Resident Evil 2: Remake – Graphics & Performance analysis | Every version tested from PC to consoles

     Capcom are on a roll and bringing back dem 90’s feels. Not only with new DMC titles that I have already covered but now one of the greatest horror games ever made. The pre-millennium feels continue with a demo, just as we got with Resident Evil directors cut and its packed in demo, we now get a 30 minute slice of the remake, yes this is a remake plain an simple, an incredible one at that. Before I get to dive into the full game which releases  on the 25th January. I wanted to hit the facts across all versions which saw a demo released yesterday. Here I look at the PC, premium consoles and base models in a demo head to head. Pixel Performance  First up resolution, PC is obviously dependent on your cash supply but 4K native resolutions are possible with a collection of options that I will cover in-depth in a future video. For now we have the choice here to max the settings on my Ryzen 2700 and RTX2070 GPU at 4K with a 60fps target. The main benefits here over the consoles stem from the increased resolutions, with screen space reflections, volumetrics and textures all benefiting here with the extra GPU headroom afforded. The option to adjust TAA, FXAA or off along with film grain ,which can also be disabled on console, help to sharpen what is a soft image be design. This sits well inside the RE engine style and material system we saw in Resident Evil 7. Currently though this is likely the E3 build and as such I would suspect not as tightly optimised as the final release with it being a good 6 months or more old, but a stable vertical slice for this demo. Ray traced reflections are also an option here but not for this demo as they are very exclusive to just the RTX owners for now, the majority of PC players will use SSR like console does.  Next we have the premium consoles in the x and Pro, they share identical visual quality from shadow resolution, cascade distance, volumetrics, SSR, textures right down to an identical resolution of 2880×1620 on both. This leaves a clean but soft film image that suffers less from specular aliasing than the E3 demo but that could be footage quality rather than a change. One addition is the X does look to be running FXAA or a stronger TAA than the Pro which does reduce the aliasing on edges over the Pro, the other possibility is the X is running native 1620P here with the Pro using a checkerboard solution or interlaced mode. This can be seen in the post effects such as the DoF backdrops here which have that tell tale stretched, fringe look over the X, we have seen this many times before and I have covered in detail such as my Horizon Zero Dawn analysis. As the game employs a reconstruction element they refer to as interlaced in the PC menu. I picked this up in my Resident Evil 7 demo analysis when this was not known and I think I was alone in spotting that. This has continued here and maybe the method they are using again here on the Pro which was also used on 7 as I again covered in my analysis. This would explain the reason the X can suffer less on aliasing at times with slightly softer texture details than the Pro but materials and textures are very, very close indeed that are much harder to spot.  This interlaced mode is used on the Xboxone S here which still delivers a final 1920x 1080p image in it and the PS4, but like 7 it seems more obvious on the Xbox so either the PS4 is a better method or that renders natively and the OneS uses this mode to deliver the image. This again leaves a softer and more jagged image at times on the Xbox that shows break up and the reconstruction elements easier than the PS4. As this is a demo I am not going to spend an age analysing this but the result is the PS4 does look slightly cleaner and sharper than the Xbox but the overall presentation and image quality is very close across all aside the increased resolution choices, 1080p players need not worry to much with 4K screen best suited with premium consoles or PC at this point. Performance Tests  So we see a very close level at this point across all with the obvious PC and resolution boosts being present, so what about performance then. All versions target 60fps but the results here vary widely with the base consoles being some way off a locked level and almost pointless on the one. As it stands in like for like tests as you see here the PS4 can be 40-55% faster than one over close game-play or real-time cut-scene moments. Microsoft’s console rarely strays outside of the 30Hz level for prolonged periods and as such the controller response and visual update is the most inconsistent. At the very least, based on this demo code, an option to cap the frame-rate to 33ms limit and as such 30fps is what it obviously needed. A fixed cap may be better but some moments do suggest it may present bad pacing issues if introduced, again this is an old build so I suspect either a cap is introduced in the final release or significant improvements are made to draw it closer to the PS4 level.  This (PS4) again is far from a locked 60 but does introduce a higher consistency with my real-time frame-rate average in the video showing you the clear benefit between the 2 platforms. Again though I feel an option is the best choice here so that those who prefer the higher average can keep this active while a locked 30 is just a menu switch away. I am impressed that such a visually splendid game

RTX 2070 GPU Review: Is a $600 graphics card upgrade worth it?

   PC gaming is having that upturn within its cycle again, despite Nvidia’s best attempts to ruin it. It always happens and IS one of the biggest reasons we have premium consoles this generation, as I have covered before. As the performance limits top out on consoles, enthusiasts look for more and PC is where that sits almost exclusively if power and performance are your priorities.  As the title suggests though, it comes at a cost with top level but not bleeding edge equipment carrying an inflated premium. But is a $600 RTX2070 really worth the cost? let alone a $1200 2080Ti? As it stands an overclocked 2070 is well within 1080 performance in many games and in excess on others, the gains to the Ti are there but the value makes that card much, much worse. The promise of things to come such as RTX features which are still almost non-existent besides EA’s partnership with Nividia allowing the Dice team to add ray traced reflections. The more promising from a wider and less demanding solution comes from DLSS ( Deep Learning Super Sampling ) which can deliver checkerboard like solutions that retain much of the image quality with a reduced performance impact, but again is mostly promises at this point.   For now I will leave these possible benefits out of the equation and concentrate on what Nvidia have been drumming into its consumer base for years, new hardware = improvements. If you are interested I wrote a detailed article on my predictions for the new range and performance expectations on Rectifygaming before its launch, link on screen and below. Short version is they are a victim of their own success with the tech media largely slating the launch ( as predicted) and thus the market place echoing that. The $ to performance chart I created was interesting and shows that value wise none of them really add up, helped by Nvidia inflating the price to help shift 10 series stock returned or sat in warehouse, possible by the lack of competition, a point I have talked about for years.  I decided to dip into the RTX range myself and managed to get a deal via some friends within the trade on this GeForce 2070, a brand I have sworn by and used for years to build and sell alike. This is the cheapest entry into top tier GPU’s and from my current Radeon 470 is a worthy increase which itself was a side step from my previous GTX970. The 470/570 cards fall into the £175 or $200 range. The 2070 is 3x that at $600 I managed to get mine for £430, which is a small discount but for this review I will keep to RRP figures as that is what most will pay. THE MACHINE   It is all tested on my Zen 2700 CPU oc at 3.9GHz, 16GB DDR4 @ 3200 and SSD. I have covered an in-depth review of the zen cpu and how CPU testing is very different to GPU testing, check that out in the links to learn more, but the 2700 is a perfect CPU to max out this card on almost anything here. From the offset then I am looking at 3x the performance delta from my 570 to this 2070 to draw even on bang for buck. I have my AMD OC by 200mhz on core and Ram which is a decent increase and is an obvious boost anyone will add for free. So we have the facts, specs and figures now all we need are the results, 12 games should be a good spread. THE GAMES  The tests are pretty simple, although benchmarks in PC games are notoriously misleading for final figures, they work here to represent a like for like test. On many titles I used a fixed real-time cut-scene, the best tests for GPU loads and exact opposite for CPU or a fixed run of repeatable game-play.   I run everything at max where possible ( the 470 lacks the ram to go Uber on Wolf for example) with both a 1080 and then native 4K run. V-sync is off to show absolute max levels but of course be aware that V-sync will affect the performance levels when engaged. To be safe a title unlocked like this should average into the mid to high 60’s to expect a capped 60 to be realistic, 70’s is the ideal for headroom. The range covers some old and new titles with a couple DX12 and Vulcan examples included but bar 1 DX12 title most run best in DX11. The Division  This MMO is about to be superseded by the sequel but the core focus on consoles means this is very well threaded and efficient on CPU’s giving the GPU all the heavy lifting. Side by side at 1080 ultra we see a gulf between the 2 cards as expected, the 470 can deliver 58fps at 1080p, so a great 1080/60 card for sure. The 2070 can push this up to an 107fps average. A 184% improvement at HD resolutions is nice but makes the 2070 worse value than the 470.   4K changes the results with the 8GB memory of the Nvidia being double that of the AMD card makes it a much better specced 4k card. Indeed we are 196% on average better now, the minimum is now 240% better. Still not quite matching the bang for buck of the 470 but certainly makes a 4k/60fps option possible with some cutbacks on certain areas, again not for this test.   AC Unity  An oldy but still cracking game that stresses modern hardware and certainly flexes CPU. At 1080 the 2070 takes a commanding lead, some of this comes from the game favouring the API & architecture of team green. With an average 80fps it is easily maxing the game out here and almost 200% faster than the 470, so we have clawed back that value here at HD resolutions,

Devil May Cry 5: Demo Analysis

Nero is the back and as bad as ever, being the star here but the final game will give us Dante, Virgil and more. For now though we get an early taste of this new chapter in the Devil May Cry universe and first impressions are excellent. This has the same tongue in cheek humor, gothic style, fast paced combat and long skill tree to rank up, combined attacks to juggle and keep your bad ass rating up throughout. This demo looks to be the same or very similar to the Gamescom one earlier this year, and may actually be the exact same build from then also, so the first thing to mention here is all this analysis is coming from pre-release code and as such could change significantly in the next few months for its March release. Diving into the top and tail of the console versions we can see that visually this is keeping up the same quality of the series. Starting life as a Resident evil update it span out into the PS2 trilogy that looked an ran incredible on Sony’s second and all conquering hardware. Like those forefathers the game pushes you through sections of spawning enemies, puzzle solving, exploration and monstrous boss battles, preceded with a cock sure attitude and some words said they may regret in the morning. In fact the game really does not stray far from the formula at all, aside the devil trigger mechanism that replaces your right forearm. These can be mixed up and picked up during battle, be quick as enemies know the power and will destroy them if left too long. The 2 versions both target the same 60fps rate which I will get to later, but visually we can see an obvious advantage to the X, resolution appears to target the same maximum on both machines. That being 1920 x 1080 on the base and 3840 x 2160p on the X and side by side you can see the improvement this offers. Detail is much sharper, anisotropic filtering is cleaner, materials highlight far more surface properties and blemishes. The depth of field is much stronger on the S due to it being a lower resolution which results in softer edges and large bokeh shapes. Still a looker on both especially in the cinematics which ramp up the quality from the In-game models and shading. The motion capture and animation rigging they have looks to have been refined again being better than 7 offering sharper but more hyper realistic style. Skin quality and hair is worthy of praise indeed even more for the 60 fps rate it targets. You can notice dithering on the fins of hair much more on the S with the X having a very stable look even close up. The gap is all down to sharpness of high frequency information and stability of image, even though both use a temporal AA element I am not sure it uses the horizontal interlaced mode i picked out in the Re7 game and later found in the PC options, but if so the counts (bar 2 minor parts) never show less than the native image. So either it is off, which may be a quick win for performance boosts or they have significantly improved it so the edge cases are reduced and the implementation is much better. Either or the results speak for them selves and look as striking as Nero in battle.   In the demo we get a small taste of these powers with a laser lasso to pull enemies in or yourself to them. A huge power blast, accompanied with a huge particle spark spray. Always a fan of particles systems and the RE engine does them very well, being the same engine that delivered the goods last year with Re7 it has become the new future tool set for Capcom as predicted, replacing the Panta Rhei engine that went deep down with the game. We can see here though that some of those features and techniques remain, likely a deferred engine we have the same excellent and abundant light sources with shadow casters. Physically based material shading which may also come from the photogrammetry methods used in Re7. In addition to this is the particle system and physicist based destruction which is the standout feature so far here for me. If you recall the demo of deep down we had a dragon destroying pillars as the battle raged on, sending crumbling debris everywhere, look familiar. Alongside the bokeh sampled DoF, which accentuate that particle show and again show glimpses Of that early gen prototype. Even if the engine has been laid to rest I am happy to report its legacy lives on. The other high point it to see Japanese developers make at the sharp end of technical implementation and artistic creativity. The destruction is very impressive here with the entire battle seeing you both lay wake to the cathedral as rubble, stain-glass windows and ambulances all feel the devils wrath. Aide some minor furniture dismantlement though this is the high point. I hope it is used across the game and even though it is scripted in places, such as the smash through the roof. It is a dynamic system that adds a great deal to the games visual and visceral impact. Due to the compete change in game style and aim obviously many changes will have occurred from Res7 and the res2 remake also launching next year that I covered at E3. Unlike that demo in-game post processing does not seem as heavy. We still see cracking POMB and a temporal AA solution in addition to chromatic aberration which can soften and distort the image slightly. Much more so on the Base model in relation to the X’s much higher pixel count. But texture details, materials and geometry all have a sharper look than some other titles due to this. A low quality radial blur is used which can look weak at

Elea: Chapter 1 Technical Review

You never get a second chance to make a first impression as the saying goes, is evidently true for many things and video games are no exception, well most of the time. With this true Indie title, which I will cover in a moment, that initial meet and greet can be a somewhat confusing affair. This is a psychological, exploration and puzzle game in the mold of the vanishing of Ethan carter or everyone’s gone to the rapture. This alone sets you up to expect a narrative driven and slow-paced game, the start though is almost a decent into madness with obvious screen glitches, sanity questions with a juxtaposition of flow that has you thinking something is very wrong, but it is all by design. These moments could see come walk away from the game with a bad view and that would be wrong and a mistake. As once you have passed the starter, the main course in this episodic adventure leaves a much stronger impression. Designed from the ground up inspired by older Science-Fiction tales the team have created a very clear view of the future and embellished it with enough lore and reality to convince. The artistic direction has nods to 2001 at times with bright clinical corridors, grand planetary views and holographic androids dotted around the station. Crafted from scratch in Unreal Engine 4 on PC and Xbox Consoles it highlights the versatility of the engine and ease of use it can bring to smaller teams without big budgets and time, this is really a step back to the C64, ST & Amiga days as the lion’s share of the game has been made by just 2 friends in Bulgaria. I have a further video and article to come nearer the next chapter release where I get into how they created this, what challenges they faced in dual PC/Console development and how UE4 helped them achieve these results with a budget closer to a cheap getaway than large scale game development, time is of course largely the free part in this compared to other studios. All that said results delivered are strong and have been led with an equally strong design aim. The first thing to consider is the sheer scale, depth of expertise and resources big budget games have, this is not to be linked with those or judged on that level. Instead it is likely as small a team you can get to make a game with the help of a separate publisher that provides much of the logistics, contacts and even developer kits to make console versions. Much like ID started out as a bunch of guys making games using other company’s equipment which I covered back in my ID tech retro story, this is a similar affair of game developers setting up their own development dream. The limitations are hidden well, animation and rigging models is one, something of a skill that is not so easily acquired in conjunction with animation programming that needs to sit alongside this. As such FPS works to keep this to a minimum and the model quality and motion is never given prolonged attention on screen so it never becomes a jarring issue. Many characters are sitting or walking away from you so you hardly have the option to stare. This is intelligent design, always work to your strengths and manage your weakness a great example of this is the original Toy Story minimised human faces throughout. The variety of locations and detail contained is excellent, asset, materials and lighting are all very good and fitting of an Unreal 4 game. Physically approximate lighting models give a broad range of surface details and blemishes to convince. As does the lighting itself with per pixel managed in sections enabling contrast as lights flicker on or off, strong bloom, electronic glow and neon hues are dotted across this 1st chapter well. All are fully real-time and dynamic which is a requirement for the game and the artistic drive. One of the biggest reasons though is time, you see having real-time lighting improves iteration on the artist as no baking of light maps or GI is needed, instead areas can be built, tested, tweaked very quickly. Enabling lights to turn on, affecting surface details, shadows etc realistically and many light sources also cast shadows, giving you multiple in scenes and is why keeping shadows to minimum is advised on PC unless you have a beefy GPU. It also aids realism with the high gloss surfaces reflections and bounce are a key component to the visual style. All versions support screen-space reflections, SSAO not a common thing on consoles, certainly with the overhead of UE4 it runs well. The gorgeous use of particles and Bokeh sampled confusion zone Depth of field is another element to the visual quality, with it sampling from the depth buffer to shift focus from foreground or background accompanied by those lovely shapes it reminds of Alien Isolation, not a bad thing. The use of motion blur, chromatic aberration is subtle and even on consoles you can adjust as required but you always need some of the cracking POMB in y opinion. Backing this up, even on the base Xbox is the option to target Performance or Quality, which means resolution setting and then frame-rate. Here you can have increased resolution which the option is then to cap at 30fps OR you can uncap this which then should have the resolution setting to Performance. This sets a dynamic scaling solution in conjunction with the temporal AA running from a base 1280×720 up to 1600×900 in addition some of the effects are reduced such as Screen Space reflection quality, lighting accuracy which can happen on a per scene basis. Being able to talk directly with the team has helped here as I have been granted access to some of the settings they use and how they manage them. It should come as no surprise then that memory management is

Tetris Effect | Technical Review – PSVR/PS4/Pro

  Puzzle or logic games have been around much longer than video games. Right back to dominoes, chess or Mahjong we have been taxed with single, repetitive yet compelling games that draw us in. From the Rubix cube to Simon says these simple to pick up but addictive challenges ignite our cerebral engine. Games in electronic form also used these simple elements pretty much from day one. Minesweeper was a regular icon seen on desktops from windows 3.1 onward and many of the classics such as Lemmings, breakout or even PAC-Man have all focused on a simple, yet compulsive,  perpetual task to draw us in like a drug.  The grandfather and easily the most famous of these is Tetris, Russian Alexey Pajitnov designed this puzzler in the mid 80’s, although thanks to Russian government ownership he never earned a penny until the late 90’s from it. Something he surely made up for since then, this simple tetrominoes ( 4 squares connected in 7 variety’s) stacker has shipped on almost every format, medium and electron powered device you may have owned. The true, defining moment arrived in 1990 , a year earlier elsewhere, and was the biggest game in my school playground at the time thanks to the all conquering Gameboy, Tetris was the pack in game and for many of us, and the only game we needed. Many of my break and lunch times revolved around high score challenges, this was serious business and seriously addictive. So inspiring was Tetris that Sega bought the rights to an incredible mimic in Columns which it also packed in with their own GameGear handheld in a bid to mirror its success, history states that outcome.   It’s biggest hook, and I believe the single biggest reason the Gameboy dominated the GameGear and far superior Lynx was Tetris, oh yeah and the incredible battery life. Kids, parents and even grandparents all took an interest in this new handheld craze, but Tetris was the star as the number one selling game on the Gameboy and colour combined. That base challenge of connecting a horizontal line never gets old, and surprisingly becomes far easier to see the pattern the more you play. History may just be repeating itself again, maybe, as the latest PlayStation exclusive Tetris Effect, named after the medically confirmed condition, launched last week on both consoles and a fully integrated VR mode that is a step above what I expected.  The aim is the same as before, we have not got a redesign of the core game, this is Gameboy, C64, Amiga, ST, SNES, mobile etc Tetris as you know it. Falling shapes, align them up, join a row and score higher as you clear them. What is new is the vision of Tetris now comes from the great mind of  Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s of Rez fame and like that Dreamcast star it is an audio visual assault of the senses. They share the same use of music being controlled or formed by your actions, this symbiotic link is more engrossing now as then. Over 30 levels are included and the core ‘Journey’ mode takes you on one you will not forget and, if like me, will keep returning to. The game board takes up a small view in your vision, with so much blank space left void, not for long. As you start turning blocks and building shapes little flashes of particles catch your eye, is that a whale, did I just see flaming sacrifice. The music can start slow, moody and calming, then as the line score increases so does the tempo. Vocals fade in, bass starts thumping or the Rhythm changes dependent on the Level, score or stage within. Even on a 2D flat screen this is one hell of an experience, taking hold of you like very few games can at this level. The simplicity of the challenge, hypnotic, pulsing visuals and magnificent soundtrack elevate this from a game to a state of mind.  It has been created using Unreal Engine 4 and like the early demos we saw of the engine particle effects are front and center. Objects, characters are comprised of point cloud particle scripts. Allowing them to dance, sway, swim and move with grace whilst pulsing and flashing with the music and score. As your points rise or you land a Tetris they can break apart mid flow only to reform again. Continuing the vector style of Rez it may look simple but these 3D shapes are generated by thousands of particles that are managed by the GPU and deliver the distinct style the game has, crowned with a dynamic light show it assaults your senses at every turn.  Just as I used to lose hours in a day trying to beat others or my own score, the years have rolled back to that same compulsion. Yet it is all the more encapsulating as the 60HZ update and even 4K resolution (well 26880×1512) on the Pro present a crisp, sharp and pure electronic experience that is as human, tranquil and beautiful as it is addictive, exhilarating and relentless. One of the ways it works so well is that, like the game itself, everything is so simple. Start your journey, choose a zone and then work your way through. The aim of getting a Tetris is merely the start of that constant itch to perfect the unattainable, yet you continue non the less. Even with that done you can challenge others around the globe with leader-boards and some high scores already. The other modes mix up the game as you play, flipping the screen and more. Added to this is the in the “zone” option, build up the meter then fire when things get tough. Stopping time so blocks no longer fall but you can mix up the board and try to clear it down before it all starts again, breaking free of that 4 row limit for the first time. This stay of execution is, like the entire

For Honor: Marching Fire | Technical Review

Beat-em-ups used to rule the world in the 90’s. Arcades were enjoying a daily deluge of new contenders to that Streetfighter crown. The 32-bit console generation was born with a polygonal battle fitting for the machines that powered them. The Saturn’s launch and early lead was due solely to Yu Suzuki’s magnificent Virtua Fighter. Those days have faded and even though we still see incredible titles such as Soul Caliber, Tekken or Injustice 2, they no longer command the headlines or hearts as they once did. Ubisoft have reinvented the genre with For Honor, it is not like those forefathers but certainly has its roots in them. An historic battler is maybe not the first thought for a brand-new franchise but give credit for actually pushing new themes and not giving up on them immediately. With that we are now treated to an expansion to last year’s release in Marching Fire. A £25 or $40 upgrade to that or a complete full price digital release we are now treated to 4 new warriors from another Dynasty. This follows the same theme with the same single player story segment across the Vikings, knights a Samurai which teach you the way of the warrior as they intertwine. As a relatively expensive upgrade I would have hoped to see new single player element for the new Chinese Wu Lin warriors but instead we see a few more modes. Arcade is a constant series of battles that are short and consist of you working your way up the enemy count, think of your standard pagoda battle from Mortal Kombat, a perfect Arcade mode indeed. The problem with this is that is does not offer much more than an offline battle mode you get from the MP mode. Talking of that a new Breach mode is also added which is a PvP mode at least. This follows from the single player section with you protecting a battering ram as it is pushed up to the gate OR defending it. My biggest issue is the mode can drag on too long and with all the NPC enemies and some other players it can almost feel relief when you win. I think they should shorten this mode and maybe add in a grand royal stand-off at the end with the last one/team standing declared the winner. These all bolster the previous modes that appeared in the previous release last year and can now be played with the fraction. In a sad and constant trend in modern games you can unlock the other characters, clothes etc via good old-fashioned gameplay which add to your in-game currency. Of course, for the younger players you can just smash Mum and Dads credit card and buy them with real cash. I am not a fan of this and do miss the old style of just unlocking extra characters via completing tasks, completing the game or cheat codes, remember those. Old man yells at the cloud moment aside the cast of warriors does allow a variety of fighting styles which do vary between the slow lumbering, Knights and heavy Vikings, to the fast Monk, Samurai or female assassin which balance speed and agility over brute force and strength. With its 3-prong attack and defense mechanism allowing a great combination of battle which is required as you move through the AI enemies and certainly when players others online. This all plays almost identical to the base game and the new characters offer a suitable tweak to that, which I covered last year across all versions. Performance wise it is as consistent if not slightly more so here with the XboxOne and X versions I have here for review all targeting and succeeding at the 30fps rate pretty much locked. Helping this out is an adaptive V-sync that allows the screen to tear occasionally when the 33ms frame-time is missed, this only really happens during the real-time cutscenes and even then, are very, very rare. No concerns on that even though a 60fps rate would be preferred for a fighting game it at least keeps a near lock on that which is the most important element for a battler, the PC version does obviously allow this if that is your platform of choice. Visually we are looking at the 2 ends of the console space with the S model here delivering what looks to locked 1728×972 but this is backed up by a Temporal AA element from the Anvil Next engine which is under the hood. This has a reconstruction element that can give higher counts but I think we are looking at a fixed resolution rather than a dynamic one here as the TAA softens the image very quickly which is further softened by the intense chromatic aberration across the frame. I can see the aesthetic choice here and it can work, just not all the time. An option to disable this effect on consoles would be appreciated by me. Texture quality is good but not great for such a small, linear title with very obvious low bit and resolution textures used that can look stretched and blurry during gameplay and close-up cinematics. HBAO is at again used which delivers a great depth and solidity to objects and geometry in the game offering a strong occlusion to recess areas that removes the screen space artifacts we normally see from the screen space version. Filtering is good as is lighting with bloom elements and sun-rays that break through tree lines and buildings. The common or garden cutbacks are used with half-rate effects in the background such as the smoke effects which all help to keep the performance as solid as it is. Something that really adds to the smooth motion and high-quality look and animation is the per-object motion blur. This is an effect I have stated for a while now that the Assassins creed titles such also include, as I think it would really help smooth that games clunky at times, animation

Astro Bot Rescue Mission: PSVR Technical Review

If Sackboy were the hero for PS3, then this little robot is carrying the sword for PSVR and after his small tastes of action in playroom he is now treated to his own full blown adventure thanks to Sony Japan studios, a collective you are almost certain to have played a game from. Ape Escape is likely the longest and most famous, something of a core ingredient for PlayStation consoles since the first, it has been nothing if eclectic. This has been mirrored with the formats and medium, consoles, handheld and VR have all been on the receiving end of their skills or publishing power. He is a Star Boy! The title may have grabbed you and it is something I do not take likely, simply this is one, if not the best integrations of the VR format I have experienced since launch, before I get into why I feel it is a similar moment to that paradigm, I need to bring you up to speed. The inception is simple, some selfish nasal debris has decided to bully your friends, steal your ship and scatter your crew across 5 linear worlds leaving one lone hero to save them all, so far so 90’s. Your mission is to explore these realms, rescue your colleges and rebuild your ship, which bears a striking resemblance to a VR headset. These cover a range of themes from dark caves, jungles, ocean depths and lava-stricken lands that would fall perfectly in-line with any Sonic or Mario title. The difference here your presence within the story and adventure is something of a starring role and what sets this apart from all 2D platformers and be under no confusion, this is a platformer in every sense. You are required to locate you trapped friends across each of the 4 levels per 5 worlds. 8 of your crew are hiding away within each of them and some are easier to find than others, but as the worlds tumble the difficulty of this bot hunt increases alongside the skill requirement. Similar to the superb Moss last year that I touched on in my 2017 VR titles, it breaks down the 4th wall by not only involving you, which that did, but acknowledging your presence within the world itself. This core feature seems simple enough that many other titles should have followed it, some have, but none have designed the entire experience around it to this degree. You control your little Star Boy around these precarious worlds using a variety of precision jumping, simple attacks of strikes, spins or foot lazers mix with a variety of puzzles and mutli-pronged and quite simply superb level design, the kind of ingenious craft I have not enjoyed since those hallowed days of Platforming’s heyday. Using no more than 2 main buttons for one half of your digital duo seems minimal in this rammed control system days but simplify to intensify is the order of the day. This is a rousing success as you almost intuitively control the bot without any guides required, like a true classic game it is simple to learn but difficult to master. No 5 is Alive Much of this is that you yourself are an element within the success of this story, not just idly sitting on your chair pressing buttons, instead being the eyes & head to see the end of this tale. You have to lean forward to see what is lurking behind that wall or up small sections to find secret areas or one of your hidden crew. The real star is the 360 degree designed levels that put you at the centre, you path is on rails through game, controlled by your progression of the hero at large. Many of them require you to sit up, look around and even turn fully in your seat to make that jump, solve that conundrum or even see where that elusive 8th bot is hiding. Quickly this becomes the most engrossing platformer I have ever played and takes me right back to the space age wonder that the N64 classic ushered in with those intuitive controls, excellent level and world design and most importantly bedrock camera system that almost every other game since has used as the basis. Here YOU are the camera so this is the most perfect camera system you could ask for, well when obstruction or view is not woven into the design. Expanding this further is enemies will attack you, spit goo that needs to be shaken off by your head, something you will naturally do as you play, dodge hornets, headbutt them or scenery and even acquire various tools throughout play such as an in vogue grapple hook, ninja stars or water gun that adds yet more dimensions to this full 3D extravaganza. You are tasked to clean up sticky goo, water plants for progression, pull down walls or deflate balloons and even create make shift platforms on the fly to progress. All of these elements combine to create the most absorbing experience I have had in VR without feeling anything but joy, sickness here is very very low as movement is natural from your head and lateral movement is kept to a minimum, the design is always aware you are sitting down, keeping the captivating escort and hectic moments safe enough to not have your breakfast joining in the fun. What really seals the deal and takes this beyond any other platformer you have played is the simply stunning quality of the visuals and the PSVR headset, a game where graphics make an even bigger difference than others is VR and Astro Bot is frankly a Pixar level VR game from a visual and animation perspective. World building As you are always pressed nose close to much of the world and characters within detail and simplicity is key. The team have maximized the finite resources here with remarkable results that are some of the best you will see from console powered VR.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Technical Analysis

It seems that the Oxford lass cannot travel anywhere without disaster striking, from boats….jeep rides and planes she is a constant insurance firms nightmare. With the 3rd entry in the rebooted saga we reach the end of the origins story, even if Lara is still the centre of her own world we now get a chance to branch out further into hers. Shadow is not an exclusive this time with a full assortment of PC and console versions shipping day this week.   Building base camp   The foundations of a great game come from its engine and TR is built on solid foundations, Crystal Dynamic’s own engine in fact, entitled The Foundation engine. This has been the basis for the previous 2 chapters in the reboot and now concluded in this 3rd entry. One of the many advantages it brings is a fast and iterative development cycle using the inbuilt editor Horizon. This tool allows the team, among other aspects, to design levels, tombs and areas quickly and play test to determine what works and what does not. The central hub design from Rise is a core feature of Shadow but on a much larger scale. The game ranges from intimate linear moments to much larger, open and exploratory terrain offering up impressive expanse & detail. Tombs are a big part of Lara’s attraction, the clue is in the name, with this latest entry Eidos have carried the torch seamlessly from Crystal Dynamics having worked with them across the previous 2 entries and them now swapping roles to support the engine Knowledge share during this development cycle. As they already have a strong foundation in..er..foundation this has evidently allowed them to hit the ground running in short time from the 3 years taken we have a title that instantly fits into the saga mold with little sign of the drastic shift this must have taken. Animation has always been a key element within these adventures, MOVA motion capture tech was used before. Rather than adopting the typical spandex suit and sticky balls, instead fluorescent paint is used releasing the actors to feel more natural while still allowing over 7,000 sample points to be mapped from each capture session. The technology focuses on facial capture giving Miss Croft and crew a far more human and natural level of expression, emotion and realism within gameplay and story beats,this may have been used again here or not. Regardless we are treated to subtle eye movements, nose flair, muscle and tendon simulation and even the wrinkles of lips as they contour over teeth. This remarkable level of bone rigging, blend shapes and skin mapping only heightens the suspension of disbelief throughout. They are joined by a plethora of other nuanced moments that would be all but impossible for an animation team to instill themselves alone. The downside to this like most MC methods lies with the capture points and resulting data limiting the ways to build on this, luckily the cast all appear to be sufficiently talented to deliver some rousing moments throughout this epic adventure and I am sure the animators have worked tirelessly to bring these polygons to life with remarkable success, it has raised the level over Rise on this score. You will of course experience a mix that hit some emotional highs and lows along with an equal mixture of success and failure, collectively though this is better performed throughout with a clearer understanding of what it is trying to deliver. Character models are impressively detailed throughout direct and indirect player control. Polygon count has certainly been balanced well here to maximise the details without over spending the budget with reductions on faces, hands to be used elsewhere making minor difference. Normal maps are brilliantly used to add extra depth and detail to players faces, clothing reactions and muscle deformation. This enhances the level of mobility each of them have without making all segments reliant on vertex points and bone rigging. As the cast speak, wince, scream or cry you can see the immense amount of effort and detail that has been spent on them, not only within the aims of the story but also with thought of the host machines.     Do the Locomotion Procedural animation has been used again with the IK, cloth physics and soft body physics allowing Lara to run, slide, fall and wade through this vast terrain with a fluid grace. The same balance of blending and gameplay designs does highlight some obvious warping moments or miss-alignment from time to time it does not divert from the impressive move sets you and the NPC’s and enemies exhibit during play. The new stealth mechanic does add far more connection to Lara now making it a genuine choice and at many times a necessity to progress. Rubbing mud on yourself and then blending into the environment works wonders to the gameplay not to mention Lara’s complextion. As you slide into position and unsheathe your home-made knife (that’s not a knife). This is a key addition to the game and allows a higher level of precision as you work through a camp with Rambo like guile and an equal level of brutality she is still not full self-ware of just how much a cold-blooded killer she is. Accompanying these finely balanced models is an equally high level of textured assets and PBR based material shaders enriching each fabric stich or worn rock with convincing surface details. Skin balances a high quality sub-surface scattering pass during real-time cut-scenes with a cheaper gameplay version that still provides an impressively rendered heroine when the camera is pressed up close. The main model of Lara sports a wealth of dynamic decal elements that are likely stored in memory and then blended between vertex mesh data in real-time using the collision system. Dirt, water, blood, sweat and even mud now all form the cascade of legacy her adventure leaves behind. Pull yourself free from a swim and your clothes will

DO NOT pre-order an Nvidia RTX card until you read this!

  I know some may find that title “attention” grabbing, but it is really a statement that is true for any item (well aside food). Pre-ordering is a dangerous gamble at times and with hardware like software my recommendation has and always will be the same, wait for independent reviews. Of course, with new hardware or software that hype level kicks in and new, shiny and amazing always helps captivate the audience and loosen the wallets, games and us tech enthused people are some of the most susceptible to this. And so it was, that Nvidia stepped forth at Gamescom to announce its not very secret new RTX cards, the new name signifying this shift into Ray Tracing. I have covered what this means already in my video and written article. This article will concentrate on what the new cards offer via these new methods and the much, much wider base improvements over the competition including the outgoing 1080 GTX range. With the demo all concentrating on the shiny new Ray tracing core that sits within the chip it highlighted the age old problem that Sony also faced and largely failed when the Pro was launched. Selling new tech can sometimes be akin to the emperor’s new clothes, the internet based vessel also becomes another factor. Sony tried to sell 4K images on 1080P screens, it had to spend much time shaping that message over time, helped in no small part by channels like mine that better demonstrated the real-world benefits it and the later X from MS actually delivered. Nvidia have started out with very much the same problem, maybe worse due to the significantly higher cost of entry. Much of this is of their own making, standing on your own shoulders each year boasting improved resolution and frame-rates over your last generation has conditioned its audience to always expect this above all else.   But not today, 100% of the message was describing better shadows and reflections, this is how the mainstream will see it and not my view. Worse than this, the cost is a perceived step back to 1080P and sub 60fps performance, not really a $1200 prize to say the least. Of course the detail behind this is far more complicated, impressive and IS a step forward for real-time games, much like console generations and that desire for 60Hz titles being tempered by the need to upstage the competition with better visuals, they come with a cost, the biggest Nvidia have ever felt. To highlight this clearly both Nvidia and AMD have been making cards that can largely deliver 1440P and upwards resolutions at 60 or more frame-rates, if you purchased a new Graphics card in the past 3-4 years chances are you have run games at this rate or higher over that time frame. That pill does seem rather tough to swallow, compounding this is the fact ALL other cards that can still deliver this and 4k/60 on some games are half or less of that price. They have become the dominant GPU manufacturer in this regard, something which has clearly gone to their heads with insane and completely anti-consumer benefit decisions, one of which is the huge price increase, almost twice the price of the outgoing 1080Ti is a significant hike in a little over a year.   There is another!   Contrary to what you may think or Nvidia will tell you they are certainly far from the first to hit real-time Ray Tracing solutions in games. Some titles have been using it with comparable hybrid functions as the RTX cards will, recently released Claybook on even the XboxOne uses Ray traced coned and Signed Distance Fields to generate all of its world, physics and destruction. AMD have their open source Radeon Rays built on the Vulkan API, so it is possible and hinted that we WILL see this appearing on AMD GPU’s using compute this year also, and likely we have already seen some of those titles at the event. Even at a hardware level we have seen long term solutions that mix hardware and software into a genuine solution from the likes of Samsung and pioneering hardware company imagination, known best for powering Sega’s last console with its PowerVR architecture in the Dreamcast. It has offered Ray traced solutions in mobile form with its PowerVR Wizard GPU’s, again working within Vulcan. This was demonstrated at GDC2017 and although far from a real-world product at this point, we can be pretty sure it would not be asking these prices. What about those frame-rates?   The cries from the internet were heard and Nvidia responded, in typical Nvidia style with a vague and misleading graph that is open to huge amounts of interpretation, so that is what I am going to do. You see one of the main factors that has come to light is Nvidia are now asking for a very restrictive NDA to be signed before any review hardware can be provided as such my only chance of testing these new cards is by buying one myself when released OR managing to snag a review one from IHV such as Gigabyte, MSI et al. This is one of if not the biggest reasons I have a Patreon as I buy all my own equipment games and hardware unless stated as such I am limited on what I can test and why I need all the support to raise my subscriptions, views and thus ability to get access to a great breadth of review devices and code. We shall see what I can sort out between now and launch. We do have some info to help us draw some predictions though and the cagey results from Nvidia help that greatly. The graph above shows “relative” 4K/60 performance compared to the outgoing 1080 and the new 2080 card (a cheaper £800 card at least, still 74% more expensive mind). If the graph is to scale, then we have between 33-60% performance

Microsoft Surface Go hardware Review

Microsoft deliver the best value hybrid yet? This is a big time of year for laptop, tablet and general multi-function devices for release as kids go back to school or University. The popular hybrid is the best of both and can make all the difference in these vital years, step forward Microsoft and its gradual penetration into this market and as a hardware vendor. It’s new for 2018 Surface Go has a name that matches the Pro model it gained Apples attention after a couple of failed starts, now the Chromebook, Samsung and Ipad market is the next target. From the off this is not a high performing, slim-line device like the Pro models instead being a much cheaper and more all-round device perfect for the High school or Uni generation that caters to all needs without breaking Mum and Dad’s bank balance. Pricing first and it comes in 2 models that look identical with the same specifications we cover shortly, £379.99 and £509.99 respectively. The main change is the cheaper model here sports 4GB of LPDDR3 and a cheaper/smaller 64GB eMMC storage driver. The £130 more expensive model sports x2 this amount with 8GB and a larger 128GB full SSD which will improve the hybrid for both storage and multi-tasking. Not that the base model here is bad for that as it can multi-task well enough with browser, Excel and PowerPoint open this will quickly bog down if you push beyond 3 or 4 apps at once though. Both models also sport a MicroSD slot at the back which will help expand the small storage space they come with, the 64GB model here has about 56GB of real space once Windows has taken its seat. Aside these 2 areas both models are identical which gives the £510 model the edge in performance at a great deal more cost, 35% more. In addition to this is the excellent cover style keyboard that magnetically connects with ease and folds over to protect the screen when not in use. It is a responsive and solid keyboard considering the reduction from the Pro model and the touch pad is equally as good. The dual fold modes and pop out fully flexible stand mean you can position this on the table, lap or bench as required. Ergonomically it does feel the best balance between function and form, almost. What is under the hood? This is powered by a dual core/4 thread Intel Pentium Gold Processor 4415Y clocked at 1.6Ghz paired with Intel’s own 615 GPU. You can see the specs in the box out below or within the video itself, this is not a powerhouse and gaming performance should be kept in check which I cover later. It has access to around 25.6GB/s bandwidth from the DDR3L modules which is shared with the GPU & CPU, which itself has a 2MB cache. Single threaded performance is ok but the 4 threads can be quickly maxed out once you fire up games or multi-threaded applications such as excel. That said it will power through a few thousand record Database VBA script I have written to test the performance and it handles it well. Certainly not up to a half decent desktop or Thinkpad for sure but within 10’s of seconds to not really be an issue for day to day use within the student target this is aimed at. Simpler functions such as Index-Match or Vlookup can quickly calculate in real-time with no disruption to your work flow, again remember how many applications you have open as filling the RAM will result in page swapping with the flash storage or SSD which you will need to keep in mind.   Screen, sound and image quality The PixelSense touchscreen is good quality with great contrast and blacks hold up well on documents and movies. It can handle 4K/60 streams from Youtube which look very good within its 3:2 ratio sporting an 1800×1200 native resolution at 60Hz makes it perfect for streaming HD movies or TV. The biggest downside is the huge Bezels which reduce the useable viewing space, I think a 13.5” screen and or much thinner bezel would really help although you do grow accustomed to it. The touchscreen is responsive with the flip out stand making it a great option to save time on clicking or swiping pages when on more casual apps. You can add a wireless mouse and stylus pen to the device if you wish for some extra cost, the USB-C connector does reduce the ease of plugging new devices in. The 2 cameras (5MP front and 8MP rear) allow video to be taken at 1080P or likely Skype chats. The CPU and GPU enable it to run semi 3D applications with ease and on the whole it can run may desktop work applications with ease. Sound is functional, this is a tablet after all so do not expect cinema sound with the included 3.5mm headphone jack enhancing this if you need some quiet time away from the world. Matching the simplicity of the magnetic keyboard is the power cable that is bidirectional allowing you to plug in easily from both sides and trail behind or down as needed. It also helps if little brother or sister decides to use it they cannot plug in the wrong way. The thin build of it means a USB 3.0 socket is not an option with an A to C converter required to allow connection for other peripherals or storage options. Built in Wi-fi supports most bands alongside BT 4.1 and speed to the router was good and consistent walking around my house.   Games Moving into games testing it holds up better than expected all things considered, you can play lighter titles fine with modern classics such as Limbo holding close to 60fps at a native resolution. Pixel Monsters 2 is also playable, dropping the resolution close to 540P it can hold around the mid 20’s to 30. The biggest limits come