbing a lower gear in order to slow down a little quicker.

T150 & TH8A Add-on

The TH8A shifter feels as if it came out of a real car, and even uses a somewhat standard shift knob. You can replace the original one with a knob of your liking as most universal knobs will fit. We are leaning towards ordering a Pokemon Pokeball style knob ourselves, because, why not. The only real complaint we have for the TH8A is the long shift throw, as the shifter itself could have been an  inch or two shorter, but there’s an answer for that with Ricmotech’s Short Shifter Kit. You can also adjust the shifter resistance with the turn of a screw, so it’s pretty easy to customize this shifter.

Racing simulators like Assetto Corso and Project Cars can only immerse you so deep by themselves into the world of racing, but Thrustmaster wants to assist these great games by making your experience as close to the real world as possible. The TH8A shifter, coupled with the T150 or just about any Thrustmaster wheel and a 3 pedal system like the T3PA, takes these experiences to the next level.

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To go with our recently reviewed TH8A shifter, and to address the only real complaint we had with it, we added a short shift kit.

Is it worth the $30 price tag?

The TH8A shifter add-on by Thrustmaster is by far one of the best gaming peripherals we have ever came across. Our only complaint is that the shifter itself is an inch or two too tall and makes for a longer shift pattern. Luckily we weren’t the only ones that felt that way as the folks over at Ricmotech addressed the problem for us.

They created a simple adapter that raises the H plate almost an inch thereby changing the geometry of the shift pattern so as to shorten it considerably. With the TH8A’s contactless internal design, you end up needing less gear stick travel, and this equals quicker shifts, which in turn equals faster lap times.

The adapter installs in seconds as you only need to remove the four H Pattern plate screws, line-up the adapter with the holes and a small plastic pin, and then use the new, longer screws to hold it in place. the kit also comes with a heat-shrink cover to protect your shifter , but if you don’t have a heat gun to apply it, you can use electrical tape and it will give you almost the same protection.

What really should seal the deal here is the fact that Ricmotech is a licensed partner with Thrustmaster, as that should vouch for their quality and expertise. The adapter is made to fit the shifter exactly, and lines up perfectly.

Looking at the underside of the adapter shows the alignment pin that makes sure there’s no guesswork involved in installing the piece.

The adapter is available right now on the Ricmotech website for $29.95, and if you’re serious about wanting faster lap times (we cut 5 seconds off at Sonoma Short), and are currently using the TH8A (or even the older TH8RS shifter), than you should seriously consider ordering one of these.

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To go with our recently reviewed T150 wheel and TH8A shifter, Thrustmaster also sent us the T3PA, wide 3 pedal add-on.

What good is a racing simulator if you have no clutch pedal? Just having a high quality shifter isn’t enough to create the simulation experience if you have no clutch pedal. Luckily for us, Thrustmaster has the T3PA add-on that is compatible with their line of racing wheels. It plugged right into the T150 they sent us, and we were in business in a matter of seconds.

At first glance, the pedals look a little cheap with all of the plastic going on, and honestly it would look a lot sexier with some chrome diamond plate on the base of the unit, but once we lifted it out of the box, the weight of it lets you know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover as the pedals are made out of steel and the unit is weighted to try to keep it stationary.

The pedals are high quality and adjustable with the included allen wrench. You can shift them side-to-side and up or down to fit your needs. Two screws makes the adjustment quick and pretty simple. This can allow for more or less leverage on each pedal as it changes the geometry for each pedal.

The gas pedal isn’t too firm, and you can feel the tension as you press it down, with enough smooth resistance to mimic a real-world gas pedal. The travel is fairly long, though, and you’ll probably want to address that by checking the in-game settings. Most games give you the option to use custom settings for your throttle, so if you do find the pedal travel a bit too long, see if your game can address that for you.

The brake pedal worked as advertised but felt a little spongy out of the box. This must have been an early complaint with this model as Thrustmaster included an add-on conical brake mod to give the pedal more stiffness at the end of its travel. This eliminates that spongy feeling, and you can adjust it so that the braking requires quite a bit of pressure at the end-of-travel if you like.

The clutch pedal, really, is the main reason why most people will be purchasing this product. If you’re a fan of standard transmissions and have the TH8A Shifter add-on, having a clutch pedal is a must. If you opt for the VG T300 or the T500RS, more higher end wheels than the T150, you’ll get the T3PA or the T3PA-Pro with them. Most of the wheels come with a two pedal set-up, though, so if you want a clutch pedal, you’ll need to purchase the T3PA separately.

The clutch pedal added an entirely new dynamic to our racing games that we weren’t really expecting. When using paddle shifters and no clutch, you just have to click on the left paddle going into a corner, and you move on to the next section of a track. While it is fun, it doesn’t really immerse you like having to press down on the clutch, grab a lower gear with your shifter, and then release the clutch and hammer it out of the corner. The travel for the clutch seemed a bit long so we adjusted that in-game for quicker shifting.

A couple of us already knew how to drive a stick so we felt right at home, but surprisingly, those that had never driven a stick before had a bit of a learning curve with the auto-clutch turned off in-game. This bears witness to the realism that comes with Project Cars and right peripherals. We had to manually create an Engine Start button due to all of the false starts by the non-stick drivers. Personally, I have taught quite a few folks how to drive a stick-shift in real life, including a friend that had just bought a 2015 Mustang GT, so it wasn’t too hard for me to explain the basics of taking off and shifting while using a clutch. Shifting on the fly isn’t something that can be taught, though, so there-in lies the learning curve.

While we were unimpressed at first glance, in the end we found these pedals to be top-notch and worth the USD$99 price tag. While we didn’t test them out, the T3PA-Pro‘s look a bit higher end and the USD$150 price tag reflects that.

The post Thrustmaster T3PA Review – More Pedals Mean More Fun appeared first on Terminal Gamer - Gaming is our Passion | PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, WiiU.

Back in 2007, the Call of Duty franchise got its fourth installment with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Nine years later it has been remastered and those that pre-ordered Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare can start playing it now.

Does the remaster live up to the legacy of the original title, or are you better off just waiting for the next installment for the series?

Nine years ago graphics were at a different level than what we are seeing for this generation of consoles and PC graphics cards. Games looked and ran great on last gen equipment, but since we didn’t have a time machine we had no idea what the future would have in-store for our viewing pleasure. Call of Duty4: Modern Warfare was a great looking game back in 2007 and received great review scores, with an average on Metacritic of 94. Yeah, it was that good.

Fast forward to 2016, and in anticipation of the release of Call of Duty: Infinte Warfare, Activision asked developer Raven Software to remaster Modern Warfare in order to bring it up to date with the current generation of gaming. What resulted was what feels and looks like a brand new game.

When one thinks about the term remastered, they may think it’s just smoothing out some images and making them look a little better. That’s not exactly the case here as Markus Peekna, Studio Character Artist tells us:

The SAS sweaters in the original game were re-textured versions of a jacket. While this was a legitimate and resourceful solution for the time, we decided early on to create a new asset from the ground up for Price and his crew.

The game truly doesn’t look like a remastered game. The graphics are smooth with no pixelations or rough edges. The environments weren’t just touched up, but also got extra attention to detail according to Charles Morrow, Creative Visual Director :

Realizing the Chernobyl reactor, surrounding forests and the world seen from the sniper’s perspective – in addition to intense detail in the foreground – was a nice challenge. As an example in how world creation has changed, In Modern Warfare, window frames could be built simply with one or two mouse movements; in this scene, the window frame was modeled out, and even has internal structure. The team relied on the layout of the original game for high level visual direction.

On of our favorite levels from the original was All Ghillied Up and to see how much it’s been adapted to this gen of gaming was impressive. While the ghilli suit looked pretty good on the original, it took on a life of its own with this version. Ryan Butts, Lead Artist explains why:

The ghillie suit is one of the most iconic pieces of clothing across the Modern Warfare franchise. Our goal was to emphasize realism and that includes having the cloth move naturally from character movement and wind. This adds a great sense of realism to the mission.

What really gave us the sense that this wasn’t just a simple remaster was the level of detail given to the folks that you’ll see a lot of in the game. Captain Price is one guy that seems to always be around and his level of detail was impressive. Markus Peekna, Studio Character Artist tells us:

Captain Price received the most attention during the art review process. From the smallest details like skin pores, the depth of his crow’s feet and other blemishes to the shape of his facial hair, it was all redone to make him feel more alive than ever. We felt a deep responsibility to maintain the original spirit of the character but also bring him into the modern area of games with much higher quality.

Those that played the original back in ’07 will probably remember most of the story lines, but just like when you’re re-watching an old movie, how much do you actually remember? The story is the same, but for us, remembering what was around every corner on the Veteran difficulty wasn’t easily remembered. The game is very punishing, albeit beatable with time and patience, but still as fun as it was back then and well worth another go at it.

If you are looking for an awesome way to prepare yourself to get back in the FPS world of Call of Duty, you can’t go wrong with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered.

9

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Developer Dice and publisher EA have taken us back to the Great War from the early 1900’s. Is it a journey worth taking, or should we leave the past in the past?

World War I. The Great War. The war to end all wars.

The first modern war is known by many names and brought with it a new era of weaponry to the battlefield that was the most deadliest in known history at the time. Humans have long been known for their ingenuity and this war saw them applying that genius to the vast array of killing tools that were used to slaughter their fellow humans. Single shot and slow loading muskets gave way to fast loading bolt action rifles and semi-automatic carbines, followed by fully automatic rifles and mounted machine guns.

The weaponry grew with leaps and bounds and turned soldiers into killing machines the likes of which the world had never known. Two soldiers in a covered bunker, with a mounted .30 caliber machine gun, could turn a simple field into an unassailable position with a kill zone that no one could survive. The use of cannons turned into the use of artillery that could reach distances never thought possible before. Cannons were mounted onto moving behemoths of machines and tanks were born.  While not exactly the war to end all wars, it was the war that ended the old ways of war.

All of the well known war based video games skipped WWI and went straight to WWII. Honestly, gamers probably didn’t think too much about what they thought was the archaic weaponry of The Great War. Maybe they’ve seen the movie “All Quiet on the Western Front” or even “The Water Diviner“, both of which are great movies and are worth the time to watch, with the latter actually having a tie in to the game we are currently writing about as it is based on the assault of Gallipoli. Both use weaponry that are fairly simple but not all that sexy, like say an MP5 with a holographic sight and laser dot. While a bolt action Mauser or Enfield might not be sexy, they’ll still kill an enemy just the same, and that really is the bottom line. Developer DICE seems to have understood this and did an incredible job on recreating the weaponry of The Great War.

The Battlefield 1 campaign is spread out across Europe and has six unique stories about six different main characters. Honestly, it’s probably the only way to tell a story about WWI. The war covered so many areas that just following one soldier through an entire campaign would be impossible if you want to cover more than one theater of operations. From the trenches of Germany, to a tank blasting through the French countryside, to the air over Europe, to Italy and then Gallipoli, and then finally onto the desert of the Ottoman Empire and Sir T. E. Lawrence. There are so many great stories compiled into one campaign and that makes the game a must-play title for any war video game enthusiast.

Each of the six stories center on a different soldier, with each of these soldiers getting a depth of character that isn’t easy to pull off. The life like animations and facial expressions achieved with the gaming engine helped DICE pull this off well, as you can see the determination, sorrow, confusion, or anger clearly on the faces of these folks. Whether they are in a trench bashing a head in with a shovel, or sneaking through the desert around a train crash, you feel for these folks and your relationship with them seems real.

The graphics for this game are some of the best yet for the current generation. Using the Frostbite engine, DICE not only created characters that look and feel real, but they also created a world around them that is living and breathing as well. Driving through the fields and cities of France in a tank leaves them in rubble and ruin, with a destructible environment taken to the next level where even the largest trees aren’t safe from your mountain of steel.

It’s not easy to impress these days with the wide range of video games on the market, but EA and DICE have taken what was never really a popular video game war and created an incredible adventure and journey through the lives of six unique soldiers.

We would love to see more DLC stories in the future DICE. Hint, hint…

9

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8

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While one shooter franchise went back in time, the Call of Duty franchise launched into space. Was it worth the trip?

Read our review to find out.

The Call of Duty franchise has come a long ways since it started out with its first World War II based title. The series has spent time in Vietnam, Russia, Europe, China and even stateside. The series has long been known for serious first person combat and has had a few memorable campaigns a long the way but Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare goes where none of them have went before: Out of this World.

The campaign is set in the distant future where the Earth is wildly overpopulated, stripped of most of its natural resources, and space travel has allowed for mining in outer space. The nations of the world have had to unite together and formed the United Nations Space Alliance (UNSA) that handles matters related to trade, travel, land claims and all efforts relating to human space colonization. This colonization is the only way to gather resources for the survival of the people of Earth. The UNSA is protected by its military force, the Solar Associated Treaty Organization (SATO), but a radical group of militants, known as the Settlement Defense Front (SDF), are threatening an all out war. The SDF was formed during a previous war of secession and are on the verge of reigniting that war.

You play as Lt. Nick Reyes, who very quickly gets promoted to Captain of the warship Retribution. This vessel becomes your launching point for most of your missions as you play through the campaign, and is where you’ll initially find all of the available side missions. There a couple of different types of missions available to you spread out across our galaxy, from the Sun all the way out towards Pluto, these types are either a Jackal Strikes or Ship Assaults. Your Jackal is your space plane that looks similar to a Lockheed F-35B Lightning II, and in space it can float in place, move forward and back with ease, and carries several space based weapons including an upgradeable cannon and machine gun, and air-to-air guided missiles.

The Jackal Strikes will have you taking out enemy aircraft piloted by aces from the SDF, some of which are high priority targets that will give you a collectible card when taken out. Along with the small aircraft, you’ll also pound SDF battleships with your cannon and machine until they are totally destroyed. Ship Assault will have you flying into combat and then boarding these ships looking for different items to recover or people to take out. Both types of missions are fun, but moving in space can seem slow and tedious at times, so luckily you have a grappling hook that can expedite your travel by grabbing on to asteroids and ships to pull yourself towards.

The main campaign missions can be completed without ever doing any of the side missions, but these side missions allow you to earn upgrades for your jackal and your different secondary weapons as well. Grenades, your personal shield, your small fighter drone, and even your hacking device are all upgradeable, so take the time to go throughout the galaxy and find all of the available upgrades. The hacking device is a very handy tool, giving you the ability to hack an enemy robot and have that machine turn on the folks it’s supposed to be helping. Sadly you can’t see the expression on the faces of the bad guys when their electronic buddy turns on them, but you can just imagine it’s an Oh Crap moment.

The story line has a lot of depth and background info to it. It is a well thought out story that we were drawn into with characters that felt real and full of life. There were a couple of times in the game where folks died and we truly felt saddened by it. The voice acting is top notch, even though we were surprised at the British accent of SATO Marines Staff Sergeant Usef Omar (David Harewood). We had no idea the guy was originally from the UK as we have only seen him on TV and in movies playing Americans (Think J’onn J’onzz/Hank Henshaw from Supergirl or David Estes from Homeland). The voice actors did a great job of bringing these in-game characters to life and giving them their own personalities.

The graphics for the game are top notch, with character facial animations that help bring those characters to emotional life. You can see anger, hurt, pain and more on their faces, and these are faces that are easily recognizable. Space environments also look incredible, with space shots of planets that are breath taking. Interior designs of ships and buildings are well detailed and look just as real as the characters moving through them. The weapons, while futuristic and space based, are also well detailed and handle nicely. I’m not sure if the science is entirely accurate, but the weapons and ships all seem plausible and not far fetched.

The game also features a cooperative multiplayer Zombies in Spaceland mode, which has its own gameplay mechanics and story, separate from the campaign and can be played online in split-screen mode if you have a 2nd controller. The mode is designed to be more accessible to new players, with new features such as sharing points and teambuy doors, as well as keeping the core gameplay of the mode intact, such as perks and power-ups. A new feature, Fate and Fortune Cards, is introduced similarly to the Gobblegums in Call of Duty: Black Ops III. Unlike the campaign and multiplayer, Zombies is not themed in space combat, and retains the normal movement system. It zombies, so you know it’s fun.

Multiplayer hasn’t changed a whole lot from previous COD games. The maps seem to be a little more chaotic, with tunnels and hallways that seem to lead you around in a deadly maze, with no real direction at times. One really needs to sit down and study the layout of these maps in order to actually form a plan of attack or defense system depending on the game type. Add in these unbalanced futuristic weapons that can shred you in seconds, and you end up with a multiplayer system that can be both unforgiving and scary at times.

Infinity Ward did a great job of taking a well known franchise to a new level of game play, while still staying true to its core with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The campaign is one of the best in history of the franchise, but the multiplayer could use some work.

8

*Activision provided us with a review copy.

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The hacker group DedSec has returned and this time they are taking on San Francisco. Did developer Ubisoft Montreal’s Watch Dogs 2 live up to its expectations?

Read on to find out.

Watch Dogs released back in 2014 to great reviews and even set a record for new IP preorders and sales, but got some criticism for having a lead character that was a bit stiff and a storyline that was a bit weak and convoluted. Ubisoft Montreal has tried to remedy that with Watch Dogs 2, while still sticking to the things that made the first game so great and improving on the things that gamers weren’t too fond of.

Watch Dogs 2 finds us after the first game, and in a new city as the ctOS (Central Operating System)  has now been installed in and around San Francisco. We are introduced to a new protagonist, Marcus Holloway, a hacker from Oakland that was framed for a crime he hadn’t committed. Marcus, through his hacking skills, found out that the upgraded ctOS 2.0 made him the prime suspect of the crime even though he had nothing to do with it, so he joins up with DedSec, a hacker collective, to take ctOS and it’s backers down.

The characters in the game are definitely a step up from the previous title.Marcus is a young black guy who was wronged by a system that determined, since he was black, he must be a top suspect in a crime. As we get to know him, we found a young guy with a good heart and a sense of humor, that would rather remain a pacifist then a killer. He carries a stun gun and a weighted yoyo on a string to knock bad guys out with, but you can give him lethal weapons if you wish.How you choose to play is up to you, but it felt like the game preferred non-lethal options to us.

The DedSec SF crew also feels like a great group of young folks, albeit illegal hackers. You have an autistic genius, a highly talented graphic artist, a guy with an electronic mask, and eventually an older gentleman with a bit of a history. Each character has their own back story and all have a bit of depth that gives them each their own unique personality. The writers and voice actors did an excellent job in bringing these folks to life and added a welcomed layer to the game we didn’t expect.

The city of San Fran itself is like its own character. It is a living and breathing city full of not only hackable citizens and objects, but also collectibles that you can find to improve your overall skills. Other non-playable characters you’ll run across and interact with can be fully fleshed out characters as well. There’s a transgender City Councilwoman who is friends with Marcus and is secretly helping in him in his endeavors. You have an antagonist that is clearly a douche with subordinates that fit that label well, and an overbearing security force that is quick on the trigger and won’t hesitate to gun you down.

A great story with great characters can only carry a game so far, though, and it’s the game play that ultimately determines a games greatness. Watch Dogs 2 doesn’t disappoint. From the very beginning, hacking anything and everything is only a button press away. The quick hack feature means all you have to do is press a shoulder button, and then one of the face buttons to quickly swipe cash from an unsuspecting passerby, or you could read their texts, eaves drop on their conversations, or distract them by making their phone ring. You’ll be able to hack cars, forklifts, flatbeds, scissor lifts and cranes, among other things, all to aide you along your journey.

As you travel around the city and the Bay Area in vehicles, boats and on motorcycles, you’ll come across areas with items you need to pick-up. You can’t always just walk right into an area, so you’ll have to learn to be creative. At your disposal is an RC Jumper and a quadcopter (eventually). You’ll need to learn to utilize both of these to get into some of these areas and gather whatever might be stashed there. Sometimes, though, Marcus will have to physically go into these places, and how you proceed is up to you. As we said earlier, the game seems to prefer a non-lethal approach, and you do have a stun gun and that weighted yoyo at your disposal. You can also hack electrical outlets, turning them into stun traps for folks passing by, just realize that your RC car and quadcopter will be disabled for a little while if they are stunned by one.

Hacking skills are also fully upgradeable and you’ll need to find key data and research points around the city in order to unlock them. These upgrades will allow you to hack more and more things, and will give you more flexibility with some of these things. Eventually you’ll be able to make a car take off, back up, turn left, turn right, or just totally shut down, all via the hack. This can come in handy if you have a string of cop cars lined up behind you and all of them wanting to take you down. Upgrades also can give you more abilities for hacking people, objects like fork lifts, cranes and even robots. There is an almost RPG like depth to the upgrades, and that’s not a bad thing.

One of the things brought back from the original title is using a power grid to unlock doors, and it was brought back on a grander scale. One of our favorite puzzles in the game has to be on the underside of the Golden gate Bridge. You’ll find a locked door on the West side of Fort Point that needs to hacked in order to get to the collectible inside. From here, we fired up our quadcopter and followed the red line that needed powered up to the bridge, and then proceeded to fly in, out, up, sideways, backways, frontways and everyways around the Golden Gate Bridge in order to get the power flowing back to the door. There’s also another one of these fun puzzles in and around the Hoover Tower on the campus of Stanford, so keep your eye out for that one as well.

Anytime you want to get a different look at your immediate area, and possibly see things the naked eye could miss, click R3 on the PS4 for Net Hack Mode. This mode reveals everything hackable in your immediate vicinity and cal allow you to see through walls, find hackable cameras inside a building, and/or find collectibles you may have missed. As with the original title, cameras are the key to scouting out a location as you can switch between any camera that is close and in view. Using Net Hack means you can get to those cameras that are behind a wall, then switch to normal view to  see who or what is in there.

The graphics for the game are definitely top notch with an incredible level of detail and realism. San Francisco is a beautiful city and the developers did an incredible job to portray that with realistic locations and land marks that are pretty spot on. Cruising down the Embarcadero almost feels like you’re there and the only thing missing are the entertainers painted in silver. The crookedest road in the world is beautifully recreated as you go down Lombard Street, but I don’t remember that ramp off to the side.

The online features of the game worked OK the first time we started playing, but due to some server side issues, those functions were disabled, so we will revisit that separately post game launch. Probably would be a better idea to wait for the game world to fill up anyway, as the seamless and always on features would seem to work best with more online players.

Ubisoft Montreal has taken a great IP and brought it to the next level with a sequel that took great ideas and made them better. With a better story, better characters and improved open world game play, great job team.

9

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Are you ready to step into the shoes of the world’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes?

Read our review to find out.

With the ever growing popularity of competitive gaming and the need for titles that instantly reward players for the most simple of actions, the newest entry into the Sherlock Holmes’ games, Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter is highly refreshing thinking man’s game but with a few too many cut corners.

To those familiar with the Sherlock franchise of games and have played Crimes and Punishments will have a great understanding of what The Devil’s Daughter has to offer as the game looks and plays very much the same. While the experience overall is positive for those who know what to expect going in, anyone expecting improvements over the last entry, or even a title that feels like a modern release, are bound to be met with disappointment.

Each of the game’s five cases start off with some strange event happening and it is up to Sherlock to investigate. This generally means talking to witnesses, interacting with the scene and trying to piece together what are the possible events that occurred during the crime. As you explore and learn, one of the main aspects of what brings this title to life becomes apparent. Much like a real detective, the information you obtain can be tainted by inaccurate memories, witnesses hiding information, and false leads.

As you gather details, you need to determine which details are true and which are not, this then creates a web of conclusions that bring Sherlock to the culmination of the story. This entails a general decisive moment where even after you determine what happened to start the case, you must figure out what is the appropriate way to respond and what punishment (if necessary) is most befitting.

Sadly, while the cases and writing in The Devil’s Daughter are fantastic, the number of corners the developers cut to produce it are almost too glaring to pass up. The most obvious issue is the number of recycled assets that have been carried over from Crimes and Punishments. The most noticeable is Sherlock’s home at 221B Baker Street, which is the cornerstone to solving most of the cases in the game and is exactly the same as it was in the previous entry.

What this brings with it is sadly the inclusion of the exact same engine and visuals from Crimes and Punishments. While the Unreal 3 Engine can offer a great level of detail, the original character models, animations, and environments in The Devil’s Daughter look a bit dated since they weren’t of the highest fidelity when there were originally used in 2014. This isn’t to say that all of the game’s environments and characters are rehashed, as there are a number of new assets to flesh out the new story. But, with the dated engine and an obvious lower-end budget, The Devil’s Daughter is already pushing its $50 price tag.

In what has to be an attempt to add some flair to the franchise, The Devil’s Daughter tries its hardest to instill some action to the franchise but fails miserably. Using a number of Quick Time Events (QTE) and animations that could have been taken out of low-end PS3 titles, the action sequences are clunky and simply feel odd in a game designed around intellect.

While I was a huge fan of the previous entry in the Sherlock Holmes franchise, The Devil’s Daughter is sadly a shell of the former experience. While fans looking for little more than a reason to dive back into the world may find enough content to warrant their time, as the experience itself (excluding the action scenes) are interesting and befitting for the world’s greatest detective.

5

The post Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter Review – Elementary Design appeared first on Terminal Gamer - Gaming is our Passion | PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, WiiU.

The open world Yakuza prequel is set for launch, but we have been playing for hours and are ready to give you our final verdict.

Read on for our review

Sega’s Yakuza series (known in Japan as Ryū ga Gotoku (龍が如, Like a Dragon) has been around since 2005 with Yakuza 0 being its sixth title released. Up to this point, all of the titles had been released chronologically but Yakuza 0 takes a step back in time to give us the origin story of the main characters. These two characters are Kazuma Kiryu of the Kantō region and Goro Majima of the Kansai Region and the story follows the two characters as they investigate the truth behind the “vacant lot” dispute in 1988.

This is a well written story with depth and character development you don’t always see in a video game. It isn’t just the two main characters, either, as the entire Yakuza cast have fleshed out backstories that are well written and well thought out. From the leaders to the minions, it seems almost everybody has a backstory, and that’s not a bad thing. Side missions become more interesting as you find out where some of the folks you are trying to help come from.

Gameplay consists of fighting and a lot of reading as the audio for the game all in Japanese. Subtitles are a must-read if you want to understand what’s going on, but there is the occasional option to skip through the text. When it comes to fighting, each character has his own styles available and can be switched up while in a fight. The fighting can get a little monotonous, but with each guy having four styles to choose from, once unlocked, you can at least mix it up a bit. The styles are upgradeable using cash you’ll earn by beating the stuffing out of folks and mini games, and reaching your full potential makes fighting much easier.

The game is set in an open world, but disappointingly the world is pretty small. The game really had the potential of creating a large world based on Tokyo or Osaka, but in the end, it just feels like a few blocks of each. This really feels like a missed opportunity, but at the same time the story does give you a lot of game play to work through as is. We have been playing for a while and still haven’t completed all of the side quests. Add in the mini games like the Cat Fights and Real Estate Tycoon game, and you can stay occupied with this game for some time to come.

Stashed around the world are hidden cards and data that will help unlock special videos and information. Completionists out there will find more than enough collectibles to keep them busy while playing through the story, and the side quests all have stories of their own that are just as enjoyable as the main story, and these quests are themselves collectibles.

Developer Sega’s Yakuza 0 takes the series back to its roots and is a worthy addition to anyone’s gaming library.

9

The post Yakuza 0 Review – Back to the Beginning appeared first on Terminal Gamer - Gaming is our Passion | PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, WiiU.