Recent reviews by Yakumo

Ghost of Tsushima is an incredibly beautiful game, lovingly put together.

Tsushima does show it's PS4 origins in the overall use of graphics technology compared to a more modern title such as Horizon Forbidden West so it is a little unfortunate that it was not the earlier of the two ports to launch on PC. However should you have played West first the stunning scenery of Tsushima after leaving the prelude area should quickly leave you feeling more at ease if the first scenes felt a little flat.

Tsuhima runs very smoothly on high end hardware, typically over 220 FPS at 1440p with frame generation enabled on an RTX 4090 and highest settings. There are PC oriented graphics options as detailed as you would expect from Nixxes usual excellent porting skills. DLSS, FSR 3.0, XeSS are all present as are both DLSS and FSR3 Frame Generation. It should scale well down through the game's recommended spec hardware.

The ability to play with your choice of English or Japanese audio, both with fantastically cast voice acting, leaves you free to immerse yourself in the world as deeply as you wish with your choice of subtitles as well. They can be changed at any time though it will cause a reload to the last save made so save first.

I am not far through past the prelude however, so will add more to the review later.

The Outer Wilds is a really beautiful game that will get under your skin as you continue to explore and find emotion where it wasn't expected. Truly worth completing without spoilers. Just keep following the clues and use tools you're given.
Don't let my low play time confuse you, I had completed the game once already slowly on another store and happily ran through it all again on Steam to gather the achievements.

This was a gift on Steam but I had previously bought it.

Blender has gone from strong but overcomplicated interface, to an absolutely outstanding product ready for any professional work in the last 2 or 3 years, the 2.8 releases especially have stepped up the game considerably and full time studios are starting to integrate it heavily into their workflow, in some cases move to it completely.
CUDA/Optix realtime previews on nvidia are a superb addition (I can't speak for OpenCL on AMD but the option is there).

[Have to love the review tick box for receiving it for free, on a free product :o) ]

Brilliant remake of one of the most amazing original first person shooters. Everything up to the last major arc of the game is eminently recognisable from the original, but at the same time improved upon in many ways including occasionally actual gameplay.
The last arc is a more radical change from the original, but overall I would have to say it's for the best, and a large visual improvement especially coming to the end.

Well worth playing whether you have or have not played the original.

This is Quake brought to a new era! Quake Champions is simply the fastest, most rewarding and fun FPS available. You can dabble in other games, but at the end of the day once you've completed the single player campaign in a day or two or even spent a while in the multiplayer, Quake is the one game you keep returning to. Nothing beats careering around the map, boosting yourself along or up in the air by throwing a rocket under your own feet or against a wall, flipping around and taking out an opponent with a well-placed rail, or frying them with your lightning gun if they're still close enough.

Before I carry on, I'd just like to make it very clear that this game is not pay to win, it is entirely skill based, the only changes to functionality in gameplay are your champion picks and they can all be earned for free. Absolutely everything else in the game is cosmetic only, even if it jokes about a breastplate attachment giving more armour, it doesn't, it's cosmetic.

This game is fun for new players fighting to get a few frags, or competing with their peers, and still amazing at even the absolute highest levels of skill able to compete in tournaments for thousands of dollar prizes. The graphics are modern, colourful and vibrant and the new gibs/gore system recently released is gory enough to satisfy all and one of the most versatile in any FPS.

There are negative reviews from old school Quake players that simply wanted new graphics on their old game, they cannot accept the truth that that simply would not work this decade. Reflex Arena is basically exactly this, and has fewer than one hundred concurrent players despite being a fantastic and well produced game. QC brings a range of different characters to the game as was originally planned for Quake 3 Arena and successfully balances them in a game where they all have a strong chance of winning in the right hands.

Don’t be put off by only having Ranger to start as a free to play player, Ranger is absolutely one of the best champions in the game, with his very reduced self-damage you can rocket jump around more freely, and his dire orb teleportation and damage is very powerful indeed.

Quake Champions brings in the best of previous Quake game's skills all into one, love the movement from CPMA (QuakeLive PQL) then try Anarki or Sorlag, love the crouch sliding from Quake 4? Then try Slash. Love traditional Quake 2, 3, Quake Live movement (vq3)? Then most of the other characters are for you. There's even the DOOM Slayer for those that struggle with strafe jumping, Clutch with a little bit of double tap dodge and Scalebearer if you… like trains ;o)
If you’re completely new to Quake then seeking some movement guides for the champions you like the look of is definitely the way to go (see links below) until such guides are incorporated into the game itself, as is planned. Learning at least a little of the movement systems available really opens up the possibilities in the game and they’re the first steps to the largest gains.

Not all characters will be for everyone as their varying sizes and movement abilities make them all very different to play, but when you find one or two that suit your style, the experience is like no other, no other game gives the same satisfaction with its frags, both from the visuals and the feeling of achievement.

The pace is exhilarating, and the casual game modes can be quite hectic especially on the few smaller maps, but stealing a few frags and working your way through the daily and rune challenges can still be done at any level, the larger more open maps offer some more laid back stealthy play, and if that’s your main interest then Duel is perhaps best suited for you as it gives the freedom to really play your own way without having to worry about escaping from more than your single opponent.

Beyond the solo modes, ranked 2v2 is a very popular and highly competetive duo mode to play with a friend, voice coms highly reccomended, the same is true for Team Deathmatch which is 4v4, but that is an unranked mode. Capture the Flag (CTF) and Clan Arena are also planned for the future.

All in, the best multiplayer FPS available.

A Beginner’s Guide to Quake Champions[quake.bethesda.net] - Official guide by Bethesda.

General Quake and movement
Guide playlist by the fantastic musician Markie Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5tcqZVOcd0&list=PLCrgTvcMvoubVJiSnW4lkWC5AeCQ0SDKf

Champion specific movement
Ranger/Visor/Nyx : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk3FQo7NNRI (don't worry about circle jumping so much as a new player, concentrate on strafe jumping)
Anarki/Sorlag : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qejjDOk--k
Slash : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV3YiLOScFc




I paid full price for this product in the form of the Champions Pack when it went to Early Access in August 2017, though I must add the disclaimer that subsequently I became a Bethesda forum moderator (voluntary unpaid position). I couldn't commit to that if I didn't simply love the game.

A fantastic return to the Wolfenstein universe, with brilliant graphics, story, and cutscenes (almost always only between levels, just a few at the start).

Playing Wolfenstein: The New Order is not mandatory before this, there is a pretty decent recap of the events from the former game at the start of The New Colossus, however I would still recommend it as it's a brilliant game.


~144 fps at 1080p on the auto default settings on an i7 4770 with a gtx-1060oc.

40 Hours to 100% collect everything, finish all missions side quests everything, well worth getting.

Nice test, unfortunately 750ti-oc users can forget VR until they splash out on a new card, 93% under 90fps on i7-4770

When you keep seeing on the replay that you've been tracked through the wall / totally opaque smoke, and shot in the head with the first shot, at the very corner of the wall the very second you finally decide to take a peek out, when you were silently sneaking and had even waited a bit, then you know the game has a severe problem that they're just not able to keep on top of.

At least in Quake Live if you're good you can still beat one of the rare cheaters that crop up by knowing the map better, stacking up your armour and out playing them, and server ops are usually pretty on the ball if VAC is lagging behind.

Refunded.

The audio is excelent, the alien animation is excelent.

The feel of the game is just awful, I couldn't bring myself to complete the marine missions after getting maybe half way through, dabled with the predator, and was so dissapointed with too I'm afraid I uninstalled it without even looking at the alien missions.


Just so dissapointed after loving the original AvP and even AvP 2.