Fast Facts

Release Date: June 25
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Publisher/Developer: Nintendo/Camelot

Although it’s been a while since Mario and his mates hit the green, Mario Golf: Super Rush will feel familiar to anyone who has played an arcade-y golf game in the past few years, such as Everybody’s Golf. It’s overflowing with color, from the vivid courses you play on to the cast of characters (and your Mii) who you play as, and offers up plenty of different rulesets so you know that this isn’t the sort of stuffy golf you see plastered over Sky Sports. Except, this outing for Mario on the links never captures a specific style, neither as a serious sports game that yearns to be mastered nor a whippy delight that craves to be played with mates.  

Only swing when you’re winning

This identity crisis starts with how you play the game. Depending on which mode you’re playing, you’ll have a choice between traditional button controls or the arm-flinging of motion controls. Your button controls offer more command over where your ball goes, as you set power on a meter with a tap of A and add sidespin afterwards by nudging the left stick. While it’s not quite as simple as that suggests – a red gauge next to your power meter indicates how far a ball can curve unexpectedly if you put too much power on a shot – but it doesn’t quite capture the rhythmical compulsion of Everybody’s Golf, that sense of timing and strategy coming together. Meanwhile, motion controls are what you expect – swing your arms like it’s 2007 and you’re trying out Wii Sport for the first time. How enjoyable that is depends on personal preference, but I certainly made the most of an afternoon taking turns with my partner to see who could look the daftest while playing with them.

This does however highlight the game’s fundamental flaw of never committing to a style of play. Using motion controls leads to uncomplicated fun with friends, but doesn’t feel like it requires buckets of skill. It’s a gimmick essentially, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s hardly something you’ll keep returning to. Whereas the standard controls offer up ways of giving the game a distinct flavor – such as your ability to curl shots in multiple directions, letting them bend to the left before hooping back to the right – but it doesn’t offer any compelling reason to really spend time getting to grips with it, considering the course designs lack opportunities to really test your skill and there aren’t enough modes to lose yourself in. 

Teed off

The main mode though is Golf Adventure, an RPG-lite, open-world career that starts with your Mii learning the ropes as a rookie with three other wannabes before heading out across other courses to learn more tricks and help bring some stability to the increasingly extreme places you find. While it’s clearly little more than a way of introducing the game’s various concepts and courses, it’s also the game’s biggest disappointment. 

To begin with, there’s the lack of personality in the worlds you explore. It ticks off the usual variety of environments you expect to see – a placid beginner pitch, a gusty rural course, a tricky desert – without offering too much in the way of wit or inventiveness. That extends to the characters who you’ll encounter on your journey. Every so often, you’ll get the occasional laugh from a bystander you can chat with, but far too often, they’re there to simply point you in whichever direction you need to go in next. The brief moments where it delivers, with lines such as: “I’ve seen some pretty wild things and I’m a Pro Golf instructor”, only serve to show how much of a wasted opportunity this feels like. It feels hesitant to commit to being a mode where you rise through the ranks or a more surreal adventure, eventually splitting the difference and never quite succeeding to excel at either. 

Rough stuff

You won’t spend too much time exploring worlds though, as the game wants to quickly shepherd you towards the various qualifying rounds on each course. These largely work out as introductions to the game’s main forms of golf. So you’ve got Standard Golf, which is your typical game of golf and will transport you to where the ball landed. Whereas Speed Golf has you racing across the course to catch up where you hit your ball and where the fastest time wins. To add some extra spice, characters have the ability to Super Dash and knock their opponents out of the way, offering a sprinkle of light platforming to create Mario Golf’s most distinctive mode. It’s not revelatory, but it at least gives a sense of pace and action that makes up for the lack of complexity in Standard Golf.

Still, the only reason to see the Golf Adventure mode through is the fact you can level up your Mii’s stats. Each time your Mii gets a boost, you can decide if they can hit the ball further, straighter, or have more control over it, all having a pretty noticeable effect once you return to the course. Feeling your Mii get better over time certainly adds a bit of flavor, but it’s not enough to really rescue the mode’s story, which is seemingly two very different ideas stitched together. By the time the credits hit, I was genuinely confused as to how it had ended up where it did, with characters getting introduced and dropped quicker than some of the holes you’ll play on.   

Fore-gettable

The only other mode of note is Battle Golf, where you fight in a coliseum to be the first to win 3 holes. It’s a chaotic take on golf, letting you choose which flags to aim for and, in short bursts, gives an impression of what this game could have been. But there’s not a huge amount to it, and in keeping with the rest of Mario Golf: Super Rush, there’s nothing here to keep your interest in the long term. While the online mode might keep you involved with mates, there’s just not enough incentive to. 

As I said at the start, Rush is an apt word to define this game. At one point, where I sunk an entirely unexpected hole-in-one, I didn’t realize until my Mii started celebrating for a few seconds before the game moved on. There’s no replay, no moment to bask in the highlight of any golfing experience – just an unending rush where no moment is too noteworthy to reflect on. It makes for an entirely hollow solo experience. And because of this, Mario Golf: Super Rush never settles into a game that captures the fun of golf nor offers up a convincing alternative. Maybe next time Mario dons his Calloway jumper, there should be less haste and more speed. 

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch with a code provided by the publisher.

The Verdict

2.5

2.5 out of 5

Mario Golf

Swings in multiple different directions without ever making a convincing impact. While Mario Golf: Super Rush isn’t too rough in most places, it’s just not on par compared to other recent golf games.

The post Mario Golf: Super Rush review: “Swings in multiple different directions without a convincing impact” appeared first on Game News.

Design & Features

A quick examination of the midrange H3s reveals a slight dip in construction material quality, finish, and cushioning than Sennheiser’s pricier GSP models of old. The revised headband design is much simpler and while its clean lines are arguably a big improvement on the eye, what little cushioning there is on the inner side feels quite low quality.

A mix of matte and gloss plastics in contrasting black and white contribute to a grown-up look that distances the H3s from the faintly patronising designs of other manufacturers’ gamer-focused models. However, neither finish quality nor construction materials feel befitting of the price point. 

The exception to that rule is the quality of cushioning around the earcups: this feels like top quality memory foam, and plenty of it, finished in leather and a suede-like material at the contact points. The clamping force is quite high on this model, so that luxurious padding is a welcome touch.

This being a wired 3.5mm connection model, we don’t have a swathe of features to examine here. You do have a choice of braided fabric cables, featuring either separate mic and audio connections or a straight-to-right combined 3.5mm cable for laptops or smartphones that still carry that input. The latter is noticeably quieter than the separate input cable, however, so your top volume is at a lower ceiling if you connect this way. Still, no problems if you’re thinking of your next PC headset for gaming, or wired contender for best PS5 headset or best Xbox Series X headset.

Elsewhere, the few controls on offer are handled elegantly on the headset itself. As with prior Sennheiser models, muting the mic is achieved just by swinging it up and out of the way, and a satisfying click leaves you in no doubt as to when you’ve silenced yourself. Volume control’s handled via a dial on the right earcup, meanwhile.

Performance

Onto the main event though: the audio. This was always Sennheiser’s strong suit, and although much of the H3 seems to bear a strong resemblance to GSP designs, the sound characteristics are quite different. 

It’s an extreme example of closed-back audio: the chamber around your ear feels especially sealed, which lets low frequencies really resonate while highs are voiced without intruding outside noise. It’s definitely a satisfying response, but to this reviewer’s ears the EQ sounds slightly too ‘scooped’. If you bring Epos’ own GSX 300 sound card into play too, you can sculpt custom EQs and toggle virtual surround on and off, but without that added expense, out of the box, the H3s are much more exaggerated in their response than, say, the Arctis 7, whose pleasantly flat voicing is favoured by many.

Overall

What the H3s do have going for them in audio terms is a great stereo spread, and this gives them both a useful applicated in the likes of PUBG, where positional audio cues can be a lifesaver, and in cinematic sound – movies whose audio simulated a wide sound stage.

This isn’t just a Sennheiser headset carrying another logo – there’s a different construction standard and a distinct audio character to the H3s that both impress on their own terms, but feel a little lacklustre for the price.

The Verdict

3

3 out of 5

EPOS H3

Clean, simple 3.5mm cans with some Senny clout, for less

The post EPOS H3 review: “Simultaneously impressive and a little lackluster” appeared first on Game News.

As usual, CPPC has cherry-picked the finest components from a variety of manufacturers for this machine. Our review model is the standardised version of the 910 RTX, priced at £2099, but a quick trip to the retail website will reveal a massive range of potential customisations. Since these machines are custom-built to order, you can even post your own case to CPPC for them to build the system inside it.

Design & Features

Review model specs

Here are the specs for the PC sent to GamesRadar for review:
Processor: Intel Core i9-10850K
Graphics: MSI RTX 3080 Ventus 3X 10G OC
Memory: 16GB DDR4 HyperX Fury @ 3,200MHz
Storage: 500GB WD Black SN750 M.2 PCIe SSD (Boot) + 2TB Seagate BarraCuda 7200RPM HDD
Ports: Front: 2x USB 3.1 Gen 1, Combo Headphone/Mic;
Rear: 4x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 2x USB-A 2.0, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2×2, HD Audio, Ethernet, 3x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, Optical S/PDIF OUT
Connectivity: 2.5G LAN, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
Weight: Variable depending on spec
Dimensions: 8.2in/21cm x 18.1in/46cm x 16.9in/42.8cm (W x D x H)

Obviously, the RTX 3080 is the centerpiece of this PC – it is the best graphics card going right now, after all. This particular one is MSI’s Ventus 3X 10G OC model, factory-overclocked with three fans, and a whopping ten gigabytes of video memory. This is joined by some of the best RAM for gaming in the form of 16GB of HyperX RAM at 3,200MHz; a relatively conservative amount for a high-end PC but plenty for most gaming endeavours.

It’s worth noting that the high memory speed isn’t particularly beneficial for the processor, a 10-core Intel Core i9-10850K, unlocked for overclocking with an automatic turbo clock of up to 5.2GHz. An AMD chip might have seen superior performance paired with this memory, but the 10850K is undeniably a beast when it comes to both gaming and CPU-intensive workloads, easily being a contender for best CPU for gaming of 2020.

Underneath those headline acts, an MSI motherboard forms the basis for this machine, and also plays host to a high-speed 500GB M.2 SSD. This primary drive guarantees rapid boot times and fast load times in games, but there’s also a (much slower) 2TB SATA drive to ensure that you don’t run out of storage.

Granted, current triple-A titles can get pretty bloated in terms of file sizes. For example, Call of Duty: Warzone would devour half of that M.2 drive instantly. We do wonder if a larger boot SSD and no secondary storage might actually have been a better call, but CyberPower clearly had that thought too: the SSD can be upgraded to a 1TB or 2TB equivalent for an additional fee.

Elsewhere in this system, we’ve got a liquid cooling system with a 240mm radiator from Cooler Master, then more cooling and lighting brought in by four of CyberPower’s own addressable RGB fans and two LED lightstrips. A dinky IR remote can be used for customising the RGB effects on the fly, but the lighting is aggressively bright and the fans get loud during demanding games. The remote can be used to dim the brightness, but doesn’t allow for manual fan speed adjustments – these must be done in the system BIOS.

A beefy 850W Corsair power supply affords some leeway for future upgrades, and the Infinity 910 RTX won’t be too difficult to modify should you decide to make piecemeal improvements in the future. Fitting new memory or drives shouldn’t be a complicated process even for a novice system builder.

Naturally, the build quality here is absolutely top-notch. Nary a loose cable is visible here, with the guts of this machine neatly ordered and secured. The NZXT H511 case looks fantastic, and while there’s a variety of other cases available, it’s certainly the one we would pick. The exterior is brushed metal in solid black, with a tempered glass window that does an excellent job of showing off the interior components. The lack of USB-C support on the front I/O is a shame, but there is a USB-C port at the rear connecting directly to the motherboard.

Performance

Benchmarking

How does the CyberPowerPC Infinity 910 RTX fare on some industry tests? We’ve included these below to give you a feel of how it performs.

Cinebench CPU: 6249pts
3DMark Fire Strike: 30021
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme: 19081pts
3DMark Fire Strike Ultra: 10752pts
3DMark Port Royal: 11140pts
PCMark 10: 7810pts
CrystalDiskMark: SSD: 3384MB/s read; 2698MB/s write;
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2: Ultra at 1080p: 185fps; High at 1080p: 222fps; Ultra at 1440p: 136fps; High at 1440p: 176fps; Ultra at 4K: 71fps; High at 4K: 101fps
Metro Exodus: RTX at 1080p: 104fps; High at 1080p: 150fps; RTX at 1440p: 85fps; High at 1440p: 127fps; RTX at 4K: 47fps; High at 4K: 77fps
Red Dead Redemption 2: Default at 1080p: 147fps; Best at 1080p: 139fps; Default at 1440p: 95fps; Best at 1440p: 90fps; Default at 4K: 68fps; Best at 4K: 65fps
Total War: Three Kingdoms: Ultra at 1080p: 134fps; High at 1080p: 182fps; Ultra at 1440p: 93fps; High at 1440p: 132fps; Ultra at 4K: 46fps; High at 4K: 67fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Highest at 1080p: 172fps; High at 1080p: 181fps; Highest at 1440p: 145fps; High at 1440p: 157fps; Highest at 4K: 81fps; High at 4K: 96fps

The RTX 3080 has certainly lived up to Nvidia’s marketing hype. Initial tests were promising, with comically high 150+ framerates at 1080p. 1440p tests also proved successful, but the big question was—of course—whether the hallowed 4K ultra gaming would actually be viable.

Fear not, though; the 3080 dominated our benchmarks, offering 60 fps or more in most games we tested at 4K with maximum graphical settings in place. This was the case regardless of the type of game in question; large-scale multiplayer titles like The Division 2 and Apex Legends performed just as well as solo experiences like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Direct graphical tests such as 3DMark’s FireStrike benchmark were also easy fare for the Infinity 910 RTX.

Ray-tracing was an interesting point of contention, though. Nvidia has been relatively quiet in its marketing efforts when it comes to the actual RTX part of the RTX 3000 series after performance issues and slow developer adoption hampered the feature in the previous 2000 generation of cards. Unfortunately, it seems that the same problems are haunting this new series of GPUs, albeit to a lesser extent. Turning on the ray-traced lighting and reflections found in Metro Exodus and Control was damaging to the framerate in both games, but not to the same degree as seen in older GPUs; performance dropped between 25% and 40% in different tests.

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It does bring into question the actual worth of ray-tracing features. The Port Royal ray-tracing benchmark ran better than we ever saw it perform on previous-generation RTX cards, but in games the actual value of slightly better shadows and reflections is a dubious proposition considering the impact on framerates. It’s a good thing that the RTX 3080 performs so well in general, otherwise we might call its price point into question. Nvidia’s DLSS features work great too, although the benefits are more pronounced in some games than others.

Unsurprisingly, this combination of CPU and GPU is complete overkill for esports titles, with Overwatch, Valorant, and DOTA 2 seeing absurdly high figures. Anything designed for fast-paced online action shouldn’t be a problem in the slightest.

Speaking of the CPU, the Core i9-10850K can more than handle itself. Cinebench R20 gave us solid figures compared to previous generation counterparts, and more CPU-intensive titles like Total War: Three Kingdoms also demonstrated good performance, if not as impressive as games that are more GPU-reliant.

Throughout all our tests, temperatures inside the case remained within a comfortable range. The Masterliquid Lite 240 AIO cooler did a great job of keeping the processor cool, and the MSI GPU was consistent if not amazing. Temperatures never rose above 75C during tests, typically hitting 70C during 4K benchmarks and then remaining there. For such a powerful graphics card, we’re very happy with those figures.

Lastly, the CrystalDisk benchmark told us exactly what we were expecting: the 500GB SN750 boot drive from Western Digital is only likely to be outclassed by expensive Samsung SSDs and fourth-generation M.2 drives (which aren’t compatible with Intel processors right now anyway). Boot times were incredibly speedy, and the majority of games loaded quickly. No longer will you be the bane of the lobby in Rainbow Six Siege!

Overall – should you buy it?

We can’t quite give full credit to CyberPowerPC here, since much of the heavy lifting is done by the RTX 3080 GPU. That component is also very competitively priced, resulting in an overall price point for this machine that is tough to beat. If we’d just dropped £2,000 on a high-end gaming PC prior to the 3000 series release, we’d be fuming right now.

All the same, CyberPower deserves some serious accolades here. This is a top-notch gaming PC with incredible performance per pound, ample storage, and a level of build quality that is hard to beat. The internals are extremely clean, although we might advise replacing the default case fans. Swapping these out for the Corsair or Cooler Master ARGB fans offered by CyberPower might be a good call.

So, should you buy it? Yes! If you’re not the type to assemble your own system from scratch, CyberPower has got you covered with an absolutely kick-ass machine. The assembly means that upgrades should be straightforward, but the baseline performance is so good that the Infinity 910 RTX will likely be able to handle the biggest, most demanding games for years to come. Team this with one of the best gaming monitors, or even one of the best 4K monitors for gaming and you will have a setup that would be the envy of many, and if this is the kind of machine we can look forward to that are powered by 3080 cards, we are in for a real treat. The Infinity 910 RTX gets a glowing recommendation from us.

The Verdict

5

5 out of 5

CyberPowerPC Infinity 910 RTX

A pre-assembled machine with almost peerless build quality and some of the best components around.

The post CyberPowerPC Infinity 910 RTX Review: “Putting the power into CyberPower” appeared first on Game News.

Design

Credit where credit is due; if aesthetics are what you’re looking for in order to have a sleek setup with a minimalistic feel, the Alienware AW2521HF excels on that front. A smooth, matte black finish covers the product, with a tiny bezel measuring just 0.5cm across and 2cm at the bottom. This is all display, with the monitor settings accessible via buttons on the back. Don’t fret about having to reach behind though; five buttons by the edge means you can reach all of them by just placing your fingers around the right-hand side.

It’s astonishingly simple to put together too; the stand connects to the two-pronged base, then slots into the display without any issues. As long as you connect up the cables before placing it on your desk, you can thread them through the stand too, making for very useful cable management. It has five height adjustment levels and effortlessly slides between them, reaching heights much higher than any other monitors I’ve used previously.

All in all, the design is top class. It’s a gorgeous build, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it shines everywhere else.

Features

Let’s start with the ports. You’re looking at two HDMI and one DisplayPort for the image, supported by three USB 3.0, plus a fourth which has power charging, and the USB upstream port to make them all work. There’s also a standard VESA mount if you want to forego the stand and stick this bad boy on the wall. Finally, there’s the usual headphone jack and audio line-out port.

Since this is an IPS panel and not a TN, the viewing angles are brilliant. Since IPS typically has a lower response time than a TN monitor, this is where a large portion of the price tag comes from; improved picture quality while maintaining a 1ms GtG response time, instead of sacrificing one or the other. This is only achieved by changing the response time in the settings from “Fast” to “Overdrive” though, which can sometimes result in inverse ghosting. This is a common problem with monitors that advertise 1ms response times and the Alienware AW2521HF is no different. It’s often not worth using the Overdrive setting anyway, since the difference in 1ms to 2ms is negligible.

As you’d expect from a high-end display competing for a mention amongst the best gaming monitors (opens in new tab) in 2020, both Nvidia’s G-Sync (opens in new tab) and AMD’s FreeSync Premium are supported, meaning the display refresh rate is paired with your frames-per-second. As a result, it eliminates tearing and stutters.

There are two features that are missing from this monitor though, the first of which is Motion Blur Reduction. Motion blur is a common feature in games that a lot of players like to turn off, but if the game itself doesn’t support that option, you can’t enable it through the monitor this time. There’s also no HDR support, though it’s less of an issue if you’re using the display solely for gaming and not movies or television.

Performance

Alright, so at the end of the day, how does it actually perform? Truth be told, my first impressions weren’t great. Comparing the picture quality to my usual dual-screen set-up with two ASUS VG248QE monitors was disappointing; those are by far my favorite of the monitors I’ve used and the Alienware AW2521HF one looks slightly washed out in comparison. Blacks aren’t entirely even which makes dark scenarios — as I encountered while playing Escape from Tarkov — look subpar.

Both Valorant and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive were better experiences though, with the 240Hz refresh rate really coming into effect. Movements were silky smooth, and hitting those higher frames definitely improved my performance, pushing me over the gold rank ceiling in Valorant to platinum. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was a similar story. It’s a much, much more intensive game that my computer struggles to hit 200+ fps with but nevertheless, it felt more fluid and responsive.

I gave a couple of non-competitive games a shot, which is where it’s not quite as impressive. In every game I played — Sea of Thieves, Minecraft Dungeons, and The Witcher 3 — the uneven darks were noticeable and the fast response time much less important. Watching an episode of The Mandalorian on it had the same result, making me wish for something with a higher resolution and more impressive quality.

Overall

It’s obvious that the AW2521HF is a machine built for only the best of gaming machines, and more specifically for those who like to play twitch shooters that require rapid reflexes. If you’re a budding Valorant pro or you can see yourself climbing to Global Elite in CS, dropping £350/$450 on this monitor should be a no brainer. Plan on also using it for non-competitive purposes like movies and single-player games? Consider either picking up a 1440p display to go alongside it for a dual-monitor setup, or investing in a 144Hz display with better colours. A great monitor, but not one that should be treated as a catch-all for any PC gamer, as it has a very specific audience. 

The Verdict

3.5

3.5 out of 5

Alienware AW2521HF

The Alienware AW2521HF monitor is a wonderful purchase for those interested in competitive gaming. If you play single-player or non-esports focused titles, there are better options elsewhere.

The post Alienware AW2521HF review: “A great monitor with a very specific audience” appeared first on Game News.

Blair Witch tells the story of Ellis, a cop reeling from making a massive on-duty mistake due to PTSD he suffers from his time as a soldier. Ellis and his German Shepherd named Bullet join a search party in the infamous Black Hills Forest, where a young boy named Peter has gone missing (as people tend to do there). For suspense’s sake, the game begins with you realizing the search party has gone ahead and setting off on your own, with nothing at your disposal but a flashlight, radio, and your old school cell phone.

That’s because Blair Witch isn’t about combat – it’s about avoiding it, and Bullet is your best line of defense. There’s no heads up display, but Bullet acts like one, running ahead to alert you if he’s discovered something, growling when danger is near, and barking his fool head off when the Witch is around. Oh yeah, you encounter the Witch. That shifty, long-limbed lady will pop up at random intervals, lurking behind trees and darting out from behind the brush. The only way to stave her off is to shine your flashlight at her, and Bullet’s job is to point to wherever she’s creeping. 

It’s a nifty idea, except it can be janky. At one point Bullet stopped reacting to the Witch, but the score persistently told me she was near. As the music swelled and the screen blurred, he rolled around in some leaves and promptly laid down, leaving me to twist about frantically, my feeble flashlight illuminating minuscule parts of the forest. Sometimes he would run so sporadically it was hard to figure out which way he was looking. This could be a purposeful mechanic, but with a game this buggy, I can’t be sure.

Bugs are scary

And this game is buggier than a late evening backyard barbeque in mid-July. Hats off to the design of the forest, which envelops you like a strange aunt’s hug at Christmas dinner, squeezing you ever closer to the brink of a nervous breakdown. The place is disorienting, and when night falls it’s a damn labyrinth. This lends itself well to fear-inducing gameplay, but some mechanics fall too close to actual tech issues. There’s a feature where, if you wander into a territory that you have yet to unlock in the gameplay, your flashlight flickers, and you end up facing where you came from. Unfortunately, the first major bug I encountered was one that trapped me in the forbidden forest (hehe) behind a tree, twice, forcing me to load previous saves.

FAST FACTS: BLAIR WITCH

Release date: August 30, 2019
Platform(s): Xbox One, and PC
Developer: Bloober Team
Publisher: Bloober Team

 Some gameplay mechanics and world-building seem built to break or delay. The “wandering the forest” concept is great, but it’s often unclear what’s a blocked path that can eventually be cleared and what’s an in-game barrier that can never be crossed. There was a lot of fumbling about the perceived map edges. Some of the items that offer an interaction prompt were never able to be interacted with. And some visual elements (darkness/fog) invoke frustration instead of fear.

Then there’s the big bug that I encountered nearly five hours into the game that rendered me immobile. Literally. As I made my way to the threshold of Casa de Blair Witch, ready to shine my flashlight in her dumb scary face, I found myself trapped in the doorway, unable to move. I loaded an old save, trudged back up there, and was promptly stuck in said doorway again. On the third reload I doubled back to where I came from, but all points of entry and exit were blocked off – this happened for each one of my five attempts. The house was clearly my end game, but I couldn’t get in. Blair Witch? More like where, bitch?

Not all who wander are lost

And neither is this game. The score is great, with eerie strings that wax and wane throughout. And the found footage mechanic brings the iconic Blair Witch camcorder into play, but with a supernatural twist. If Ellis finds red tapes in the forest, you can rewind and fast forward them to manipulate reality based on where the footage was shot. This means you can open locked doors, repair felled trees, and uncover items that are invisible to the naked eye. This is a fun, if occasionally tough to execute, mechanic – one I wish was deployed more. 

There’s a few “find the code” puzzles, an early one of which I failed to solve because I was wrapped up in the main storyline. The one I did complete, however, was in a run-down sawmill with a figure lurking in the second-floor window. You gained access to that floor via a set of stairs behind a locked door with a sliding bracket combination. Scurrying about the mill searching for the code was fun, and when I successfully opened it I had the smug look of success we yearn to wear when playing games. 

And then there’s Bullet, an eternal Good Boy. Using him to find clues and lead you places is a clever feature that’s often necessary to move the plot forward. It’s a new way to do clue discovery, and it plays well. His command wheel is a nifty feature that can call him to you, keep him in place, or let you pet him. Bullet is great. Everything about him is wonderful and he must be protected at all costs. That’s all I’ll say about that.

But is it scary, though?

Blair Witch definitely flexes some psychological horror muscles. Pairing you up with a dog imbues every move you make with the kind of imperative saved only for puppers – I didn’t care if Ellis fell down a cliff, but the idea of Bullet scraping a toe bean petrified me. I was spamming the “heel” command whenever I lost sight of him. The game emphasizes the need to stay close to Bullet for the sake of Ellis’ mental state, but that logic applied to my own mental wellbeing, too – an especially harrowing Bullet-related event had me sobbing. The dog acts as a kind of emotional support animal for Ellis, whose mental health is frequently referenced in-game. He’s an anchor that both you and he reach for periodically, and a brilliant emotional play. 

Speaking of mental health, the game cleverly weaves the disorienting and surreal aspects of the forest into a narrative about Ellis’ PTSD. There are moments when the war zones of his past seep into the forest: bullets pelt the water in front of you, mortars strike nearby, dog tags lie buried in the dirt. It makes you wonder how much of the creepiness and anxiety can be attributed to the demonic power of the Blair Witch, and how much of it is because of Ellis’ personal demons. It’s a brilliant narrative tool, one that constantly keeps you on edge.

The Blair Witch I encountered was represented by branchy-limbed forest Slender Man spirits lurking behind trees that were only mildly scary after the first encounter. But that first encounter elicited a loud yelp from me that had my heart pounding in my ears for the next ten minutes. The few jump scares the game throws at you are great, and coupled with the thread of unease that snakes through the entire game, are super effective. It can be scary, but it’s most often anxiety-inducing, which for many is the worst form of fear.

I can’t say where the final Blair Witch encounter registers on the spook scale, however, because she refused to let me in the front door as if I were trying to push some newfound religion on her…

Overall my time in the woods was equal parts freaky and frustrating. When the game works, it really works, blending clever narrative elements, a brilliant score, and psychological suspense. But the occasionally wonky moment and the disruptive bugs hinder the experience, replacing moments that should scare with moments that vex. The Blair Witch is scary, but the bugs are scarier.

The Verdict

3

3 out of 5

Blair Witch

A fine take on psychological horror cut down by bugs and wonkiness.

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There’s no doubt that Hugh Howey can really write. Anyone who breaks through from the clamour of the self-publication sector, as Howey famously did with the novellas that eventually made up his dystopic Woo l, arguably has to be a better storyteller than those boasting the might of a publisher behind them.

Certainly, his new standalone volume Sand , which true to form has already been published digitally in five instalments, is a fantastic yarn. As the title suggests, it’s set in arid environs, on a world where skyscrapers have been lost beneath vast dunes.

In this gritty wilderness, sand-divers retrieve artifacts from deep below the desert floor. It’s a precarious and dangerous way to make a living, but divers such as Palmer, the nominal male head of the fractured family whose fortunes Sand follows, dream of making a big score by finding a lost city, Danvar.

So as not to give away spoilers, let’s just say that the rest of the plot is a case of “be careful what you wish for” – and viewed purely as a plot-driven adventure-thriller, Sand works brilliantly. The diving scenes, which are horribly claustrophobic, also impress.

Nevertheless, you’re left with the nagging sensation that Howey hasn’t done enough to explain the backstory here – Danvar, Denver, yes, no? – while Palmer’s family, with the exception of deep-diving big sister Vic, the book’s calm centre, are rather sketchily drawn.

Jonathan Wright twitter.com/Jonathanw101

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An alternative Hundred Years War set in a world where God takes a direct interest in his creation, Son Of The Morning is a smart, gripping historical fantasy. Here angels dwell in cathedrals and fight for their kings. But Mark Alder’s is not a kindly God, but an unforgiving, Old Testament smiter who relishes sacrifice and casts people into Hell for the least of sins.

Alder (actually Mark Barrowcliffe, AKA MD Lachlan, author of the historical fantasy series Wolfsangel) has taken the Luciferian heresy as the starting point: God usurped Lucifer, the true creator, and imprisoned him and his followers in Hell. Lucifer came to Earth as Jesus, and God took all the credit. God then did a savage PR job on the fallen angel, and the rest, as they say, is history. Lucifer and his demons have taken control of part of Hell, throwing back Satan’s devils. This war spills onto Earth with the advent of the “antichrist”.

Despite first appearances, the book is not a Christian-bashing polemic, but a sharp attack on inequality as applicable to the wild inequities of today’s super-capitalism as it is to Feudalism’s self-justification through Christianity. If that sounds a bit heavy, trust us, it isn’t. There’s a good deal of humour, well-observed characters, glorious occult and historical detail, plenty of intrigue, and some great battles. Alder’s depiction of the crucial one at Crécy, with both sides supported by angels and devils, is particularly enjoyable.

Guy Haley twitter.com/GuyHaley

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Episode 2.15
Writers: Jake Coburn & Ben Sokolowski
Director: Glen Winter

THE ONE WHERE: As Oliver confronts Slade in his own home we flash back to the storming of the Amazo…

THE VERDICT: I recently moaned that the island scenes have felt fiftful and inconclusive this season. “The Promise” addresses that particular exasperation. It’s an episode unafraid of flashback mode, confident enough to devote chunks of its runtime to Arrow ’s secret history, unpacking the events that led to Slade’s bloodfeud with Oliver. But it also unfolds a parallel narrative in the present as Slade invades Oliver’s home and infiltrates his family, the ultimate unwelcome house guest. The two storylines play in tandem, one illuminating the other. It’s a lean, focused, action-loaded 40 minutes that wouldn’t have been half as effective if we’d had to share it with Laurel’s assorted crises.

“We need to talk about tomorrow,” says Sara, and that’s just what this episode does – from a perspective five years in the past. There’s something quietly fateful in the scene where Slade picks up the Deathstroke mask while Oliver opts for the hood: a sense of characters choosing their paths, aligning their destinies. Slade’s vow to bring Oliver to complete despair will no doubt resonate for the rest of this season. I couldn’t help thinking that Oliver’s little training montage was begging to be dubbed with the Rocky theme, mind…

Back in the present there’s an entertaining dynamic as Slade wallows in Moira’s hospitality, trading loaded comments with a clearly disdainful Oliver (I smiled at the moment Oliver tried to stab him with a spare screwdriver as soon as his mother’s back was turned – there was a hint of Craig’s Bond about that). Manu Bennett brings something formidable, equal parts charm and menace, to Slade Wilson, and he’s genuinely chilling in the scene where he kills the captain of the Amazo.

Two random observations: Slade and Sara’s paraglider assault on the Amazo is very cool indeed. And as Roy’s just discovered there’s clearly a contractual obligation in the Arrow club to pose around shirtless. You’ll catch your death, man!

TRIVIA: We’re told that Oliver’s middle name is Jonas, which fits with DC lore.

DID YOU SPOT?: “The Promise” salutes two greats of the comic book industry. Touring the Queen mansion, Thea points out paintings by Curtis Swan – a nod to Curt Swan, famed Superman artist (and the man whose name inspired Christopher Reeve’s character in Smallville , Dr Swann) – and Joseph Kubert, a tribute to fellow DC artist Joe Kubert, best known for his work on Hawkman and Sgt Rock .

DID YOU SPOT 2: Slade mentions Billy Wintergreen, Deathstroke’s butler in the comic books. We met him as part of Fyers’ mercenary unit in season one episode “Damaged”, where he was wearing the Deathstroke mask.

BEST LINE:
Sara (recognising Slade’s voice): “What’s the biggest gun you’ve got down there?”

Arrow is broadcast in the UK on Sky 1 HD

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Usually, the scariest thing about a circus is the clowns. Not in Adam Christopher’s world. There, the scariest thing about the circus is the vintage carousel, where kids ride on bizarre and hideous monsters – closely followed by the pagan dance troupe, and then maybe the mysterious masked acrobat who won’t reveal his identity to anyone, not even the ringmaster.

Beyond the circus, though, even scarier things are happening. Following a meteorite shower in the early 1800s, an extra-terrestrial evil has landed in America, and it’s determined to team up with a pre-existing nasty lurking below the earth’s crust. If the tentacle-faced carousel mounts didn’t tip you off to the novel’s Lovecraftian leanings, the inclusion of a giant slumbering horror rising from the depths ought to do it, but Christopher also throws in Korean mythology, Chinese magic, Celtic deities, and Hawaiian devils. Oh, and there’s a serial killer stalking the streets, using steel wire to string up his victims, but given everything else that’s going on, it’s easy to forget about him.

The sheer volume of ideas is dizzying, and though that makes for an enjoyably fast-paced read, it also makes it hard to engage with the characters. There are too many twists, too many kinds of magic, and that comes at the expense of any real heart. Still, unlike that carousel, it’s a fun ride.

Sarah Dobbs twitter.com/SarahDobbs

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Peter F Hamilton is the father of two children, Sophie and Felix, aged nine and seven at the time of writing. Statistically speaking, this means Peter F Hamilton is likely to be permanently on the edge of sleep deprivation, that he spends unfeasible amounts of time worrying about his anklebiters’ education, and that he’s constantly amazed by the sheer amount of time he spends shuttling his children to parties and activities.

But despite their wholesale and unreasonable disruption of his life, Peter F Hamilton loves his kids to bits – of course he does! Which is why his new novel finds him dropping the “F” and, rather than the space opera that’s made his name, crafting a fantasy-adventure tale aimed at children, a book that his kids can actually read.

This isn’t such a big leap as it might at first appear. After all, much of his Void sequence is set in what’s essentially a fantasy realm, while there’s something distinctly faerie-like about the Silfen, who appear in the Commonwealth books.

For The Queen of Dreams , Hamilton goes further, with a novel that’s rooted firmly in an English pastoral tradition of children’s literature. We find young sisters Taggie and Jemima heading off for a holiday on their father’s farm. Orchard Cottage, where the children will stay, is a place that’s yet to make it to the 21st century. “Only four rooms had electricity, and they were all on the ground floor,” writes Hamilton, “the iron kitchen range burned coal, and there certainly wasn’t any TV or broadband.”

Sounds idyllic. Except this won’t be a holiday like any other, as becomes clear from the moment a bespectacled white squirrel shows up. Shortly after this curious happening, things get curiouser still as the girls’ hitherto dull old pops is kidnapped and taken off into the First Realm, the land of Faerie. Heading down a metaphorical rabbit hole (actually a well), Taggie and Jemima go on a rescue mission to free their father from captivity at the hands of the dastardly King of Night.

What follows is never less than great fun, as the girls learn they are both princesses and, what’s more, both possessed of magical powers too. For the expansive Taggie, this means a similarly expansive ability to conjure up extravagant spells; while Jemima’s gift of divining the future is quieter but no less powerful in its way.

If these facets of the book draw heavily on the children’s literature of, say, Lewis Carroll or JM Barrie, at other times Hamilton takes delight in subverting his (older) readers’ expectations. Without giving too much away, there’s something distinctly vampiric about the light-fearing bad guys here, for example, while the appearance of stoner surfer-dude Elves is certainly a novelty.

Mostly, this works fine, as the sheer vim of Hamilton’s writing carries the story forward. However, the appearance of one Elizabeth Windsor at a crucial moment is arguably a playful contrivance too far. There’s also an episodic quality to the book that occasionally grates, as you’re whisked from one setpiece to the next.

Then again, there’s a lot to get through here. The Realms series will extend to a trilogy at least, and there’s a sense of Hamilton setting out his stall, getting Taggie and Jemima plus other key characters into place for future adventures, and even perhaps finding his meter for children’s fiction as he writes.

More importantly, at least from the perspective of an adult reader, this is a novel that, despite those worries over that episodic structure, makes you want to read just one more chapter before putting it down – and that in itself is a magical quality.

Jonathan Wright twitter.com/Jonathanw101

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