Tuesday 31 January 2017

Hardware Review: iPhone 7

Strong Points:
Fantastic aluminium build
Solid construction
New and improved camera sensor takes great quality photos
Faster Touch ID sensor
Much larger colour gamut
Optical zoom (7+ only)
Depth effect (7+ only)

Weak Points:
No headphone jack
Weak Lightning to 3.5 mm jack converter
Not bezel-less

Tuesday 24 January 2017

Film Review No. 19 La La Land (12+)

Strong Points:
Amazing cinematography
Superb score
Great musical numbers
A refreshing story
Humour
Great acting
Ending

Weak Points:
Singing was sometimes not at its strongest
Requires you to at least have some knowledge of the Golden Age of Hollywood to fully appreciate it
Pacing was variable
Ending

Some spoilers ahead:

Wednesday 18 January 2017

Review No. 128 Bioshock Remastered Edition - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Amazing, claustrophobic atmosphere
Great graphics
Superb world
Nice use of music
Great voice-acting
Lots of gameplay additions keep things fresh
Hacking is a fun mini-game
Researching is a nice addition...
Genuinely unsettling
Good pace
Interesting story
Grey morals
Vita-chambers make sure you can beat the game...
Twists and turns

Weak Points:
Some bugs
Some sections go on for a bit too long (if collecting everything)
You'll run out of Plasmid/tonic space quickly
Some ammo types are too rare, some too common
Can't aim Trap Bolt very easily
Ending throws as much as possible at you - can be overwhelming
The Remastered edition doesn't give much in the way of graphics customisability
...Although does become a bit of a chore
Big Daddy fights end up being a case of wearing them down
...Although can make the game a game of attrition

Some spoilers ahead:



Tuesday 10 January 2017

Review No. 127 Warframe - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Lots of content
Lots of customisation
Varied Warframes
Frequent updates add more to the game
Nice voice acting
Lots of varied weapons
Archwings are fun to play
Deep lore
Everything can be made by grinding...
Frequent events mean that all players will have something to do
Daily rewards
Good controls
Can play solo easily
Mods allow you to make your character truly your own
Varied game modes...

Weak Points:
Frequent updates and overhauls can make the game overwhelming or plain confusing when going back on the game after a while
Solar map can be confusing
...Except for slots for the Warframes and weapons you gain by grinding
Frequent events make it difficult for new/returning players to gain a foothold in the main game
Can be buggy
Customer service is variable
Difficulty spikes
Mods fusion can be overwhelming and not very attractive to do
Syndicates have no way of you balancing them all, but still ask you to
...Some better than others

Nitpicks:
Updates don't update in Steam



Saturday 7 January 2017

Review No. 126 The Witcher: Enhanced Edition - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Addictive one more quest style gameplay
Lots of meaningful choices
A proper sense of progression
Nice, in-depth combat
Some signs are great fun to use...
Characters are fully-fleshed
Great voice acting and sound
End battle is really clever
Lots of quests
3 camera styles
3 styles of attack give a lot of choice on how to play
Dice poker is a nice distraction...

Weak Points:
Run out of inventory space - a lot
Pace is variable
A lot of the same character models
...some aren't used often
You'll suddenly realise that you can't complete a quest and can't backtrack
An odd mix of open-world and linear narrative
Graphics are dated
Alchemy is difficult to do without dedicating time to collecting ingredients - won't get them naturally
Can get repetitive
Can be overwhelming
Can be confusing - read all the notes, and sometimes just go along with it!
A lot of backtracking
Some crashes (save often)
...even if it is luck-based
Can take a little while to switch weapons


Tuesday 3 January 2017

Film Review No. 18 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (12+)

Strong Points:
Good expansion of the Star Wars universe
Fills up plot holes from the first movie
A nice, varied cast
Great easter eggs from the first film
Amazing visual effects
Grand Moff Tarkin
Darker atmosphere shows another side of Star Wars
Some unpredictability
Awesome action scenes

Weak Points:
Changes to certain characters costumes
The opening scene, while a nod to the original film, lacked the visual finesse
First half had so many cuts to other planets and characters it can be confusing
Pacing
No scroll-up Star Wars credits!

Some spoilers ahead:

Sunday 1 January 2017

Video Game Character of the Month - January 2017 - Trevor - Grand Theft Auto V

Video Game Character of the Month
January 2017
Trevor
Grand Theft Auto V


Overview:
So, Trevor, it's been decided that you should win this month's Video Game Character of the Month award! No, it's not a conspiracy to get rid of you. No, Brad can't be let out of prison to see you accept the award. No, you can't have *ahem* that for your award ceremony. Now if you would just put the gun down. 
And now for a bit of information on Trevor:

New Year's Resolutions Version 4.0

Well, what a year eh? If you base this year just on the news, it's not been the best, has it? You could say that's been reflected by the blog and YouTube channel, with a dip in content due to exams, and other commitments, however, both the blog and YouTube channel are growing and that's all due to you guys, the readers and our incredible writers, including some guest ones this year. The year has also seen us reach over 80,000 views on the blog, over 27,000 views on the YouTube channel, more reviews than ever, including the launch of our TV reviews and even a new layout to the blog (resolution completed).