L U C Y

1077 1077

No @xRin

Blue White/Black

2003

8/10

What do you get when you take Harvest Moon, take out all the RPG elements, add some really simple puzzles and then charge £17 for it? Well, you get Harvest Moon: Mad Dash, and you might well wish you hadn’t. Here is a game that’s almost entirely the opposite of what Harvest Moon is all about, but with the name splashed all over it and the familiar sprites front and centre. It’ll almost make growing vegetables seem a chore, if you can imagine such a thing. Here’s it straight: Mad Dash isn’t a good game. Honestly, I’m not sure it’s trying to be. It’s a simple spin-off targetted at casual fans of the series who want a mobile-like experience on console. Nothing more, nothing less. And for all the way it fails to be engaging for those who want more meat on their Harvest Moon, no doubt this will have its fans as well. Mad Dash in Slo-Mo Firstly, I’m pretty sure that name was chosen to mock potential buyers. Mad Dash it isn’t. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to move patches of vegetables into blocks. The bigger the blocks, the more points you earn. And what do points mean? Usually prizes, but in the case of Mad Dash points mean gaining access to more Mad Dash. You must make your way across a mobile game style map of levels to restore the island to its former glory. Each level takes a couple of minutes and is fun enough with friends. Levels are so easy to begin with and the difficulty ramps up so slowly that you’ll have no problem getting the coveted three stars. Occasionally the developers will add in a new challenge to overcome – maybe there’s a boar stampeding over your crops and you have to move them in time. Man, oh man, the things you have to deal with as a dedicated farmboy. Luckily by the time this and similar barriers are added, you’ve already mastered the skills of moving crops slowly from one location to the other, and so it does little to push you on. Match crops in too inefficient a way and they’ll wither and die. This would add an interesting layer of strategy if not for the fact you’re given a warning not to add any more crops to a block when they’re about to die. Power through until you’re literally told not to. Cows need feeding and there are fish to catch too. That adds a little variety, but you’re still effectively just moving blocks from one area to another in a not very pressured scenario. A long, long journey Remember that old joke from Annie Hall? Two women eating at a restaurant, one says: “I hate the food here.” The other says: “Yes, and in such small portions.” That might apply to life, but it doesn’t apply to Harvest Moon: Mad Rush. It is gargantuan. Fans are rewarded with plenty to do. If you have masochistic tendencies, well that’s just another plus point for this title. There are a lot of levels – more levels than most people could possibly want. Beyond that though, there isn’t a lot on offer. There aren’t other modes hidden away. You finish a level, get your three stars (because I’m not sure there’s any other option) and carry on. Any game that has local co-op is at least worth a try in my book, and my wife and I did enjoy Mad Rush for what it is. The ‘tutorial’ feel is strong, and there wasn’t enough to keep us coming back for more. Visuals are nice enough. They’re bright, colourful and don’t get in the way of things. The music is forgettable but, again, not too big a problem. There’s enough to like that if you feel like Mad Dash is for you, you’ll be happy with its presentation. Conclusion Mad Dash is a mobile title released on console for more than three times the price. It’s come to Xbox One nearly a year after release on other platforms. It uses the Harvest Moon name, but isn’t a Harvest Moon game by any other descrpition. With that said, there’s a gentle puzzle game in Mad Dash that will have its fans. If you’re looking for something that won’t stretch your gaming muscle in the slightest but has bright visuals, an almost impossible-to-lose gameplay style and an endless amount of levels to check out, look no further. Review Video:

Nvidia announced yesterday (via The Verge) that the Nvidia Broadcast app's Noise Removal feature—once known as RTX Voice—will be coming to OBS software as a native feature. This is great news for streamers and content creators using the free software, as it cuts out the need to use the Nvidia Broadcast app as a middleman altogether. Nvidia Broadcast software has given users a bunch of neat AI-powered features that can be turned on at the flick of a switch. You can track head movements with the Auto Frame feature, and remove backdrops without a green screen using Virtual Background. The apps Noise Removal feature was originally available only for RTX 2060 GPUs and above, but has since become available for any GeForce graphics card. The feature grants the ability to reduce background noise from audio inputs or outputs, and is highly effective at what it does, but was limited in use through the Broadcast app. Rolling out with the new beta version of OBS Studio 27 and supported through Nvidia’s latest game-ready drivers, this new native integration will streamline the process of setting up noise cancellation in OBS. Hopefully, it'll remove some of the hassle from streaming workflows, making it possible to access the features settings through OBS, without having to go through the Nvidia Broadcast app. One less app to juggle while trying to stream! The news comes alongside Nvidia's announcement of a Mortal Shell RTX update, and a whole host of G-sync compatible monitors that have been officially certified, as well as some new toys for developers.

I'm pretty sure I have the coolest graphics card ever made. Not the one in my PC right now. That's a very nice white RTX 3070, but it's not all-time cool. Today's cards use big hunks of plastic to frame their coolers, and those coolers now have fairly standardized designs. Go back a decade or two, though, and you get a lot more exposed metal and experimental designs. Enter the Powercolor Radeon HD 4850. I found it a few years ago while exploring some deep storage in the PC Gamer office, and I liked it so much I kept it, even if its 512MB of memory wouldn't do much good in a gaming PC today. I couldn't just throw away a card with a red circuit board, exposed copper, and that circular heatsink. But I didn't love it sitting out, either, with so many easily broken pieces on it. So I decided to frame it, and the end result looks so good, I think more retro hardware deserves the same treatment. Not all your old PC parts will make great showpieces—hard drives and SSDs and CPUs don't have much to show off, really. But some motherboards have all sorts of shiny bits and bobs, and other components can become classy tech decor when disassembled. Here are some inspiring examples, and some tips on how best to show off some old PC hardware you have in the closet. Because my graphics card has a colorful circuit board, I wanted a shadow box with a black backing that wouldn't distract from it. It also needed to be thick enough to fit the GPU cooler. I picked this 8x10 frame, which is 1.5 inches deep. ATX motherboards measure about 12x10 inches, which is a doable but tight fit in a common 11x14 shadow box. You might want to give it a bit more room to breathe. When picking a shadow box, definitely think about the backing color and the color of your hardware. A lot of PC hardware is black, so it'll pop better on a white or colored background. It might be tough to find a box pre-configured with the exact color you want, but you can always buy some fabric or adhesive liner to add yourself. If you have some extra desk or shelf space, maybe forego a frame and go for an acrylic display instead. This Redditor threw a vintage 3Dfx Voodoo into a case, and now I wish I'd thought to do the same with my Radeon HD 4850. There are affordable acrylic cases on Amazon (often designed for model cars) that could fit plenty of graphics cards. Knolling is the process of artfully arranging a bunch of tools or parts or Lego bricks or whatever, and done well it can really elevate the presentation of a whole mess of little pieces. Here's a really cool example with a classic Macintosh. How does this apply to actually showcasing your old hardware, though? Knolling an "exploded" view of a disassembled graphics card or hard drive or some other component can make a much cooler display piece than the same component would be assembled. There's a small subreddit called FramedTech devoted to these kinds of displays. Exploded graphics cards and iPhones are especially po[CENSORED]r. Heck, even hard drives look good taken apart. How you arrange parts can make a big difference This goes along with knolling, but can also apply to a bunch of frames arranged together, too. I don't think CPUs make for very interesting decor—they're just little squares, right?—but the right arrangement can make all the difference. Check out this example on Reddit, where six offset CPUs actually make for a geometrically pleasing wall display. Paint your motherboard(s) I think this is the coolest way to display old motherboards: painting them a solid color and then wall-mounting them to create what looks like a topographical map of a tiny tech city. The best example is probably the entire motherboard wall from Linus Tech Tips. Here's a fan who did the same, and it looks damn good.

There's something weirdly mythical about the historical 4X and the dominance of a single series, Civilization, for 30 years. But Amplitude Studios has spent a decade preparing to rewrite that myth. Humankind is the result: a massive, history-spanning behemoth that's kept me on its hooks until sunrise a few times. But in trying to make its own Civilization, Amplitude may have sacrificed too much of what made its earlier games, Endless Legend in particular, such compelling weirdos. This is not to say that Humankind doesn't have any bold ideas. It's clear that isn't the case as soon as you hop into a campaign. Normally you'd need to pick a civ, faction or race of nerdy dragons first, and then plonk down a city, but not here. Before picking a site for your first settlement, or even picking a culture, you must first explore the world as a nomadic, Neolithic tribe. During this phase you saunter around gathering food and other resources from nodes scattered all over the world, with breaks where you get to fight animals. Picking berries and beating up mammoths—a perfect Neolithic family day out. I'm sure this all sounds quite relaxing—that's a trap. It's really a sprint, a particularly brutal one on the highest difficulty, where you're competing to get first dibs on the list of playable cultures and stake your claim on the most bountiful regions. Found a place with bronze and horses? Get an outpost on that as quickly as you can, and then get back to brawling with the wildlife. Your little band of explorers will also grow, allowing you to break up the squad and send individual units or smaller groups far and wide. Of course, that puts them in danger, as other tribes might try to pick them off. Territory you've claimed in preparation for your transformation into a settled civilisation can also be ransacked and taken from you, so things can get a bit heated. It's good to make enemies early on and know where you stand. It's simply the best 4X starting experience. By the time my Neolithic adventures earn me enough stars to move to the next era, I've usually pushed back the fog of war considerably, found several potential sites for my first city, and know where I can find dyes and other early-game resources. It's especially helpful when it's your first game, easing you into something that quickly balloons in complexity. Stargazing A bit like Civilization 6: Rise and Fall's Great Ages, Humankind only lets you move into a new era when you've hit enough milestones. Get seven stars for seven milestones and you'll be able to leap into the next era. Having these objectives is a fantastic motivator, and it's a good way to measure your progress against the competition. Unfortunately, the milestones are hardly inspiring. They're all arbitrary targets like 'research 60 techs' and 'defeat 20 military units', and the only thing that changes is the number. You'll be at turn 200 basically doing the same thing you were doing at turn 20. I think MMOs have broken me, though, because I do find the grind slightly reassuring. While those stars are crucial, what you're really trying to get is the accompanying Fame payout—if you have the most when the game ends, victory is yours. So you might linger in an era you're free to leave, just so you can mop up a few more stars that you're close to getting. Watch out, though, because that Fame isn't going to save you if a more advanced empire decides to pick a fight. More Fame can be earned by erecting wonders, too, or by completing competitive deeds, like discovering natural wonders or landing on a new continent. When it's time to hit the ancient era, it's only then that you get to pick your first culture. Each has a penchant for science, expansion, warfare and other specialities, giving you an active and passive ability shared by all the cultures with that affinity. You also get a unique building, unit and bonus, like Egypt's ability to generate more industrial power. The bonuses are usually big, game-changing numbers, and there's a significant difference if you pick, say, the industrious Egyptians over the expansionist Assyrians. These differences will determine, or at least inspire, your strategy, but mechanically they are a lot less distinct than any of the factions Amplitude has created previously. No numerical bonuses can really compare to the unique traits of Endless Legend's Necrophage, a ravenous insectoid swarm that can't make friends and just wants to eat everything, or Endless Space 2's Horatio, a faction filled with clones of the most narcissistic person in the galaxy. Humankind's big trick is that you're not stuck with your chosen culture. At the start of every new era—there are six in total—you can optionally adopt a new era-appropriate culture while keeping the bonuses from your previous ones. Individually, the faction design seems conservative, but when you start mixing them up things start to get a lot more exciting. There are a million possible combinations, encouraging a lot of number crunching, theorycrafting and experimentation. You've also got lots of religious tenets, available to pick whenever your religion ranks up, and culture-wide civics decisions, both of which pile on even more bonuses. Overpowered builds are inevitable with this many combos, and I much prefer it to perfect balance. Watching my favourite numbers skyrocket brought me a lot of joy, but I can't say I got attached to any of my hybrid cultures. There's nothing to really get attached to—only the odd unique building or unit. And the individual cultures never stick around for very long, leaving behind only a bonus and the occasional relic—a pyramid here, an amphitheatre there—as their legacy. The AI leaders have personality traits, but I would never have been able to tell if the game didn't explicitly show me in the diplomacy screen. And it's much harder to nurture grudges when the civilisations keep changing. Amplitude is so experienced in the art of weaving narrative twists into strategy games that its absence is Humankind's greatest surprise. I wouldn't expect something like Endless Legend's more scripted stories in a historical 4X, but Humankind doesn't really generate much emergent stuff either. There's this whole theme of multiculturalism that lies at the centre of Humankind that largely goes unexplored, beyond the obvious mechanical benefits. Even compared to Civilization, which has been known to let its hair down with things like rock band missionaries, it's utilitarian. You'll occasionally encounter some random events, but they're a half-hearted bunch and disconnected from the rest of the game. It's telling that instead of your po[CENSORED]tion's happiness or contentment being reflected, cities instead have a cold, mechanical stability meter. This, however, I'm OK with. I'm done with trying to keep people happy. All I want to do is build absolutely humongous cities, and Humankind is more than happy to be of service. These things consume everything and spread all over continents like a living factory, gobbling up all the resources and turning them into cash and guns. Feeding time is all the time. By linking a region you've already claimed to an existing city, that city can then start expanding into the new region and harvesting its resources. Cities can even swallow up other cities, giving birth to a mega-city instantly. These big moves are pricey and destabilising, but with the economy's tendency to snowball, you can rack up a huge surplus pretty easily, and stability issues can be fixed by plonking down the appropriate district. There just isn't much—aside from your opponents—halting your expansion. When obstacles do appear, the solution is rarely to rein it in; you can always keep going. In search of war I like the constant, consistent progression, and nobody likes being told they can't assimilate an empire today, but with more stringent limitations there'd also be more friction, more tension, and a more interesting strategy game. Thankfully, you can get to that game if you fiddle around with the settings a bit. See, the default settings will give you a game where nobody declares war, where you'll outpace everyone by multiple eras, and where you'll spend at least 100 turns just waiting around for something to happen. It put me right off. Just bumping it up a few notches to Empire difficulty (there are two more beyond that) makes a world of difference, especially if you shrink the map down to make the fight over territory a lot nastier. When I turned the difficulty up the first time, the Neolithic tribes were going at it even before they'd invented the concept of war, and by the second era everyone was getting stuck into some much more serious scuffles. The need for troops massively slowed down the development of my cities and my economy, and while cheesy builds can still throw it all into (welcome) disarray, the AI can at least give you a proper fight when you let it off the leash. I'm actually losing a war terribly in my current campaign. It's great! There's just one problem: I don't really like fighting. The threat of combat is a necessary evil to shake up a game that can be a little dull without it. Fights play out in a tactical map within the campaign map, with each unit in your squad getting a chance to bloody the enemy's nose. It's a lot like Endless Legend's combat system, but not as good. Units can move, use one basic attack and die—that's their three skills. Terrain is the main enemy, and with more elaborate topography than Endless Legend, there's less room to work with. It's more fiddly than tactical, and I'm still confused about how I'm meant to lay siege to small islands when, as the game kept reminding me, "you can't besiege a city with an army at sea". Thanks. If units had more utility, it would be greatly improved, and things do pick up a bit once you start getting close to the end of the tech tree, but I always hit that auto-resolve button the instant I see I have even a slight advantage. At least it's an option. And with the actual fights out of the way, there's a lot to war worth recommending—it really spices up a relationship that's on the rocks. Even with more enthusiastic opponents, the momentum falters in the endgame as Humankind runs out of new tricks. It gets familiar late additions like the space race, nukes and pollution, but all of them are disappointingly perfunctory. I sped to the end of the very traditional tech tree in my first game, and acquiring all of humanity's knowledge only left me hollow. Perhaps there's a valuable lesson in there, but I'd rather have more neat things to do with fancy technology. There are only so many times the numbers can grow before you crave something a bit more substantial. Old World serves as an interesting comparison. Like Humankind, Civ's influence is everywhere, but while that gave Old World a starting point, where it ended up was a lot more unusual. It found a new place to focus on—people—and all sorts of surprising crises and obstacles as a result, like being murdered by your nephew. While Humankind has reconsidered and reconfigured Civ's features, it's been more reserved. Being able to adopt new cultures and nurture continent-sized cities is certainly novel, but it isn't transformative. It could probably do with being 20% weirder, I reckon. I've done the maths. And I've had lots of practice, given Humankind's aforementioned love of big numbers. Humankind guide: How to get started The End Turn button still beckons, however, and Memphis needs more oil for its battleships. I also need to try out a lethal militant build I've been considering, in the hopes of quickly throwing the world into an apocalyptic war. Humankind has still spawned some great ideas that I'm not done with, and can't wait to see imitated and iterated. But now that Amplitude has made its Civilization, I really hope it goes back to making Alpha Centauris. Review Video:

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1704

7135

10/10

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1246

1073 1073

Top

2002

Girl freeze/unfree

Yes @MERNIZ

637

¤ Nickname: L U C Y ¤ Grade: Helper ¤ New Tag: The King Of HeLL ¤ Link of Hours Played GT link CLICK HERE!:-https://www.gametracker.com/player/Teacher/NEWLIFEZM.CSBLACKDEVIL.COM:27015/ old hours started with new nick