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VR-quality specs at a discount. Professional gaming equipment often comes with pro-level prices. But this deal on the Razer Blade Pro 17 is one of the few exceptions you'll find this holiday. We reviewed this VR-ready gaming laptop back in 2019 and appreciated its modest design, battery life and overall performance. While the 1080p display is somewhat lacking, today's discount more than makes up for it. If you want to shop around, check out our list of best laptop deals for more offers and discounts on pre-built machines. We also have a page dedicated exclusively to the best deals on tech we can find this holiday and update it daily. The screen measures 17.3-inches across and has an FHD resolution. As we noted in the review, the quality here is somewhat lacking but it does have a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz. Inside, you'll find an Intel Core i7-9750H processor with a base operating speed of 2.6GHz. It ships with 16GB of RAM and has a 512GB internal SSD. This size might be limiting for some gamers. Another model is available with a 1TB SSD instead. Visit the Razer Blade Pro 17 product page at Adorama for more specs, details and checkout options.

Game Information Initial release date: December 10, 2020 Software developer: Nerial Limited Publisher: The Dairymen Limited Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS Orwell’s Animal Farm is all the fun of high school literature class with less reading and substantially more stress. Why Animal Farm needed this interpretation was beyond me, but its charm and simplicity have since won me over. The virtual distillation keeps the novella’s subtext intact, tasking a few basic mechanics with driving home its themes. The turmoil of a revolution gone wrong is conveyed through nothing more than a few mouse clicks and quick decisions. It’s flawed and frustrating, but there’s an undeniable elegance to the game. Nerial’s rendition of George Orwell’s classic comes in the form of a casual resource-management game. It boosts a crispy, storybook-style look, resting on the same page for the entirety of the game. All the action happens on the farm, and there the entire game takes place. Your goal is clear: ensure that Animal Farm flourishes forever, spreading the good word of Animalism across the world. Although, we know how the story goes, so the motivation instead comes from collecting all the outcomes. Tired of the oppression they face, the animals decide to honor the dying wish of the wise pig, Old Major. They revolt against their human master and chase him off the farm. Now free from tyranny, the pigs oversee the farm animals’ new lives, creating seven commandments. But as times get tough, greed consumes the pigs, leaving the other animals at the mercy of their new masters. Orwell’s Animal Farm relegates to you the impossible task of holding the community together. Food for thought The studio is no stranger to simplicity, if its work on the Reigns series is any indication. The game cycles through a small list of obstacles that present themselves as time passes on the farm. Across the four seasons, different tasks like sowing seeds, harvesting, and repairing structures drain your resources. Dealing with these problems is as easy as choosing an animal to carry out the task. However, as their health dwindles under the weight of all their responsibilities, more severe issues rear their heads. At the heart of your work is balancing Animalism (morale), supplies, wellbeing, and defenses to fend of humans. Every event is an opportunity to increase a resource, usually at the cost of another. Every animal represents a choice; choosing one means potentially upsetting them, or sacrificing their wellbeing to achieve another goal. Upsetting certain animals may lead to their departure, or worse. But, failing to keep up with your supplies and defenses is a sure-fire way to prematurely end your playthrough. The running theme throughout your time with Orwell’s Animal Farm is sacrifice. If you force Boxer into too many tasks, he might not be around for long. If you upset one of the pigs, they may begin conspiring against the others. Each animal has their own personality and ideology, which provide insight into how they should or shouldn’t be utilized. In building these connections to the characters, you grow more invested in their wellbeing and happiness. I did everything in my power to save my favorite farm animals, but difficult choices had to be made. Until the cows come home There’s an opportunity to reflect on your choices at the regularly scheduled barn meetings. Here, you can gauge the tension and hear concerns, while deciding on future action. Napoleon and Snowball, the two shot-callers of the farm, spend a good chunk of time engaging in verbal warfare. Crucial decisions made here have long-lasting impacts on Animal Farm and its leadership. As events continue to unfold, more and more animals adopt a pessimistic outlook. The energy in the room slowly drops as the walls (quite literally) start coming down. Despite adhering to the general structure of the novella, Orwell’s Animal Farm is rife with exciting outcomes and opportunities. Your success on the farm can entice other animals to abandon their farms and join yours, for example. You can teach animals how to read, making them privy to the pigs’ deception and changing the farm dynamic. You can alter various key events outright, or at least delay them for as long as possible. Things eventually go sour, and the game challenges your control. In many ways, you too are at the mercy of the pigs. It’s often unclear what decisions led to certain outcomes, or what you could’ve done differently — it just happens. The game provides you with enough agency to give you the illusion of control. In half the scenarios you’ll find yourself in, this blanket of obscurity does a great service to the theme. And in the others, Orwell’s Animal Farm morphs into a bit of a cumbersome experience. The future is bleak Because everything generally goes the way of the book, the decision-making is rendered near-useless on many occasions. Animal Farm‘s system makes concessions to the plot of the book. The resource management approach has a lot of merit and is generally a well-implemented feature. However, the lack of consistency and predictability constantly undermine the agency of the player. This makes for more of a frustrating experience than an educational or thought-provoking one. Many other elements tied to success are also kept away from you. Measuring the wellbeing and mood of your animals is a challenge without enough visual aids. Dialogue and events repeat frequently enough to confuse you on the status of certain animals. Many subsequent playthroughs of mine have lead down the same path, despite my best efforts to explore the other extremes. Ultimately, the goal of Orwell’s Animal Farm is to trial all these different decisions. Siding with different animals prompts new dialogue and scenarios, but some decisions are more equal than others. I just can’t seem to pinpoint which ones those are. There might be a “good” ending, but I certainly haven’t seen it. Perhaps that’s part of what keeps you playing, though it may be futile. Much like the animals of Animal Farm, I was excited by the prospects and confused by the outcomes. That isn’t to say a touch of surprise wasn’t beneficial to my experience. Overall, Orwell’s Animal Farm competently translates the story to the video game medium. While it’s difficult to say whether a few hundred clicks and decisions can replace 30,000 words, the game successfully captures the spirit of Animal Farm through simple interactivity. Minimum system requirements: CPU: 1.5GHz RAM: 4 GB RAM GPU: Intel HD graphics OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10, 64-bithttps://gamesystemrequirements.com/ Store: 1 GB available space

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The 2020 Nissan Murano offers a sedan-like ride and handling in an SUV package, and an interior that feels a grade above its price. But it competes in a very crowded space where those aren’t uncommon traits, so it sits in a five-way tie at fourteenth in our list of the Best Midsize SUVs. For 2021, Nissan will try to make the Murano more attractive with upgrades in driver assists and cabin tech. The features now standard on the base S model include forward-collision warning with pedestrian detection, automatic emergency braking, and lane-departure warning. Also standard are blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, rear automatic braking, and automatic headlights. The starting price bumps up to $33,605 – a $780 increase. The mid-level SV changes little, with an entry price of $36,735. But a new Special Edition package adds a dual-panel moonroof, leatherette heated front seats, larger wheels, and a 360-degree camera. The top-of-the-line SL and Platinum grades get few content changes. The price increases just $130 for front-wheel drive, and $80 for AWD models. Still, buyers interested in a Murano might want to see if they could stretch their existing ride for another year. A complete redesign is on the calendar for the 2022 model year.

Use the yudane technique to give this plait its soft crumb, and prunes and dates to bring sweetness and richness Ilove festive breads, from panettone to povitica, stollen to houska: they provide an opportunity to learn new flavours and techniques. This festive plait achieves a soft crumb from the yudane technique, where boiling water gelatinises the starches in the flour, before being included into the dough. This allows the starches to absorb more liquid and provides a tender and fluffy texture without the need for butter or eggs. Be careful as some spices can affect the yeast, and often longer proving times are needed (cinnamon is particularly tricky). The prunes and dates bring sweetness and richness with all the added benefits of vitamins and fibre. My big tip is to buy a jar of malt extract. It gives an earthy depth to so many bakes and here provides a really shiny glaze. Makes one loaf For the yudane 50g strong white bread flour 40ml boiling water For the dough 150ml milk 30g prunes 30g dates 4g instant yeast 150g strong white bread flour 50g strong brown bread flour ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp allspice ¼ tsp ground cardamom Zest of one orange (or 10 drops of orange oil) 60g chopped dried fruits (whatever you would like, I used raisins, chopped apricots and sour cherries) 30g dark chocolate Malt extract for brushing over the loaf (or honey) To make the yudane, pour the boiling water over the flour, mix then cover and leave overnight. The next morning, warm the milk until it is just lukewarm and then blend with the prunes and dates. Put the yeast, flours, salt, spices and orange zest into a mixing bowl. Tear up the yudane and add this to the mix before pouring over the milk mixture. Bring together to a rough dough and gently knead until fully combined (it is very sticky but don’t worry). Cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes, then add the chopped fruit and knead for 10 minutes until smooth. Cover and put in a warm place until it has doubled in size. Divide the dough into three pieces, and on a lightly floured surface roll each piece into a 40cm sausage (I find it easiest to roll each piece halfway, and then go back to roll out fully. This allows the dough to relax between rollings). Press the ends together at one end and cross over the sausages into a tight plait. Cover the plait with an oiled piece of clingfilm, and leave until it has risen by 50%. Heat your oven to 220C/200C (fan)/425F/gas mark 7. Remove the clingfilm and bake the loaf for 18 minutes. As soon as you put the bread in the oven, reduce the temperature to 200C/180C (fan)/400F/gas mark 6. Once the bread is out of the oven, while it is still warm, brush over the malt extract.

As usual, the announcement of the FIFA World's Best Awards annually has caused a lot of controversy, which culminated in the announcement of the winner of the Best Art Director award in 2020. Polish top scorer Robert Lewandowski won the award for the best player in the world this year at the expense of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Italian Juventus striker and Argentine Lionel Messi, the maker of the Barcelona team, which was expected, and it did not come as a surprise to football fans around the world. Lewandowski presented impressive levels during the current year, as he was one of the most prominent contributors to a legendary season that the Bavarian team ended, during which he crowned the "Bundesliga, German Cup and the Champions League" trilogy and swept his rivals domestically and continually with broad results, the most prominent of which was devouring Barcelona with a score of 8-2. In the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Bayern Munich and its striker Lewandowski continued the best year in their history by winning the local Super Cup and the European Super Cup, to finish the Polish striker year with five different titles. The same march qualified German veteran Manuel Neuer to be crowned the best goalkeeper in the world, at the expense of Brazilian goalkeeper Alison, England's Liverpool goalkeeper and Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak, goalkeeper of Atletico Madrid. But the biggest surprise was that the German coach Juergen Klopp won the award for the best technical manager in the world at the expense of Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick, who played the main role in the impressive technical transformation of his team, after he took over the leadership of Bayern Munich from the Croatian Niko Kovac at the end of 2019. The surprised looks that appeared on Flick and Klopp's face also indicated the eligibility of the Bayern Munich coach, and Klopp confirmed in statements after announcing his winning the award that he did not expect that coronation. Thursday night’s prizes witnessed a contradiction that sparked a lot of controversy, as the formation of the best players in the world that is chosen through the vote of professional players around the world saw Allison's presence in the goalkeeper, despite Neuer excelling as the best goalkeeper, with the vote of "FIFA" that includes the opinions of coaches and leaders of the world teams Besides journalists and the masses vote. This contradiction is not the first of its kind, as previous years have witnessed similar cases, with players of advanced positions emerging in voting for the best player in the world from the formation of world stars for the benefit of players who did not perform the best levels in the same year. American superstar Megan Rapion, the best player in the world in 2019, showed her surprise at the news of her selection in the formation of the best players in the world this year. The star, who led her country's national team to crown the Women's World Cup last year, said she was proud to be in the squad, but she was surprised by that news, although she had not played any games since last March.

On Friday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on Turkey to stop its aggressive measures that conflict with European interests. Borrell, in an article published on the European Union website, indicated that strong measures will be taken against Turkey if relations with it continue to deteriorate. He pointed out that Ankara's continued exploration operations in the eastern Mediterranean caused a negative atmosphere, pointing out that the Turkish foreign agenda does not fit with the policies of the European Union. Borrell stressed that the union is looking into the possibility of launching a real dialogue with Turkey on the outstanding issues. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel, expressed his hope to open a "new page" between his country and the European Union, in the first contact between the two sides since Brussels imposed sanctions on Ankara last week. The Turkish presidency said in a statement that "At a time when Turkey wants to open a new page with the European Union, some are making unremitting efforts to provoke crises." Erdogan, calling for the "saving" of Turkish-European relations from this "vicious circle," expressed his desire to "re-launch" the dialogue with the European Union by "looking at the whole situation" and "on the basis of mutual interests." The statement quoted the Turkish president as saying that the immigration agreement concluded by Turkey and the European Union in 2016 could constitute a starting point for creating a more "positive" climate between the two sides. European sanctions on Turkey The leaders of the European Union decided, during a summit in Brussels, on Thursday, to impose sanctions on Turkey because of its “illegal and aggressive” actions in the Mediterranean against Greece and Cyprus, especially the gas exploration operations carried out by Ankara in recent months in the eastern Mediterranean in marine areas. Sovereignty disputes with these two countries. Days after these European sanctions, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey, last Monday, for its purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system. "We hope that the European Union will be able to adopt a constructive and rational stance towards Turkey," the statement quoted Erdogan as saying.

Accepted Nick / pw / tag via pm or Ts3 Next !

Game Information Developed by: Cyan Worlds Published by: Cyan Worlds Genre(s):First-Person , 3D , Adventure Publishers: Cyan Worlds, Ubisoft, Sega, Broderbond, Panasonic, and more Designers: Rand Miller, Robin Miller, Richard Vander and Wendy Software Developers: Cyan Worlds, Ubisoft, Presto Studios, Sunsoft, and more More than 25 years later, Myst remains iconic. In virtual reality, the puzzle box still confounds, even as it shows its age. If you've enjoyed having your brain teased by a video game in the last 20 years, or enjoyed the layered mechanical riddles of an IRL escape room, you have Myst to thank. Wildly po[CENSORED]r when it launched in 1993, the narrative adventure was a pivotal moment for puzzle-solving in games. Now, 27 years later, the classic is reborn in virtual reality--rebuilt, but almost completely unchanged. Myst is and will always be a treasure. Even after all these years, its puzzles will still test, and maybe even stump, you. For returning fans, seeing it in VR for the first time is a powerful nostalgia trip. Being inside a world you’ve only seen through a screen before feels like diving into your own memory. When you get over that initial sense of wonder--or if you don't have the nostalgia that conjures it--Myst can’t hide its age, and its VR makeover exacerbates its blemishes. Myst is a small uninhabited island dotted with odd buildings and unintuitive, free-standing switches. When you arrive, you have no idea why you're there or what you should be doing. As you poke around--opening every door, pressing all the switches, reading the books and notes you find--your situation starts to take shape. Trapped on Myst, you will need to unravel its puzzles to uncover its secrets and escape. The content of Myst's places and puzzles do not follow any kind of unifying aesthetic--they are united in service of creating perplexing challenges that require you to be mindful of your surroundings and think creatively. At a glance, each puzzle seems completely obtuse, a hodge-podge of interactive puzzle pieces that don't easily fit together. More often than not, you'll need to take a good long look at your surroundings and figure out how the puzzle works before you can solve it. The first puzzle, explained in a note you find when you first arrive, sets the tone for the whole game: The note tells you to count the number of switches on the island, and enter that number into a machine to view a secret message. However, the switches have been placed adjacent to points of interest on the island, so they look as if they should be connected to other puzzles. Plus, switches are normally meant to be pulled. You would never figure out how to use them if not for the note. They unlock something, but they don't do what you'd expect or work intuitively. As far as I can tell, all the original puzzles remain intact, so returning players who remember what to do can fly through the game. If you want the game to keep you honest, though, there is a puzzle randomizer, which changes the symbol- and number-based answers. The randomizer doesn't change how the puzzles are solved, but it forces you to go through all the steps without cutting corners. Myst's story is also a puzzle. Told in bits and pieces, learning the island's history leads you to learn more about how you might escape. Like the puzzles, the information you'll need doesn't make itself obvious, so you have to pay close attention and keep information in mind as you go. In the 1990s, this was a game where you would need to write things down on a piece of paper. On the Quest, I found myself taking lots of screenshots, which takes a little longer but ultimately worked just as well. Taking notes is just one aspect of Myst that feels archaic. Compared to modern puzzle and adventure games, Myst is an incredibly inconvenient game. Many of the puzzles require you to walk to one area to flip a switch, then go somewhere to check whether doing so led to the intended result. And, even with a scratchpad, there are a few puzzles that rely on your being a thorough investigator with a very good memory. Even as a fan of the original, inclined to forgive its faults, I recognize that it can become tedious checking your work and tinkering with puzzles, especially when you get stuck--doubly so when using VR-style "teleport" movement. I played Myst on my Mac when I was a kid, but hadn't touched it for many years. Even after decades away, though, when I found myself on the dock in the game's opening moments, I recognized where I was. Though the game looks very different; the original's pre-rendered visuals feel more vibrant and alive in 3D. Standing on the dock in VR, as opposed to simply seeing it on a screen, felt like a lucid dream. It felt like I was reliving a memory from my childhood. It had been long enough that I didn't remember much about actually solving the puzzles, but I still recognized many of the spaces. I knew them well enough to see that the environments are more realistic and detailed. If you look at the original '90s versions, many of the environments had a craggy, geometric quality. In VR, the environments look smoother and more well-proportioned. In many places, the world is more detailed. You can see wood grain, rivets in pipes, and other small details. Though enhanced, the world hasn't changed. This is just a more complete rendering of it. Even without that emotional context, Myst is a simple game, with mechanics that translate well to a VR experience. Exploring every nook and cranny of the world is infinitely more captivating when you're in it, as opposed to simply looking at it. Turning the knobs, pulling the levers, and flipping the switches feels more engaging than merely pointing and clicking. Like many VR games, you can switch between two movement controls: using the analog to move and "teleport" movement, where you hold and release the left analog stick to resituate yourself. You can also walk around your immediate surroundings if you have the free space to set up room-scale tracking. Room-scale can't replace the other methods, but using room-scale in puzzle rooms really enhances the sensation that you're in the space. At the same time, VR, and the Oculus Quest specifically, impose some technical limitations. While the new art successfully realizes a more detailed version of Myst, the visual fidelity of the new version leaves something to be desired. Many objects have ragged, pixelated edges. Text, particularly when it's supposed to be hand-written, is blurry and hard to read, though I never encountered anything I couldn't read outright. In general, the Quest version of Myst is also technically shaky at launch. In just over six hours, I encountered multiple bugs that killed my save without crashing the game. In one instance, when I teleported into a wall, the impact was obvious. In another, where a puzzle didn't reset properly, I moved on and completed whole sections of the game before realizing there was a problem. The auto-save feature tracks you down to the second, so saving manually is important. Some things never change, I guess. If you're like me and have some reverence for Myst from a bygone age, you can forgive the technical flaws. Getting to not only return to the game, but see it in VR, was a surreal, heartwarming experience. And it was heartening to find that, even years later, it still has teeth. Newcomers may find it a tough hang between its unforgiving old-school adventure game tendencies and some technical issues, but it's still an impressive brain-teaser and a neat cultural artifact. System Requirements OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 10. Processor: 1.8 GHz or greater. Memory: 512 MB RAM. Hard Disk Space: 2 GB. Video Card: DirectX® 9.0c compatible or better. Sound: DirectX® 9.0 compatible.

we can do it , and stay for a long time Letssssssss gooo ❤️

Tablet owners may be in for a treat (or a trick) Windows 10 may get some changes to the lock screen and camera settings in the future, or at least these tweaks are present in the latest preview build of the operating system. The lock screen alteration in particular could prove to be divisive. As spotted by Windows Latest, this is present in preview build 21277 of Windows 10 – albeit hidden away behind experimental flags – and it’ll deliver a parallax (kind of 3D) effect for the lock screen image. In other words, this will give the lock screen image more depth and will deliver a ‘subtle panning affect’ for devices with an accelerometer, so Windows 10 tablet users will be able to tilt their slate and be suitably impressed (hopefully) with the more dynamic visuals. If you don’t like the effect – which is entirely possible – then there’s a section of the Settings app that’ll let you switch these parallax shenanigans off, and in that case, you’ll see the normal static lock screen image. Camera extras Another hidden move which has been unearthed is the introduction of new camera options (in the Settings app), which include the ability to alter brightness and contrast, preview the camera image, and troubleshoot any technical issues you may be having. Finally, Windows Latest also notes that the Spotlight feature – which incorporates Bing’s image of the day as your desktop wallpaper, for folks seeking a bit of daily variety with their background – is in the mix and should be arriving as part of the Windows 10 H2 2021 update. That’s the second upgrade for next year, which will purportedly usher in ‘Sun Valley’, a project currently underway at Microsoft which makes sweeping changes to the Windows 10 interface.

Fujifilm and IBM set another record in tape storage capacity. Magnetic tape was invented back in 1928, 92 years ago, but it took years before it got commercialized for audio applications and then as a storage medium for digital data. By today's consumer standards, magnetic tapes are slow, not convenient to use, and relatively expensive. But as magnetic tape prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday, it can offer capacities not available on modern hard disk drives. At least, IBM and Fujifilm believe that their newly developed Strontium Ferrite (SrFe) magnetic layer will enable LTO-8 tapes to store up to 580TB of data. Data Storage Needs Increasing Nowadays, data storage needs are increasing exponentially as numerous companies and organizations tend to collect big data for their services, devices generate zettabytes of data themselves, ultra-high-definition videos are gaining resolution and color depth (18K cameras are already here), and end-users are generating more data than ever. About 20% – 30% of the world's datasphere — which is predicted to grow to 175ZB by 2025 — needs real-time processing, so it has to be stored on hard drives or solid-state drives. But anywhere from 70% to 80% of data is the so-called 'cold data' that is rarely accessed but still has value for businesses. For cold data, 3.5-inch hard drives featuring shingled magnetic recording (SMR) technology are good enough. Still, they can only store up to 20TB of uncompressed data, and at $500+ they are pretty expensive. In contrast, modern LTO-8 magnetic tape cartridges can store up to 12TB native or 30TB of compressed data and cost less than $90. With an attractive combination of capacity and price, magnetic tapes have outlived three types of diskettes, CDs, and DVDs. Fujifilm, IBM Research, and Sony are still developing magnetic tapes and manage to hit new milestones rather regularly. Since 2006, IBM and Fujifilm have increased the capacity of an LTO-8 tape from 8TB to potentially up to 580TB in the coming years. Strontium Ferrite Particulate Tape: 317Gb/inch2 Recording Density In general, magnetic tape evolves like hard drives. Developers tend to reduce track width to increase recording density, reduce tape thickness to increase tape length within a cartridge, and introduce new methods to reliably record and then read the data. This time around, IBM and Fujifilm are talking about a 317Gb/in2 recording density, a 1255 meters tape length, and 580TB of capacity. One way to increase recording density — and therefore capacity — is to switch to a new tape material. Today, most tapes use Barium Ferrite (BaFe) magnetic layer, but to move on to higher densities, they need to switch to something else. IBM Research and Fujifilm propose to use a magnetic layer consisting of Strontium Ferrite (SrFe) magnetic particles. The companies say that SrFe particles have higher magnetic characteristics and 60% less particle volume compared to BaFe particles, which enables 56.2-nm wide tracks as well as a linear density of 702Kb/inch. Furthermore, SrFe features a good recording/readback performance with low noise, and since it is an oxide, it is very stable chemically, which makes it a viable candidate for long-term data storage.

Game Information Initial release date: November 17, 2020 Software developer: Chronos Unterhaltungssoftware Publisher: Astragon Genre: simulation game Platform: Microsoft Windows I love games about fighting fires. They aren’t made very often despite the potential that the premise carries. But Firefighting Simulator – The Squad is the second one we’ve gotten this year. And while, yes, you do fight fires, the game mostly is neither fun nor much of a simulator. What we’re left with is a somewhat competent title that gets some things right while leaving other aspects to melt in the flames. Someone desperate for a semi-realistic firefighting game could sink some time into it, but it’s just not everything it could have been. Firefighting Simulator – The Squad drops you into the lead of a four-man firefighting team. For the vast majority of the game, you’re going to be putting out house fires and smaller, less interesting ones. You’re also going to be driving. A lot. All of the game’s missions are selectable from a map of the game’s open world. Surprisingly, you can’t free roam, and there isn’t a mode where you drive around and respond to random calls, which seemed like a bit of a no-brainer. You simply select a mission and wait for the game’s often insane loading times to pass. Sometimes I literally had to wait minutes for a mission to load, while other times it took practically no time at all. Once you select a mission, you choose between several different fire trucks that vary by type. Only specific trucks actually let you connect hoses to them. Others come with a ladder or have neither, as they’re for more general use. Each mission starts with you driving to the scene of the fire while making your way through traffic with your siren on. The driving is better than you’d probably expect from a game like this, but having to do it all the time feels like padding. On top of that, the map is fairly large and you’re often tasked with traveling rather long distances. When I’m playing a firefighting game, I have no interest in driving for six entire minutes uninterrupted. Why is it open world? There simply isn’t much reason for Firefighting Simulator – The Squad to have an open world. Aside from the fire scenes, there’s nothing to it. It’s just there so that you’ll have a place to drive around in. I get that operating a fire truck with sirens blaring while you see smoke rising in the distance might be attractive to some, but it just feels like a waste of time here. When you turn your siren on, cars will get out of your way, reducing your chances of hitting them. The driving physics are poor and reminiscent of what you’d see in a game from a decade-and-a-half ago. It’s weird to hit a mailbox with a firetruck and get stopped dead in your tracks. Missions in Firefighting Simulator – The Squad grade you only on the speed at which you make it to the scene and how quickly you rescue any inhabitants and put out a fire. Upon arriving, you’re treated to a 360 sweep that gives you a general idea of what the situation is. It’s usually a house fire. Upon exiting the fire truck, you then need to connect a supply hose to it via a fire hydrant and then connect an attack line and accompanying nozzle. The game is co-op, so yes, you can play with three other people. Otherwise, you’ll need to make do with the AI, which I hesitate to call AI. To be fair, there are apparently patches coming that improve them, but what I experienced wasn’t AI as much as it was squadmates that are bad at doing what you tell them and wholly incapable of doing anything without instructions. If you don’t tell them to do anything, they’ll literally stand around outside. Which, hey, that’s actually all right if you wanted to do these missions solo. But you probably won’t, as doing so would be a tedious pain. Firefighting Simulator – The Squad is played from a third-person perspective and your character can run and crouch. What they can’t do is move at any speed above a crawl while carrying a firehose or rescuing people. Rescue me Your first order of business in every mission is to rescue anyone trapped inside. They can die, but I didn’t see it happen often. They don’t have health bars, so I’m not sure how much damage they take from anything. All of Firefighting Simulator – The Squad‘s character models are dated and awful and you’ll be rescuing the same few people again and again. Carrying them is way too slow and clunky, especially when you’re trying to get things done. Thankfully, you can command your squadmates to save them instead, which is vastly preferable. You’ll often have to pry doors open or break windows to get into houses or certain rooms, but you can only carry one item at a time. Meaning that, if you’re carrying a hose and want to open a door, you’ll need to put it down, go grab a crowbar, open the door, put it down, and then pick the hose up again. You’d think a firefighter could carry an ax or crowbar with them at all times, but apparently not. Inhabitants are usually indicated via markers, and it’s just a matter of getting them out by carrying or leading them to a stretcher behind an EMS vehicle. Once you’ve saved everyone, Firefighting Simulator – The Squad tells you where the fusebox is and you can turn off the power to stop electrical fires from breaking out. On occasion, the fusebox would shut itself off for no reason. Huh. Then you just have your squadmates follow you with hoses and spray the fires until they get quenched. It seems okay at first, but the amount of time it takes to put fires out varies and doesn’t feel right. Honestly, it doesn’t feel much like you’re actually putting the fires out at all as fire doesn’t react to water. You spray and spray until little fire circle icons that indicate how far away that bit of fire you’re soaking is to going out, quenching the fire. But there’s no realism to any of it. You can leave fires burning indefinitely, and they don’t do structural damage that isn’t pre-baked to occur at specific times. Fires spread unrealistically and make little sense as well. It can take forever to put out a fire because they just won’t go down or the section you quench will just go right back to where it was. Fire often spontaneously appears out of nowhere too. There were times I walked into a totally charred room completely devoid of fire, only to see the walls magically start burning before my eyes. And the hoses! You leave a new hose trail behind you wherever you move, which quickly leads to the ground being completely covered in infinite hoses. It’s surreal. Oh, and sometimes you can spray water even without a supply line. Why is there XP? Completing missions in Firefighting Simulator – The Squad grants you experience and you’ll need to level up to unlock new missions. This was a poor choice, as you’ll occasionally have to grind to unlock new stuff. But the XP distribution isn’t good and some extremely short, pointless missions are infinitely better for obtaining experience. The game loves to jump between missions where you’re putting out fires in a building and ones where you drive somewhere to put out a dumpster fire or a small fire in a park. Some of these can take as little as a minute. You’ll always put those out with fire extinguishers, which your non-player squadmates can’t use, so an entire four-person team of firefighters gets called to put out fires that one person with a fire extinguisher was more than capable of handling themselves. I like firefighting enough that I did get some enjoyment out of Firefighting Simulator – The Squad, but the game is tedious and the firefighting just isn’t enjoyable like it is in, say, Embr. The game’s performance is also quite poor, as it has a tendency to hitch regularly, have massive frame drops, and crash. And you can’t save mid-mission, so if it crashes, guess who has to start again from the beginning? It’s a janky game with awful animations that’s way too fond of wasting your time unless you really love walking slowly or driving fire trucks. System Requirements OS: Windows 10 64-Bit. Processor: Intel Core i5-4440 with 3,1 GHz or AMD FX-8150 with 3,6 GHz or higher. Memory: 8 GB RAM. Graphics: GeForce GTX 750 Ti (2 GB VRAM) or AMD Radeon RX 460 (2 GB VRAM) or higher. DirectX: Version 11. Network: Broadband Internet connection. Storage: 25 GB available space.

T/c

DH1 : DH2 :