Saints Row IV review

 

In many ways the Saints Row games are the antidote to the serious nerdism displayed by hardcore gamers who have become so immersed in their virtual worlds that they forget the principal rule that games are supposed to be fun.

So the Saints Row team have dipped into several genres, including shooters, gangster, stealth, superhero, etc., and given them a bizarre, absurd or just plain silly spin in a world where you can make up the rules as you go.

The only problem with this mad tongue-in-cheek approach is that you have to come up with enough new gags to keep your fans hooked. This time round they've kicked off by making the leader of the Saints gang the President of the United States, complete with trademark purple outfits, gun-toting bodyguards and babes in skimpy outfits.

However, within seconds of the game getting under way, Earth is invaded by aliens and the President is grabbed and then held prisoner in an AI simulation of Steelport. From then on the battle is waged in both the virtual world (in the familiar Saints Row fashion) and on board spaceships in the 'real' world.

 

The major change in the Steelport gameplay is that you can acquire extra powers in a Neo/Matrix manner so you can leap over tall buildings, run at incredible speed, hurl fire and ice, ground stomp and use telepathy to tackle your enemies. Your aim is to gradually take over more and more of the map and destabilise the simulation so that the alien leader Zinyak's power is broken.

Fans of the series will enjoy familiar traits such as crazy weapons, outrageous clothing, car customising and using the phone to call up vehicles and gang members. One handy novelty is that you can remove any accumulated notoriety by destroying one of the golden alien orbs that zap round the streets.

Contained in the game are campaign missions, side-missions and mini-games that range from humdrum stealing vehicles and blowing up property with tanks to the more bizarre Mind Over Murder telepathy game show, smashing yourself at oncoming traffic and fighting a giant can of fizzy drink.

You do get to a point where the battles become repetitive even with all the zany humour but if you want to relieve some stress by spending several hours blowing away humans and aliens with over-the-top weaponry and acting like a hyped up superhero, then Saints Row IV is an ideal choice.

 

Score: 4/5

Epson Expression Premium XP-605 review

White makes a refreshing change from the unrelenting black style of most printers and the Epson Expression Premiun XP-605 is a compact multifunction colour printer that majors on good quality colour photos.

Score: 3.5/5

For the full review, follow the link:

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/printing/3437661/epson-expression-premium-xp-605-review/

BioShock Infinite review

 

We all know about BioShock - it's that quirky retro shooter set in a decaying Art Deco city under the sea, populated by biologically enhanced crazies, drill-waving Big Daddies and little girls harvesting Adam.

So the news that 2K was preparing a new sequel - BioShock Infinite - brought squeals of delight to the legions of fans who were already mentally donning their scuba gear. Yet no-one could have predicted the startling new direction this saga was going to steer.

At first, you think you're on familiar territory. You're in a boat being rowed across the sea towards a lighthouse. You disembark, follow the path and climb your way to the top of the building. There you find yourself strapped into a seat and within seconds the lighthouse is lifting off into the clouds. Now it hits you - you're never going back to Rapture.

Instead you're transported to a fictional 1912 sky city called Columbia made of mechanically powered islands. These are connected by metal bridges and an elaborate sky-rail system and your first vision of this heavenly Eutopia is an explosion of white and vivid colours that takes the breath away.

Your (anti-)hero Booker DeWitt is a private eye who is hoping to pay off a massive debt by finding a young woman called Elizabeth who is currently being imprisoned in a secure house in Columbia. Like us, DeWitt is initially dazzled and bewildered by the city's beauty, its epic grandeur, towering monuments to past American heroes and the atmosphere of peace and tranquility.

At the core of Columbia's society is the virtually religious adoration of the principal benefactor, the Prophet, and yet DeWitt rapidly discovers that all is not well in Paradise. As the story progresses, he will uncover madness, violence, torture and rebellion which will literally and psychologically tear this world apart.

Playing BioShock Infinite is like falling down the rabbit hole in Wonderland and watching all the inhabitants turning dangerously psychotic. While you gradually acquire a range of conventional weapons (pistol, shotgun, machinegun, RPG, carbine, etc.), you can supplement these with extra powers known as Vigors (Columbia's version of Rapture's Plasmids). Powered by collectible salt, these include projecting fire, electricity, water and even crows at your enemies as well as lifting them into the air, power charging them and pulling them to you from a distance.

Vigors can be enhanced and combined so long as you collect enough money from bodies and containers. Weaponry likewise can be modified using vendors scattered liberally around the map. Dying is not really an option as you simply regenerate at a safe location (as in BioShock 2) with less cash but some basic ammo and salt. Some may feel this lowers the challenge level but the reward is a fast flowing and exhilarating adventure.

Once Elizabeth is discovered, she also enters into the action by supplying vital boosts of ammo, health, salt and money. She can also make tears in the fabric of this world and drag items in from parallel realities, including turrets, health kits and grapples which will help turn the course of a battle. She is also the only one who can open locked doors and your job is to keep her supplied with picks.

The deeper into the narrative you delve, the darker and more surreal the scenes become. At one point you'll be fighting your way through what appears to be an abandoned orphanage against shimmering figures that fade in and out of solidity. Elizabeth is relentlessly pursued by a giant mechanical bird she both loves and loathes and the extent of her powers grows greater but more sinister as time advances.

At the heart of this drama is the mystery of the relationship between DeWitt and Elizabeth and the twists and turns in the considerable revelations will make your head spin. You will undoubtedly find, as I did, that the ending produces a million more questions that need answering. Yet just as when you read the final chapter in an epic novel you've lost yourself in for weeks, finishing BioShock Infinite will leave you with a sad yearning for what has passed.

BioShocking to your depths. Infinite addiction guaranteed. Indisputably the game of the year so far.

 

Score: 5/5

Tomb Raider review

 

It's hard to believe that it's 17 years since the pneumatic archaeologist burst on to the gaming scene but thanks to several sequels, a couple of movies, scores of PR lookalikes and a bunch of action figures, Lara Croft is probably light-years more popular than Indiana Jones.

So the problem for Crystal Dynamics was to find a way to drag what was becoming a deteriorating franchise kicking and screaming into the post-COD era without losing all that mesmerised the hardcore fans.

The result is a strange paradox - a game that has gone back to the roots while looking and playing like a modern movie blockbuster. The aim is to explain psychologically, emotionally and physically how Lara became the daredevil explorer of later years. Thus we meet her in the opening cut scene fresh from college with some student pals on her first major exploration to find an uncharted island.

 

Early conflicts in the group are flagged up, the ship is caught in a lethal storm and after wreck and unconsciousness, Lara awakes hanging upside down in a room surrounded by dead and dismembered bodies. The tone is set - this is going to be darker, bloodier, scarier and more dramatic than any previous Croft escapades.

The level of detail in everything from Lara's appearance to the landscapes, abandoned vessels, tomb interiors and hundreds of 'extras' is astonishing and both the gameplay and the connecting movie scenes are interwoven so expertly that you genuinely feel like you've been immersed in a 3D action film.

Also, the Lara of the earlier games was largely expressionless, her character difficult to fathom. This Lara shivers in the cold, cries from pain and loss, feels guilt when harm comes to her friends and frequently doubts her abilities at the beginning of the story. She has to learn how to forage for food, how to make or improve weapons and most importantly how to kill to survive.

Be warned - this is not family entertainment. The '18' rating is deservedly awarded for some of the goriest scenes yet produced in computer gaming - mutilations, executions, literally rivers of blood and unnumbered corpses litter the map. Lara herself is punched in the face, stabbed in the leg, drenched in blood and mud, dragged down rapids, slammed against floors, thumped against rock faces and (almost) sexually attacked. Her 'death' scenes include falling off cliffs, being impaled underwater, burning alive and being hacked to pieces - not for the faint hearted.
For some diehard fans the shift to Die Hard heroics may well be too much to stomach. Yes there are still some puzzles to solve, climbing routes to figure out and of course tombs to plunder. Yet the shift in emphasis is much heavier towards combat, frenetic pace and adrenaline rushes where standing still means instant termination.

Other new elements include camp sites being used (in the style of The Witcher) to upgrade skills and weapons, experience points earned for killing animals or clever human slaying and the dreaded button-mashing Quick Time Events during key melee attacks. The controls on the whole work well but there are times when the camera angles are deliberately and annoyingly off-centre and certain running sequences make keeping a straight line virtually impossible.

Clearly Crystal Dynamic are doing all they can to steal Uncharted's thunder and for most of the time you have to applaud their success. The storyline is frequently engrossing but it's a shame that Tomb Raider has been released so close to Far Cry 3 where (what a coincidence!) a group of friends is captured by a gang of homicidal loonies on a desert island and one supposedly weaker member has to rescue the others.

British actress Camilla Luddington (who recently featured in the True Blood TV series) makes a believable stab at voicing Lara's progress through the narrative but while the villains always sound suitably menacing, her friends never truly rise above stereotypes. Humour is pretty thin on the ground here, apart from an early "I hate tombs" quip from the heroine. One other note for those who want to extend their gameplay beyond the side quests in the samller tombs - multiplayer has also been included for the first time, with battles between Scavengers and Survivors but the maps are quite small.

Ultimately how you react to Tomb Raider may well depend on how much of a purist you were before you played it. If you come to it as a first timer, this is undoubtedly one of the most exciting, dynamic, graphically stunning and explosive horror-fests yet created. If on the other hand you pine for peaceful puzzle-solving, tomb trickery and hunting for medipacks, this new Lara might leave you seriously traumatised.

 

Score: 4.5/5

Samsung NP550P7C 17.3" Series 5 Notebook review

If you're looking for a new desktop substitute where the accent is on entertainment, large storage and fast operating speeds, then Samsung's new NP550P7C 17.3" Series 5 Notebook ought to be worth your consideration.

It's quite weighty at 3.05Kg but as it's unlikely you'll spend much time balancing this machine on your lap, that shouldn't be much of a deterrent. If you go for flashy exteriors then this isn't for you - Samsung opt for a cool silver and black finish that looks smart and business like.

There seems to be some confusion over the maximum screen resolution as the version I was sent only reaches as high as 1600 x 900 but the official Samsung site clearly suggests you can opt for full HD (1920 x 1080) as a factory option. If so, then you should obviously push for this as the NP55OP7C comes with a Blu-ray player as standard and there seems little point in having this if you can't watch in full HD.

The keyboard is the instantly recognisable chiclet type with spaced square keys that feel firm and responsive to the touch - gamers might not appreciate the tiny arrow keys though. The touch pad beneath responds well, especially for pinching and expanding movements and it doesn't dominate too much of the surface.

A quick tour of the sides reveals a LAN output for Ethernet networking plus VGA, HDMI and two USB 3.0 ports, as well as an extra USB 2.0 and an SD card slot at the front. So you can at least play your Blu-rays back through a full HD TV screen if you end up with the lower spec display.

One area where the NP55OP7C scores particularly well is its sound quality. Laptops are notoriously awful when it comes to audio but Samsung have installed two decent JBL stereo speakers with a Max Bass Boost Subwoofer that really does give a bit of oomph to the bass.

There's no shortage of power under the hood either, as the NP55OP7C has a meaty Intel Core i7 processor clocked at 2.3GHz and with 6MB RAM. This ensures fast multifunction activity, no video stop-starting and the ability to play sprawling games like Skyrim without serious lag. Graphics too are detailed and colours rich thanks to the installed NVIDIA GeForce GT650M powered by 2GB memory and there's a full 1TB of storage.

Battery life is not the greatest, however, and you will be struggling to prolong it more than about three and a half hours. Still, if the chances are you won't be moving it around much, that should be a minor inconvenience in what is overall a pretty decent entertainment computer.
 

Cost: from around £750

Score: 4/5

Dell C1760nw review

Although multifunction printers are all the rage at the moment, sometimes all you need is a printer that will do one function well. Dell's C1760nw is a colour printer for home or small office that specialises in producing relatively quick and good quality colour documents and includes Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections. However, it is pricier than most for ink costs.

For the full review, go to http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/printing/3433597/dell-c1760nw-review/

Score: 3.5/5

Xerox WorkCentre 3325 review

The Xerox WorkCentre 3325 is their current top of the range mono laser printer with copy, scan and fax functions. Very big on capacity with auto duplex as standard, speeds up to 36ppm and Wi-Fi as well as Ethernet connection, this is well worth considering at around £360.

Score 3.5/5

See my full review at
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/printing/3424492/xerox-workcentre-3325-review/#fragment-1

Far Cry 3 review

Rich American kids go on dream paradise island holiday. Hang-gliding, scuba-diving. lazing on a yacht, partying on the beach - the ususal stuff. This could of course be another mind-numbing episode of the Kardashians but because this is the opening video footage to Far Cry 3, you just know it's too good to be true.

Sure enough, it's quickly revealed that these same college friends are currently sitting in cages in the heart of the jungle and their psychopathic Mohican-haired captor is tormenting them with the fear that their parents might not be willing to cough up megabucks to have them ransomed. You play Jason Brody, the least aggressive member of the group who unexpectedly has the chance to bolt for freedom with the pirates in hot pursuit.

Jason soon finds help in the shape of the native Rakyat tribe who adopt him as a trainee warrior in return for help to rescue his pals. As the plot develops, it soon becomes clear that nothing and no-one is quite as they first appear. The Rakyat princess has her own agenda, additional assistance comes from unexpected quarters and Jason himself looks into the black abyss and finds much of it looking in to him.

Unlike many of the current crop of  RPG/shooters, Far Cry 3 has invested miles more in the campaign mode than in multiplayer and the result is a tightly plotted, tense, yet expansive narrative that is seriously addictive. The story begins with a quote from Alice in Wonderland and you're never in doubt that this is a study in madness and chaos, complete with drug-induced fantasy sequences.

The map is huge and the open world gameplay ensures that you will spend hours purely exploring this beautifully designed island where every inch has been lovingly crafted. As well as the central story, you can take on specialist challenges such as the Trials of Rakyat where you defeat waves of foes against the clock and time-sensitive road races. You're also urged to clear out pirate camps to reduce the amount of enemy activity in the area whilst establishing fast travel points to ease the tedium of permanently going cross-country.

Spread throughout the map are 18 radio towers to be powered up and the more you 'liberate' the more free weapons are available for your inventory. Such is the attention to detail in Far Cry 3 that each neglected tower is designed to be a mini-task to climb and once achieved you're rewarded with XP and three fabulous views of the surrounding area.

Stealth is a strong component of the missions in Far Cry 3 and some will be failed as soon as you are spotted. While this can be occasionally frustrating, the rewards for success are considerable. Not only are there plenty of crates of loot and piles of money to be collected, bodies can be raided and both animal hides and plants harvested to make larger carrying pouches and scores of medical enhancements.

As you might expect, there's also a considerable skill tree to improve health, combat abilities and speed and weapons and ammo can be purchased at safe houses and village gun stores. The weapons are weighty and explosions satisfying but there's still nothing as sensational as a silent takedown. The other important element in the story is the role of the myriad species of animals - less aggressive ones can be tracked and killed fairly easily but you will also be surprised by lethal hunters like leopards, bears and wild dogs.

Story mode is sufficient in itself to make this game a bestseller but Ubisoft has inevitably included four-player co-op alongside multiplayer which throws one new variation into the usual mix - Firestorm - where each team tries to burn down the other's base.  However, as the story mode is so exceptional, multiplayer pales against it and I for one will be replaying the campaign to ferret out all the side quests and secrets (including hidden letters and relics) I missed out on first time.

There seems to have been a recent trend in games like Spec Ops: The Line, Dishonored and Mass Effect 3 where moral choices have an inordinate effect on the game's direction and Far Cry 3 continues this theme. Jason has to decide by the end whether or not to become that which he most fears and if there is a downside to the story, it's in the way retribution is finally taken against the villains of the piece. But apart from this and an ongoing annoyance at the lack of steering on vehicles, it's hard to fault a game that is so entertaining and absorbing.


Score: 4.5/5

One you may have missed - Dishonored review

Just occasionally a game comes along that injects a massive dose of innovation and creativity into jaded genres - you've only to think of the first appearances of Mass Effect, BioShock and F.E.A.R. . When Dishonored first came out at the end of September 2012, gamers became aware that another milestone had been established which like those other predecessors managed to evoke a mesmerising world, drive a strong storyline and establish intriguing characters.

Having sidestepped Dishonored for a while while a host of other pre-Christmas blockbusters crammed the shelves, I decided New Year's Day was a good time to explore this brave new world. The world of Dunwall is a curious amalgam of Dickensian squalor, Regency splendour and steampunk apocalypse.

You play Corvo, the resourceful bodyguard of the Empress and within the opening few minutes the Empress is assasinated, her daughter Emily kidnapped and you are thrown into prison, wrongfully accused of the murder. As with Oblivion, The Witcher 2, Skyrim and Far Cry 3, you start the game escaping from captivity but right from the off you learn there are many ways to achieve your ends.

Achievements are rewarded if you can get though a mission without killing anyone and by using stealth alone. This is undoubtedly the toughest course but the most satisfying if you can pull it off. The main joy of Dishonored is the open-ended gameplay that lets you explore this magnificent town in a number of ways while plotting your next move.

Dunwall itself is in the grip of a plague which has left whole areas in ruins, flooded and occupied by lethal rats and the equally deadly 'weepers' - infected humans who act like zombies. If that wasn't bad enough, the polluted waterways contain flesh-eating fish and rotting canals and alleyways hide poison-spitting plants.

Living in this murky subculture are bandits, thieves and killers who will atack for coin or sport - although occasionally deals can be struck. On the plus side, a small band of Loyalists are holed up in a riverside pub and it's their plan to use your fighting and stealth skills to overthrow the traitorous Lord Regent and his cohorts and restore the status quo.

In addition, there's a quasi-divine figure known as the Outsider who appears to Corvo early on and endows him with special abilities to top up his melee and range skills. This is where we stray into BioShock territory, as your powers include limited teleportation, seeing though walls, a force blast to push enemies off walls and time freeze. My personal favourites were undoubtedly the fun of sending a horde of rats to attack and annihilate enemies plus turning unsuspecting foes to ash.

There is huge replay potential here in exploring a vast range of ways of combining basic weaponry skills (crossbow, pistol, sword) with exploding ammo and your 'supernatural' gifts. As with Skyrim, there's also a degree of moral choices you can make that effect the eventual outcome and a fair number of side quests you can pursue for more upgrades. The Outsider upgrades happen after collecting runes (i.e. artefacts, rather than Skyrim's Nordic letters) and minor improvements are possible when you discover bone charms.

Because there are not enough runes scattered round the map for you to fully upgrade all your powers, decisions also have to be made about how you 'load' your abilities. This also applies to ammo and weapon upgrades which are only made possible via coin purchases at the Hounds Pit Pub workshop. Techno geeks will also appreciate the rewiring tool that can turn lethal light walls to your advantage and you can even possess rats and humans to avoid detection in crowded places.

The more you explore Dunwall the more you feel truly part of this decadent, treacherous but often startlingly beautiful world. The voice acting throughout is excellent - any game that boasts performances by Susan Sarandon, Michael Madson, Carrie Fisher and Lena Headey is always on to a winner - and there are several plot twists and surprise reveals to keep you guessing to the end. As with any great composition, you will  find a few bum notes - the Outsider should have had a much more weighty role and the ending lacks a wow finish - but if you've somehow missed Dishonored in all the Spec Ops 2, Assassins Creed 3 and Far Cry 3 cacophony, you need to go back and unearth this crazy diamond.


Score: 4.5/5

Canon i-SENSYS MF4890dw review

If you're looking for a multifunction mono laser printer that has a good set of features, costs well under £300, has impressive print quality and is relatively cheap to run, then check out my review of the Canon i-SENSYS MF4890dw on PC Advisor

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/printing/3419106/canon-i-sensys-mf4890dw-review/

Score: 3.5/5