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For Steam: Go to your steam library -> right click on Counter-Strike 1.6 -> select launch options -> then write -w 640 -h 480. For No-Steam: 1. Right click on "CS 1.6 icon", go to properties and look in the target window. It should look like "C:\installation Directory\Counter-Strike 1.6\hl.exe" 2. Outside of the quotation marks type -width 800 -height 640 Now it should now look like this "C:\Installation Directory\Counter-Strike 1.6\hl.exe" -width 800 -height 640 3. Now your CS starts in normal mode and you can access to whatever resolution you want regards.

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A British consulate worker who claims he was tortured in Chinese detention should report the allegations to China, Hong Kong's justice minister has said. Simon Cheng, who worked for the UK government in the former British territory, was arrested in August while returning from a trip to the mainland. The Hong Kong citizen has alleged that secret police beat him, deprived him of sleep, forced him into stress positions and shackled him. He accused them of trying to force him to give information about activists leading pro-democracy protests. Justice minister Teresa Cheng, who is not related to the consulate worker, was asked about the case as she spoke to journalists for the first time since she was injured in London last week after being "besieged" by a group protesting against the Hong Kong government. The justice minister appeared to draw parallels with her experience when asked whether she had raised Mr Cheng's allegations with Beijing. "I have reported my incident to the police as soon as that happened and I would encourage him to do the same with the relevant authorities in the mainland," she said. Asked if she was confident such a complaint could be launched, given Mr Cheng is accusing the Chinese police of torture, the minister said: "There is usually an avenue by which these matters can be aired." Hong Kong might also be about to provide a route, but Ms Cheng said she had not yet received any information on the abuse allegations. "I am sure when the matter is brought to my attention I will be looking at it and seeing what can be done in so far as it is within the laws of Hong Kong and the jurisdiction of Hong Kong," she said. Pressed on what she personally thought about the allegations of abuse that he has made, she would not be drawn. "There are many things that are often reported and sometimes it is extremely important to gather the whole facts, the veracity of it before any view is to be formed," she said. "I prefer to hold my opinion until I have the opportunity to collect and analyse whatever information or evidence that I have." Britain's foreign secretary said the treatment Mr Cheng allegedly suffered amounted to torture and summoned the Chinese ambassador to discuss the case. Mr Cheng was released in August after 15 days of detention in mainland China. Authorities claimed he was detained for soliciting prostitutes, something China often uses against political targets. The justice secretary also revealed details about how she dislocated and fractured her left wrist after allegedly being pushed to the floor by protesters when she tried to attend a meeting in London last week. "I was pushed to the ground after being besieged on my way to the venue," she said, describing the attack as being an "extension of Hong Kong's protests". Mr Cheng is a trade and investment officer in the Scottish Development International government agency, inside Britain's consulate in Hong Kong. He failed to return to work on 8 August after a business trip to Shenzhen, which links Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland.

Global warming is likely to increase illnesses caused by under nutrition, due to the effects of heat exposure, researchers have warned. For the study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, the researchers analysed daily hospitalization data covering almost 80 per cent of Brazil between 2000 and 2015. They studied the link between daily mean temperatures and hospitalization for undernourishment according to the International Classification of Diseases. "The association between increased heat and hospitalization for under nutrition was greatest for individuals aged over 80, and those 5 to 19 years," said the researchers from Monash University, Australia. The researchers found that for every 1 degree Celsius increase in daily mean temperature during the hot season, there was a 2.5 per cent increase in the number of hospitalizations for under nutrition. "We estimated that 15.6 per cent of under nutrition hospitalizations could be attributed to heat exposure during the study period," said study's lead author Yuming Guo. The study said that increased heat may cause illness through undernourishment in a number of ways: reducing appetites, provoking more alcohol consumption, reducing motivation or ability to shop and cook and exacerbate any under nutrition, resulting in hospitalization. "Climate change is one of the biggest threats to the reduction of hunger and under nutrition, especially in low and middle-income countries. It has been estimated that climate change will reduce global food availability by 3.2 per cent and thus cause about 30,000 underweight-related deaths by 2050," the report said. "It is plausible to speculate that climate changes could not only increase the rate of under nutrition in the most affected areas of the globe, but at the same time, impair individuals' capacity to adapt to projected rises in temperature," said the researchers.

The very first Nissan Sentra debuted in the U.S. in 1982. And in the compact sedan's 37 years on sale in the States, the company has delivered more than six million units, making it one of the brand's most successful vehicles ever. Full stop. But as the market evolves, so to must the company's best-selling American sedan. For 2020, Nissan is giving the Sentra sedan a much-needed modern makeover, both inside and out. Familiar Face, New Engine The 2020 Nissan Sentra's visual connections to the larger Altima and Maxima sedans, as well as crossovers like the Kicks and Rogue, are obvious. The compact wears the same V-Motion family grille, slim LED headlights (optional), and floating roof found elsewhere in the Nissan lineup. Opt for the range-topping SR trim line and the Sentra gains a sport-style rear spoiler, black-painted side mirrors, larger 18-inch alloy wheels, and a darkened chrome treatment on the grille. Sentra buyers can choose from eight single-tone color options: Electric Blue, Brilliant Silver Metallic, Gun Metallic, Super Black, Aspen White, Fresh Powder, Rosewood Metallic, and Scarlet Ember. But there are also three two-tone paint options available, as well: Super Black/Gun Metallic, Super Black/Aspen White, and Super Black/Monarch Orange. Underneath the Sentra's attractive sheet metal and shiny paint is a new platform that helps reduce the car's ride height by 2.2 inches and extend the width by 2.0 inches. The 2020 Nissan Sentra has a more prominent stance and better proportions than any version before it. And with upgrades to door, window, and body sealing, Nissan notes a quieter ride, as well. Hiding underhood of the 2020 Sentra is a more powerful 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Replacing the outgoing 1.8-liter, the Sentra's new engine pumps out 149 horsepower (111 kilowatts) and 145 pound-feet (197 Newton-meters) of torque. That's an improvement of 20 percent and 16 percent over the outgoing model, respectively. The four-cylinder engine comes paired to an “Xtronic” continuously variable transmission. Nissan says gas mileage does improve but doesn't provide any official figures yet. Safer, Tech-Focused Cabin Upgrades to the interior of the 2020 Sentra are similar to what we've seen on other Nissan products. There's more attention to detail and better materials; chrome detailing, contrast seat stitching, and a cleaner dash layout improve the overall ergonomics. There's even a leather trim option and the availability of Nissan's signature "Zero Gravity" seats. Gallery: 2020 Nissan Sentra At the top of the range is the SR model. The sporty Sentra sheds the standard 16-inch rims for larger 18-inch units and thicker 215/45R18 tires, gets a darkened V-Motion grille, standard LED headlights, running lights, and fog lights, and a sport cloth interior with orange accent stitching. The 2020 Nissan Sentra doesn't have a price yet. But, the sedan goes on sale early in 2020, so we should get official pricing details in the next few weeks.

There’s a poster for John Wick: Chapter 3 that positions Keanu Reeves in the path of an oncoming weather front, an angry dark cloud made up of thugs in suits. Within the roiling mass are guns – scores of them, all pointed at Wick’s head. It’s a striking piece of action movie art meant to evoke impossible odds: how can he get out of this one? John Wick Hex teaches you how. It is, as my dad and Desmond Tutu before him once said, like eating an elephant: a matter of tackling the meal one bite at a time. This is a turn-based tactics game that will appeal if you’re a fan of XCOM, but it’s no place for long-term strategy. There is no overarching plan that will see you from one end of a room full of goons to the other. Instead you have to do as Wick does: react, react, react, until the bodies pile high and the gunfire quiets. Your tools are the same as those of your enemies: punches, parries, pushes, and whichever loaded gun is closest. Your advantages are a slightly faster trigger finger, a thicker health bar, and the mind of John Wick. You spend the majority of your time occupying the thin mental space where Wick does his work, analysing the scene before him. Mercifully, in Hex, that split-second lasts as long as you need it to. Hex plots your moves, and everyone else’s, along a timeline at the top of the screen. There you can see exactly what’s coming and when precisely it will happen. A hit of any kind will interrupt a planned attack, so the trick is making sure that yours land first. nevitably, though, you’ll fall into situations where preventing every shot is impossible (Hex loves to test your footwork by throwing combinations of ranged and close-combat opponents at you). In those encounters, you have to settle for minimising the probability of being hit – crouching and rolling out of danger, or forcing other enemies in front of you. There was a danger that slowing Wick to a halt would take the action out of the action hero. But there’s a tremendous sense of momentum to Hex. Each microcosmic puzzle rewards decisive action, and I found myself playing at speed, almost reflexively. What’s more, the constant motion is not just in the moves but the levels: every stage of Wick’s journey is presented as a series of set pieces with a boss at the end – a reflection of his single-minded purpose. This simplicity works in Hex’s favour, but it also makes for a simple story. Those won over by the knotty moral choices of Bithell Games’ Subsurface and Quarantine Circular shouldn’t expect more of the same here – there isn’t room in Wick’s world for doubt. Set before his doomed retirement, the game concerns the kidnapping of two friends from the hitman-friendly Continental Hotel, Winston and Charon. It’s a setup that allows Bithell to comment on the underworld code and currency that constitutes the most intriguing part of the Wick films. But it leaves Wick himself at arm’s length. Winston, Charon, and the villain, Hex, narrate his exploits from a distance, leaving Reeves bereft of his one-liners. That said, John Wick Hex has no trouble in exporting the style of the movies. There are familiar locales, like the docklands, where yellow bollards recall the final fight of the first film. Wick’s hunt takes him through the grand art galleries and banks where crime enjoys a veneer of respectability to the subterranean places where its heart beats. The veins that take you there are vivid and varied. Then, when each level is over, you can watch back in real-time, enjoying the fight you’ve choreographed by ear as cinema. There’s a certain clunkiness that comes with the turn-based territory – at times Wick transitions clumsily between moves, as if he’s learned them from an instructional video a la Napoleon Dynamite. Sound and music bugs, meanwhile, can undermine the punch of these scenes. But often, played-back fights are so uncannily like the real thing you could slip them straight into any Wick film without embellishment. I can think of no higher praise for an adaptation.

Buick confirmed today information reported on in August – a turbocharged 1.3-liter engine making 155 horsepower (115 kilowatts) will power the 2020 Buick Encore GX. There’ll be a smaller 1.2-liter engine available, too. Buick revealed the GX earlier this year, positioning it between the smaller Encore and larger Envision in a bid to expand its crossover lineup. However, Buick debuted the new crossover with little information about it. But now we know the powertrain choices. The standard powertrain will be a turbocharged 1.2-liter mill. Buick did not disclose its output, though. However, the 1.3-liter mill makes 155 hp and 174 pound-feet (235 Newton-meters) of torque. Both power the front wheels and will pair with a continuously variable transmission. However, all-wheel drive is an available option with the 1.3-liter engine, which also requires the nine-speed automatic gearbox. GM estimates the GX could return 31 miles per gallon combined, but official EPA numbers are pending. Buick also announced a Sport Touring package for the Encore GX, too. But it only adds a sporty appearance and nothing else. It features unique wheels, body-color surrounds, and a black mesh grille with red accents. Buick is also making the GX safe by including forward collision alert, automatic emergency braking, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, automatic high beams, and a follow distance indicator. Optional safety features include rear cross-traffic alert, rear park assist, rear camera mirror, adaptive cruise control, a head-up display, and more. Gallery: 2020 Buick Encore GX Sport Touring: The 2020 Buick Encore GX is set to arrive at dealerships early next year. When it arrives, it could be cheaper than the regular Encore, depending on the GX’s trim. A report earlier this month suggested the GX will start at $25,095, including the destination charge. While that’s more expensive than the Encore, it flips with the Preferred trims, which is $500 cheaper on the GX. Opting for the Encore GX Essence trim saves $800 over the Encore Essence. With the Encore GX set to arrive early next year, Buick should release detailed pricing information along with details about the smaller 1.2-liter engine in the coming months.

Struggling with grief after the death of their daughter due to catastrophic medical mistakes, Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton demanded answers. The pair were forced to fight for an inquest to uncover what caused their baby Kate’s death then, along with other grieving families, pushed for a major investigation into the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust’s maternity units. Now, a decade on, Rhiannon says the findings in the leaked interim report, showing dozens of mothers and babies died, are “spectacularly horrific” – and confirm their worst fears. “I couldn’t accept that we were the only people that this had happened to which is why we pushed for an investigation,” she told The Independent. “But I am devastated that so many people have been treated in such a way and other families have suffered. How has this been tolerated for so long? It is horrific.” In March 2009, Kate Stanton-Davies was born “pale and floppy” at Ludlow midwifery-led unit after midwives did not monitor her condition properly, in contravention of basic good practice. Rhiannon was only sent to the unit because medical staff failed to classify her pregnancy as high-risk, despite repeated check-ups and tests in the weeks leading up to the birth. When Kate was born, midwife Heather Lort, who was banned by the Nursing and Midwifery Council last year, did not monitor her condition and failed to put her into an incubator when it became clear one was needed. Shortly after her birth, Kate was discovered gravely ill and in a collapsed state – but staff inexplicably waited half an hour before calling paramedics. Kate was airlifted from the unit to a larger hospital – but the only briefing medical crew on the helicopter were offered was a small piece of card by the midwife, who did not go with her Her parents had to drive themselves to hospital separately, forced to make frantic calls from the road to find out where their hours-old daughter was being taken. Rhiannon – suffering from the effects of having just given birth – then collapsed and had to be admitted to Worcestershire Royal Hospital while father Richard went on to Birmingham’s Heartlands Hospital, where Kate died. Her mother arrived an hour after she had passed away. Determined that other families would not have to suffer what they went through, Rhiannon and Richard then began a fight for the truth to come out about what had happened to Kate, that was to last the next 10 years. While struggling with the grief of losing their daughter, they had to threaten a coroner with a judicial review before being granted an inquest into her death. In 2012, three years later, the hearing confirmed their fears. Kate’s death had been entirely avoidable. An investigation by the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman in 2013 concluded the child’s death had been the result of serious failings in care, and criticised the hospital’s investigation. A review of the trust’s own investigation found it was flawed and criticised midwives for retrospectively changing records and not following guidelines. It also criticised the trust’s head of midwifery Cathy Smith, who later received a final written warning for her actions. She was moved to a new patient safety role in the trust. Now, it has emerged dozens of babies and mothers may have died due to failings similar to those in Kate’s case. An interim report into the Shrewsbury scandal details many examples of patients and their relatives being treated poorly by the hospital and its staff. Families said they were made to feel guilty about mishaps, while others were told the best way to get over the loss of a child was to have another one. In one of the most graphic examples, a mother told investigators the trust failed to tell her for three weeks that her child’s body was ready for collection after a post-mortem, by which time it had undergone “extensive post death changes and deterioration” meaning she was unable to see the baby before burial “because of the poor condition of the body”. The report said this was a clear example of poor systems and processes and a “lack of compassion” for the family. One mother has been so badly affected by what happened she cannot visit the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, despite many years since the death of her daughter. She said: “I just can’t go to the building, I physically can’t ... I’ll park in the housing estate across the road but I just can’t go there.” Many parents were angry at the trust’s use of the terms “historic” and “legacy” to describe older cases, with one mother telling the inquiry team: “We are not historic, we are not legacy, we are real families whose lives have been turned upside down, and forever. Our lives will never be the same again. My son will always be profoundly disabled, he will never live an independent life.” In an example of the poor communication from the trust, the GP for one woman, who had a heart attack and ended up in intensive care after labour, was not told what had happened for months. The woman said: “I phoned my GP and when I said I’d had a cardiac arrest she actually swore because she was so shocked, she knew absolutely nothing about it.” Another mother whose baby died told the inquiry: “What I want out of this, what would be worthwhile, is to know that whatever comes from it are positive changes to prevent things like this from happening again, that’s ultimately all I think any of us really want from it.” Rhiannon Davies said the report showed Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust had “catastrophically failed to learn from incidents and past reports and that failure condemned my daughter to death”. Ms Davies added: “It takes a massive toll to keep fighting. We have done it for Kate. “There is a cultural problem nationally in maternity. We need to have a more grown-up conversation about the risks of pregnancy. No one ever wants to think about death in maternity.” She continued: “People who have never been harmed by the NHS can never understand the burden we carry. “The NHS should help with that burden but the system adds to it and makes it worse. The whole system is unkind and thoughtless, the exact opposite of what the health service should be.”

Animal free diet or veganism has come a long way. To define veganism, it’s a way of living that attempts to exclude all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty, whether for food, clothing or any other purpose. The vegan food diet omits all animal products, including dairy, eggs and meat. This kind of diet is being accepted by more people for both ethical and environmental reasons, and also to improve health. However, before turning vegan, it is very important to do your research on it. According to a report by healthline, vegans tend to be thinner and have a lower body mass index (BMI) than non-vegans. This is a significant reason for more and more people turning vegan. November 1 is celebrated as world vegan day. So on this occasion, let us take a look at some important points to be kept in mind before going vegan. Take it slow There’s no quick switch to your vegan journey. You can’t just wake up one morning, be vegan and live your ‘happily ever after’. Even if you try to do it, your body’s going to push you back because of the sudden change. So take it slow! Start adding more plant-based food to your diet and keep cutting on the meat and dairy one by one. That will help you have a smoother lifestyle change. Get your supplements right Now it goes without saying that cutting on all sorts of animal-based products takes away a lot of essential nutrients from you. Say, the calcium in milk, protein in meat or iron in beef, all of it needs a healthy alternative. If you are planning to go vegan, switch to supplements that won’t let you be deficient of these vital nutrients. Kale, almonds and figs can be your go-to food items to enrich your body with calcium. Leafy green vegetables help you get your vitamin D. Keep a check on your nutrient intake and you’ll do just fine. Be careful with soy It has been a topic of discussion ever since if soy is harmful for health. Many pieces of research show the soy affects heart health and might even lead to cancer. However, it’s an important source of protein and people find it important to incorporate it in their diets. Either consult a nutritionist before you start with your soy diet or avoid taking too much of it. Get used to reading food labels If you are certain to go vegan, you might as well develop the habit of reading the food labels thoroughly. These labels give the nutrient breakdown quite clearly. You should know every vegan food is not healthy. Also, some food brands may state themselves as vegan-friendly, while still having ingredients which indirectly come from animals. For instance, food colouring comes from drying out dead bodies of beetles. Don’t lose your calm! Just make it a point to get to the basics of the food items you’re consuming and you’re good to go. Place no bar It’s a common belief that people with a vegan diet restrict themselves to eating at home only and that it’s hard to sustain the diet if you’re going to go eat outside. However, there’s no such restriction. You can go to places and specify your diet restrictions. Also, with vegan attracting too much of the lime light, it’s obvious to have a lot of restaurants offering special vegan food. Research, go binge and celebrate your veganism.

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What is it? The S8 is the top model in the A8 series as long as Audi's product strategists don't tinker with a W12 (not excluded) or RS 8 (practically impossible). Even a glance at the engine makes it clear the S8 means business. Its twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 packs 563 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. This is, unsurprisingly, the same engine found in the new RS6 Avant and RS7, only with a smidge less power to maintain the gap between the mightiest S model and the angrier RS line. The S8 also has a 48-volt main electrical system with an additional lithium-ion battery and belt-starter generator as the basis for its mild-hybrid system, and for things like the forward-looking active suspension (more on this later). But this setup also improves fuel economy. The mild hybrid system saves two-tenths of a gallon every day by “sailing” with the engine deactivated. The new S8 is designed to save fuel in daily driving circumstances, although admittedly, that sounds like ordering a Coke Zero for to go with a triple cheeseburger. The S8, with its 5,081 pounds of weight (despite 58 percent aluminum content), is truly not a lightweight. How does it drive? Is the new Audi S8 a car for drivers or are you better off hanging in the cushy back seats? Audi helped us answer that question by offering a prominent chauffeur on the test track: Loic Duval, Le Mans winner in 2013. We’re laughing way in the back and enjoying pure luxury. No wonder, as the normal S8 is already 17 feet long, 6.4 feet wide and has a wheelbase of exactly 9.8 feet In important markets like China, North America, and South Korea, Audi offers the S8 exclusively as a long-wheelbase model, with an additional 5.1 inches between the axles. Monsieur Duval switches to Comfort Plus mode and the ride becomes quite relaxed. We look around inside: Fine materials, everything is beautifully finished. But we’re a little surprised by the low seating position in the rear. And the how easily the S8 can mutate into a flying carpet. Thank the aforementioned active suspension, a standard feature on German-market S8s. This system, which works in conjunction with the air suspension, and can pull each wheel up or down separately using electromechanical actuators. Or at least that's the theory. In practice, a camera detects larger irregularities such as speed bumps, which we hardly notice at all. Only very narrow imperfections are missed. And another feature of the Comfort Plus mode – in curves, the body tilts inwards by up to three degrees, thereby reducing lateral roll. No matter where you sit in the Audi S8, Comfort Plus mode turns the big sedan into a first-class Trans-Europe Express. Even Audi itself uses the phrase “as if on rails,” conjuring images of the old Trans-Europe Express (TEE). Fifty years ago, getting from Mediolanum to Munich to Milan on the TEE took six hours and 40 minutes. The S8 should easily beat that time, especially since it accelerates much faster than an electric locomotive: 3.8 seconds to 62 mph. A current Porsche 911 Carrera S needs 3.7 seconds. So far, so good. But what about the S8’s sporty touches? After all, you don't necessarily need 563 hp just to drive straight and fast. The second part of our drive takes us and the S8 out into the mountains around Barcelona. In Comfort Plus mode, the heavy sedan pushes out into fast corners. The Dynamic mode is quite different: here the S8 rushes through the corner with much more stability. The dynamic all-wheel steering system, in which the steering angles on the front and rear axles are individually adjusted, helps here. The suspension also acts differently in Dynamic mode, limiting the maximum roll angle to 2.5 degrees. If you want to, you can persuade the S8 to oversteer in a controlled manner. The sport differential helps, it shifts the drive torques between the rear wheels. The twin-turbo V8's powerful pitch underscores the speed, but you shouldn't expect a roaring fighting machine. And what does the fun cost? Audi is calling for exactly 140,000 euros on the German market for the S8 (U.S. customers are on the hook for at least $129,500), a good 45,000 euros (about $44,300) more than the A8 55 TFSI with 340 hp. The price only goes up from there, though. Carbon ceramic brakes? 8,500 euros ($9,900). Laser light? 3,100 euros ($2,300). Full leather package? 6,520 Euro ($5,500). And if you go the “Audi Exclusive” route, you can easily sink a small car’s worth of options into the S8. Yes, the new Audi S8 is expensive. But the company isn’t wrong to argue it’s “two cars in one”. In fact, the S8’s spread between comfort and sport is impressive. But in view of the size and weight of the sedan, it remains to be said: The S8 is incredibly fast. But it's not incredibly sporty. Gallery: 2019 Audi S8:

I swear, every time I get behind the wheel of the current Volkswagen GTI, I’m more impressed by how well it’s aged. This is a vehicle whose roots date back to 2013. By all accounts, newer rivals should have left it in the dust with nicer interiors, better powertrains, and smarter technology. And yet, here we are with the 2019 Volkswagen GTI Rabbit Edition. Think of the Rabbit Edition as a mid-range GTI SE with better upholstery (plaid cloth!), a slightly smaller infotainment system, and a $2,900 discount that yields a starting price below $30,000. That’s a fine recipe for a hot hatch, particularly one as potent and engaging as the GTI. Pros Volkswagen rates the GTI's turbocharged 2.0-liter engine at 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, which to be entirely frank, is absurd. If you aren't willing to read the multiple reports about VW sandbagging on the GTI's output, just take one for a spin. This car is effortlessly quick for its class and price tag, with all 258 lb-ft of twist available at 1,500 rpm. The Honda Civic Si is playing with just 205 hp and 192 lb-ft of torque, while the Hyundai Veloster Turbo packs just 201 hp and 195 lb-ft of torque. Heck, the GTI is barely down on the Golf R’s torque output – there’s a 22 lb-ft difference between the two. The middle child of the Golf family, though, is 300 pounds lighter than its all-wheel-drive big brother. That front-drive setup has its virtues, of course. While the GTI lacks the all-weather ability of a Golf R, it feels lighter and quicker to react to sudden directional changes. That's despite it missing the R’s adaptive suspension (more on that in a moment). What the Rabbit Edition does have – like the base GTI – is an electronically controlled limited-slip differential, which contributes to its ability to claw out of bends. The electric LSD doesn't feel as delightful around turns as a traditional mechanical limited-slip – in the right car, you can really feel one of those working – but it's impossible to ignore the GTI's ability to maintain grip through a turn without succumbing to understeer. Cons: This one could fall in either column, to be honest, but I'm marking it as a con simply because newer competitors feature more assertive aesthetics. There is something pleasant about a sleeper, but the GTI is just a little too anonymous. Even with the Rabbit Edition's 18-inch wheels, black mirror caps, and the red grille surround that graces all GTIs, this car never approaches the style or panache of rivals. Were it up to me, the more assertive design of the Golf R would be present on the GTI, while the range-topping hot hatch would get a style that better counters the Honda Civic Type R, Hyundai Veloster N, and late Ford Focus RS. The Rabbit Edition may be a GTI SE with better upholstery, but it's also missing that car's lone factory option: the $860 Experience package, which adds adaptive dampers, as well as an excellent Fender audio system. As I said, the Rabbit Edition is fine as is, but the DCC system had a significant impact on the driving experience when I tested the Jetta GLI. There's little reason to think it won't be similarly transformative here. I remember the first time I drove a car with Volkswagen's dual-clutch automatic transmission. It was a Mark 5 GTI. It performed brilliantly, but it was also as fun as a manual transmission; farting at every wide-open-throttle upshift. This latest unit improves on the manners of early DSGs – the seven-speed in the GTI is much quicker to engage off the line, and on hills it doesn't roll backwards – but it never feels as aggressive or sporty. On a Mark 5 GTI, I'd recommend the DSG, but I just can't do the same here.

Gosh, it’s getting good now. Another corner of the Total Warhammer world is filled in with flavourful conflict. The identikit faction leaders are an endangered species, doomed to be replaced by individually voiced Legendary Lords from the depths of Warhammer’s back catalogue. Or so it will prove if developer Creative Assembly keeps up this pace. The Hunter and the Beast adds the Emperor’s Huntsmarshal Markus Wulfhart and the giant walking crocodile Nakai the Wanderer, and arrives alongside a free patch that introduces the ancient Saurus Gor-Rok, too. And we’re getting Gotrek and Felix next month, though they won’t be faction leaders. It’s starting to feel like you can’t swing a choppa in this world without hitting one iconic warlord or another. For fans of the setting it’s getting to be a bit of a soap opera. Chatter with my friends focuses on characters and events: ‘that wuss Teclis bribed his brother into ganging up on me, the bastard elven snake.’ Creative Assembly’s determination that these DLC packs should all be tightly themed ensures that newcomers can get in on the drama, too, putting rivalries front and centre. Hunter and the Beast is no exception, riffing on colonialism and ‘civilisation’ vs. ‘savagery’. Wulfhart is leading an expedition into the Lizardmen’s homeland of Lustria, intent on plundering in the name of Emperor Karl Franz. Thus, excitingly, this is the first time the Empire has been playable in Total War: Warhammer II’s Vortex campaign, so those who didn’t play Warhammer I are essentially getting a whole new race with this pack. Because it’s far from home, Wulfhart’s expedition depends on supplies from the Empire. This is mechanised in the fact that advanced buildings are locked behind tiers of Imperial Acclaim, which you earn through expansion. This limitation on your roster is offset by shipments of troops from home, the quality of which starts reasonably high (I got three units of Empire Knights and two of Outriders with grenade launchers on my fifth turn) and gets higher still with new Acclaim tiers. Wulfhart’s second unique system is Hostility, which reflects how pissed off Lustria’s locals are at you. It rises in line with the volume of arse you kick – taking a settlement will raise it by a full point – and, somewhat bizarrely, this includes arse belonging even to the Lizardmen’s own enemies. I’m not sure why they’d get mad at me for killing Skaven, but at least it has the effect of forcing you into conflict with them, which reflects the theme of the DLC: as Hostility rises, you get public order penalties, diplomatic relations with all Lizardmen factions suffer, and they get combat bonuses against you. At peak hostility, a fully loaded Lizardmen army spawns with the intent of hunting you down. This conflict is a constant roil rather than a swelling tidal wave, in contrast to the Tehenhauin vs. Skaven showdown in the previous Lord pack. Hostility will automatically reset to zero a few turns after you hit its maximum level, after which it’s not too hard to make up with the Lizards – Wulfhart starts at war with Nakai, but I got a non-aggression pact out of him fairly easily. Unfortunately, he was killed off by some orcs shortly afterwards. The interplay between Hostility and Acclaim is the coolest part of Wulfhart’s campaign. You get reinforcements more quickly at higher Hostility levels, which is a huge advantage as it means you can acquire a Steam Tank and Demigryphs at Acclaim tier two. Provided you can maintain such expensive troops and manage public order, Hostility is nothing to fear, and it can be to your advantage to keep it high. Wulfhart also gets access to a few special heroes – his Hunters. Creative Assembly clearly intends them to be a grizzled bunch of adventurers with murky pasts, like Vermintide’s Ubersreik Five – the art in the relevant notification panel shows Wulfhart cocking an ear to some tavern chatter, which gives you an idea of the tone. Each Hunter has a backstory and a quest relating to some personal conflict or other, which you advance by leveling them up, moving characters to particular regions, defeating armies, and so on. These quest steps are generic and/or confined to Lustria, which means I often satisfy them inadvertently. Wulfhart’s starting position in the Vortex is a tricky one, with most neighbours relatively strong and hostile, the Hunters’ quests are rarely my priority. When they do progress, they grant various buffs for the relevant Hunter and a bit of story to read in a notification box. In substance those stories are wonderful, but in presentation they remind you that this is a strategy game, not an RPG. Everything is set up to cater to a grand perspective. I really do love what CA is trying to do here, but it still feels incongruent to read about an Elf’s personal life in a text box while armies cross a continent in the background. Wulfhart’s nemesis adds a few smart twists to Total War: Warhammer’s horde armies. When you conquer a settlement as Nakai, it’s automatically ceded to the Defenders of the Great Plan, a Lizardmen faction that are your permanent vassals. This means they pay you tribute each turn, and the richer they get, the bigger the tribute. You also get a choice of three Old One gods to honour with a temple in the conquered city, with more temples unlocking a number of campaign perks and Blessed units for you to spawn. The catch is the Defenders have to hold on to those cities, or else your tribute and your temple count both drop. And if you’re thinking you’ll be able to set them up with so many cities that they’ll snowball and take care of themselves, I’m afraid that won’t happen – the Defenders are a passive faction, and field no armies. On the flipside though, they seem to build garrisons in the cities they take, so they’re relatively tough nuts to crack. That’s just as well; without any armies, the Defenders are always at the bottom of the pile for military strength, so they’re at the top of the AI’s hit list. They’ll draw a lot of enemies, which means you will, too – the downside of having the Defenders as your permanent vassals is that you have to stick up for them in every war that targets them. There’s no option to decline The upshot is that, if anything, you have to be more careful about your conquests than in a regular campaign: you must take settlements that even a passive AI can hold. Once I figure that out and take the relatively secluded Turtle Isles off Teclis, Nakai’s campaign really starts to come alive for me. Until then, there were a few moments early on that reminded me of the more boring bits of my Noctilus playthrough in the Vampire Coast expansion: sometimes I had nothing better to do than move Nakai to his next target and click ‘end turn’. This led to a lot of time spent watching the AI play. But as I say, things soon picked up. Nakai also lacks Noctilus’s feeling of overwhelming freedom; his campaign is much more tightly structured and localised. There’s not much point leaving Lustria – you can’t trade with anyone, and your overall campaign goal is to defeat Wulfhart’s four Hunter champions, who are unlikely to go very far. After you do so, the final battle unlocks. I achieved this in a single evening over 88 turns, or between six and seven hours. So it’s worth noting these are not especially long campaigns, but they’re a lot of fun. Wulfhart and Nakai are a bit of an odd choice; I doubt any fans were demanding this odd couple when favourites like Malus Darkblade and Grey Seer Thanquol are still missing, but surely CA has plans for them that fit their stature. In the meantime, the pair we’ve been given are a nice surprise, and have inspired another thoughtful shake-up of two familiar races. That’s as expected. CA has this kind of DLC down to a fine art at this point. Moments of irritation occur, but are fleeting – there’s more than enough here to justify a full playthrough as both Wulfhart and Nakai, which means comfortably more than a dozen hours of violent, reptilian fun. Hard to beat for $8.99 (£6.99). And, honestly, what other game will let you see a fictional titanic dinosaur eat a steam tank?

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