![Headphones Review Round Up [Hardware]: SIVGA SV021, VR500, UX3000, and VR2000](/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/unnamed-5.jpg "Headphones Review Round Up [Hardware]: SIVGA SV021, VR500, UX3000, and VR2000")
Headphones Review Round Up [Hardware]: SIVGA SV021, VR500, UX3000, and VR2000
Update: SIVGA SV021 tested and rated!![Boulies Elite Max Chair [Hardware] Review – Assemble, Adjust, Relax](/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/boulies-elite-max-chair-review.jpg "Boulies Elite Max Chair [Hardware] Review – Assemble, Adjust, Relax")
Boulies Elite Max Chair [Hardware] Review – Assemble, Adjust, Relax
What do we think of the Boulies Elite Max Chair?![Red Magic 9S Pro [Hardware] Review – The New Standard For Mobile Gaming?](/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/red-magic-9s-pro.jpg "Red Magic 9S Pro [Hardware] Review – The New Standard For Mobile Gaming?")
Red Magic 9S Pro [Hardware] Review – The New Standard For Mobile Gaming?
My Red Magic 9S Pro Review puts this incredible bit of tech through its paces to determine whether it's worth your money.
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Category: Reviews
Sound Ride Review
Sound Ride is a level-based runner that draws inspiration from the BIT.TRIP Runner series. Its abstract and colorful world, quirky characters, and catchy, upbeat music combine to create an environment that's a pleasure to traverse. Unfortunately, inconsistent physics and a limited amount of gameplay cause many of those trips to be repetitive, frustrating, and less enjoyable as a whole than its individual, charming parts.Those trips will be made as Kiwi, a bizarre bird-man scientist in hot pink track shorts. Kiwi accidentally altered the time-space continuum and can now run faster than light—which he must do to avoid dying. Each of Sound Ride's current 20 stages sees Kiwi running against a throbbing, colorful backdrop that changes hues as he progresses. Strange contraptions, like electrical towers and flashing, stilted robots, dot the otherwise sparse, but appealingly geometric landscape. "Most of Kiwi's time in this world is spent jumping over obstacles and one-hit dangers, like spiked hurdles and hungry alligators. Players have only two moves at their disposal: jump and double-jump (performed by jumping mid-air). Timing is critical as many obstacles are placed at such specific distances from each other that only one type of jump will suffice. For instance, double-jumping over an object that has another danger immediately behind it will cause you to land on that second hazard and die. While this adds another layer of challenge and required dexterity to the game, it also results in many just-misses that will repeatedly send Kiwi back to the beginning—or halfway checkpoint—of the level when he inevitably hits an unexpected snag. The frequency of death in Sound Ride is multiplied by two other issues: a limited view of what's ahead and an inconsistent physics engine. There are many hills and cliffs scattered throughout each stage that add depth to the run, but the camera does not lead beyond Kiwi's current position. This means that whatever is at the crest of a hill—usually an enemy—is impossible to see until you're right on top of it.
Feed Me Oil 2 Review
Feed Me Oil 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the quirky and offbeat 2011 physics-puzzler Feed Me Oil from Holy Water Games. Featuring a complete visual overhaul and dozens of new puzzles to complete, players will need to put their thinking caps on to make sure that all of the mechanical inhabitants of this oily little world get their inner engines up and running again. It's just a shame that the gameplay itself constantly feels like it's running on empty.The game plays out like an incredibly simplified cross between Where's My Water? and The Incredible Machine. At the start of each stage, players are tasked with placing various objects on the screen to help guide a stream of oil from a starting faucet and into a finishing area, designated by a dotted white line. You'll then hit a play button to see if your setup worked, adjusting and trying again if your calculations were a little bit off: these mech-animals are pretty hungry after all, and you'll need to deliver a numerical amount of oil to each one of them. Players can earn three stars in each stage by using the least amount of available parts to complete their oil feeding requirements."The visuals are easily the best part of the game, and a huge step up from the original 2011 puzzler. The world of Feed Me Oil 2 is full of quirky and mechanical fun, with many of the robotic animals watching you play with endearing googly eyes. From turtles and foxes, to snails and other creatures I can't even categorize, you'll always be surprised to see what kind of fun new screen is waiting around the next bend. While the backgrounds themselves are brought to life through a whimsical and almost painted design, the bubbly texture of the oil itself forms a nice contrast that really allows the game's presentation to shine (especially when it clashes with the water in the game).
Murder in the Hotel Lisbon Review
In the realm of video games, murders are typically solved by folks that are barely able to dress themselves. This time around we have a detective with an impossibly stupid-looking hat solving what's being incorrectly passed off as a suicide. Don't tell him his hat looks silly, though. You'll hurt his feelings.Murder in the Hotel Lisbon is a point-and-click adventure game from Nerd Monkeys. You play as Justin Case, an independent detective in desperate need of money (as detectives often are). One day, two unusual things show up in Justin's office: A clown robot, and an actual case to solve."The robot, known simply as "Clownbot," is supposedly an inheritance from a relative Detective Case is unfamiliar with. The timing of Clownbot's arrival is good: There's been a murder at the Hotel Lisbon that's being (poorly) passed off as a suicide. Exactly the kind of case that requires a robot's delicate, steely touch.As you might expect from a game about a detective in a goofy hat and his robot clown accomplice, the tone of Murder in the Hotel Lisbon is not the least bit serious. Detective Case cracks jokes constantly, and sarcasm flows like bitter water. Heck, one of Clownbot's functions is to tell bad jokes on command. There's even an "audience" that roars along with the zingers (and a single spectator that belts out laughter at the clunkers).Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Review
Why does Sonic need a car to race? One must wonder if it's this inevitable, always-inane question that helped inspire the developers at Sumo Digital to create a game in which moving along the ground at high speeds is not always the key to victory. In Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, you'll not only need to master the fine art of automobile racing, but you'll also need to display dominance in soaring through the sky and riding the waves in order to succeed and capture the checkered flag.Of course, if you've managed to play the game on the PC or one of its many handheld and high-definition console releases from just over a year ago, then you already knew this. With that experience, you might think you know just what to expect from the new mobile release. And to a certain extent, you would be correct."At its very core, the mobile release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is the same as its previously-released brethren: You choose from one of a cast of SEGA (and other) characters and motor around various courses inspired by SEGA games from throughout the company's ages, using a multitude of zany Mario Kart-esque weapons to offset your opponents and take the lead over land, sea, and air. However, it's much of the framework around that core that differs in this version of the title.
Legend of Equip Pants Review
Those of us old enough to remember playing the very first Dragon Warrior game on the NES can also remember giggling over the option to buy "Clothes" as a starter armor set for our hero. "What, was the hero naked before we bought the Clothes?" we asked each other.Of course, our 8-bit hero wasn't actually naked (or at least we couldn't see his shame because of the NES's graphical limitations and/or Nintendo's strict censorship policies at the time). However, the legacy of the naked hero continues with Legend of Equip Pants, an odd, odd adventure game fueled by jokes about underwear, shorts, and pantaloons."Legend of Equip Pants tells the complex tale of Sir Pantsalot, a knight living in a kingdom that's troubled by an "underwearwolf" (amongst other monsters based on garments that secure people's junk). Sir Pantsalot is noble and true, but he seemingly has problems with indecent exposure in a very pro-pants society. He sets out to find some manner of covering for his ding-dong, but his journey is destined to be difficult.Legend of Equip Pants is, in a word, silly. It tries very hard to be funny. The curious thing is it mostly succeeds, even though it retells the same joke over and over. Strange as it is to say, the game's juvenile themes just mesh well with its retro pixel-based graphics and solemn RPG soundtrack. You'll find yourself grinning even when you try and summon your inner grade three teacher ("Boogers, farts, and underwear are not funny!")Oasis: Path to Redemption Review
The thing about most endless runners is that, by virtue of their very name, they tend to be endless. This can be a bit of a problem at times, particularly when there's a narrative by which the inevitable mark of failure can yield some rather grim implications. Oasis: Path to Redemption is not like that, however; a fact it proudly boasts as it promises a defined ending. That said, just because it has an ending (and five worlds to traverse in order to get there) doesn't mean that it is by any means easy.Oasis also favors itself as an RPG ("Action RPG Runner" in full), though this isn't really much the case; as you run along and take down one foe after another, you'll gain experience which you can use to acquire new skills, thus allowing you to progress even further… at least, in theory. Of course, so many games allow for experience and leveling up that those traits are hardly unique to RPGs any more, but that's getting off on another tangent."The idea behind Oasis is sound: Like most runners, the key to victory is in memorization, and by leveling up your skill set, you'll be able to progress even further with each new try until you ultimately reach the end (at which time you'll unlock a Mission Mode). Unfortunately, while the idea is sound, the execution is lacking in some areas.
Big Win Racing Review
Sometimes it's smart just to recognize you've got a good thing going. Hothead Games has done that by expanding its Big Win series of sports games to all the major stick-and-ball sports. But just when it appeared there were no more ways to expand the brand, along comes Big Win Racing. It's the tried and true formula of light sports sim plus collectible card elements applied to stock car racing, and it adds up to something pretty good.Your climb to the top of this particular racing world starts out in humble fashion. A pack of starter cards gives your team a foundation, though it's not one you want to rely on for very long. Where the other Big Win titles revolve around building the best possible team of athletes, you obviously only have the driver and the car here (and some people don't consider drivers athletes, but that's a subject for another forum).Big Win Racing handles this dilemma smartly by taking both the pit crew and the parts that make up your race car into account. So while you want the best driver you can get, you also need steering, transmission, an engine and tires for your ride, along with six crew members (two tire carriers, two tire changers, a jackman and a gas man) to service it in the pits.
Fightback Review
Developer Ninja Theory has a short but sweet track record of quality console games, the last being January's DmC: Devil May Cry. So when asked to check out their newest title, Fightback on iOS, I was intrigued. This is the company's first venture into the world of mobile games, but I was confident that the company's prior success would be able to make the transition into the mobile market. Then, I looked at the game and I started to get nervous.It's easy to take one look at Fightback and start to judge it. It's a two-dimensional beat'em up with a protagonist that looks like a dark-haired Duke Nukem and plenty of dark and unimaginative stages. There's little about the presentation that's worth applauding, but I'd like to think that Ninja Theory realized this after jumping into development. Even though the presentation is often laughable, it gets to the point where it starts to feel like a cheesy "B" movie. I found myself chuckling at the giant muscle man storming into a room, beating people, and checking behind him before leaving.Unlike movies, cheese means nothing if gameplay doesn't back it up. Fortunately, Fightback's play is often as solid as the protagonist's abs. Right away, I started to pick up on some Mortal Kombat (2009) vibes. Those who played that reboot are likely to pick up on some of the similarities. While there's no super-exaggerated uppercut or gratuitous gore, you'll be able to punch, kick, and juggle enemies in the air until they're finished.