After smashing onto the projector scene in 2024 with a Kickstarter-funded powerhouse, Valerion has released a range of impressive devices, and the VisionMaster Pro 2 brings small tweaks to one of its most formidable options.

For a high asking price ($2,999, ouch!) you're getting an option that's easy to set up and use, so it's perfect for people who don't know their keystoning or lens shifting. Yet it offers loads of fantastic cinephile features, with its darkness detail features a standout.

Is it the best projector for gaming? Not quite — a few rivals offer more gaming-specific tools, or a similar package for a lower price — but if movie-watching is your primary hobby and gaming a secondary consideration, it's certainly one to consider.

Design

To my eyes, the VisionMaster Pro 2 looks like a chrome accordion. It’s not seen much of a change since the last model, other than a color tweak.

That means it’s a giant ribbed box, weighing 7kg and measuring 10.2 x 7.3 x 8.5 inches, which makes it a little smaller than some rivals like the BenQ X300i. It’s big enough that you’ll really want to think about placement: you don’t want to be moving this thing around every movie night.

Find a good spot for it and keep it in place, for this is no compact option – I moved it around for testing, and it replaced many an arm day. Of course you can mount it to a tripod or stand if you like, with Valerion selling several mounts. There’s also a built-in kickstand, which you can use to angle the projector upwards slightly, and I found this was all I needed to make it a reliable mid-throw device.

You get a real buffet of ports on the back: three HDMIs (two 2.1, one 2.0), two USBs (one 3.0, one 2.0), ethernet, S/PDIF and 3.5mm. It also connects via Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6e, so you get a wide range of connection options.

The included remote has what you’d expect: volume, home, navigation buttons, but there are four presets for streaming service (which I presume will vary by region), a voice navigation tool, and an AI button. There aren’t many buttons on the VisionMaster’s body, so you’ll use this remote for everything.

Features

The Valerion is a true 4K projector: it doesn’t upscale, but outputs at 4K, and at up to 240Hz too. Its max brightness is 3,000 lumens, which is its main upgrade from the first-generation VisionMaster Pro.

I was surprised at how easy the VisionMaster Pro 2 was to set up. There’s no manual keystoning needed: it has a built-in sensor that will scan the wall it’s facing and automatically correct itself. Nine times out of ten, this was incredibly quick, though now and then it would fumble a little bit. No matter: a little wiggle would prompt it to auto-correct once more, and find the correct spread.

You can manually change the picture alignment if you like, but I was won over by just how effective the auto-focusing and screen alignment was. I only jumped into the settings to confirm what was actually there: most users will never need to touch these tools. The optical zoom between 0.9:1 to 1.5:1 is a nice touch too, making the projector more versatile than many others I’ve tested.

For cinephiles, the VisionMaster Pro 2 will tick every box you have, and many you don’t. It offers a 15000:1 contrast ratio, which isn’t the best in the market, but at this top level the differences are hard to see. This provided contrast and vibrancy that made movies and games look fantastic. It was most noticeable when I watched a movie during the day and could see during the night-time scenes.

This pairs with a big VisionMaster selling point: what it’s calling True Hollywood Black, or total darkness when it’s necessary (instead of simply lighting darker areas less), and it ensures you still get detail and contrast when viewing darker images. An algorithm analyses frames to boost contrast and preserve details too, helping you see what’s going on.

There are plenty of other AI tools too, including resolution upscaling and extra details in the dark areas. However most of Valerion’s useful tools, including these, are turned off by default. I’d recommend jumping into the settings menu when you first boot up the thing, and turning everything on that you possibly can.

The projector covers 110% of the REC.2020 color gamut, and it offered me a notably wider range of colors, especially during daytime viewing, than I’ve come to expect. REC.2020 isn’t as often used in viewing tech as P3, but it covers a wider range of colors anyway.

Those are just a handful of the cinema tools that’ll help you enjoy a movie, but there are plenty of standards supported: Dynamic Tone Mapping, HDR10+, IMAX Enhanced, Dolby Vision, Active 3D, the list goes on. Movies looked wonderful.

The VisionMaster has two built-in 12W speakers, which support DTS Virtual:X, DTS:X and Dolby Atmos. Honestly, I was planning to test these out and then connect the projector to my bookshelf speakers, but I ended up using them for the entirety of the review period. They sounded great, offering a much wider sound stage than I was expecting, though this was when viewing alone: if you’re trying to fill up a larger room, external speakers may still help.

By default, the projector runs Google Home, like many alternatives on the market, which will be easy to use for any Android users due to the shared interface (though it’s not hard for anyone). It feels really smooth to use – I don’t know if that’s the projector’s frame rate, or it having enough RAM to make the experience breezy. It also supports Airplay 2, Chromecast and Miracast. Mostly it all worked well, though I faced a few bugs during my testing process, largely from controllers connected to my PlayStation also trying to control the projector.

For example when I plugged a games controller into the VisionMaster’s USB ports to charge it while gaming, a pop-up telling me the display specs arrived and couldn’t be removed. Pressing back on the remote, or circle on the controller, pushed it away… until I pressed forward on the directional pad, and it’d reappear. Suffice to say, I couldn’t game with this thing taking over some of the screen. Also pressing the DualShock's home button changed inputs and took me to Google Home’s main menu; all I wanted to do was check out an achievement I’d unlocked, but to return, I had to find the remote and change inputs back. I can only presume this is a bug, not a feature.

Performance

I used the Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2 both with my PlayStation and my gaming PC. The first wasn’t taxing on the projector, but I like testing a few ‘party-style’ games like FIFA and older Call of Duty: Zombies. The footie game is a good judge given how important contrast is for picking out the ball and players; suffice to say playing FIFA was a ball (badum-tiss?).

Zombies is an interesting test case, given how darker areas are often integral to the aesthetic of these levels, and often playing on a projector effectively leaves you blind. In this and The Last of Us 2, which I played afterwards, I could see a lot better in night-time or indoor levels than I’m used to in projectors.

Next, to push the 4K and framerate to its limits, I plugged the VisionMaster into my gaming PC. I tested it on a range of titles including AAA open-worlders, my favorite strategy and 4Xers, and a few multiplayer titles too.

I was impressed by how versatile the VisionMaster is: in Hogwarts Legacy I could jump from dark caves to the bright overworld and the medium-lit Hogwarts, and was never once distracted by bloom, or conversely details lost in darker areas. In battles, where you need to instantly tell colors at a glance to know how to respond to spell types, the vibrant color handling made it easy to tell at a glance what was going on. My super-modded version of Skyrim was no different, with a quick tour of various biomes offering a great test case for the various coloring modes and presets.

The handling of details is great, and I enjoyed pushing several Total War games to their visual and framerate limits (or more accurately, my PC’s limits), and it’s really a sight to behold seeing hundreds of high-resolution, smooth-moving Jian Sword Guards plastered across a living room wall. There are some limits on the projector: I could game at 4K at 60fps, but had to drop the resolution to see more frames.

Perhaps because of the lower contrast and brightness, certain cartoony games didn't feel quite as punchy as I've seen on other projectors, but if you don't review projectors you might not notice this.

Gaming felt great, but it was clear to me that movies are the main focus of the VisionMaster – it feels like most of the features that benefit games, were created with movies in mind. It’s where the focus on dark areas really shone (or, didn’t), and the color gamut could be shown in its glory.

One of the key gaming sales features is an on-screen crosshair that you can summon, but this seems only situationally useful. Something I found much more handy is the screen profile presets you can bring up in the settings menu – these are largely for content (sports, movie, gaming), but in a sub-menu, you can actually find presets for different gaming genres. This was a neat touch that you don’t always see.

Let’s briefly touch on input lag: it’s 4ms if you’re gaming at 240Hz, 8ms at 120Hz, and 15ms if you bump up the pixels to 4K 60Hz.

I watched a series of movies on streaming services like Netflix and Mubi, as well as my own discs, and loved how the brightness and features removed many of the annoyances of projector-based movie night. No dimming every light you can find, endlessly keystoning because you knocked the table, intentionally picking brighter titles; a dark movie like Under the Silver Lake looked just as good as a punchy cartoon like Invincible.

One issue for cinephiles: the projector has, by default, motion smoothing. I watched a pretty horrendous first half of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind before I found the way to turn it off, There’s no actual ‘off’ mode but you turn motion smoothing to ‘film’ and it stops all the characters looking like their on ice skates. Otherwise, the AI-enabled optimization tools are light-touch enough that they actually complement the picture quality, rather than bulldozing it into something artificial-looking like many TVs do.

Should you buy the Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2?

The VisionMaster Pro 2 is undoubtedly one of the best projectors out there – you’d hope so for the price – as its range of useful features means it easily holds its own against the best in the biz. I’d particularly recommend it for living rooms or outdoors where you can’t control the conditions; its high max brightness, solid speakers and effortlessly-easy auto correction mean it’s wonderfully versatile. It’s easy to recommend, marrying top-tier projector tech with superb features and an easy-to-use system.

However I’d be remiss not to point out that the BenQ X3100i costs two thirds of the price, and does beat the Valerion specs-wise in a few different departments. For cinephiles, I think the VisionMaster’s tools will pip the BenQ to the post, but gamers might find these advantages fail to justify the increased cost. And if a $3,000 asking price is out of the question, “should you buy” has an easy answer.

How I tested the Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2

I set the Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2 up in my living room, as this area of my home has some blind-less windows, making it a tough testing position for a projector. I tested it at several spots around my home, to test its throw, and settled on a medium-throw placement on my coffee table.

Across many use sessions I tested using the built-in software, a 4K Roku streaming stick, my PS4 and a custom-built gaming PC, with the latter used to push it through its paces. This included plenty of games and movies, and a few TV shows too – it was also used to stream a rocket launch during the testing process. I mostly tested on the default settings, but towards the latter half of my review process, tweaked them quite a bit. For more information on how we make our recommendations, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

We’re also rounding up all the best outdoor projectors for those last summer weeks, as well as the best portable projectors on the market. If you’re finalizing your setup, you’ll also want to check out the best projector screens available as well.

The webcam market has seen a surge of innovation in recent years, with brands pushing the boundaries of what these compact devices can achieve. If you’re not aware, Insta360 is a brand that's been making waves in the last few years with affordable, innovative, and high-quality action and 360 cameras. These aren’t exactly geared up to be the best gear for streaming, but for any content creator who wants to take things on the go, Insta360 has proven very popular.

We reviewed the brand’s earlier Link webcam too, and the Insta360 Link won us over with its comprehensive suite of AI pan, tilt, and zoom capabilities. Not to mention, it’s still one of the best 4K webcams we’ve tested, which is incredible for such a small form-factor device.

So, can this brand carry over its success in on-the-go cameras to hit another webcam homerun? More importantly, does the Insta360 Link 2 succeed in undercutting more expensive 4K webcams with a price tag of just $199.99/£199.99?

Design & Build Quality

Bigger Build But Smarter Brains

Unlike the plastic shells of some webcams, the Link 2 feels both modern and robust due to its predominantly aluminium alloy build quality. The camera head, housing the 4K sensor, sits atop a two-axis gimbal with the camera lens next to an indicator light that illuminates a bright green to let you know when the webcam is active. When not in use, the Link 2 smartly folds down, protecting the lens and your privacy. This thoughtful design also triggers an automatic privacy mode, instantly cutting the video feed – a simple yet highly effective feature that I genuinely appreciate.

Mounting the Link 2 is straightforward, thanks to its versatile clip-on design. It securely perches atop most monitors, laptops, or even external displays. For those preferring a more stable setup, a standard 1/4-inch tripod thread is conveniently integrated into the base, allowing for easy attachment to tripods or camera arms.

Whether you like the look of the Link 2 is subjective; however, it is nearly twice as big as the OBSBOT Tiny SE or the original Insa360 Link, both of which have most of the same features in a smaller, sleeker package. It’s not to say that the Link 2 is bulky, large, or unwieldy; it's just that the increased footprint led me to anticipate a performance edge over the OBSBOT Tiny 2 or the previous generation of Link webcams. That’s an expectation it didn't quite meet.

Key Features and Real World Performance

4K Resolution, 1/2" Sensor, f/1.8 Aperture:

A headline feature of the Link 2 is its 4K Ultra HD recording at 30 frames per second (fps). This is the maximum that most webcams can shoot at, including the beast that is the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra. In a much smaller size and $100 less, the Link 2 has some room to undercut a lot of the more expensive competition.

At 1080p, you’ll be able to harness 60/30/25/24 fps, but between you and me, you'll certainly want to opt for that 60fps setting - more on why later. The 1/2-inch sensor allows for improved dynamic range, and the f/1.8 aperture further aids in low-light performance, ensuring a brighter, clearer image. In well-lit environments, the video is remarkably sharp, with excellent detail and vibrant, accurate colors. Faces look natural, and textures are rendered with clarity, with details that are easy to pick out.

However, (even with pixel peeping) I cannot tell the difference between the 4K 30 fps and the 1080p 60 fps. I don’t want to diminish how good the quality of the video from the Link 2 is; it's just that the 4K feature is one that you’re definitely paying for. Compared to the OBSBOT Tiny SE, which has a gimbal and offers similar features without 4K, the Link 2 costs an extra $50. As you can see below, the 1080p image from both webcams is incredibly similar.

So, along with the image remaining the same when bumping it down to 1080p, you also get an added bonus: 60 frames per second. One of the main selling points of this webcam is the tracking as you move around. At 60fps, this looks significantly better than at 4K 30fps, but how well does it track you with that fancy gimbal?

Tracking and Gimbal:

This is arguably the Insta360 Link 2's headline feature. Leveraging its two-axis gimbal, the webcam can precisely track your movements, keeping you perfectly centered in the frame. Whether you’re pacing during a presentation, gesturing emphatically, or simply shifting in your chair mid-stream, the Link 2’s lens smoothly follows, ensuring you're always the focus. The tracking and autofocus are remarkably responsive and accurate, rarely losing their subject, even with quick movements.

This freedom of movement is great for someone who has a more dynamic presentation style or just someone like me who fidgets, particularly for educators or presenters who need to use a whiteboard or move around their space. It truly feels like having a personal cameraman dedicated to keeping you in the shot.

While having a camera that follows you around is fun, it’s overkill for most people. Especially considering that more affordable webcams are able to track you a little bit. True enough, these webcams aren’t going to track you by using a gimbal to pan, tilt, and zoom, although plenty of those options now exist. Instead, they’ll crop into a still shot to ensure you are centered as you move around. This is obviously limited (in quality and range); however, for most people, it is the most you will need, if you even need it at all.

HDR Mode:

If you don’t have one of the best ring lights for streaming, most rooms have uneven lighting, perhaps a bright window behind you, or harsh overhead lights in a meeting room, and these can be a nightmare for webcams. With its larger sensor and larger aperture, the Link 2 offers an HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode. It helps to balance blown-out windows or dark, dingy corners, resulting in a more natural and evenly exposed image. This is a feature I didn't realize I was missing, and something my current webcam doesn’t manage well with at all. It's a feature that works particularly well, unlike the next one I'm about to cover.

Gesture Controls:

The Link 2 has support for the same simple hand gestures the original Link did for controlling its key functions. Holding your palm up can start or stop the webcam tracking you, or an "L" shape gesture can zoom in or out. These ideas are great in principle; however, in real-world testing and day-to-day use, I found them to be a nightmare.

For a webcam with a gimbal for tracking that is aimed at people moving around and gesturing or generally being active, unintended arm movements or rogue hand gestures are to be expected. With gesture controls, this then makes the webcam randomly zoom in and out, track you, track someone else, and switch to portrait mode. As you can imagine, this is not ideal, but I need to be clear that this is not something isolated to Link 2. I’ve tested other webcams with gesture controls, and none of them work without being wildly intrusive far too often. Thankfully, you can turn this feature off, and that’s something I would personally recommend you do immediately unless you want to cosplay as Madonna in the Vogue music video (kids, ask your parents).

Specialized Modes:

Beyond general video calls, the Link 2 offers several modes tailored for specific use cases:

• Whiteboard Mode: This allows the camera to detect and enhance a whiteboard or presentation board in your frame. It automatically straightens the perspective and cleans up the image, making the content clearly legible to your audience. This worked much better than I expected, and I can imagine it would be an absolute game-changer for online lessons, brainstorming sessions, or presentations where you need to share a design or lesson notes on a whiteboard.
• DeskView Mode: With a simple tilt of the camera down, the Link 2 automatically switches to "DeskView." This mode flattens the perspective of your desk, allowing you to easily share whatever you’ve got on your worktop. For product reviewers, artists, or educators demonstrating physical items, this could be really useful. Similarly, for gamers and streamers who want to show off their mouse and keyboard skills, this could provide a fun angle for your viewers. Similarly, if you’re painting Warhammer figures on stream, this could be a great way to show it. Mind you, for enhanced detail, the macro lens of the BenQ IdeaCam S1 Pro would do a better job.
• Portrait Mode: For content creators targeting platforms like TikTok or Instagram Reels, the Link 2 offers a 9:16 portrait mode, a thoughtful inclusion for modern content demands.

Dual Noise-Cancelling Microphones:

While often an afterthought for webcams compared to one of the best microphones for streaming and gaming, the Link 2 integrates dual noise-cancelling microphones on the top in a large grilled area. Giving over such a large area on the webcam to microphones meant I had high hopes for how they would perform. I was unfortunately disappointed. The audio isn’t bad at all, it’s just average. Other webcams manage to offer the same kind of audio performance with tiny pin holes for mics instead of such a large dedicated area that the Link 2 has.

If you're a streamer, podcaster, or professional content creator, or if you frequently find yourself in noisy environments, you'll still want to invest in a dedicated external microphone. While the Link 2's mics are better than many built-in laptop microphones, they can't match the clarity, richness, and noise rejection capabilities of a quality standalone USB or XLR microphone. However, I did notice a much better performance for the Link 2 in larger meeting rooms with multiple people talking. So maybe this webcam is better suited to larger rooms for audio instead of at your desk.

Software Experience

Plug in and go… but you should play

The Insta360 Link 2’s full potential is unlocked by the accompanying software, the Insta360 Link Controller. Available for both macOS and Windows, this application is intuitive, well-designed, and provides comprehensive control over the webcam's numerous features.

You can adjust standard settings like brightness, contrast, saturation, and white balance to fine-tune your image. Beyond basic image adjustments, the Link Controller is where you manage the webcam's more advanced functionalities. You can toggle AI tracking on or off, adjust its sensitivity, and calibrate its tracking area. The gesture controls can also be customized or disabled through the software (I suggest the latter).

With the app, you can switch between the specialized modes – Whiteboard Mode, DeskView Mode, and Portrait Mode and add dedicated buttons or hotkeys for these, making it simple to transition between different presentation styles during a live call or recording.

During my testing, the software proved stable and responsive, with no significant crashes or lag. The integration with popular video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and OBS Studio was seamless, with the Link 2 recognized instantly as a video and audio source.

For those who simply want a plug-and-play experience, the Link 2 works well straight out of the box with its default settings. However, to truly harness its capabilities and customize your video output, spending a little time exploring the Insta360 Link Controller is highly recommended.

Should you buy the Insta360 Link 2?

The Insta360 Link 2 is designed with versatility at its core, making it a compelling option for a wide range of users, from boardroom businessmen to content creators.

For educators and online presenters, the Whiteboard Mode and the ability to seamlessly transition from your face to a perfectly framed and enhanced view of your physical whiteboard or shared document could be a revelation. Similarly, DeskView Mode could be all you need for your unique brand of content creation. Meeting Rooms are another area where the Link 2 will shine. Having multiple people presenting and tracking them around the room or following one energetic person is seamless.

Content creators, especially those working on vertical platforms, will appreciate the native Portrait Mode, too. This eliminates post-production headaches and ensures your content is optimized from capture. For people who want to use the webcam for one or more of these use cases, the extra cost is definitely worth it.

However, the much lauded 4K resolution is something of a pointless addition, in my experience. The image is nearly identical to 1080p competitors, and most of the potential users I mentioned above won't need 4K support. Without offering 4K, 60fps, the Link 2 isn't exactly gunning against the top-of-the-line webcams, so to me, it would have made more sense to cut back to 1080p and target a more approachable price point.

How we tested the Insta360 Link 2

Like most pieces of tech reviewed here at GamesRadar+, I put the Insta360 Link 2 to work in my own setup for over a month before writing this review. I used it for work calls, meetings, and I played around with software and the various features that the camera comes with. I compared it closely to the OBSBOT Tiny SE, since it has many of the same clever PTZ features, while selling for a smaller price.

For more details on how we test, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

For more on content creation gear, take a look at the best capture cards, the best streaming mixers, and the best gaming chair.

It took a little while to get used to the AutoFull G7. It's a very unique, quirky gaming seat that feels like nothing else I've sat on in my three years of reviewing the best gaming chairs. In fact, I still feel like I'm getting used to it well over a month after assembling it. Regardless of how unique it feels, it's been growing on me every week of testing.

But here's the thing, I'm not usually a huge fan of "ergonomic" mesh chairs. I understand their breathable appeal, but the ones I've tested in the past have had a higher price than fully cushioned, upholstered alternatives, and it always feels like you're paying more for less of a product. Ergonomics is the upside to these chairs, though. In other words, you're usually going to get better posture support, separate back panelling for your lower and upper back, and often more adjustability.

The AutoFull G7 is supposed to cost $799.99 / £669.99 at full price, although I've seldom seen it above a $599 discount price in the US. If it looks familiar, that's probably because it looks exactly like the Hbada E3 Pro, which you may have seen in targeted social media ads if you've even smelled the idea of getting a new chair lately. Hbada is the sister brand to AutoFull, and so the G7 packs all the same great adjustability while giving gamers a little more personality and color.

Design

I'd usually talk to you about the assembly process first, but I think with this quirky a product, we need to discuss its design before anything else. For me, this chair's design was what led me to it over the umpteen other ergonomic mesh chairs on the shelves at the moment.

The AutoFull G7 and the Hbada E3 Pro both have a clever lumbar support system, which sets them apart. I've been describing it as a lumbar roll cage to friends and co-workers, but it could also be compared to a belt, because it doesn't just support your lower back, it folds around you to cradle your sides too. In three years of reviewing gaming chairs, I've seen a few floating lumbar systems, like the Razer Iskur V2's, but I haven't come across anything that takes such a unique approach to lower back support as the G7 does.

This is, of course, fully adjustable, and you can fold and unfold the sides of the lumbar support to suit your body shape. What I think isn't clear when looking at pictures and videos of this chair is that the lumbar belt doesn't really lock into a fixed position. It's spring-loaded and takes on your weight when you sit back. On one hand, that's great, because no matter how you shift your body throughout a work day or a gaming session, you'll still benefit from lumbar support. On the other hand, it can be a real pain finding a position to rest comfortably in.

Constant pressure being applied to your lumbar so that you're constantly supported? Great. A spring-loaded mechanism digging into your back for your entire remote-working life? Not always the most comfortable.

Interestingly, there is a locking mechanism for this back support, but it only really limits the height it sits at, not the outward position. I'm not sure if this is supposed to act this way, or if it's actually meant to lock into position, and I just got a faulty unit. Either way, it makes the lumbar support an inescapable feature of the chair that you can't really shy away from. Unlike the scrollwheels used on gaming chairs like the Boulies Master Series.

As I've mentioned, AutoFull G7 is a mesh chair, meaning it has a breathable netted fabric instead of padded cushioning and either leather or fabric upholstery. There are two back panels, a neck/headrest, and a footrest. The seatbase has a more elasticated mesh, which is a lot comfier than a lot of other mesh seatbases I've tried. It's fairly narrow, though, which feels exaggerated after my months of sitting in the Corsair TC500 Luxe. I find that I can't really adjust my sitting position in this chair. I can't fold one leg under the other because my foot will take on the full pressure of the seat rim, which is extremely rigid. This is not a chair for people who like to fold their legs or who want a wider base.

Where the G7 differs from the Hbada E3 is in its backplate armour and colorways. The Hbada is an office chair, so it comes in a more muted mesh color that looks white or grey in most lights. The G7 is available in black, white, pink, and purple. Included with all of those variants is a back panel that gives it more of a Gundam, Transformer look. Fittingly, these are magnetically fixed and can be interchanged or removed entirely.

Features

Like a lot of these ergonomic office chairs, the AutoFull G7 is extremely clicky. That is to say that it has loads of parts that you can shove this way or that, sliding them into positions that work for you and the way you're sitting. While I don't really like this type of adjustability and would be much more appeased by some locking levers and switches that keep things in the position I like, I have gotten on well with the G7. Yes, I still declare war on armrests that don't stay in the position you want them in, but since there are so many layers of adjustability on this chair, it's not the worst thing in the world.

The armrests here go way beyond the call of duty. While most chairs just about meet the 4D armrest quota, AutoFull has made 720°, 6D armrests. They can move up and down, front to back, they can tilt forward and back, and they can spin around on two different axes. That's just about as conclusive as you'll get for any gaming chair armrests in this day and age, and I love being able to set them to the exact position, rotation, and width as I want for typing and gaming.

One of my favorite features from the Fractal Refine is back here, too. Adjustable seat depth is an amazing bonus if you like to slouch down a bit and really sink into your chair. That works excellently in the Fractal Refine, but in the AutoFull G7, I really haven't used it all that much because I've found that the lumbar support ends up pulling up the back of my t-shirt and generally just feeling pretty uncomfortable. Still, it is a nice feature that not enough chairs have.

Footrests are becoming more popular in office and gaming chairs, and although I wasn't a huge fan of the Secretlab Ergonomic Recliner for the Titan Evo, I'm a big fan of this one. It has something that Secretlab doesn't have, and that's the ability to slide outwards to accommodate different leg lengths. It's also included by default - no extra cost or assembly needed, and it isn't in the way when it's not in use because it folds away under the seatbase.

I wish the headrest were as intuitive. While it has lots of adjustability, it often feels really awkward to move or rest your head on. For starters, its mesh and awkwardly sized logo that's embroidered on feels like cardboard to lean back on. It can move in 4 dimensions, but I don't ever feel like I'm getting the perfect position, no matter which one I utilize. Lazily applying some pressure to it with the back of your head always tends to yield unintended results as well, and you're never quite sure of how it's actually moved around behind you.

But hey, at least if you're on the taller side of the height scale, you can adjust all three back panels of the G7 to work for you.

Assembly

With all of those moving parts, you can probably understand why the assembly process was a tad complicated. For the most part, it was the same process you'd go through to put together any gaming chair. You start with the wheels and wheelbase, then you fix the backrest to the seatbase and armrests. Except, with so many adjustable parts that click into new positions with nothing locking them into any one angle, lifting and maneuvering any of them becomes a nightmare. I would seriously recommend grabbing a partner to help with this chair's assembly, because heavy lifting when any of the adjustable parts could click a few notches down and trap a finger at a moment's notice gets real dicey, real fast.

It also doesn't help that a few times, the assembly instructions ask you to use an Allen key where there is no room for you to leverage one. For instance, attaching the armrests to the seatbase requires you to spin an Allen key into a hole that is already embedded in the innards of its steel shape. Which means you get about a third of a turn before you have to rest the Allen key and start again. Then, attaching the headrest, you have to navigate some tiny bolts at a really awkward angle where there really isn't much room for an Allen key to work. I actually lost one of the tiny bolts inside the backrest when doing this step.

There is a small screwdriver that comes with the G7, and it's a shame this isn't more widely used in the assembly process, since it might have been easier to twist than an Allen key to spin. In fact, a few extra screws in this chair would have been helpful. The armrests on my testing model feel a bit loose when you put weight on either end of them. I'm referring to the actual armrest tops here, not the long arms that hold them in place. I emailed AutoFull throughout my testing time to see if this was the result of a bad model or just how they were because of the adjustability. They told me to tighten the screws that held the armrests in place, but there aren't any for the armrests other than the ones that fix them to the seatbase.

This is a real shame, and it's not the only instance of the build quality feeling a little cheap at times for what is a pretty costly chair. The mesh material of various panels can often be heard rubbing up against one another, which gives me some worries that they'll be prone to wearing down as time goes on.

Performance

So how do all of these clicky, adjustable, lumbar-supporting features perform in long hours spent at a gaming desk? Well, I personally love how this chair has a Jekyll and Hyde personality to it.

During my first week of testing, I was in the editing stages of making a video essay for my YouTube channel, so after my normal working-from-home routine during the day, I was spending even more hours at the same desk doing all my content creation tasks in the evenings. For work, I'd be sitting in a more ergonomically agreeable position, minding my posture, and doing my best to sit up straight. In the evenings, however, you better believe the footrest was coming out, and it was time to recline. I like that this is a chair for work and play, and all the while, it feels like it's supporting your bodyi's shape.

We do need to talk about the lumbar system, though. It is easily the coolest, and best, but also most bizarre thing about this chair. Like I said toward the top of this review, I still feel like I'm getting used to it. I'll stand up after a few hours at my desk and feel the phantom sensation of the lumbar support pushing into my lower back. It feels like my spine is straighter in these moments, but I can't exactly say it's the most comfortable feeling in the world.

The lumbar belt is a double-edged sword, no doubt about it. With the spring-loaded tension, I do feel like it's doing something for my back, but if you adjust your position at all, or shuffle in the wrong way, it's going to slide upwards and outwards, and suddenly put tension on the wrong part of your back. There have been a few gaming sessions where I haven't realised this was happening, and I'd get up only to have more back pain instead of less.

This is where I'd really have liked a few more locking levers to really nail down the position that works for me. Adjustability is great, but it's good for things to stay still too, please. It doesn't help that I'm still in two minds on whether the locking mechanism for my G7's lumbar support actually works as intended.

A real saving grace of this chair is the armrests, which really benefit from all the adjustability I've talked about. Being able to move to be narrower or wider is a huge quality-of-life bonus after I spent months scowling at the wide-set armrests of the Corsair TC500 Luxe. I'd have liked some more comfortable tops for the G7's armrests, though. There is a spongy texture to them, but not enough to avoid a numb or even sore elbow at times. Thankfully, all that adjustability means you can pivot them around so that your forearms are always resting in their concave shape.

There's one area of this seat that I haven't really touched on, and that's comfort. This is different from ergonomics, which is more about supporting a healthy position for your body. Comfort when it comes to gaming chairs is more about your happiness to slump into one for long hours of gaming with minimal fuss and bother. The AutoFull G7 has great ergonomics, and its seatbase is comfortable thanks to its elasticity. But on the whole, this isn't the most comfortable seat I've tried. After a full day of work in the G7, the couch was screaming pretty loudly at me and seemed really appealing. Yes, the footrest here gives you that feeling of kicking your feet up and relaxing, but the whole package isn't as comfortable as I'd like.

Should you buy the AutoFull G7?

I think if you're looking for a highly adjustable, ergonomic, mesh chair, you'll struggle to find a better one for gaming than the AutoFull G7. The Hbada E3 Pro has seemingly become really popular due to its clever ergonomics, and I can see why. The AutoFull G7 takes that same adjustability and unique lumbar system and puts a gaming spin on them. This is absolutely a chair that will help to improve your posture, and I can see it being a big hit with folks who want to alleviate lower back pain. That said, if your pain is severe, proceed with caution; the spring-loaded tension of this chair is like those corrective leg braces Forrest Gump wears as a child. It does the trick, but it can feel pretty invasive.

Compared to a lot of ergonomic chairs like the ones made by Herman Miller, the AutoFull G7 has a reasonable price, although this is one I'd suggest waiting to pull the trigger on until it's discounted under $600. I don't think the build quality is good enough to warrant a $700+ price tag compared to other options I've sat in.

How I tested the AutoFull G7

I sat in the AutoFull G7 every day for work and play for a little over a month before this review was written. In that time, I used its many adjustability features and assessed how they were impacting my posture, body, and comfort level.

I compared my experience using this chair closely with my time in other gaming chairs, as well as other mesh offerings that cater to an ergonomic market. I was provided with a sample from AutoFull for this review, and I emailed them about the issue of the loose armrests while testing.

For more on how we test gaming chairs, take a look at the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Looking to level up your gaming setup? Check out the best gaming monitor, the best microphones for streaming and gaming, and the best PC controller.

The HP Omen Max 16 is everything I wanted it to be. I'm a disillusioned fan of this range, having landed with a GTX 1050 Omen as my first ever gaming laptop before falling out of love with its fairly janky releases in the years following. It's had some wins in the last few years, even if the more recent HP Omen 17 was fairly uninspired, but 2025's release changes everything.

This is a powerful machine, but it's wrapped up in a slick, streamlined chassis that keeps things slim while still hiding enough space to let those components reach their full potential. With a price tag that holds its own against the rest of the market and a wealth of additional features packed in, this is one of the best gaming laptop I've tested in 2025 so far.

Configurations

HP has gone wide with its configuration options for the Omen Max 16, spanning the mid to high range in its GPU offerings and splitting devices across both Intel and AMD. We kick off at an RTX 5070 with Intel's Core Ultra 7 255HX processor for a $2,299.99 / £2,399.99 base price, soaring up to the full-whack RTX 5090 and Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX / AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, high-end models costing around $3,600 / £4,000.

The model I'm testing packs an RTX 5080 GPU and Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD into a $3,299.99 / £2,999 price tag. That's not cheap, but it's certainly not as expensive as some.

An RTX 5080 configuration of the 2025 Razer Blade 16 comes with a slightly weaker AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor and equal RAM / storage amounts for $3,499.99 (though with an upgrade to an OLED display). The Alienware 16 Area-51 that's patiently waiting its turn on my testing bench goes for $3,349.99 with the same specs as well.

The Asus ROG Strix G16 lowers the price tag to $2,899.99, while the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 halves your RAM (but doubles your storage) for the same $3,299.99 MSRP.

That means the HP Omen Max 16 sits squarely in the middle for an RTX 5080 rig, though with the additional benefits of cheaper configurations that others may drop.

There's one difference between this rig and others in its price league that makes the HP Omen Max 16 stand just a little taller. It's on sale far more regularly. Even as I'm writing this review, the configuration I'm testing has dropped from $3,299.99 to $2,599.99 and it's far from the first time I've seen savings here.

Design

I unbox a lot of gaming laptops, but every now and then I unsleeve a machine that makes me audibly coo. The HP Omen Max's crisp white chassis and soft-touch coating was love at first sight.

That white has stayed resistant to stains and scuffs in the time I've been carting it around and the lighter tone means fingerprints aren't an issue either. The main chassis' clean lines and tapered lip design makes a statement without being too bold - that's where the RGB comes in.

HP has outfitted the Omen Max 16 with a strikingly vibrant set of LEDs under the main keyboard, as well as a light strip that casts a clean glow on the surface below. It's not quite as strong as that of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 or the Asus ROG Strix G16, but it still creates a slick floating effect.

This smart form factor means the Omen offers the best of both worlds. It's easy enough to throw into a backpack and doesn't overwhelm a desk setup like chunkier models, but there's still enough space to let those components breathe. Rather than the boxy, square designs of the best Razer laptops or the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16, the Max 16 maintains a 'gaming laptop' shape but with a slimmer profile overall.

The back panel is also free from larger RGB panels or garish stamps, with a classy Omen logo stamped into the lid and covered with a sophisticated glossy effect. Inside, we do have a little iconography going on, but it's restricted to a light gray '016' in the lower right corner and a 'Max' stamp on the opposite side. Those dotted grills running along the top look very HP as well, keeping space for a speaker without overwhelming the internal design.

Display

I'll say it now, Razer and the best Asus gaming laptops have an edge on their displays. The HP Omen Max 16 is configurable with an OLED panel (though there are fewer of those options on the shelves at the moment) but I've been testing the standard IPS. There's a drop in vibrancy and contrast compared to more premium display options out there, but this is still a pretty face.

It doesn't quite pack the same punch as the IPS featured on the Asus ROG Strix G16, which does a particularly good job of keeping its color contrast up without an OLED screen, but there's still a nice amount of energy here. Color reproduction is well balanced with more naturally vivid scenes benefitting from a satisfying injection of power.

HP still maintains its upper hand against the competition, as OLED options are available, and the IPS screen I tested was still impressive. It's just not quite the jewel in the Max's crown.

Ports

The HP Omen Max 16 is one of the few slimline 16-inch gaming laptops I've seen throwing its more permanent ports on the rear of the device. This is a big win in my books. I hate having cables sprawled out across the desk, especially when they start interfering with my mouse hand.

The Max 16 positions its power, RJ45, HDMI 2.1, and a USB-A port on the back, keeping the sides free for more ad-hoc accessories. The second USB-A port is the only connection on the right flank, with two Thunderbolt 4s (and the 3.5mm audio jack) sitting neatly on the left. If you're regularly swapping out USB-A devices, that rear placement might grow a little tiresome, but having a more accessible port on the side keeps things a little more versatile.

You do drop a Type-A connection from the Asus ROG Strix G16 and Razer Blade 16, which both offer three traditional ports, though the Omen Max doubles the number of Thunderbolt options compared to Asus's devices. Razer builds off an AMD base, so these are swapped for USB-4.

If you're looking to wire in your internet, it's also worth noting that both the Razer Blade 16 and Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 sacrifice the RJ45 present on the HP Omen Max 16, but trade in an SD card reader in its place.

Keyboard and trackpad

HP's keyboard looks oh so inviting with its pudding style keycaps and soft finish, but actually going hands on with the deck reveals one issue. There's a noticeable amount of flex in this deck, even when typing more casually. Thankfully, that bending doesn't equate to a spongy feel overall - in fact, there's a good amount of spring and tension in these keys. It is still a little disappointing in a more premium build, though.

You're not getting the snap of Razer's scissor switches, but it's still a satisfying feel. With plenty of action under each press, there's a good amount of space for fast repeated inputs and an actuation pressure that still feels comfortable during longer typing periods.

Functionality is a top priority here, though. The HP Omen Max 16 is one of the few 16-inch gaming laptops I've tested with a full number pad. Yes, things are a little squished on that right hand side, with half-sized up/down arrows feeling like more of a sacrifice than anything else on the deck.

The trackpad feels fantastic, with just enough tension underneath to provide a light but tactile full click. Tap gestures are picked up immediately and with a speedy response from the system, while the surface area feels smooth under the fingertips as well. Overall, it's a much better pad than the somewhat hollow version on the Asus ROG Strix G16.

Performance

I tested the HP Omen Max 16 with an RTX 5080 under the hood, but this thing behaves more like an RTX 5090 at times. At full throttle (the system's "Unleashed Mode" with full power unlocked), this machine tore through synthetic benchmarks and in-game framerates sometimes knocking far more expensive machines out of the race.

First up, 3D Mark. These are artificial GPU tests that stress various elements within the system's graphical rendering systems to spit out a final score at the end of each run. After three attempts, the HP Omen Max's final average scores are below.

The RTX 5080 inside this rig beat the RTX 5090 in the Blade 16 across both Time Spy and Fire Strike runs, though did fall slightly behind in the newer and more demanding Steel Nomad course. Still, it's well above my current overall top-pick, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 9 (which sports a previous generation RTX 4080) and maintains its lead against similar Asus devices as well.

In-game, the HP Omen Max 16 trades places with the Razer Blade 16 a lot more, especially in FHD+ resolution. At 1920 x 1200 it's slightly beaten by Lenovo's previous juggernaut in easier runs like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but comes out at the top of the pack across Total War: Three Kingdoms and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.

Things get a little spicier when we crank that resolution up to the full QHD+. Here, the HP Omen Max 16 takes the lead over the previous generation Lenovo, while also beating out the higher-specced Razer Blade 16 in all but Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong.

Of course, the RTX 5080 isn't better than the RTX 5090, but it's allowed to rev its engines a little more in this iteration. The HP Omen Max 16 might not offer top-of-the-range performance in more demanding titles, but it's still leading the pack across the majority of casual games, and Horizon is far from an easy run. Of course, the RTX 50-Series also comes with 4x Multi-Frame Generation which can bump those framerates in more demanding titles should you wish to use it.

When you consider that the RTX 5090 Blade 16 I tested for these numbers comes in at $4,499.99, the Max is thriving.

A lot of that is being helped by the CPU as well. I'll eat my hat after saying this (I've not been a fan of Intel's Ultra-range processors so far), but the Core Ultra 9 275HX is a beast under this hood. It's beaten out the Intel i9-14900HX, the previous generation's gaming golden child, inside the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i and even topped the much larger Asus ROG Strix Scar 18's numbers.

For an even greater sense of just how far this CPU can go when pushed, it's second only to the massive MSI Raider A18 HX with a blinder of brain in the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D in a humungous chassis.

All of that data is recorded, as always, in the HP Omen Max 16's highest performance settings. That means fan noise, and lots of it. If you want to play this way for long periods of time you'll need to crank that cooling up and things get incredibly loud.

Battery

The HP Omen Max 16 may thrive when connected to power, but it flounders without that cable attached. I played Doom: The Dark Ages on battery and can normally still set a gaming laptop to performance mode without being plugged in. Despite disabling 'balanced' mode from Windows itself, however, it seems that the Omen Max 16 doesn't go full into its more powerful preset without that tether. That meant I could barely make it through a mission. The whole game feels slowed to a snail's pace, with an almost laughable amount of time between frames and a grainy visual profile overall.

This is how gaming on the go used to be, but I've been impressed by more recent gaming laptops' abilities to run titles smoothly without a power connection. It's simply not an option here.

At 50% screen and 25% RGB brightness, I drained the battery to zero in just over an hour - about average for a machine of the previous generation, but still below some scores across RTX 50-Series machines.

In Balanced Mode with 50% screen brightness and 25% RGB lighting, the HP Omen Max 16 fell short of the Asus ROG Strix G16's 6.5-hour lifespan, coming in at just under four hours.

Should you buy the HP Omen Max 16?

Yes, it's got some battery woes and there's a little flexing to the main keyboard but ultimately the HP Omen Max 16 is the most well-rounded gaming laptop I've tested so far. With a comfortable, sleek, portable design but performance metrics that push larger chassis out the way, the Max is a must-see machine. It's at a similar price to slimmer, more OLED-friendly devices, and its overall productivity experience isn't going to match that of the Razer Blade 16. It is, however, far more likely to drop that MSRP (and has been regularly over the last couple of months). That makes it my new go-to for anyone after a future-proofed rig for a value-packed price/performance ratio - as long as you keep it plugged in.

How I tested the HP Omen Max 16

I used the HP Omen Max 16 for two weeks before completing this review, while also testing directly against the Asus ROG Strix G16. I performed three sets of 3D Mark graphical benchmarks, running Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad three times each and taking an average result as each final score. I also tested the rig in in-game benchmark scenarios across Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Horizon Forbidden West, Cyberpunk 2077, and Black Myth Wukong. Each of these tests were also run three times, across 'High' and 'Highest' settings in FHD+ and QHD+ resolutions. I then performed separate DLSS Frame Generation tests in Cyberpunk 2077.

All performance benchmarks were recorded in the system's 'Unleashed' power mode, with full available wattage supplied.

For more information on how we test gaming laptops, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down the best Alienware laptops to buy right now - or check out the best gaming handhelds and best gaming PCs for different ways to play.

I’m not sure how to feel about the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot controller. On one hand, it’s a modular controller that’s right up my alley. Instead of coming with a case crammed full of swappable parts and a tool or two to join them together with, it’s got a fresh, spinning design that’s unrivalled in terms of its novelty and convenience.

On the other hand, I can’t help but feel like the Stealth Pivot is copying the best PC controller’s homework a little too closely. This is the first gamepad Turtle Beach has launched since acquiring PDP, the maker of the Victrix Pro BFG for Xbox. That controller is the modern-day trendsetter for any modular gaming peripheral, and even if the Stealth Pivot goes about things in a different way, it feels a bit like an inferior version that’s trying to buddy up to what came before.

The other problem is that while the Stealth Pivot has a reasonable $129.99 / £129.99 price tag, it’s silently driven up the cost of its predecessor, the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra. Despite launching at a generous $179.99, it’s since inflated to $200, and I’m not convinced the Stealth Pivot is good enough to be a more affordable replacement.

Design

In terms of its broad design strokes, the Stealth Pivot feels very similar to the Turtle Beach controllers of old. It’s got a traditional Xbox shape albeit with a slightly swollen mid-section where more utility features are crammed in. On the Turtle Beach Recon, these were audio controls, but here, there’s a small on-screen display that allows you to change profiles and button mappings with a bit more ease than usual.

There are some textured grip panels, there’s matte black plastic bodywork, and more than a lot of the best Xbox Series X controllers, there’s decent build quality in the Pivot. I don’t hear any creaks or cheap plastic noises when I try and wrench one grip away from the other, and that can often be the case.

Of course, the biggest design praise I can give is to do with the clever modular functionality of the Pivot. Using some switches on the back of the controller, you can apply some light pressure to one of the facial panels, spin it around, and get a new controller entirely - at least in theory. No need for a specialist screwdriver or fiddly part swapping. Just flick the switch, spin the module, and you’ve got a new controller to play with.

Since this is an officially licensed Xbox controller, the main modules you’ll use for the majority of your playtime are the offset thumbsticks, X, Y, B, A buttons, and circular D-pad. When spun around though, this really becomes a fighting game specialist, with a D-pad and duplicate buttons for the bumpers on the left, and six facial buttons on the right. It’s a bit of a shame that there’s no way to swap out the modules at all so you can specialize more in different genres, though.

Features

But the clever pivoting modules aren’t the only reason to consider the latest Turtle Beach gamepad. It’s got Hall sensor thumbsticks, which are cleverly designed to twist inwards to allow for the signature pivoting movements. It is a bit unfortunate that they don’t have a second twist-out length to make them higher like the PowerA Fusion Pro does. Unlike the Stealth Ultra, you don’t get varying thumbstick tops in the box, so you’re left with the fairly small, quite slippy surfaces that come as standard.

You get two back buttons, and although they press with a rather robust feel thanks to the controller’s build quality, they do feel like a downgrade compared to the four microswitch back buttons on the Stealth Ultra. Even if Turtle Beach couldn’t justify the cost of microswitches in the back of the Pivot, I’d have liked to see all four back buttons carry over. This would have truly made this controller stand out, especially in its price range.

There are some trigger-stop switches if you’re a fan of turning them into short-actuation speed machines. The feel on them is quite harsh when these are locked into position though, and the corners do dig into my fingers a bit.

The face buttons are fairly uninteresting if I can say that without sounding rude. There’s not a lot of feel to them, they have quite a deep actuation, and for a pad that wants to be able to transform into a fightpad, they really lack the speed other controllers can give. It’s nice having the option of a potential eight face buttons, but aspiring Esports athletes will probably want something like the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, or even its cheaper tournament edition which has extra bumpers, and very speedy and super tactile microswitch buttons all over it.

Then there’s the OSD, which also feels a bit downgraded from the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra. Having just tested the Manba One, I’m now hyper-aware that there are much more conclusive and easier-to-operate OSDs that can appear on board a controller. Turtle Beach was really a pioneer of this feature, and while it’s useful for switching profiles and extra button assignments, it isn’t the most intuitive to navigate, and if the pivot really wants to distinguish itself, it needs a bit more than that.

At least in terms of connectivity, you do get some wireless bonuses. The USB dongle comes in its own, small box, which is better than nothing when it comes to keeping it in a safe place where it won’t get lost. Unfortunately, the receiver isn’t the strongest, and I frequently found calibration and detection issues throughout my wireless playtesting. Turtle Beach does quote a 20-hour battery life which I’m yet to fully deplete in my testing before this review. You do get an included USB cable as well, but other than that, the contents of this pad’s packaging feels quite bare-bones. Hey, at least there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack which some controllers these days leave out.

Performance

I’d love to tell you that the action of spinning this controller’s face modules is as easy as it sounds. Unfortunately, it really isn’t as intuitive as it wants to be. You need to flick some switches on the controller’s back which are awkwardly placed and sit so deep into the chassis that you really need to turn it around and get a good look to find. Then, you need to tuck the thumbsticks in, which should be a simple twist, but always ends up feeling as though you’re breaking something. Following that, you push down on the sides of the modules that are closest to you, and they’ll do about a quarter turn. Note that they can only spin towards you, for some reason. You then have to move your thumbs up to catch the upper half of the module and rotate them the rest of the way round. This all feels like a really clunky process for what’s supposed to be a streamlined attempt at modular design. I’m no great fan of the Thrustmaster eSwap X2, but its magnetic push and pull parts feel like a satisfying fidget toy compared to the janky spinning modules of the Pivot.

While I do enjoy my fighting games, I’m not mainlining Tekken 8 in every one of my gaming sessions, so if I’m totally honest, the majority of my testing time was done without actually using what’s supposed to be this product’s standout feature. That’s disappointing because if there were alternative options that came in the box, or there was any way to properly customize the layout, I feel like I’d be spinning the parts around with each game I was playing. It just feels like someone at Turtle Beach had a truly fresh idea for a modular controller, but it was half-baked in order to satiate a cheaper price than the Stealth Ultra.

Fortunately, the robust build quality and feel of the Pivot in the hands do a lot of heavy lifting. Although the thumbsticks can be really slippy due to their tiny indentation, their loose stick tension makes them feel really snappy in FPS games like Hunt: Showdown. This is definitely on the looser end of stick tensions though, kind of similar to the Scuf Nomad in that sense, so if this is something you’re looking for, all the power to you.

It just feels like this controller is missing an element of speed that would really justify its price versus something like the GameSir Kaleid. In Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, Hunt: Showdown, and even Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor (which I revisited for the first time in years while testing this pad), there’s just a lack of urgency that other controllers offer.

Probably my favorite thing about this controller, however, is that the awesome, crunchy feedback of the Stealth Ultra carries over. It isn’t technically haptic feedback, but there’s something in the rumble motors, grip textures, and materials this brand uses that makes even a little rumble feel incredible. It’s not quite as detailed as the DualSense Edge’s haptic feedback, but it’s a step toward it I’m yet to find in other Xbox controllers. In Shadow of Mordor, for example, it’s the sort of feedback that you can hear, and it almost adds to the sound design of the game you’re playing. It’s a strange synesthesia, but it’s one I’d recommend the Pivot for almost on its own.

The jolt of lightning your palms feel whenever you use your dash in Celeste is complimented by a D-pad that’s textured so that you can easily feel the directional differences on it. Again, I think the actuation is a bit too deep to really be helpful in platformers like Celeste where speed really is key.

Overall comfort in cozy exploration games is fine, but it’s nothing special. I wouldn’t recommend the Stealth Pivot if that’s your main use for a controller, but it’ll get by if you need a quick fix. Sable controlled smoothly in this way, but if you have larger hands you might want to look at something else.

Should you buy the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot

There are so many great controllers out there right now, and although I wouldn’t scream and shout about how you should buy the Stealth Pivot, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily bad either. It does a lot of things well, and for players of fighting games looking for something versatile, it’s going to come in really handy.

Unfortunately, it’s just okay overall. Its novel concept of a spinning, modular design is hamstrung by its lack of options outside of fighting and platforming. In addition, the action of spinning out the modules feels just as clunky as other modular pads make it.

I understand that the Stealth Ultra should now seem like the premium alternative, but it doesn’t feel like the Pivot puts up enough of a fight to be worth considering against it. The fact that it’s bumped up the price of the Stealth Ultra for no real reason is a bit of a gut punch too.

How I tested the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot

I used the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot as my main controller for all PC gaming for about a week before this review. In that time, I put it through the usual wringer of games I test pro controllers with. I used fighting games like Dragon Ball Sparking Zero and Tekken, I cruised around the deserts of Sable, I revisited Shadow of Mordor, and I snuck around the swamps of Hunt Showdown. For platforming, I played Celeste, trying to grab as many strawberries as I could.

I compared my experience closely with the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra and Stealth Recon. I also reflected on how this controller matches up with other modular options and ones with OSDs.

For more on how we test controllers, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Looking to specialize in a certain type of controller? Check out the best joysticks, the best racing wheels for PC, and the best PS5 steering wheels.

Sure, a Thunderbolt 4 dock is going to give you the best speeds, display connectivity, and compatibility, but what if a cheaper USB 4 dock could also throw you 100W power delivery, dual 4K displays, and a 40Gbps connection? That’s the question Razer is posing with its USB 4 Dock, a cheaper alternative to the brand’s $329.99 Thunderbolt option. At $229.99 / £229.99 it’s still more expensive than most non-powered hubs, but compared to the Ugreen, Dell, and CalDigit, it’s actually impressive value. You can easily spend far more than this and pick up a Thunderbolt or similar hub with fewer ports, more dropouts, and a greedier footprint.

As the best gaming laptops get slimmer, their ports are running dry. Unless you opt for an 18-inch behemoth, you’ll likely be sacrificing DisplayPort, extra USB-A connections, and even Ethernet support. If you’re running an AMD machine, or you simply don’t need to pay for the extra performance security of Thunderbolt, Razer’s oblong could well solve a lot of your problems.

Design

I’ve had my fair share of chunky docks on my desk. From towering Ugreen bricks to Dell slabs, all the way through to the bright lights of the JSAUX RGB Docking Station. None have looked as sleek and simple as the Razer USB 4 dock. Available in either black or silver (I received the latter), the small oblong keeps a low profile on top of a desk, and - should you have wires properly trained down the back of your setup - doesn’t sprawl out too much.

The entire chassis is built with the same premium finish as the best Razer laptops, with a soft finish, sturdy casing, and slimline design. It’s much smaller than any other dock I’ve tested in the past, though its low and flat design means it takes up more space than my Ugreen Revodok Pro. My desk is by no means small, but with a set of speakers, a couple of light bars, and a 32-inch monitor (as well as Razer’s laptop cooling pad) vying for space things can get pretty tight. The longer shape of the Razer USB 4 dock just didn’t quite fit in a way that would keep wires free from sprawling out over the corner of the table. That meant I called in some mounted reinforcements.

The truth is, I’ve always wanted to mount my docking station to the underside of my gaming desk. I hate fighting a nest of wires and spending all day staring at the setup I’ve been building for years being blighted by cables breaks the heart. The flat top and relatively lightweight form factor of the Razer USB 4 dock means that, with the help of a properly ventilated mount system, the entire docking station can sit perched just under the front lip of my desk. I have easy access to the SD card readers, 3.5mm audio, two USB-C ports, and one USB-A port located on the front with all my more permanent connections running underneath the main table top from the back.

I can do this because no matter how much I ran through the Razer USB 4 dock, temperatures always stayed manageable. If you’re running both HDMI and DisplayPort at full 4K, things can get a little warmer. It’s nothing to be worried about, but I’d recommend a ventilated mount instead of good old tape if you’re going to be pushing this dock to its limits. Outside of this dock’s specific testing, I only ever use a single QHD monitor over HDMI and the area is well ventilated. It goes without saying, but I have to say it, always make sure you’re taking thermals and ventilation into account when mounting accessories and, if in doubt, use a separate mounting tray.

If you’re keeping things topside, the Razer USB 4 dock comes outfitted with a grippy rubber bumper underneath to keep the device placed firmly on the desk. It’s still knockable and does shift around when replacing cables or plugging in new accessories.

Port access is nice and easy, if a little cramped on the rear and between the two USB-C ports on the front. Everything is still easily accessible, but if you use a larger USB-C receiver for a headset, for example, you’ll likely lose access to a connection. My SteelSeries Arctis Game Buds seem to be permanently plugged in these days, but the dongle takes up both connections on the front of the device.

There are also no labels on the device itself, and with a variety of different speeds up for grabs, I often found myself referring back to the product page’s manual for guidance on where everything would be best placed.

Features

Razer marketing exclaims the USB 4 dock has ‘countless ports’. The truth is there are 14, not including the main power connection. That’s on the higher end of average, with a good spread between USB-A and USB-C. I would have preferred one more USB-C connection to the rear of the device (there’s only space for the master upstream connection to your laptop) for more permanent peripherals, though. The Logitech StreamCam I use runs off USB-C, so I needed an adapter to keep it plugged in if I don’t want to keep it connected to my laptop itself.

Still, two usable USB-C ports and a total of five USB-A ports is a fantastic selection of connections. That fifth USB-A is even a dedicated channel for 2.4GHz receivers. Unfortunately, my testing was marred at the beginning. Razer supplies a USB 4 cable to run its dock with straight out of the box and, while my HDMI connection remained stable, I couldn’t get anything from any of the USB (C or A) ports when using this cord. The issue was fixed with a separate high-speed cable running to the same USB 4 port on my Razer Blade 14.

Display support is solid for a USB 4 device. Like most, both the HDMI and Display Port connections can run 4K monitors at 120Hz refresh rates - though, also like most, only one panel can use the full speed of its connection at a time. That’s not uncommon - a lot of dual-4K docks limit one of their connections to 60Hz, but there are others that don’t, and a lot more than add an extra video-out for a third display as well.

With up to 100W power delivery, you’re getting the same sturdy charge as you would from a Thunderbolt 4 device, on paper. That ‘up to’ means your actual power could dip from this rate, whereas a true Thunderbolt dock will carry 100W as a baseline. Still, I never noticed any power issues from my dock (and I’ve tested many alternatives that certainly do present problems with the same setup).

Performance

I swapped out my regular QHD panel for something a little more Ultra to test the Razer USB 4 dock, running an RTX 4070 Razer Blade through the dock and up to a 4K panel using an HDMI 2.1 cable. Everything ran smoothly, offering crisp 120Hz visuals in lighter games (the RTX 4070 is far from a UHD card). Connecting a separate panel via DisplayPort was easy enough and without too much of an additional thermal load on the dock itself.

As expected, running two displays at the same time was slower, but everyday gameplay was still enjoyable. You’d need a monster of a gaming laptop to go full blast on two separate 4K 120Hz gaming monitors at the same time, after all, so I’m happy Razer is catering to the masses with this cheaper alternative.

Transferring larger files to an external hard drive was about as fast as if I were doing it directly on the Blade itself. I moved a 24GB 4K game stream file between an external drive and my laptop back and forth with no noticeable delays when the dock sat in the middle.

Aside from the aforementioned difficulties with the supplied USB 4 cable, all accessory ports functioned as expected on the dock itself. Cheaper docks can stutter or drop power when faced with a full load of peripherals - I’ve played that game of Buckaroo too many times. I never felt like I was juggling with this device, though. My permanent connections are a wireless Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro (polling at 4,000Hz), a wireless Razer Basilisk V3 Pro (polling at 1,000Hz), a set of SteelSeries Arctis Game Buds, a Mountain MacroPad, an EasySMX X10 controller, and a Logitech StreamCam webcam.

That’s a load that makes even similarly priced competitors lose connection (my Ugreen model often fails to recognize new inputs in one of its USB-A ports when everything is hooked up) and overload. Considering that Mountain MacroPad is one of the most power-hungry USB-A accessories in my arsenal, I was incredibly impressed with the stability of the Razer USB 4 Dock.

Should you buy the Razer USB 4 Dock?

The Razer USB 4 Dock is staying firmly in place under my desk, and considering the number of hubs, stations, and bricks I’ve been through over the last few years that’s certainly a relief. With a slick design, excellent temperatures, and a reliable selection of robust, speedy ports, the Razer USB 4 Dock has solved a lot of the setup problems I’ve been facing with alternatives from Ugreen and JSAUX. While it does drop three-display connectivity and you don’t quite get the full benefit of a Thunderbolt system, this is a dock that’s going to see you through dual-monitor setups with the kind of ease I could have only dreamed of just a few years ago.

I’ve been through my fair share of desk setups, balancing cables and power requirements, overloading extensions, and wrangling several monitor arm designs. As I slowly build my dream desk (we’re currently at v.6.3), I may well grow out of the limited USB-C ports and require a more substantial 3-4 port Thunderbolt system. In truth, though, that would be my only concern. If you have a lot of USB-C accessories or storage requirements, a more substantial Thunderbolt alternative may be required. Otherwise, Razer’s actually offering solid value for money in a neat, compact solution here.

How I tested the Razer USB 4 Dock

I’ve had the Razer USB 4 Dock running my entire desk setup for the past two weeks. In everyday use, it was connected to a Samsung Odyssey G5 QHD 144Hz gaming monitor, but I also connected it to two 4K 120Hz monitors separately for testing purposes. In my regular setup, the dock was tested while connected to a Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop via a Belkin USB 4 40Gbps cable. It ran via a Ugreen HDMI 2.1 cable, with Razer, SteelSeries, Logitech, and EasySMX accessories attached.

For more information on how we make our recommendations, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

For more desk accessories, we're also rounding up the best HDMI cables for gaming as well as the best SSDs for gaming. Or, check out the best gaming monitors for more panel options.

The OXS Storm G3 wireless gaming headset instantly earned my attention when it initially came my way. Not just because of its unique design that fits in alongside any licensed Star Wars merch with its off-white retro-futuristic colorway clad with unique markings, but because it’s not too often that a sub $100 headset that boasts of multi-platform support and multiple methods of connectivity comes across my desk.

I’ve always been an advocate of that kind of tech, especially the best gaming headsets, doesn’t have to cost a fortune to impress and become staples of your gaming setups. In fact, I’m always more thankful that brands, from Razer to Turtle Beach, still produce budget-friendly alternatives for those who can’t quite fork out the cash needed for all the bells and whistles. Especially as someone who knows what it’s like being fanatical about tech, but who hasn’t always had the funds to enjoy it. While the OXS Storm G2 is much more affordable than the headsets I’ve used to testing, even at $79.99 / £79.99, it fails to provide the “premium” sound quality, nor even a great sound quality, that everyone stuck to any budget deserves.

It’s not all doom and gloom. It’s one of the comfiest headsets I’ve had on my head, and the detachable mic surprised me with just how clear it was despite its flimsy quality. Not to mention its RGB lighting is some of the most striking and nicest looking I’ve seen on any headset I’ve ever used. That said, its measly good points don’t make up for its cheap-feeling build quality and cheap sound.

Key Specs

Design

• Unique off-white space age colorway
• Subtle RGB lighting
• Comfortable soft-to-the-touch cushion cups & incredibly lightweight

The design of the OXS Storm G2 wireless gaming is a double-edged sword - on the one hand, it’s one of the best-looking budget headsets I’ve come across. Its decision to go with an off-white, almost cream-colored form factor (for the white version I was provided) makes it look unique and almost space-age in its design. But the actual quality of the build leaves a lot to be desired and reminds me of one of the many off-brand, lower-end headsets clogging up big retailers’ search results.

If I wasn’t any wiser, I’d think that the Storm G2 wireless headset was a licensed piece of Starfiend tech. Its colorway and unique printed markings on each cup make it look like it would fit right in the cockpit of an X-Wing. It even reminds me slightly of my favorite budget headset, the Turtle Beach X-Wing Pilot headset, which featured its own printed markings to tie in with the Star Wars franchise.

When you get up close and personal with the build quality, you start to see past its distracting, albeit, funky design pretty quickly. To put it mildly, it feels cheap. The metal attachments connecting each cup to the leather-bound headband feel flimsy and almost sharp to the touch. This wouldn’t be too bad if it was the only issue I had, but after spending close time with the Storm G2, I noticed you can get a clear look at its internal specs through every port on the left cup. This isn’t something I’ve experienced with other budget-friendly headsets, or even headphones for that matter.

Each port on the left cup is illuminated once you turn on the headset, and the RGB lighting does its thing. With that, you can get an in-depth look at what makes the headset tick, which upon my initial discovery, didn’t instill a lot of confidence. It’s unfortunate that that’s the first thing I noticed with the RGB lighting on, as the Storm G2 actually features one of the most stunning uses of lighting on a headset I’ve come across. Rather than the harsh, saturated rainbow lighting that adorns many pieces of gaming tech I own, the RGB back-lit OXS branded logos, and ring of lighting on each cup, are subdued and almost pastel colored.

The RGB lighting is nice, but I was even more impressed by how lightweight and comfortable the Storm G2 was to wear, even after hours upon hours of Marvel Rivals and Sea of Thieves. It only weighs 250g, which is monumentally lighter than the 408.2g of the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3, which I just had across my testing bench. This comfort is aided by the nicely cushioned leather foam pads on the cups and the leather padded cushion on the headband. I’m also super glad that OXS opted to avoid a fabric coating for the cups, as it means I don’t have to squirm thinking about the sensory issues they fuel within me. But also, the soft-to-the-touch headband with its finely done red stitching gives the headset a more professional edge. Just enough to distract me from its more flimsy elements.

Features

• Limited wired, Bluetooth & 2.4GHz connectivity
• Easily identifiable and awkward to press onboard controls
• Up to 40 hours battery life (RGB lighting off)

As an under $100 headset, the OXS Storm G2 isn’t swimming in features. But it does at least offer up a wired, Bluetooth, and 2.4GHz connection via a dongle for most consoles. I say most, as despite advertising its “multi-platform compatibility”, you cannot connect via Bluetooth to the PS4 or PS5, and there’s no Xbox Series X/S or Xbox One support to be found here at all. (Though they do mention that in the small print.)

That isn’t too much of a deal-breaker, especially as I prefer to use a 2.4GHz connection with my PS5 anyway, and would always recommend that to anyone looking to avoid any annoying audio lag and latency issues. But it’s a little disappointing given not just OXS’s boasting of multi-platform capabilities, but that other budget headsets not that more expensive, like the Razer Barracuda X, have wired, Bluetooth, and 2.4GHz support, and Bluetooth for Sony’s consoles is still on the cards.

With the Storm G2, you do get all you need to connect to the PS5 or PC via the included 2.4GHz dongle. The OXS Storm G2 even included a 3.5mm AUX cable and a sleek-looking gray draw-string bag to keep everything in, which I always appreciate. But just as I’ve come to expect with this headset, every time I find something I like, it’s followed up by something that raised many an eyebrow.

To alternate between Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz, you have to use the switch on the right ear cup. While it’s easily identifiable, with “BT” and “2.4G” written at either end, it’s not fun to use. You have to put a lot of gumption into moving this switch, to the point where it actually hurt my thumb the first time I used it. If you’re a Sony fan, you can’t use Bluetooth anyway, so it’ll always be in the 2.4GHz position, but the cheap and hard-to-use switch is another reminder of the overall cheap feeling of the wireless headset.

At least, it’s the only switch you’ll find. The Storm G2 opts to use easy-to-press black buttons for the power, EQ (also the RGB off button), and the mic mute button found on the left ear cup. These buttons are joined by a volume dial, 3.5mm port, USB-C charging port, and a port for the detachable microphone. Each of these buttons is also labeled, which means you’ll spend less time frantically pressing buttons in a myriad of ways when figuring out how to change the EQ, of which there are three modes, surround, game, and music.

You’ll also want to know exactly where this button is in the future. While I absolutely adore the look of the almost pastel-colored RGB lighting, having it on will seriously drain your headsets' juice. OXS even states that with the RGB on, you’ll get about 24 hours of battery life, which was pretty much my experience after weeks of testing. If you have these off, however, you can push it to provide up to 40 hours, which is more what I’d want from a headset that costs $79.99 / £79.99.

Performance

• Hollow and sub-par sound quality
• Surprisingly clear detachable mic
• Average battery life

When we get into the nitty and gritty sound quality of the OXS Storm G2, it truly shows just how much it falls behind other budget-friendly alternatives. Setting up Bluetooth, or 2.4GHz was at least super straightforward, and the typically mesmerizing music of composer Robin Beanland instantly came out of the cups seconds after I loaded up Sea of Thieves with the dongle securely in place within my PS5. But, to put it bluntly, everything in the game sounded pretty lifeless.

Whether I was sailing the seven seas, or keeping my team healed and in good working order as my new main Cloak and Dagger in Marvel Rivals, there was a tinny hollowness to the sound. It was almost like I was listening to the game’s audio from a distance rather than right up close to both of my ears. I wasn’t expecting anything too dramatic but as any headset that comes decked out with 50mm audio drivers, like that of the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, I was at l least expecting some form of justice to be paid to at least, any game I threw its way.

The Storm G2, on the other hand just sounds lackluster. Its faint output did at least make games with a more top-resonating soundscape sound okay. Most notably the OST from Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Sunshine were passable. So, if you needed a sub-par sounding headset for the kids to use with their Nintendo Switch, this could do the job. But for a Super Mario die-hard fan, I couldn’t help but wish I had more oomph.

For dialogue, it definitely had an easier time of things. Other than the usual roundtable of games we use to test headsets with, I picked up the brand-new Lost Records Bloom and Rage, which dropped for PS Plus Premium members during the testing period. The Don’t Nod developed game centers around the mid-90s, and not only has a killer OST, but is full of dialogue. The latter sounded pretty okay on the headset and was an ideal way to put the 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound to the test. As protagonist Swann, I was able to hear characters in a dimly bar exactly how they were placed in the scene, which really upped the immersion factor.

The OST itself, as I expected, didn’t sound too grand, which is actually why I’m eager to replay the first half of the game with my favorite mid-range headset, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5P, to see how the wonderfully thrashy riot grrrl tracks sound when they have the right support. Yet, at least the dialogue sounded a-okay on the Storm G2, and not as distant and sterile as the OST.

When not gaming, I used the Storm G2 to listen to a magnitude of bands. As the 90s mood of Lost Records had me hooked, this meant listening to some Cocteau Twins, The Cure, Nirvana, and a dab of My Bloody Valentine. As you can probably guess, anything of the grunge and shoegaze persuasion didn’t have the deep, bone-shattering bass they needed. Yet, after hearing how it coped with Marvel Rivals, Sea of Thieves, and later hours upon hours of Dead by Daylight, this was unfortunately unsurprising.

What did take me aback was the quality of the microphone. It’s detachable, which was a nice addition as I don’t always like having a mic dangling in my face, especially if I’m playing a single-player game like Lost Records. But when turned on, it made me sound crystal clear, to the point where I was having full-on conversations with random players through Sea of Thieves' proximity chat.

The mic itself still feels pretty flimsy. The wire of it, which you can move around, doesn’t stay in place, making the bulbous foam tip flop around. With that being my first experience with the mic, I was expecting a distorted, barely understandable quality, but I was pleasantly surprised. Honestly, the mic is almost the saving grace of this entire headset and even sounded on par with the mic of the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, which is one of the best mics I’ve ever used.

Streaming services like Disney+ or Prime sounded fine through the headset, which I used while catching up with the latest episodes of High Potential or Invincible. Although, I did have to charge the battery on a couple of occasions, mainly as I liked to have the RGB lighting on which as OXS states, only means you have around 25 hours of juice at your disposal. I also had to have the volume up pretty loud, to make up for the hollow sound even when listening to TV shows, which also helped whittle away at the battery life.

Should you buy the OXS Storm G2 wireless gaming headset?

I went in really wanting to like the OXS Storm G2 wireless gaming headset, especially as the more budget headsets out there, the better. I grew up loving gaming tech, but not always having the budget to be able to pair my second-hand consoles with the very best in accessories, and so any time there’s a gaming headset especially, that can still provide the flashy RGB and multiple connection options without breaking that $100 barrier, I’m more than on-board. Yet, even at its actual price of $79.99 / £79.99, this gaming headset feels hard to recommend, especially when there’s a ton of similarly priced headsets doing all it can and more.

Primarily, with a gaming headset, you want your favorite games, whether they’re on the PC, PS5, Steam Deck or Switch, to sound good. From the get-go, the OXS Storm G2 fails to do this basic requirement, and even with its 50mm audio drivers, everything sounds hollow and tinny. If you’ve ever listened to the overspill from someone’s headphones on the bus, that’s exactly how I’d describe the audio coming from either cup.

On the plus side, dialogue in games like Lost Records Bloom, and Rage sounds fine - and the 7.1 virtual surround sound did exactly what it’s meant to. But whether I playing a brand-new release like Lost Records, or Marvel Rivals and Sea of Thieves, any game I through the headset’s way sounded lifeless. It’s not just the audio quality that has me reluctant to recommend the Storm G2 over similarly priced alternatives like the Corsair HS55 Wireless Core, or the Razer Barracuda X, but the build quality is iffy to say the least. Areas like the metal attachments feel sharp and flimsy, and the RGB lighting, though one of my favorite aspects of this headset, illuminates every port giving you a glimpse at the rattling internals inside.

In the short amount of time since the OXS Storm G2 launched in this new white colorway, I’ve already seen some discounts floating around on retailers Amazon. With $20 knocked off this wireless headset, I can see it being an ideal entry point for those looking for a 2.4HZ wireless hook up for their PC or PS5, that still has a high-quality mic, and some dazzling RGB lighting. However, even though its MSRP may seem budget for some, it feels like a hard sell at $79.99 / £79.99 when it can’t get the one fundamental thing anyone wants out of any gaming headset done right - making sure your games sound great.

Ratings

How I tested the OXS Storm G2 wireless gaming headset

I spent over two weeks with the OXS Storm G2 wireless gaming headset. In that time frame, I lived and breathed the the budget pair of cups and put it through its paces through plenty of hours of the competitive hero shooter, Marvel Rivals to see how it coped with a full and busy soundscape. As per our testing games of choice, I also played plenty of Dead by Daylight, and Sea of Thieves, to change things up with a more atmospheric audio environment. Additionally, I also tested to see how the Storm G2 dealt with a dialogue-heavy Lost Records, which launched on PS Plus during the time the headset was on my testing bench. The wireless headset was also hooked up to a Nintendo Switch OLED, where it was tested alongside Super Mario Galaxy (via Super Mario 3D All-Stars) and Super Mario Sunshine.

Any time not spent gaming was used to see how the Strom G2 dealt with streaming music. Through apps like Spotify, I throw multiple genres its way, from Carpenter Bruit to the bustling tunes of Bombay Bicycle Club. With the latest season of TV shows like Invincible currently ongoing, I also used the headset when watching streaming platforms, including services like Prime and Disney Plus. For more information on how we test gaming headsets, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

If the OXS Storm G2 doesn't sound like the right fit for you, we've gathered all the best Steam Deck headsets, best Xbox Series X headsets, and the best Nintendo Switch headsets in one place to make it easier to find the perfect peripheral for your gaming setup.

War. Colonization. Atomic bombs. I know these things are bad. But if there's one thing I hate more than nuclear hellfire, it's losing in games – so when Firaxis' latest turn-based strategy Civilization 7 dangles these options in front of me as a means of beating slimy Ben Franklin and his diplomacy-loving ways, I gobble up its sinful platter like the greedy little war criminal I am.

Civilization 7 brings a lot to the table, and not all of it requires abandoning your morality to play with. Fans of the series will find a map that's livelier than ever, city management that won't overload your brain, and one of the most engaging endgames ever devised. While predecessor Civilization 6 crammed in similar depth without quite managing to convey all of it clearly, Civilization 7 feels like a cohesive next step for the franchise – and when a few quirks are ironed out, this will be the series' best modern iteration to date.

Next turn

Whether you're a returning fan or stepping into Firaxis' iconic 4X (exploration, expansion, exploitation, and extermination) strategy series for the first time, Civilization's core premise remains largely the same. Starting with one settlement, you'll grow your empire across a randomly-generated world with the goal of seizing victory through scientific, cultural, militaristic, or economic means. It's a tried-and-true formula, but Civilization 7 takes a couple of big risks that shake it up creatively.

The first thing you'll notice is that you no longer pick a Civilization and get to work. Instead you choose a leader – who remains with you through an entire campaign – while your Civilization choice changes at several points based on your playstyle and leader's historical background. Rolling with Confucius, for example, opens up Ming China as an option, due to his real-world background, but with multiple iron mines in the bag, I could also go Norman.

I was worried this feature would dilute the identity of factions, but that's not the case. Rather than picking a civilization with a unique unit that's obsolete 50 turns in (or one that doesn't turn up for another 200) you now get to pick a total of three civs that are relevant for their entire duration, all with the nifty perks and special units you would expect from past Civ games.

Likewise, I've been dreading how Ages would work since Civilization 7's reveal. Since the '90s, Civilization's whole deal has been unleashing players in a sandbox and letting them do their thing (see: war crimes) uninterrupted. Now, each match is divided into three segments – the opening Antiquity Age, followed by Exploration, and finally Modern.

It's not always a smooth transition, as each Age has a hard stop that resets the board a little. This is particularly frustrating if you're in the middle of something important. In one match, I was closing in on the end of a particularly bloody war and within reach of my mortal enemy Amina's capital when the Age shifted from Exploration to Modern, ending our war and warping my soldiers back to my own distant territories. The rancid cherry on top? Some of the no-name civs who were trailing on the leaderboard got a major science boost through the interim, meaning my empire was promptly invaded by landships while its citizens were still marveling at the wonders of the wooden wheel.

That's not an indictment, though. Since then, I've realized that it takes time to learn how Ages work. In previous entries you'd slowly build strength through the course of each game – conquering capital cities, hurtling towards space flight, or hoarding cultural wonders like a well-read toddler – until it all came to a head. In Civilization 7 victory is more measured, and to carry your momentum through to the next Age you need to complete Legacy Paths: a series of win conditions for each individual age, rewarding permanent bonuses. If you want to win through science, for instance, you'll start by rushing to build libraries and academies in Antiquity, prioritize housing specialists in your cities through Exploration, and finally try to be the first civ in space during Modern. Doing so lets you carry powerful perks across Ages, whilst neglecting them is a surefire way to fall behind.

I've got mixed feelings. Legacy Paths and Ages make the early and mid-game feel a lot more dynamic, and freshen up a campaign's later stages. But at times it feels like you're being railroaded into one path – a little jarring, given the freedom of Civ's sandbox approach up to this point. Although I'd like to see more objective varieties or pathways through these Legacy Paths, I do think that Ages (even if they're a little heavy-handed) are an improvement to the formula, if only because the endgame is no longer ticking boxes until you reach a surefire win.

I'll stay right here

When all of that clicks, Civilization 7 is a thrill. Outside of the big gambles, the core Civilization experience is lightyears ahead of anything we've seen from the series before. Moving from one turn to the next is near-instantaneous, and besides the world looking sublime with its visual glow-up and warmer palette, it feels livelier than ever. Volcanic eruptions change surrounding tiles, rivers flood, and powerful storms can wreak havoc. I nearly missed out on colonizing a new continent (boo-hoo, I know) because a huge hurricane kicked up as my army was crossing the ocean, gaining on their ships as I furiously fear-hammered movement commands to reach the coast.

That liveliness extends to combat's impressive fluidity. Army commanders allow you to stack units and transport them around in-sync, and can order simultaneous attacks that are worth utilizing – having every archer in range fire at once gives each unit involved more combat strength, for example, but you can also command mass pillaging or have everyone construct makeshift fortifications on their tiles.

During my first campaign as Xerxes, a three-way war with my continental neighbors Machiavelli and Himiko drew the attention of meddling outsiders Ben Franklin and Ashoka, World Renouncer. The latter two factions had no settlements in the continent, but decided to wade in anyway, landing masses of tanks and gun-toting infantry on our shores and transforming the countryside into a fiery wreck until I turned the sea into a killing field of my own with a blockade of battleships. I've sunk hundreds of hours into Civilization, but that single conflict is the most fun I've ever had with combat.

All's fair

Commodifying diplomacy is an interesting choice (see Strong Influence). Firaxis has long tried to play around the fact that AI motivations can be inscrutable, and reducing it to a resource is an inelegant but mostly effective solution. Besides using it to push trade, scientific, and commercial agreements with other civs, Influence can boost your support for a war back home – whichever side of the battle has lower support takes some pretty harsh penalties in combat, so it's important to keep the troops happy. But it's also a step back in some ways, as gold can no longer be used to tantalize other civs into settling wars, and you can't buy or sell settlements.

This is particularly frustrating because razing settlements in war permanently penalizes your war support for every future conflict, which means that since you also can't milk your rival for gold during peace negotiations, you sometimes have to absorb rubbish settlements rather than burn them to the ground. That in itself is another can of worms, as Civilization 7 goes big on expansion. Settlements are now divided into towns and cities, with the former acting as lower-maintenance support hubs for your cities.

All of that, paired simpler iteration of Civilization 6's district system, means juggling your empire is far less of a headache. Because there are fewer penalties to expanding, you (and AI factions) tend to manage significantly more settlements. Finding unclaimed land is now genuinely scrappy, and racing to plant my flag in undeveloped continents has been the highlight of my time in Civilization 7. I've admittedly found myself engaging with the cultural side of Civ less because of it, though, and AI has an irritating habit of squeezing a town right outside of your established borders.

I had no idea what to expect from Civilization 7. Firaxis has a habit of scaring fans by announcing wild choices (hello, Marvel's Midnight Suns) then pulling them off so slickly you forget there was ever any doubt. Civilization 7 isn't quite so slick – with its heavy-handed Ages diplomacy rework – but it's certainly a huge stride forward for the legendary strategy series, joining the clarity of Civilization 5 with the added depth of Civilization 6.

Ages will be more divisive – I personally think the system does wonders for the usual tedium of late-stage campaigns – while other features, like pairing Leaders with evolving civs, should be a staple going forward. Civilization 7 already feels like the best entry point yet, and with Firaxis' habit of saving the real polish for expansions, I think this is going to become a grand strategy titan. Just keep an eye on that Ben Franklin fella – and don't believe a word he says about any "war crimes".

Civilization 7 was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher.

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If Ron Burgundy owned a gaming chair, it’d be the Corsair TC500 Luxe. This seat resembles those leather reading chairs you’d see in someone’s home library in the 70s - you can practically smell the cigar smoke and rich mahogany from it. And at the same time, it still manages to look like a modern gaming chair that feels right at home in an RGB-draped setup. That takes some doing, and Corsair’s designers have really pulled it out of the bag.

This is the brand’s attempt at a high-end spot on the best gaming chair ladder. I’ve already placed its excellent TC100 Relaxed on our leaderboard as the best budget option, so going into testing the premium alternative, I had some expectations. For a flagship chair, I’m delighted to note that Corsair has managed to avoid the ludicrously high price lines other brands lean into. This may be a gaming chair for people who own many leather-bound books, but at $500/£500, this really is one of the best value finds in 2025.

I’ll be upfront and say that I actually love this chair, so much so that it’s replacing the now discontinued Boulies Ninja Pro as my mainstay I’ll keep around for when I’m not testing something new. Unfortunately, though, it has a massive, inescapable issue that nearly spoils the whole experience. Whether or not it’s a deal breaker for you, I’m not sure.

Assembly

Of all the gaming chairs I’ve tested, the Corsair TC100 Relaxed had the most minimalist approach to assembly instructions. There were no included leaflets or a Secretlab-esque placard with handy diagrams. The only help you get in building it is going to Corsair’s website and finding instructions for an older chair model with a similar assembly process.

With the TC500 Luxe, there is a similar lack of instructions but Corsair’s YouTube channels have some helpful instructional videos that go through how to assemble it. Fortunately, there was nothing too confusing about the process and, like the Secretlab Titan Evo NanoGen, the armrests come pre-attached, meaning there’s one less step between unboxing and sitting.

It was during this assembly process that the first moment of foreboding hit me. In the video above, the voiceover clearly says “the width of the armrests can be adjusted by partially loosening the screws”. Having been particularly excited about this chair, I had read some other reviews of it, which I don’t usually do.

The consensus on this seat was that it’s excellent, but for some reason, its armrests are set far too widely apart. To mitigate that issue, I thought, I’d move the armrests of mine during assembly to as narrow as they can go. When I got to that stage of the build though, they were already in their narrowest setting. “What are the other reviews complaining about then?” I thought.

I had far too little faith in my fellow gaming chair critics.

Design

The thing that immediately stands out about this chair on a first look is its hex-pattern cushioning, which gives it that antique, classy feel so many gaming chairs lack. Like the Boulies Master Series, it looks like something that’d be just at home in a remote worker’s professional video call as it does an RGB-filled gaming livestream.

It has a wide seat base with a generous lip on its front, inviting plenty of viable sitting positions. It has rounded shoulders that remind me of a Razer Iskur X, and the integrated lumbar support and magnetic head cushion made famous by brands like Secretlab and DXRacer.

The result is a very attractive gaming chair that’s up there with the Fractal Refine in terms of its style, and tying its aesthetics together is its marvelous choice of upholstery, which sits somewhere between suede and leather. It’s not quite either and, in truth, it might be my new favorite material for any gaming chair. It’s breathable, but it still feels as premium as the highest-end leather options. It’s also nice and plush, adding a velvety surface to a chair that isn’t as firm as Secretlab, but isn’t quite as comfort-aimed as the Boulies Ninja Pro.

The TC500 Luxe is available in three colors, with each sporting the same black wheelbase, armrests, and casters. Frost is a creamy white color, which looks surprisingly nice for a white gaming chair (these often tend to look very bold and a bit “extra”), but I can’t help but feel a slightly different color of wheelbase would really complement this model a bit more. Shadow is a sort of graphite-grey color which is perfect for anyone wanting something more muted. The version Corsair sent me is the Sherwood variant, which has this alluring mossy green look to it and sits beautifully against my walnut-textured desk. I usually advocate for more color choices with gaming chairs, but I think these hues offer a perfect set of variables for the classy feel the Luxe is going for. I’m not sure the same effect would be achieved with a blue colorway - and this certainly isn’t something I’d like to see making a play for our best pink gaming chair list.

Features

Supporting the TC500 Luxe is a solid steel inner frame. I have to say, I’m really impressed with the build quality it brings because unlike 90% of gaming chairs today, I’ve heard no creaks or squeaks coming from it after a month of testing. All the while, it doesn’t have the Secretlab problem of that great build quality potentially contributing to a really firm sitting experience.

All the usual adjustment features are here, with a reclining backrest that tilts from 90° to 160°. You can also adjust the height and backward lean, and that aforementioned 4-way lumbar support does a lot to support your lower back. The magnetic neck pillow is the best I’ve ever tested in a gaming chair. Somehow, it’s managed to out-plush Boulies and Secretlab with memory foam that feels affectionately soft and eases back into its plump shape right after taking your head off it. I found it easy to slide around depending on my sitting position too, so Corsair has provided a large magnetic surface area for it.

One of the standout features of this chair is that it has an innovative set of Omniflex armrests. These are mounted in their center, the same as most gaming chair armrests are, but they have a unique fold in them that means when you press your weight into them, they have some give, coiling down and putting less stress on your elbows and shoulders. This is, quite honestly, ingenious, and does make a big difference to comfort when leaning on them for hours at a time. I don’t get the occasional trapped nerve or a numb feeling in my elbows like I do with other chairs, and I hope this is a design that’s adopted by other manufacturers.

These armrests are meant to be 4D, but I was sad to learn that wasn’t really the case. They can move up and down, they can rotate up to 215°, they can click back and forward in the same annoying way the Fractal Refine ones do. But they’re missing a vital side-to-side movement.

Herein lies the single biggest problem with the Corsair TC500 Luxe. Other reviewers were right, the armrests of this chair are needlessly far apart. And the worst bit is that a simple sliding hinge that slides them across laterally is all it would take to alleviate this issue, potentially even bolstering this to my new top gaming chair.

Performance

Armrests are often overlooked when you’re shopping for a chair. The main draw is the ergonomics, the comfort, the shape, and size. But armrests are a massive contributor to a healthy sitting position. Because the TC500 Luxe’s armrests are set too wide, even at their narrowest, they actually detract from the posture support this excellent gaming chair gives you. If you sit up with a dignified posture, so you feel a stretch up your spine, and then move your elbows further apart, your chest will sink down as a result, creating an unhealthy slouching position in your upper back.

I often carry stress and tension in my shoulders and traps, and throughout months of testing other seats with armrests that sit straight with my body’s natural sitting position, I’ve not been feeling that of late. Within a week or two of testing the TC500 Luxe, I was feeling that all-too-familiar knot in my right shoulder.

Luckily, the saving grace is that you can rotate the armrests around somewhat, meaning that you will be able to find a more natural sitting position when gaming, but your forearms will poke off of them, never getting their full benefit. It’s also the straw that breaks the camel’s back when you’re using the armrests to stand up and they click out of the one position you found them comfortable in.

I’ve heard of some Redditors and other early adopters drilling holes in their seatbases to move the armrests in further, but this isn’t something you should have to do when spending $500 on a gaming chair from a well-known brand, and I can’t really wrap my head around why the armrest’s most narrow setting is like the widest setting on any other chair. I love that the seatbase is wide because it allows me to either cross one leg under the other, or cross both legs while sitting on it. But that wouldn’t be hampered by armrests that could slide further in.

Other reviewers have said this is quite a firm seat, but as someone who finds the Secretlab options far too firm, I’m not sure I agree on that point. For me, this is akin to the Corsair TC100 Relaxed in that it provides a really great blend of comfort and firmness. Not every chair gets that right, and I applaud Corsair for making something that I can sit in comfortably for long hours. I do still get a numb bum if I stay in a position too long, but it takes a lot longer to pang me than when I’m sitting in a Secretlab Titan Evo.

Should you buy the Corsair TC500 Luxe?

It’d be easy to read my thoughts on Corsair’s armrests and think they’re a dealbreaker. For me, they’re not, but if I had paid for a $500 chair and been met with armrest designs that make little to no sense for a wide range of body types, I certainly wouldn’t be happy.

Fortunately, there’s enough about the Corsair TC500 Luxe that I’m really fond of, so I wouldn’t call the wide armrests a dealbreaker. The premium looks, feel, and a great blend of comfort and firmness add up to a fantastic chair that is competitively priced compared to a lot of high-end options.

And for all its armrest woes, there is some ingenuity at play thanks to Corsair’s omniflex design. This is a chair that stands out for so many reasons, and it’s one I’d easily recommend. I’d just be sending a message to those DIY fixers on Reddit to ask them how I should drill new holes into the seat base.

How I tested the Corsair TC500 Luxe

I parked myself in Corsair’s high-end gaming chair for around a month before this review was written. I assembled it myself in around 20-30 minutes, and didn’t find it too heavy to lift around on my own. I sat in this chair for long hours for remote working during the day, gaming during the evening, and content creation at my desk in my spare time too.

I compared my experience closely with the Corsair TC100 Relaxed since it’s made by the same manufacturer, and with other premium options on the market like the Secretlab Titan Evo, Fractal Refine, and Boulies chairs.

For more on how we test gaming chairs, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Looking to upgrade your gaming space in 2025? Check out the best console gaming chairs, the best gaming desks, and the best VR headsets.

Gaming is without a doubt my biggest hobby. Sadly in adult life my time spent gaming is rapidly decreasing thanks to work, travel, and other factors that drag me away from my PS5 and TV. So in the past few years, I’ve turned a lot of my attention to mobile gaming to make up those precious hours when I’m away from my usual setup. The latest little gadget to walk into my life and promise me gaming on the go is the Asus ROG Tessen, but has it done enough to convince me to leave behind my go-to controller?

Asus arrived a little late to the party in 2024 too, because we saw some heavy-hitting best mobile controller contenders last year from brands like GameSir, Razer, and most notably for me, Scuf. Earlier in the year I had the opportunity to review the Scuf Nomad and it quickly became my number one pick for a mobile controller. Leaving my Backbone One to efficiently gather dust.

Landing on the market and in the hands of gamers for $109/£109, The Asus ROG Tessen offers some nifty features that do make it stand out from the pack, but is it worth it compared to more affordable options?

Design

As I’ve said, I often rely on mobile controllers to do a good percentage of my gaming and so one of my biggest factors in choosing one is comfort for long playing sessions. I have unfortunately had one too many game-winning kills foiled by cramps in my hands.

Usually, that issue is prompted by a couple of factors; the size of the controller, its weight, and the placement of the thumbsticks. I can thankfully say that the Asus ROG Tessen addresses two of those problems for me. To kick things off the device is surprisingly lightweight and is made of textured plastic, making it comfortable to hold for long periods without it putting stress on your wrists.

Secondly, the device is small. I adore the Scuf Nomad for its larger size meaning it feels more substantial in hand and I really dislike the Backbone One for its smaller Nintendo Switch Joy-Con-like size, so more often than not I prefer a larger mobile controller. This leaves me shocked as to how much I like the Asus ROG Tessen’s size, particularly because it’s smaller than the Backbone. While the physical dimensions are technically smaller than the Backbone One, the actual shape of the grips gives a much nicer feel in-hand rather than it feeling flat and hard to grip.

Finally, like most of the best PC controllers, the Asus ROG Tessen has opted for the classic offset thumbstick layout. This means on the left-hand side of it you’ll find the thumbstick at the top of the device with a d-pad towards the bottom, with the right-hand side of the device featuring the XYAB buttons at the top and the thumbstick at the bottom. Unfortunately, you won’t find hall-effect sticks here, something that most mobile pads now offer, which means that over time they are more likely to experience stick-drift.

What you will find instead is two programmable rear aluminium paddles which give you extra functionality while gaming, it’s very rare to see paddles on any controller not made by Xbox or PlayStation, as you’ll most often see plastic buttons. I felt this was a nice departure from the norm, and it was refreshing to see as someone who’s tested a few controllers in the last year.

Features

As previously mentioned, you’ll find the traditional Xbox-style layout of controls on the ROG Tessen which makes it very easy to use if you’re familiar with those commands. The buttons themselves have a very nice tactile feel to them and produce quite a satisfying click - I’m not sure my girlfriend would say the same thing when she was lying next to me in bed trying to sleep, however. This is even more present in the D-pad which I actually found to be annoyingly clicky but only when pressing right on it.

Rather than having the usual extendable clamp bridge mechanism, the ROG Tessen features a very unique hinge design allowing you to fold up the controller for easier storage. This also doubles as an easy way to connect your phone to the USB-C port rather than having to stretch it around your mobile. Connecting your phone could not be easier and you’re into the games you want to play within seconds. Despite it being USB-C it has been confirmed by Asus that it is not compatible with the recent generations of iPhone, so this is a purely Android-focused device.

Speaking of USB-C, you’ll find an additional port at the bottom right of the controller to allow passthrough charging so that you can game for even longer. And of course, like most pieces of gaming technology, you’ll find some very subtle RGB along the rim of the controller.

The rear paddles at the back are easily mapped thanks to a function button on the front. Simply press the button to re-map, press the button you want to assign, and then press the paddle. Easy.

Performance

I have to admit, the paddles were hands down my favorite aspect of the ROG Tessen. They are perfectly located at the back of the controller and I found my middle fingers always gravitating towards them. This is particularly helpful in first-person shooter games like Call of Duty as I was able to assign my reload command and my melee command to those paddles. Not once did I find them having any issues or not working as they should - on top of that, they are incredibly satisfying to click, it makes me want a full-sized controller for PS5 or Xbox with back paddles as opposed to buttons.

The process of remapping them was super simple and can be done as I mentioned above or via the Asus Armoury app. I never found the app particularly useful and opted for the button on the controller for 99% of my button remapping. This was primarily because it was much quicker. Jumping between games via GeForce Now or XCloud I was constantly needing different commands assigned and this was the easiest solution.

While the thumbsticks are nothing to write home about, I can say they do the job. It’s a marked improvement over something like the Backbone One but not nearly as good as the Scuf Nomad or the GameSir X4 Aileron. I put this mostly down to how small they feel compared to the latter two I mentioned, but I just found them uncomfortable for long playing sessions. Via GeForce Now I managed to survive until round 25 on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies but most of the issues I ran into were sparked by the thumbsticks, both because of their placement making it uncomfortable to play longer than 20 minutes or because of how small they are. This is an issue that pops up for me frequently with mobile controllers that choose the offset design, and as someone with larger hands, I’d prefer if more controllers moved away from it.

Thanks to the USB-C connection I never found there to be any latency issues at all, something I have occasionally seen in Bluetooth devices. So any deaths in-game are purely down to your actual skill rather than the controller letting you down.

I spent roughly 15 hours playing the ROG Tessen both at home and out and about using a variety of native games such as Call of Duty and cloud-based games via GeForce Now and XCloud and it works okay most of the time. I did have a significant issue with Call of Duty where the controller was not recognized by the game initially without going into the Armoury App.

Overall, I never felt it did anything truly remarkable to justify the higher price tag than the Scuf Nomad, or even the GameSir G8 Galileo. While the back paddles are genuinely fantastic, I feel they really are the only standout feature to be had here.

Should you buy the Asus ROG Tessen?

If you’re like me and use mobile controllers a lot then I actually find it very difficult to recommend the ROG Tessen when compared to similarly priced controllers on the market. Everything that the ROG Tessen does well you’ll find another controller doing just that bit better. Aside from the back paddles, which are genuinely great, I don’t feel there‘s anything else that makes it a must-buy for me.

However, if you’re looking to start your journey into mobile gaming then I would recommend the ROG Tessen over the Backbone One if you can find it cheaper than RRP, but I would also encourage you to look at alternative options such as the GameSir Galileo G8, or for maximum size, the Razer Kishi Ultra.

How we tested the Asus ROG Tessen

I used the Asus ROG Tessen over a period of a week with a Samsung Galaxy S20 and used it as one of my main sources of gaming. Throughout my time with it I played a variety of games including Call of Duty Mobile and Black Ops 6 (via GeForce Now), Watch_Dogs 2 (via GeForce Now), and Star Wars Outlaws (via GeForce Now). I used the controller for approximately 15-17 hours across multiple gaming sessions that varied in length with the longest being around 3 hours.

For more on how we test controllers, check out the GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

BenQ has long occupied the top spot in the world of gaming projectors, but its latest flagship takes this pedigree in speedy screening and bumps it up with a few handy extra features of its own. This is an incremental update over the X3000i model that’s ruled over our best projector for gaming rankings for a couple of years now, boosting brightness, adding vertical lens shift, and upping the contrast. 

There are more noticeable additions to this year’s model as well - a slick settings interface that allows you to use specialist-tuned configurations for certain games, and an upgraded streaming dongle provides that sweet sweet Netflix access. I’ve spent the last three weeks running my PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Asus ROG Ally through 2024’s device, to see just how it fares against the competition. 

Design

There’s nothing new in this department, the X3100i could be a carbon copy of the BenQ X3000i, save for the new lens shift dial on the top. This device follows the lookbook of every other X-Series device in the brand’s line, with a soft curved box shape, crisp white exterior, black front panel, and fun orange trim. 

At 10.7 x 8.4 x 10.2 inches, it’s ever so slightly taller than the 7.8-inch X3000i, but it’s still a particularly maneuverable device compared to larger models like the XGIMI Horizon Ultra, and I was able to place it comfortably on my desktop to cast onto the wall opposite. That gave me a decent-sized picture (for a shorter throw distance), but one that stretches up to a maximum of 300 inches if you have the space for it. The X3100i can also be set up for both front and rear projection and can be mounted from a ceiling as well. 

This is a versatile design, for a more powerful projector. I still preferred the compact footprint of the BenQ X300G in my testing, as carting this device from room to room is a far more involved task. Still, this is a device that’s been created to stay put a little more, and I would gladly take its boost in features for a more permanent setup. 

You’ll still find a wide set of grills running along the sides, with a smaller vent towards the back. These give the X3100i plenty of space to pump out heat, and also serve the internal speakers well. The back panel keeps all your I/O inputs together, while also hiding an additional HDMI slot inside the device itself - this is for the included Android TV dongle only, though.

The left-hand pane provides a comprehensive selection of onboard menu navigation and power controls, as well as two handy dials for manual zoom and focus. These are going to be tricky to reach if you ceiling mount your device, but are beautifully placed for more casual coffee table use. All the buttons and dials have a good level of resistance behind them, with a robust feel overall.

Features

The BenQ X3100i has the same laser focus on its gaming roots as its predecessor did, which means many features key to PS5 and Xbox Series X players are retained. You’re still getting super low latency gameplay (4K/60Hz and 1080p/60Hz at 16.7ms, 1080p/120Hz at 8.3ms, and 1080p/240Hz at 4.2ms) which are the exact same as the original model. That’s taking the ability to run all the way up to 240Hz for granted - something very few projectors can muster, even when they’re specifically targeted towards console play. Those are gaming monitor numbers, and it shows. While not a true native 4K projector, the BenQ X3100i uses XPR tech to pixel-shift a 1080p picture into a truly recognizable UHD result. The 4LED lens system has also been retained here, allowing for a brighter image overall. 

So your resolution and speed are the same between the BenQ X300i and BenQ X3100i - but there are a few key differences that help the newer model make its own name rather than acting as a replacement for the now difficult-to-buy 2022 release. Brightness has been bumped from 3,000 lumens to 3,300 lumens on the new model. In real-world terms, you’re going to get a slightly better picture in ambient lighting conditions (I noticed a much better result in ambient lighting conditions compared to the 2,000 lumens X300G), and a more vivid picture when running from a longer throw distance as well. 

The X3100i also bumps up the contrast, swapping the X300i’s 500,000:1 ratio for 600,000:1. That boost in highs and lows, combined with the flexible HDR10 support, makes for a particularly enticing image overall, with particularly impressive execution in more cartoon-y, block-color, games.  

Vertical lens shift is another new addition here. A small scroll wheel on the top of the device allows the picture to be moved up and down your viewing space by 40-60%. This is a premium feature that doesn’t tend to see the light of day in this price range - it’s actually the first time I’ve tested a projector with the option, and it made my setup (from a desk, over the top of a bed) particularly easy. In the past, I’ve simply raised my standing desk to achieve the appropriate image height over cushions and other furniture - but not everyone has a motorized stand available. 

Then there’s a feature that has the potential to be the BenQ X3100i’s secret weapon; SettingXchange. This is software that, once downloaded to a connected PC or laptop, allows you to save image setting presets created by specialists specifically for certain games. That means anyone can enjoy the best of PS5 or Xbox Series X on the big screen without having to have a detailed working knowledge of projector settings. It’s a simple piece of software, though you’ll need the right cable to connect your projector to your computer. 

The final new feature is the upgraded streaming dongle available in the box. It’s not a massive deal for gamers (I typically use my PS5 for streaming anyway), but it now has Netflix, which is nice.  

Other than that, everything else has pretty much remained the same. You’re getting 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut as well as additional WCG (wide color gamut) which slots neatly into the system’s HDR process as well. Interestingly, the X3100i is rated for a slightly lower 95% coverage of the Rec.709 range than the X3000i which is set at 98%. 

The inbuilt 5W speakers are anything but an afterthought as well. While I still preferred using one of the best gaming headsets in my testing, my speaker-only sessions were still rich and loud, with an additional sense of accuracy from the virtual surround sound effect of Bongiovi DPS’s processing tech.  

The optical zoom and manual focus aren’t automatic in their setup but remain easily accessible on the side and there’s little expertise required to create the perfect image. I was able to knock both of these dials into place within seconds during setup, and didn’t need to touch them again. Keystoning is available via the software, but it’s not advisable, especially if you want the best image quality. 

It has all the ports you’ll need around the back as well, with two HDMI (though only generation 2.0) for those multi-platform users, as well as a USB Type-A for extra media or firmware updates. 

Performance

The first game I tested on the BenQ X3100i was Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, but its beige landscape and muddy browns didn’t really do the color range and contrast levels justice. To truly experience the vivid imagery the X3100i is capable of, I switched to Astro’s Playroom, and was instantly absorbed by the colorful landscapes and bold imagery. The X3100i excels in games where it can truly bring its HDR capabilities to the forefront, and the sheer bubblegum brightness of Astro’s Playroom was an excellent starting point. 

Picture quality is excellent straight out of the box, with a nice level of contrast, impressively sharp detailing (I could easily make out the folds and intricacies of Basim’s hoods and cloaks), and a deft handling of darker scenes with the correct HDR game mode applied. That contrast level wasn’t quite as high during more subtle scenes as I experienced during my testing of the XGIMI Horizon Ultra - BenQ has gone for speed over a total cinephile visual finesse, though. It does mean that Mirage’s landscapes can start to feel just a little washed compared to the experience one might find on a TV panel, and even compared to the slower image produced by XGIMI. 

I only ever noticed a slight rainbow effect during particularly stark moments - a developer’s logo splashing across a bright white surface, for example. 

SDR performance also felt natural across both gaming and movies - Netflix’s The 3 Body Problem ran well with a ‘Normal’ color temperature mode applied. I did have to run all my Asus ROG Ally gameplay in SDR modes, though, as - while the device itself can output in Dolby Vision - the HDR10 limitations of the projector kept that feature out of my reach. Gameplay was a little less punchy, obviously, but Octopath Traveller was still an impressive exploration of definition and clarity. Its pixelated visuals never appeared excessively blocky with the native sharpness of the projector, instead smoothly running across the wall with a rich texture to each scene. 

I ran both Assassin’s Creed: Mirage and Astro’s Playroom in 4K 60Hz on PS5, but dropped down to a speedier 1080p 240Hz for Apex Legends to test the BenQ X3100i’s speed. This was a blast - I haven’t personally played at high refresh rates like this on the big screen before, and everything felt pretty much as snappy as I would expect on a regular gaming TV. It’s a shame that we aren’t in a world where gaming projectors can run a 4K signal at 120Hz to fully keep up with PS5 and Xbox Series X yet - but until we are, this is the best experience I’ve had. I never once felt that my movements were running behind the visual and audio cues I received in-game, with each maneuver feeling snappy and responsive.  

This is a gaming projector first and foremost, but I was also impressed with HDR streaming content. As expected from my Astro Bot runs, animated shows are particularly impressive up on this big screen, with incredible vividity and clarity. However, more demanding programs like Glass Onion still held onto those crisp hues while providing a warm tone during more subdued sequences.

Should you buy the BenQ X3100i?

The BenQ X3100i is here to stay. It’s taking over from the previous generation model and carries a lookalike $2,399 / £2,099 MSRP. The only problem is the X3000i functions in a very similar manner, with the same speeds, resolutions, and core gaming profiles, and is significantly cheaper in its old age. It is incredibly difficult to find new, but if you don’t want to splash over $2K on a projector, you’ll find refurbished models on the shelves for around $1,299.99. While those supplies last, I’d recommend anyone conscious of their budget check out the previous generation first. 

However, if you’ve got some cash to splash and you want to future-proof your purchase with extra brightness, impressive features like vertical lens shift and SettingXchange, and improved contrast the BenQ X3100i is the best in the business right now. It’s far faster than the XGIMI Horizon Ultra and packs a better overall picture than the BenQ X300G. With speeds you just won’t find in other, home entertainment-oriented, devices, this is the best projector for PS5 or Xbox Series X I’ve tested yet. 

How I tested the BenQ X3100i

I used the BenQ X3100i for all my PS5 play over the course of three weeks, filtering in sessions on both the Asus ROG Ally and Nintendo Switch OLED during that time as well. I primarily tested across Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, Astro’s Playroom, and Apex Legends on PS5, with additional SDR play in Octopath Traveler on Asus ROG Ally and Super Mario RPG on Nintendo Switch. 

I tested across both HDR and SDR picture modes, employing each game genre preset as appropriate, and using both the inbuilt speakers and a separate gaming headset. I used a series of movies and shows to test both SDR and HDR content, including Glass Onion (HDR 4K), 3 Body Problem (in an SDR picture mode, 4K), and Exploding Kittens (SDR 1080p). For more information on how we make our recommendations, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.  

We’re also rounding up all the best outdoor projectors for those last summer weeks, as well as the best portable projectors on the market. If you’re finalizing your setup, you’ll also want to check out the best projector screens available as well.  

The clue’s in the name – the MSI Titan 18 HX is an absolute beast, but it’s one very few will need or afford. MSI has thrown everything at its latest flagship and this is as good as it gets in 2024, a real snapshot of peak gaming laptop performance as it stands today. Of course, to take a look at that picture you’ll need to fork over well over $5,000. With its 4K Mini LED display, desktop-like stature, and more creator-inspired features, though, this is more than a gaming laptop. It’s a pinnacle rig for wealthy gamers or those looking for an all-in-one media creation suite. It’s the best gaming laptop I’ve tested so far from a sheer performance standpoint, but it’s certainly not going to be for everyone.  

Design

Of course, an 18-inch powerhouse is always going to be big. The MSI Titan 18 HX measures in at 3.17 x 40.38 x 30.48cm and weighs 3.59kg. That’s right in the middle of other 18-inch machines; it’s heavier than the Razer Blade 18 and Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (both 3.1kg) but keeps things light compared to the Alienware M18 (4.23kg). It is, however, significantly thicker than the M18 at 3.17cm vs 2.66cm, making for a more unwieldy device overall. Add the extra length from the additional cooling shelf at the back (translating to between 1cm and 2cm larger footprint compared to Asus and Razer’s 18-inch models), and the MSI Titan is living up to its moniker.  

I don’t expect many to be actually lugging this machine around, though. Most 18-inch gaming laptops are designed to sit on a desk and stay there, with the option to close up that clamshell and relocate every now and then. If you’re considering taking this big-screen experience on the go regularly, though, I’d have to point you towards a slightly smaller model. As it stands, these dimensions won’t fit into a regular laptop backpack and after carrying it in a modified sling pouch for about 15 minutes I can confidently recommend nobody does the same.  

The overall aesthetic keeps things simple and subdued, though. A matte black lid with silver accents running across an industrially-styled cooling shelf (think that anti-slip metal flooring you’ll find on fairground rides) ensures a low profile - broken only by an RGB lit MSI logo in the centre of the lid. The solid construction and lack of any real flex in the lid means this looks and feels like a luxury design, though it’s not quite as slick as Razer’s classic CNC milled brick nor as RGB-friendly as Asus’s blaze of glory. There’s a little flex to the main keyboard, but only when explicitly feeling for it - everyday typing is immune. The whole device is solid, though, with no creaking or rattling, and a sturdy, dependable feel.  

Inside, I was initially met with a surprise. No trackpad? Of course, there is a pad here - it’s just fully haptic-based with no cutout from the main deck. That means it’s only visible via RGB lighting when the laptop is switched on, otherwise settling flush with the rest of the glass surface. What seemed cool at first, though, quickly became annoying. With no border to the trackpad itself I was constantly straying off to the side of the main deck during testing, a frustrating recurrence only made more frequent by the fact that this is a slightly smaller pad than you’ll usually find on an 18-inch model. The vast majority of users are likely going to be plugging a separate gaming mouse in, but it’s still finicky for quicker everyday use. 

Underneath, you’ll find a set of fairly high-rise rubber stilts used to keep plenty of space for airflow around the large number of vents. This is also where you’ll find a small blue accent running through the aesthetic, repeated towards the rear of the device as well. 

My unit came with some slight wear around one of the screws connecting the bottom panel. While it’s true that this is not a box-fresh device, and has likely been shipped around the country before heading my way, this could be a point of weakness during future use, especially if you’re opening up the rig regularly.

Features

This is a tricked out rig. Under the hood, you’ll find an RTX 4090 GPU running at its full 175W TDP, an Intel 14th generation i9-14900HX blazing through 24 cores and 32 threads, an overkill 128GB RAM, and split 2TB SSDs forming 4TB total storage. In theory, you can expand up to four memory slots. That’s an insane spec, one that the vast majority of players wouldn’t need to touch with a $5K barge pole, but if you’re going big with your next investment this is certainly where you’ll need to be looking.

Those kinds of specs mean the Titan 18 HX is going to be able to handle pretty much any computing task you could throw at it - and with a 4K Mini LED display that also includes content creation. The 120Hz panel does suffer for speed in favor of clarity and resolution, but it still offers up a gorgeous display. Gamers will benefit from extraordinary detail (though you’re dropping a little motion accuracy to get there, compared to machines using 165Hz or 240Hz panels) while creators will be able to view images in full resolution with excellent color reproduction. Local dimming means HDR content absolutely shines, with fantastic contrast ratios and a brightness that will put the OLED on the Razer Blade 16 to shame. Unfortunately, you’re out of luck if you do want to sacrifice that high-resolution quality for extra speed. The MSI Titan 18 HX only ships with this top-shelf display. 

There’s another flagship favorite here as well, one that I’ve only seen on the best Alienware laptops in the past, a full mechanical keyboard from Cherry and SteelSeries. The switches underneath offer a tactile feel with a satisfying clack and energetic movement. However, the actuation bump used in here does make repeat presses a little harder - spamming ‘E’ was a little slower on this deck than a regular chiclet style keyboard during my testing. I also noticed some ping running around the main deck when typing, usually the result of echo-y switches in a board that hasn’t been through the same sound dampening processes you’ll find in the best gaming keyboards these days. I came to this deck from gaming laptops with reduced layouts, so I was initially struggling to place my hands correctly when starting each session. Each key does feel a little more separated on this model, which could also explain some of the inaccuracy I felt - though this would be rectified with time and muscle memory.

18-inch gaming laptops want to completely replace your desktop, often without the need for an external hub or dock. That means you can expect a good range of ports, and the MSI Titan 18 HX delivers. The left panel houses the SD card reader and two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports with a third situated on the right side. Joining it are two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 options with one offering power delivery. I was pleased to find a few ports to the rear of the machine. This placement does wonders for cable management, keeping the sides of the machine free from a tangle of wires when placed on a desk. MSI, however, has limited these rear ports to connections you’ll only need to set and forget; power, HDMI 2.1, and Ethernet. Everything else remains flexible at the sides, even if that does mean a little sprawling. Personally, I prefer to keep everything to the back (Alienware generally keeps most of its connections hidden) - but if you’re constantly switching peripherals this is a more versatile arrangement. 

The Alienware M18 offers a similar array, though with older Gen 1 USB-A ports, but adds a Mini DisplayPort into the mix. However, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 is far behind here, only offering two USB-A connections and a single Thunderbolt 4 option among its two USB-C ports. It’s worth noting that the original Razer Blade 18 posted a single Thunderbolt 4 as well, though the 2024 version packs Thunderbolt 5 for the first time. In the real world, that means you’ll be able to run three 4K 144Hz monitors off a single port on the Blade 18, with the MSI Titan being limited to two. It also makes for more powerful charging - though neither of these machines are going to realistically be relying on USB-C power for much of their lives. I’ve never felt the need to run the MSI Titan 18 HX off a single Thunderbolt cable alone when it’s set up in full glory on my desk top. 

All that power needs some serious cooling, and that’s where MSI’s vapor chamber comes in. The system uses two fans with four exhausts and those aforementioned stilts to keep everything running smoothly. I never noticed temperatures creeping to uncomfortable levels during my testing, and both CPU and GPU performance never suggested any kind of thermal throttling. The fans themselves can certainly rev, though. It’s by no means as deafening as something like the Alienware machines of yore, but you’ll still need a gaming headset when playing at full whack. 

And MSI can go to full whack. The Titan 18 HX features the brand’s Overboost Ultra tech - a fancy way of saying you can set the performance to max and keep everything running off the dedicated GPU. All of this is done in MSI Center, a refreshingly non-gamer vibing piece of software that houses all your performance stats and AI offerings. I’m not a massive fan of this suite - it seems to hide certain features under different user scenarios, some of which feel at odds with the functions they hide. It meant I was regularly digging through unintuitive menus during my testing, simply to swap between fan states. 

You’ll find the AI Engine housed here, though, a mode that allows the system to automatically apply certain performance settings and allocate more resource towards certain processes during individual tasks. There are four scenarios currently recognized by the laptop itself, meetings, work, gaming, and entertainment. This is a minor feature in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a set-and-forget function that can come in particularly handy when running through different tasks regularly. It’s often the quieter features that you don’t have to notice that make the best rigs. For all my MSI Center frustrations, I was menu-free when swapping between writing and gaming - and that’s not something I could have said last year. It’s another nod to the holistic approach the Titan is taking, aiming squarely at a small (but willing-to-pay) market of professionals looking for a content creation and gaming desktop replacement. 

That target means the Titan also houses a solid FHD webcam, bright and detailed enough for work calls by not quite broadcast-worthy, and a responsive microphone system. The ‘desktop replacement’ part of that market also means that the battery is just awful. MSI never really expected this to be a portable machine, so it’s understandable that I was only able to draw about an hour of work across Google Chrome and a few image editing programs out of a full charge. Judging this laptop based on its battery life would be like judging an F1 car on its subwoofer, though - it’s just not designed to use it. 

Performance

Nobody’s questioning whether or not the MSI Titan 18 HX can perform. With guts like this, someone would have seriously messed up if framerates weren’t through the roof. It’s no surprise, then, that this is - on the whole - the most powerful rig I’ve tested to date. That glory was previously awarded to the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (both the 2023 and 2024 versions), but the Titan has just nudged the edge in here. It didn’t hit the top of the pack in every test, sometimes the Alienware M18 or Scar 18 would sneak ahead, but it outperformed both models far more often than not.  

The first test I always run is 3D Mark’s suite of graphical benchmarks. Time Spy is the go-to for a QHD benchmark, testing the system’s GPU, CPU, and RAM across a synthetic process to reveal a final score. RTX 4090 GPUs have averaged a score of around 17,000 here in my testing to date. The MSI Titan 18 HX hit 20,491 - beating the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18’s 20,132 position but just missing the 2024 model’s 20,666 score. 

Fire Strike is an easier run, giving 1080p performance more space especially in a 4K-designed 18-inch rig like this. As expected, the MSI Titan 18 HX posted the highest score I’ve seen here yet, with a 36,083 final figure dominating over the 2023 and 2024 Strix Scar 18’s 34,507 and 33,092 respective results. 

Real-world testing in-game revealed the MSI Titan 18 HX’s prowess in older games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Total War: Three Kingdoms, where the system just managed to close out the winnings across my full 18-inch comparison suite. While the former is a relatively Nvidia-friendly title, and generally the easiest to run of all the benchmarked games, Total War can still be a slog despite its age. 

However, the Titan did fall on Returnal. I repeated these tests frequently, using the same parameters I always set up for laptop benchmarks, and couldn’t get anywhere near other machine’s results. Whether this is an issue software-side, or an interaction with another function within the MSI’s ecosystem remains, but it doesn’t feel like a faithful representation of the power on offer here. 

Unfortunately, The Talos Principle 2 is a benchmark I’ve only just started using and so I don’t have data for the Alienware M18 or either Strix Scar model. Instead, you’ll find the next best thing, a Razer Blade 16 recently tested with an RTX 4090 GPU, and an Alienware M16 R2 with an RTX 4070 for pricing scale.

We’ve come a long way since gaming laptops first started to consider 4K resolutions. It certainly wasn’t within reach back then, but it might just be now. This is the first time I’ve comfortably played faster titles in UHD resolution without any graphical tweaks and not been stuck under 60fps. High settings are more than runnable here, with three-figure 4K framerates on Shadow of the Tomb Raider and a comfortable 60+fps in more demanding titles as well. Bumping things up to ultra settings did land me underneath that 60fps threshold, but with the help of DLSS 3 I was able to bench 68fps in The Talos Principle 3 at 4K Ultra. It might take a few workarounds, but speedy 4K gaming is a real possibility here - and that’s not something I’ve written about a gaming laptop before.

Should you buy the MSI Titan 18 HX?

The MSI Titan 18 HX is true feat. An overpowered juggernaut as pricey as it is powerful, this is a specialized piece of kit no doubt. It’s just not going to make sense for the vast majority of players, though. I don’t know of too many people looking to drop a cool $5K on a gaming laptop these days - but there’s one crowd that’s going to go nuts for this tech. Content creators with a penchant for high-end gaming should be going all out here - this is as good as it’s going to get and if you’ve got the cash I can’t think of a better place to put it. 

For the rest of us, the MSI Titan 18 HX’s price point only solidifies just how good of a deal the Alienware M18 is. Of course, you’re going to be dropping some frames, picking up some older ports, and that screen won’t get you nearly as far, but for performance value the M18 remains my favorite 18-inch model on the market. 

How I tested the MSI Titan 18 HX

I used the MSI Titan 18 HX for all work and play over the course of three weeks, using the machine standalone and connected to a monitor via a dock. During that time I benchmarked across synthetic tests Geekbench 6, PC Mark 10, 3D Mark’s Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad, and Cinebench R24. I also took real-world benchmarks from Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Returnal, and The Talos Principle 2 in FHD, QHD+, and UHD+ resolutions and varying graphical settings. I also used the laptop for everyday play across Octopath Traveler, Fall Guys, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. For more information on how we test gaming laptops, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy. 

I’ve also had my hands on all the best Razer laptops and the best Asus gaming laptops. Or, for something even more portable, check out the best handhelds on the market.  

Lego's entire Sonic range is a beautiful dose of nostalgia for so many, and the little touches of detail in this action-focused Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot set will tick a lot of fan boxes. From the tiny little creatures that 'turn into' robots, to the towering Death Egg Robot itself, this set has a lot of personality - and kicks serious butt. 

Whether you'll be happy with your younger Lego builders wielding this set unsupervised is certainly a question I'm not qualified to answer. It isn't one of the best Lego sets of all time, either. But it's certainly going to create some fun storylines as you put Sonic up against his age-old nemesis Dr. Eggman in this set. 

Features & design

• Features a robot, minifigs, & accessories
• Relatively small in size
• Fun interactive touches

The Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot set is only 615 pieces but feels like a lot more because you're building lots of smaller elements to round out this imaginative set. I personally find the fact it's not contained within one build a bit frustrating purely for display purposes, but this set is laser-targeted at kids who are going to play and get creative with this set. 

There are so many little nods to the original Sonic games with this set, from the little lab where animals can be turned into Dr. Eggman's bots to the golden ring floating on a see-through plinth, that this makes for a great set for the entire family to enjoy too. Not necessarily one of the best Lego sets, but fun nonetheless.

Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot (76993) build

• Takes around 2.5 hours
• Fairly straightforward build
• Some more complex elements

Because there are so many smaller elements of the Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot set to build alongside the larger, more complex Death Egg Robot, it makes this a wonderfully varied build. I particularly liked that there's a variety in pace to proceedings, starting with the smaller bits as almost a warm-up to the main event, which is definitely the mech itself. 

What's interesting about that part of the build though is the fact you build smaller sections at a time and then click them onto the mech. It keeps things feeling fun, and keeps you guessing as to how it's all going to fit together. The working weaponry is also fascinating from a mechanical point of view too.

I'm still not entirely sure how successful the middle portion of the mech actually is though. The build book outlines that you should be able to slam the back portion in to cause the front panel to fly off and ideally into the incoming Sonic, but no matter how hard I try (and I even got my partner involved) that front section isn't budging for me. I've even ensured that I've actually put everything together correctly and rebuilt it again, but to no avail. If I'm not strong enough - or potentially smart enough - to figure it out then I doubt little builders will have any chance. 

One other odd little quirk was that the build instructions stated the turtle and second bird were in bag three, but were actually in bag five. That's not a huge deal, but I did worry that they'd been lost as I emptied the bags onto my coffee table. 

Design

• Plenty of interactive elements
• No way to cohesively store all the elements
• Mech is seriously cool

I was delighted to discover how many little characters you get with the Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot set. The Sonic minifig is an excellent rendition of the Blue Blur, but then you also get the heavily mustachioed Dr. Eggman, and there's also the surprise addition of building a quirky robot minion for him too. The trio of critters makes for cute bonus friends for this set as well.

The best thing about the Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot set is how creative you can get with the storytelling. Sonic in his speed sphere can be launched directly at Dr. Eggman in his robot mech suit, via the spikes and ramps that are also included as part of the build. Then the Death Egg Robot itself is armed to the teeth, with a working minigun-esque arm that fires out studs with alarming speed and range. Seriously, they could take an eye out, which may well be a concern for parents. It does work impressively well though, and certainly adds to the drama of the boss battle this set creates. 

As mentioned before, the Death Egg Robot also comes with a mechanism that lets you push away incoming attacks, but despite it all being built correctly, I just can't get it to function properly, which is frustrating – and would no doubt be more so for kids. 

Of course, there are also the added extras with this set outside of Sonic and Dr. Eggman. There's also a little sciencey montage where you can let Dr. Eggman turn Sonic's little pals - an adorable turtle and duo of birds - into robots. Or you could, of course, let Sonic turn them back into critters again. All those features, plus the added elements, including a gold ring, make this set really interactive and I could imagine kids having hours of fun building a story around the battle that's about to ensue. 

Should you buy Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot (76993)?

Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot set ticks a lot of boxes. It's a nostalgic build for the whole family. The attention to detail is a fantastic celebration for Sonic fans, while the interactivity makes it a great joy for all kinds of Lego enthusiasts to enjoy. It might not be the most display-worthy set in full, but there's something for everyone with this action-packed build.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot (76993)

This sample was provided by a third-party PR company on behalf of Lego.

I built the Lego Sonic vs. Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Robot set on one rainy Saturday afternoon watching the Handmaid's Tale - I know, what a juxtaposition. I assessed the ease of the build, how straightforward the instructions were, and how satisfying the build was overall to complete.

For more information on our process, check out our guide on how we test products.

The Endgame Gear OP1 8K is here to take the top spot in the brand’s lineup of high-octane gaming mice. At first glance, this is a wired sibling of pretty much every other Endgame Gear rodent, but looking a little closer it’s obvious that there’s something else going on here. This is an extremely lightweight FPS-first pointer with a slick set of switches under the hood, impressively accurate sensor, and a comfortable, compact form factor. It’s a wired model, yes, but it’s the best corded gaming mouse I’ve tested yet - and it more than gets away with its tail. 

The world of the best gaming mouse models has evolved in the last few years, but the move to wireless hyper-polling has been a pricey one. With 8K Hz models like this on the shelves, it’s getting difficult to justify the extra expenditure on those 2.4GHz receivers. I spent three weeks testing the Endgame Gear OP1 8K, and it might have brought be back to the wired world. 

Design

It’s true, there’s very little telling different Endgame Gear OP1 or XM2 mice apart, aside from the odd RGB variant and the cords sticking out of some. These mice generally share the same simple aesthetic, a matte black or white, and relaxed, minimalist form factor. The Endgame Gear OP1 8K is no different. 

This is a symmetrical right-handed gaming mouse with a slightly smaller size than you’ll find elsewhere. It’s a little shorter than the Razer Viper V2 Pro and a little slimmer than the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 around the middle. The retrained base does open up to a wider rear, which pockets itself neatly into position for a claw grip. That’s where I found my stance - the smaller shape means those with larger hands will struggle to stay comfortable in the same grip, so this is more of a claw / fingertip option. 

Once you do get your paws on it, though, it’s obvious that the OP1 8K has been built with love. It weighs in at just 50.5g, so I’ll confess I did find it to feel a little cheap when taken straight out of the box - but I always do when I’m surprised by the low weight of a gaming mouse. My initial judgements were reversed after flinging it around the battlefield for a little while. Everything feels incredibly well put together, with no creaks anywhere and no rattles under the hood (even after I’d tinkered inside - more on that later).

That solid build can often go unnoticed, but it’s the soft-touch coating across the outer plastic that really seals the deal. It’s got an almost misty touch-feel that manages to stay smooth and cool while still providing enough grip to flick across more competitive endeavours. Plus, if you need a little extra texture you’ll find two grip tape sheets in the box as well.

That super low weight has much of the market beat. Granted, that’s a lot easier to do with a wired connection - but it’s still worth noting that the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 (60g), Razer Viper V3 Pro (54g), and Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed (55g) are all heavier - and these are some of the biggest names in FPS mice right now. 

That low weight is supported by a set of super slick PTFE skates, sitting a little higher than you’d usually see them. These are swappable, with another set included in the box, but the feet installed straight out the box move particularly well over my Corsair MM700 RGB Extended mouse pad - almost hovering above the surface. 

The cable itself is this mouse’s biggest unsung hero, but by itself it’s nothing special. This is the same paracord design that you’ll find in a range of different wired gaming mice, but Endgame’s angled the actual connection up and away from the surface. It’s not something I’ve seen before, but I can’t quite work out why. It essentially drops cable drag to zero, acting almost as a built-in bungee before your cable even really starts. As a result, this is about as wireless-feeling as you’re going to get in a wired gaming mouse.

Features

I’ll get one thing out the way first, the 8K polling rate (the ‘8K’ part of the mouse’s whole name) really isn’t the only thing you should be looking at. In fact, I wouldn’t put it in the top ten features players should really be concerned about when picking up a gaming mouse. It’s a nice to have, but considering very (very) few players will actually notice a difference in polling rate outside of a billion dollar stadium event, it’s a bit of marketing hype that seems to have travelled fast. Yes, the OP1 8K can talk to your computer very quickly - but it’s far more impressive than that. 

Really, we should be celebrating these switches. Endgame has installed Kailh GX SPDT clickers under its main buttons, which can be configured between two modes. The first essentially allows you to register a click much faster, only requiring the top plate of the switch to be engaged rather than waiting for the full bottom out. You can go the other way, though, opting for extra protection against accidental double clicks by boosting debounce. Both of these settings are controlled via software and saved directly on the mouse’s onboard storage. 

Not only that, but this is also the first stab I’ve seen at swappable gaming mouse switches. The rodent’s innards are easily accessible via two screws at the bottom of the device (a screwdriver is supplied in the box - magnetized for extra points). Once you’re in you’ll just need to unscrew the PCB, remove the old switches, plug in new ones, and screw everything back together. You’ll be limited to Endgame’s own selection of after market switches, with a range of brands up for grabs, but I’d stick to Kailh GX models for the full SPDT features. 

The switches featured from the get-go offer a nice tension under the main button, with a snappy, fairly high-pitched click - but they’re a little heavier than those you might find in a Viper, for example. They avoided feeling sluggish in my testing, but I did feel the minute level of extra force a little at the start and end of a session. Thankfully, Endgame has a set of lighter Kailh clackers on its site for swapping. 

Two extra buttons sit fairly tall on the profile of the body itself, but are easily hit due to their pronounced height compared to the flat side. These are much louder and more hollow compared to the main clicks, with the rear button offering a little more tension. They were pleasant and comfortable, though, and I came to enjoy the stark sound of their actuation. 

I was surprised by the software. I’ve come from a world where Razer Synapse eats half my laptop’s processing power, where Corsair iCue tries to launch every time my computer wakes from sleep, and where Logitech G Hub sometimes goes through a spell of inundating me with the same notification every 15 minutes. I test a lot of different brands, which means I have to keep my laptop loaded with all their kit - and sometimes it begs for death. So when Endgame’s small 1990s style window appeared on my screen, I initially thought it was the installer. Thumbing through the three different tabs, all laid out with simple, no-nonsense customization options, I felt like I’d smashed my iPhone, cancelled all my subscriptions, and fled to the woods.

This is very basic software, free from the bloat, gloat, and gluttony of other brands’ offerings. There’s no marketing, no need to keep it running in the background, no permissions required. Just the boxes you need to tick and you’re done. I love it. I was still able to assign all my usual keybindings (though if you typically use more convoluted macros you might struggle here), while also adjusting things like DPI and lift-off distances. This is where you’ll also toggle different SPDT features within the switches, as well as using Motion Sync (to avoid clicks when lifting and dropping the mouse). 

Performance

This is a gaming mouse that has been set up for success. Between its super-fast clicks and nippy, accurate sensor, it can take pretty much anything you throw at it. It’s a master of the barebones mechanics of actually playing your games, dropping a few fancier gyroscopic or acceleration features you might find elsewhere in order to keep up with your movements when it counts. I found tracking speeds and accuracy to be perfectly in tune with my movement across Apex Legends and CS2, with incredibly fast clicks (especially when set to their Speed setting) seemingly actuating before I felt my hand move.

The side buttons, sometimes a point of weakness for a gaming mouse that puts so much emphasis on its sensor, feel fantastic and are easily findable during the heat of battle. The much larger back button makes for a particularly easy shot, as I often found myself simply twitching my thumb back to actuate. In alternatives like the Razer Viper or Logitech Superlight I often have to physically lift my thumb and move it back in order to hit this button reliably - this was much faster, and much more comfortable. 

This was all tested with the full 8,000Hz polling rate, but my experience remained identical when dropped down to 4,000Hz. If you’re more competitively minded, you may notice a difference in the full tracking cycle between you, the mouse, and your on-screen movements, but I was able to get by easily on a lower frequency. 

Should you buy the Endgame Gear OP1 8K?

The Endgame Gear OP1 8K is a fantastic wired gaming mouse, pushing far more expensive wireless devices to be better in almost every way. It strips back a lot of the aesthetic appeal you might find in RGB lighting or a cord-free device, but still looks fantastic on the desk top. While its 26K DPI / 650 IPS sensor might not match the paper specs of something from Razer or Logitech, that PixArt3395 number isn’t to be messed with - it’s supremely slick, often outperforming devices with far higher specs. 

The size and shape might be a point of contention, though. If you have larger hands, or you prefer a more pointedly ergonomically minded design, the $69.99 / £69.99 price point of the Razer DeathAdder V3 is difficult to argue with. However, considering the Razer Viper V3 Pro and Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 are both over double the price of the Endgame Gear OP1 8K there’s certainly a spot for this smaller option on the market.  

How we tested the Endgame Gear OP1 8K

I used the OP1 8K for three weeks, dedicating all daily work and play to the device while also testing against the Razer Viper V3 Pro, Razer Viper V2 Pro, and Glorious Model D 2 Wireless. In that time, I used faster games like Apex Legends and Counter Strike to test the competitive gameplay experience, while running Octopath Traveler, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and Fallout 4 for a more mixed genre understanding. For more information on how we test gaming mice, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy. 

We’re also rounding up all the best wireless gaming mouse models on the market, as well as the best Razer mice and the best Logitech gaming mice as well. 

Despite being a relatively unknown and new brand on the scene, the Nextorage NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD is perhaps one of the best budget options you can buy at the moment. The SSD market space is dominated by your juggernauts in WD and Seagate at, usually, a steeper entry point. Nextorage aims to compete with those big names and does so with a very impressive foray. 

Now, you might not be familiar with the name "Nextorage" but you will certainly be familiar with the team that has worked on its storage devices. The company was formed in October 2019 by former Sony staff members who had over 20 years of experience working within the brand's memory and storage divisions. Not only that, but Sony is a minority owner of the company. But why does it matter? Because it inspires a lot of confidence in the NEM-PA Series that not only has it been designed by experts who know the PS5, but that it will excel against the best SSDs for gaming. 

I was personally a bit apprehensive about testing a relatively unknown brand of SSD. I wasn’t quite sure what I was in for or if it would meet the expectations that I have about expanded storage. However, a new brand showing up to the table boasting impressive read (7,300 MB/s) and write (6,900 MB/s) speeds does make you sit up and take notice. Not only that, but Nextorage brings these speeds to the table at reasonable price points, with 1TB remaining pretty reasonable at $89.99/£74.99. Will its impressive specs stand up against the best SSDs for PS5?

Design & Features

With its focus firmly placed on being an expansion of your PlayStation 5’s storage, the NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD comes with a built-in, integrated heatsink. This isn’t anything revolutionary, but it does make it much easier for the consumer to just unbox and install. The heatsink attached to the NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD has a good weight and look to it, one that I personally believe fits in quite nicely with the internals of the PS5. Like competing brands such as Western Digital and Seagate, Nextorage does not recommend that you remove the heatsink from the drive, doing so could seriously impact performance so it’s best to keep it attached - this goes for PC use too.

The NEM-PA Series can be found in a few different sizes.  As well as the 1TB model, 2TB will cost you $159.99/£137.99, 4TB will set you back $319.99/£288.99, and 8TB is priced at a comical $869.99/£805.99. Regardless, you won’t be stuck for choice for either size and price. I'm testing the 4TB model for this review.

Nextorage describes its heatsink as an “optimized cooling structure” which is made up of an “aluminum heatsink coated with a highly thermally radioactive black aluminate, which suppresses thermal throttling”. Essentially, it keeps the device very cool, even under strain. Upon removing the device from my PS5 after use, it remained fairly cool to the touch and any remaining heat quickly dissipated. Unfortunately, I was unable to test temperatures to an exact degree.

Aside from that there isn’t much more to discuss about this SSD's visuals - after all, it’s going to be boxed up and hidden from sight inside of your PS5 anyway. Admittedly, when trying to install it into my PC I did have some issues with the size of the heatsink. I had to really play around with the internals to get it to fit amongst all my other components - although this may be specific to my personal machine and not reflective of the drive. The heatsink certainly isn't as large as the Crucial T700 Pro, so while it could be smaller, it will likely still fit in one of the best gaming PCs.

Speaking of size, the NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD’s dimensions are 80.4mm x 11.2mm x 23mm, which means it bolts down in the “80” rung in your PS5's M.2 slot without any issues. Strictly speaking, this is despite an advertised 0.4mm difference in size to what Sony recommends throwing in your console.

Performance

The advertised read speeds of 7,300MB/s would put the NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD ahead of the WB Black SN850X and the Samsung 980 Pro and put it alongside the Seagate Firecuda 530. Unfortunately, when installing into the PS5 this drive didn’t quite hit those advertised marks, but that's the case for all of these high-end drives.

Regardless, these speeds mean that Nextorage's drive competes with some of the best Gen 4 SSDs on the market, and it actually surpasses some of the biggest players. Keep in mind, it does so at a cheaper price as it beats the Samsung 980 Pro in the 2TB race by ~$10/£18 and it comes in ~$129/£123 cheaper than the Seagate Firecuda 530 2TB. Considering the brand is new on the scene compared to the more recognizable names, it doesn’t hurt that the price of entry is lower for a similar quality in performance.

When I inserted the drive into the PS5, the internal benchmark gave me a read speed of 6,539MB/s for the 4TB drive. This falls 341MB/s short of the advertised 6,900MB/s, which, in fairness, is a small difference. More expensive drives with official licensing like the WD Black SN850P have fallen far shorter. On the bright side, you are still getting a read speed that is higher than the PS5's internal SSD. In all likelihood, you won’t notice those 341MB/s when loading games up anyway.

Moving over to my PC and testing the drive through CrystalDiskMark, it showed me numbers that actually surpassed the advertised write speeds, clocking in an average of 6,924MB/s across three tests. I was actually very impressed that despite advertising lower speeds, the drive marginally overtook what was expected. Overall, CrystalDiskMark measured the drive as having an average read/write speed of 6,971MB/s and 6,924MB/s respectively.

These numbers make for a drive that is very usable within your PS5. Now, it is worth noting that advertised speeds are usually more of a ceiling or guide as to what speeds to expect rather than a limit or guarantee.

For context, I was able to transfer Alan Wake 2 from the internal stock SSD in the PS5 to the NEM-PA Series in only 30 seconds from an average of 3 tests. That’s 77.87GB in less than half a minute. In return transfers, Alan Wake 2 moved back to the internal SSD of the PS5 in 5 minutes and 20 seconds. 

Load times for games, as you would expect, were lightning-quick in almost every test. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 booted from the main menu into gameplay in a mere 5 seconds, Grand Theft Auto V’s story mode loaded in a slightly slower 13 seconds, Ubisoft’s Far Cry 6 had me from menu to game in a speedy 9 seconds, and finally, Ratchet and Clank went from the main menu to gameplay in just over 1 second (1.72 seconds to be exact). The bottom line is that you’ll be in your games within no time at all thanks to this drive - no more quick coffee or tea breaks while your games load. It was honestly quite overwhelming having the instant speeds that Nextorage's PS5 SSD provides. Similarly, the massive amount of storage that was suddenly at my fingertips was unreal. With 4TB at my disposal, I struggled to fill even 1.5TB of the huge amount of space during my period of testing - that’s like 10 and a half Call of Duty Warzones worth of space left.

Should you buy the Nextorage NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD?

As I have mentioned before, Nextorage’s NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD comes to the market to challenge the big names in the SSD space while also hitting a respectable and budget-friendly price, and it does just that. While there are certainly drives in the Gen 4 space that run a little faster or look more visually appealing, it competes with some of the best PS5 SSDs on the market and at a reasonable price that remains closer to some of the best PS5 external hard drives.

With an entry-level price of $89.99/£74.99 for the 1TB model and the larger capacities similarly undercutting the biggest names, it is without a doubt one of the better value-for-money SSDs that you can currently buy. Although, having said that, if the Samsung 990 Pro or the Seagate Firecuda is on sale and lower than the NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD then it may be worthwhile looking into those drives and choosing them over it - it should be considered though that the integrated heatsink models of those rivals tend to be a lot more expensive.

This drive does what it set out to do, provide a cheaper alternative in the SSD space while not compromising on read and write speeds. If you are in the market for a new SSD for your PS5 then choosing the NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD is a solid choice (pun fully intended).

How we tested the Nextorage NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD

I used the Nextorage NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD inside my PS5 for about a week before this review and filled up almost 2TB worth of the 4TB storage provided by the drive. 

Using the PS5’s own internal installation benchmark I tested the drive's read speed in the console. Once installed inside the PlayStation, I transferred games to the device and then back to the PS5 to get an idea of the read and write speeds that the drive provides. Following this I then began testing the load times of games and timed how long it takes for each game (Spider-Man 2, GTA V, Ratchet and Clank, Far Cry 6) to load into the game from the main menu. I then played each game for a little bit to get a feel of load times while playing. I chose Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet and Clank as they are two PS5 exclusive titles that take advantage of the internal SSD, I wanted to test if the speeds of the NEM-PA Series PS5 SSD were comparable to the speeds of the stock drive. I tested GTA V and Far Cry 6 as they typically take longer to load.

As for PC benchmarks, I used CrystalDiskMark to test the drive while inside the PC to test the drive's read and write speeds. Each test was conducted three times each and an average was taken for the final figures in the review.

For more on the ways we test the latest PS5 accessories, take a look at our hardware policy.

If you've been RAM shopping during big sales events recently, you'll likely have heard of T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 RAM. The same is true of T-Force's DDR4 kits, as TEAMGROUP has built a strong reputation with budget buyers looking for solid gaming performance on the cheap. 

For that reason, I've been especially keen to test out T-Force's wares - I'm a big fan of value, particularly when it comes to the best RAM for gaming these days. DDR5 is great, and regardless of what your jaded friend who doesn't think you should upgrade says, it does offer a noticeable performance boost over last-generation memory. In fairness though, it has taken a while to come down to an affordable price. Not only that but the requirement for a new motherboard means it seems like more hassle than it's worth.

If TEAMGROUP's T-Force memory is going to target the deals hunters and budget buyers, it's already doing its part to stand out from the DDR5 pack - especially when there isn't much that truly separates one kit from another. As always with my RAM reviews, I've tested 32GB (2x 16GB sticks) here. Although T-Force's DDR5 can be found in a surprising range of speeds and capacities, I opted for the 6000MHz model, since it's always a strong middle ground to test. This kit can be found for $109.99 / £115 but is often on offer for less during the likes of Black Friday. Let's see if it's worth it.

Design

With sharp, angular cuts, bold logos, and RGB on their tops, T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 is clearly recognizable as RAM pitched at gamers. TEAMGROUP says the shape of its sticks is modeled after stealth aircraft, which definitely comes across when you take them in from the side. Annoyingly, when seated in one of the best gaming PCs, the shape doesn't really translate to much. The RGB on the top looks great, but the angular cuts sort of get lost in the color of it all. 

Regardless, the lighting itself looks pretty, and I especially like that the array spans along the sides of the sticks too, as it helps to spread the colors further inside a rig. T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 is available in black or white, which is always a nice choice to have when today's best PC cases create a want for components of matching colors. 

As I touched on up above, there's a surprisingly large range of configurations available for this RAM. The 32GB packs start at 5200MHz and increase incrementally to 8000MHz. You can opt for up to 96GB (2x 48GB sticks), but annoyingly the most you seem to be able to buy in one pack is two sticks, so for people looking to bargain-buy four, you'll likely still need to part with a considerable sum. Regardless, I applaud T-Force for creating such a wide range of available kits - especially when the best CPU for gaming pool in the DDR5 space is beginning to deepen.

Of course, the "gamer" aesthetics on the side aren't just for show. Built into the outer panels of this RAM is strengthened PMIC cooling tech, which T-Force says is made of thermally conductive silicon. I have to say, whenever I felt the sticks soon after use, they didn't feel particularly hot to the touch, so this clearly does the job.

Overall in the looks department, T-Force is definitely up there with XPG Lancer RGB DDR5, but I don't think its RGB shines quite as brightly or looks as nice as Klevv Cras XR5 RGB DDR5.

Features

Let's talk features, then. T-Force's Delta RAM has support for Intel XMP 3.0 as well as AMD EXPO out of the box. I particularly like this for people buying on the cheap, because it's far more likely they're the sort of player that asks "What is XMP and how do you enable it". T-Force's RAM makes it easy for people on either side of the processor war, and the fact it has two XMP and EXPO profiles on board makes overclocking nice and easy for everyone. 

For the more technically-minded, T-Force has installed PMICS (power management integrated circuits) for added stability and efficient power usage, and as we'll see, this lined up with the stability of a lot of the other DDR5 kits we've tested. Similarly, as is pretty standard with DDR5 memory, there's on-die ECC (error correction code) as well - this is yet another brand making Crucial DDR5 Pro RAM stick out like a sore thumb for its omission of this.

The RGB used features support for ASRock, Asus, Biostar, Gigabyte, and MSI motherboard software. Anyone buying will gain a lifetime warranty. 

Performance

Before I get into the great stuff about this RAM, I want to touch on the cons I've listed at the top of this review. Firstly, I've mentioned that overlockers may prefer other memory, and I want to explain that slightly. While I did do a few tests at different speeds and using the two XMP profiles, I must admit that I haven't tested its overclocking capabilities to the maximum.

We review RAM for the everyday gamer, so while we test overclocking capability within the safe boundaries of XMP capabilities, we aren't going to test its upper-most limits. The reason I think overclockers may be better served elsewhere is more because of the range of speeds TEAMGROUP has released. To me, that signals that they're not designing this RAM to be overclocked too highly, they're targeting speeds to different buyers. Sabrent's Rocket DDR5, for example, which is our favorite memory for overclocking, is only really available at one speed because it treats that 4800MHz as a floor, not a ceiling.

Secondly, it's honestly hard to say that T-Force's Delta RGB DDR5 being "just as good" as other current-gen memory is a sin. In truth, it's hard to fault this memory's performance because it does everything well, but besides its price, it doesn't do all that much that other RAM doesn't. There's no one feature you get here that you won't find elsewhere, and if the promotions and offers start to dry up, it may struggle to be competitive against bigger brands that are better known.

Luckily, I regularly see T-Force RAM on offer at the moment, and that's something to celebrate. On the flip side of what I've just said, you're getting RAM performance that's in line with the top competitors in the space for cheaper than usual, making this memory great value. 

Readings and voltages attest to that, since they're exactly in line with what we've found previously, and are arguably on the more stable side of the equation. 1.10V is fairly standard, and readings of 36-36-36-76 are pretty much exactly what you want to see with 32GB of DDR5 RAM running at an advertised speed of 6000MHz. 

But how do these numbers translate to gaming performance? Well, while frame rates aren't the perfect test for assessing RAM, I have noticed that playing around with XMP profiles and MHz speeds can have a big impact on frame rate stability, and sometimes can have a smaller impact on frame rates themselves. Particularly if you're using a lower-end GPU, I've found that tinkering with XMP and RAM speeds can help when moving into higher resolutions. 

I took to our three go-to testing games to see how T-Force's kit compared to others.

Across the board, T-Force's RAM performed a bit better than Crucial's DDR5 Pro (although that was tested at its advertised 5000MHz). By and large though, these frame rates are on par with what we've seen from other DDR5 memory.

I will say that in general use, this RAM performed great, even when I was testing it by opening copious tabs and file explorer windows. As is the case with pretty much any DDR5, you're not going to struggle when it comes to multitasking, or see any slow-down or stuttering in content creation. 

Should you buy T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 RAM?

If you see T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 RAM on sale for cheaper than the majority of competitors, don't be afraid to pull the trigger on it. You get an aesthetically pleasing, powerful memory kit that's every bit as good as more expensive memory.

As you may have guessed when I discussed its cons earlier, you have to nit-pick to detail this memory's faults, and when that's true of a product that can regularly be picked up for less than its rivals, you know you're onto a winner. 

How we tested T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 RAM

I tested T-Force's Delta RGB DDR5 RAM by sticking it in our testing PC, which comprises an Intel i7-13700K CPU, a Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X motherboard, a PNY M.2 SSD, and an RTX 3050.

I tested two 16GB sticks that have an advertised speed of 6000MHz, so I tested its performance at various speeds surrounding that figure, also dabbling in both of its Intel XMP on-board profiles. The recorded frame rates in the performance section were taken when the RAM was set to XMP Profile 1, running at 6000MHz.

For more on our testing methodology, check out our hardware policy. 

For more on gaming PC components, take a look at the best graphics cards, the best SSDs for gaming, and the best computer speakers.

As someone who's been using external capture cards for just shy of a decade, the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 had me intrigued from the get-go. I've always kept to the Elgato side of the market, and even if that brand's previous options have been a cornerstone of my content creation setup, I've been waiting to be truly won over by a competitor.

AverMedia has been one of the only true, long-standing rivals to Elgato in the best capture card race, but its products have never done enough to make me switch camps. Its latest external option, the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1, is particularly enticing because it allows 4K60 passthrough and recording, but more importantly, variable passthrough refresh rates of up to 144Hz. As consoles continue to achieve slicker frame rates, the ability to reliably record footage while not compromising on in-game performance is a bigger and bigger draw. 

At $299.99 / £279.99 though, is this enough to make status-quo Elgato options look second-rate? And do most players really need to spend that much for the features on offer here? Well, as someone who's always been scared to spend that type of money on a brand that doesn't seem as gaming-focused as Elgato, I can say my fears have well and truly gone.

Design

Capture cards don't usually put much emphasis on their aesthetics. For the most part, they're simple little black boxes that have some minor branding but don't exactly sing and dance. The AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 has a tantalizing RGB array on its front though, which really cements it as something that tries to go above and beyond what's come before. You can sync this RGB lighting with your PC hardware if you're so inclined, and at the time of writing, AverMedia has support for ASRock Polychrome and MSI Mystic Light, as well as settings in its own gaming utility tool. 

Pretty lighting aside, the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 is still easy on the eye. It sits flat and routes all of its cables through its spine, making it easy to access and lovely to display on a TV stand or gaming desk. 

Remarkably, as light as this capture card is at 115g, it actually manages to sit flat when cables are routed through it. Most of the best HDMI cables are so thick that they make horizontal capture cards like this sit up on one end, but the Ultra 2.1 holds fast, which is something we found the AverMedia Live Gamer Extreme 3 struggled with. 

The IO on the back of the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 isn't quite as heavy-duty as the Rode Streamer X, but it does allow for some really solid connectivity for capturing footage. There's a standard HDMI-in and HDMI-out - both of which are 2.1 compatible so you can 4K to your heart's content. There's a USB-C port for connecting the card to a gaming PC or laptop, and there's a 3.5mm headphone jack for routing audio as well. Something I absolutely adore though, is the final port you'll find. 

If you stream on a console with an external capture card through a PC, and you want to play with headphones, chat with your friends, hear everything clearly, and record your chat audio, you will likely run into some very infuriating technical issues. For Elgato's older capture cards, this meant you needed to invest in a separate chat-link cable which just made things so much more complicated. For the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1, AverMedia has put an ingenious second 3.5mm headphone jack on board and supplied a cable for it in the box. Basically, this means you can put the supplied 3.5mm cable into your PS5 controller, route all your audio into the capture card, but then plug your headset into the capture card's second audio port and you'll still be able to hear everything without having to completely mess up your PC's audio settings. 

Features

As mentioned, the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 allows for recording in up to 4K 60fps, but in truth, that's just the beginning. At 4K, you can record footage at 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94, and 60fps. I particularly like the ability to record at the 29.97 and 59.94fps rates because a lot of video editing suites work to that speed rather than full-fat 30 or 60fps.

You can, however, record at a wad of other resolutions. The Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 supports 1440p recording and has ultra-wide recording capabilities as well. There's a lot of versatility to be had with your recording setup here, and as someone who records footage on varying platforms and is very particular about their video editing settings, I appreciate that. 

There's also allowance for HDR, which will be a big plus for current-gen console gamers who don't want to miss out on color accuracy in online play, which can give them a big leg-up against the competition. 

RECentral is the companion software for capturing footage or live streaming, although OBS and Streamlabs will obviously work as well. In RECentral though, you'll be able to record in 2160p, 1440p, 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 576i, 480p, 480i, and in YUY2, NV12, RGB24, P010(HDR) formats. Exporting works a treat, and the software gives you the option of H.264 or H.265 codecs at varying video and audio bitrates. Finally, you can customize how many audio channels go into each recording, and choose to route your best mic for streaming and gaming into the mix as well.

Performance

Although an external capture card is what you pay for, companion software is honestly where true value for money lies with this kind of accessory. This is where Elgato has always fallen short for me, not because its application lacks settings but because it can be very volatile, bringing in a load of infuriating technical issues. Those technical issues for me have included random freezes, hours of lost gameplay recordings, and bizarre firmware bugs that mean restarting your application or sometimes your whole system. These things are a nightmare, and not what you want after spending money on a bespoke product that's designed for this specific purpose.

AverMedia has dodged every one of those bumps in the road, and during my entire time testing the new Live Gamer Ultra 2.1, it's been plain sailing. It is, however, a bit bizarre to me that AverMedia has allowed for such a vast array of recording setups when it comes to resolutions, framerates, and bitrates, and yet it hasn't updated its software to allow for things like color grading, capture editing, or even a render progress bar. 

I was slightly wary of not being able to edit things like contrast levels and saturation - for more artsy creators this will need to be done in post. Luckily, when I reviewed the recorded footage from this card, I was amazed at the brilliant clarity and vivid colors that greeted me. It just so happened that when this capture card arrived on my doorstep I had a lot of footage to record for a video all about gaming landscapes - and it made every single gaming vista I featured look stunning. 

I mainly tested this card with a PS5 hooked into my PC, and the only times I thought the software/capture card was failing me was when I recorded two different games in two separate files, back to back. If you've used an external capture card before, you'll likely know that it's important to let one video render completely before starting the next recording. However, without the addition of any kind of "render-export-ometer," it's a bit tough to know when you're safe to get going again. Even hooking this capture card up to the Acer Predator Orion X and utilizing its unlocked i9 processor and RTX 4080 GPU, I got a few bits of choppy footage that lacked a bit of clarity when recording back-to-back. Luckily, framerates were always consistent so this didn't cause any video editing headaches.

What I was really impressed with, was the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1's ability to capture solid 30fps footage even in games that had unreliable framerates. Sable is one of my favorite games from recent years, and personally, I think its janky framerate dips can add to its charm. Nonetheless, it is a choppy game to try and snag footage of for that reason, and yet the Ultra 2.1 turned out blissfully smooth 1440p video. When recording on a lesser card or on the PS5 itself, that definitely hasn't been the case for me, so that's a big win. 

But what of that high refresh rate passthrough? While external capture cards specialize in console recording, to me, that 144Hz refresh rate tells me this one is designed to make the most of higher-end PC gameplay too. While it's slightly more unorthodox to hook up an external capture card between a GPU and a monitor, that's what I did, and the results were pretty telling. My Acer Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A770 does struggle with video encoding at times, and any time I've tried recording footage directly from it the results haven't been the best. A versatile external capture card like this definitely helped to take the strain off my PC components and captured more consistent footage overall. If you have the CPU and RAM to help the program run while also playing demanding games at 4K60, this can definitely help. 

Should you buy the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1?

If you're looking to take your content creation, whether it's lets plays, live streams, or video essays, to the next stage, external capture cards don't get much better than the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1. If you want 4K60 passthrough, variable refresh rates, and recording capabilities up to that point, this is probably the most competitive external option we've tested at the time of writing.

However, this capture card doesn't come cheap, and the money could arguably be put towards one of the best graphics cards or an internal capture card instead - although that will only really suit those recording off a PC. 

Admittedly, I don't have much need to record footage at 4K60, but having wanted to boost the resolution of my YouTube videos for a while now, this is definitely something I'll be looking to do from now on. Really, this is a perfect capture card for console gamers looking to stay competitive while streaming. The passthrough, at least in competitive games, is where a lot of value is heading these days, and if you can afford it, this is a product you can count on. 

For me personally, this has put an end to years of technical issues I suffered from with Elgato cards, and that's exactly what I was hoping for.

How we tested the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1

I put the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 to the test by hooking it up to my gaming PC and PS5 to capture a bunch of footage for a YouTube video. I recorded predominantly at 1440p/30fps, but also tested recordings at 4K60, 4K30, and 1080p as well. To test how reliable the recordings were, I put them into an Adobe Premiere Pro editing session and carefully examined how they matched up. For an extra test, I used the capture card with my PC to record test footage and take the strain off my components. I also integrated it into my streaming setup and Streamlabs loadout to see how it would play with other bits of hardware. 

For more on how we test the latest streaming gear, check out our hardware policy.

Looking for more live-streaming accessories? Get our thoughts on the best webcams, the best green screen, and the best ring lights.

The Acer Predator Orion X is my kind of gaming PC. These smaller rigs appeal to me because most modern-day prebuilds are so massive that they, ironically enough, can't fit on a desktop. I built an ITX (small form factor) PC last year which I now use for work, gaming, and content creation, and I couldn't imagine going back to a larger size. With that in mind, it's easy to see why the Orion X was an alluring machine for me to test out.

I was especially intrigued by Acer's take on the small form factor world because last year I reviewed the latest and greatest Predator Orion 7000. While it performed really well, its obnoxiously loud fans almost cost it the top spot on our best gaming PC list. Since the biggest issue with ITX gaming PCs is usually controlling temperatures, I wondered how Acer would take on that particular challenge - and if the fans would yet again make you pay the price.

I'm pleasantly surprised by what I've found here, and if you can afford the £3,799 (it isn't available in the US at the time of writing) price tag for the configuration I've tested, it improves upon the larger Orion 7000 in almost every way.

Specs

The Acer Predator Orion X is only just starting to roll out at the time of writing, so while this might be the only configuration that's confirmed just now, we could perhaps see different versions hitting the shelves later on. This is what we've seen since the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) was refreshed with 13th Gen architecture, as new Orion 3000 options have taken mid-range components and put them in the same case.

For now, though, the version we've tested is all there is, and it's a beefy configuration. Admittedly, that'll make it fairly unaffordable for a vast majority of shoppers, but reviewing higher-end specs in a case this size is a good test for what possible future configurations of the Orion X can do. Here are the specs:

I have to hand it to them, the folks at Acer have made it particularly difficult to dig inside this PC to look at what all of the individual components look like - not that it matters all that much. A 4080 is a 4080, and the rest of the specs speak for themselves.

The Orion X essentially packs the most amount of power possible inside this size of case. While you could technically pack an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 inside instead since it's the same size, I'd be terrified of what that would do to the price. 

Design

ITX PC cases have to get creative if they want to fit today's components inside their unique little shapes. This makes them a bit quirky at the best of times, and the Predator Orion X's case is no exception. The motherboard seems to be bang-smack in the middle of the case, allowing space on either side for components and air to reach them. This honestly hurt my head when I looked inside, but there's a method to the madness. The IO ports are still at what you would perceive as "the back" of the machine, which isn't always the case with ITX boxes. The Corsair 2000D Airflow RGB which houses my PC and the Origin Chronos V3 has IO ports out the top or bottom, which is slightly confusing.

The way Acer has gone about things is clever because it's built the outer design of the PC around the motherboard's quirks. There are three distinct "Zones" labeled on the chassis and a key on the back that tells you where each component dwells. The CPU and RAM are accessible through Zone 1 (the right-hand side as you're looking at the PC's front), the GPU is in Zone 2 (left), and extra storage slots and cooling are in Zone 3 at the top.

I can't really decide if I like this design or not. On one hand, its small footprint is excellent, taking up only 257.5 x 179 x 336 mm (H x W x D). But in terms of accessibility, it seems like an impenetrable fortress to try and break into and modify. You want long-term compatibility when spending this much money, and that means allowing people to crack open Pandora's box and swap out parts. If your particular motherboard is so quirky it doesn't match up with online guides and YouTube videos, you're making it difficult for people. 

Aesthetically, the front panel is very nice. It has strips of subtle lighting that complete the Orion X's industrial space gear look, but I do have to admit, the rest of the case is just a bit weird. 

The materials used are somewhere between plastic and a softer metal. The two side panels have grilles on them, aiding with airflow and allowing you to look in at the magic going on inside. The top panel has a really nice double-layered grille that looks a million dollars thanks to the RGB fans within shining lights through their distortive visage. 

There's no accounting for taste, and seeing as I can't decide whether I like the look of this case or not, I'll let you decide. My biggest issue with it is connectivity. It may just be me, but I've got a lot of peripherals poking their way into my PC. Part of this comes down to the motherboard IO, but I really struggled to fit all of my controllers and devices through the USB slots in the Orion X. There are 2 USB Type-C slots, 4x USB 3.2, 2 regular USB 2.0 ports, 1 HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPorts, and all the usual 3.5 mm jacks for audio.

On the face of it, that seems like enough, and you can always just grab a USB-C or USB hub if you're struggling. Regardless, if I was paying this much for a gaming PC as opposed to building myself, I'd want as much connectivity as possible on board - whether that was through the motherboard or the chassis. I think what disappointed me most was that the front USB ports weren't USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt speed - something that the Origin Chronos V3 gets right.

I'm nitpicking, probably because I'm a bit of an enthusiast when it comes to this type of PC case, but either way, this is a pretty competent ITX build, and more importantly, one that keeps its innards comfortably cool.

Performance

To begin with, I want to praise the folks at Acer, because they've rolled out some brilliant improvements to their BIOS and Predator Sense software since I last tested it. One thing that really irked me about the Acer Predator Orion 7000 was that despite a motherboard and generational refresh so it was DDR5 compatible, there was no way to control what the RAM did. 

XMP profiles are incredibly important for the best RAM for gaming, and not being able to utilize them in the Orion 7000 was a perplexing choice which kept its speed below the 5000MHz mark. Fortunately, the RAM inside the Orion X runs at a higher speed of 5600MHz out of the box, and you can enable a simple XMP switch in the PC's BIOS which cranks it up to 6000MHz. The RAM enthusiast in me would like access to more settings there, but for the majority of plug-and-play buyers, this is all that will really be required. 

In the last few weeks of using this PC, I've tested out a capture card and edited together a short documentary, I've played about 10 hours of Hunt: Showdown at 4K maxed-out settings, and I've used it for a few days' work. The PC runs like a dream for the most part. There truly isn't much you can throw at an RTX 4080 and an unlocked i9 processor and watch them fail. I did, however, get some stability issues in the first few days of use where the PC kept freezing. This actually stopped on its own, and it's probably nothing a BIOS update wouldn't fix - either way, it's worth noting. 

The only other issue I had during general use was with that aforementioned connectivity - it was a pain to have to keep switching out USB devices, and the smaller number of USB 3.2 ports specifically really did feel like a quality of life failing - especially since I test out the best external hard drives for gaming.

Then, of course, we have benchmarking. I did this through our go-to testing games and in industry-standard software, and the results are much as you'd expect. Unfortunately, the industry-standard benchmarks for the individual components did bring a bizarre weakness to light. 

The best SSDs for gaming, even the best Gen 4 interface ones, usually reach at least 6,000MB/s sequential read speeds. Unless you're testing an older model or using something that's not designed for gaming, you don't usually find SSDs that fail to reach 4,000MB/s. Inside the Orion X, we have 2x 1TB Micron NVMe SSDs, but in testing them both extensively, they failed to reach that speed. That's a tad disappointing, especially for the money this PC demands from you. While replacing would usually be a solution, the chassis doesn't exactly make that easy, and prices of SSDs are already on the rise.

Regardless, here's how the Orion X got on in our testing games.

So as you'll see, at either 4K or Quad HD you're getting brilliant frame rates that go hand in hand with the Origin Chronos V3 we tested that's made up of similar components. Besides Returnal which this rig seemed to have an off-day with across the board, these numbers are all in the same ballpark as that Chronos V3, and in some instances even beat it. 

My own PC is built into an ITX case but utilizes an Intel Core i5-13600K CPU and an Acer Predator Bifrost Intel Arc A770, and I was impressed by the Orion X's more general gaming performance in comparison. Where I have to fiddle around with settings to get Hunt: Showdown up to 80-90fps with my machine, the Orion X knocked out easy 110 framerates with every setting cranked up to maximum. Similarly, with Alan Wake 2 and Immortals of Aveum, I really have to manipulate my settings to get 4K60, but the Orion X was handling both games with relative ease. 

An outlying test I carried out is Total War: Warhammer 3's benchmarks. This is a game we usually use to make CPUs sweat, but in conjunction with an RX 4080, I was curious to see what this i9 would achieve. With 4K Ultra settings, this combination did very well indeed, producing the results on the right.

As I mentioned above, one of the main challenges with ITX gaming PCs is keeping them down to reasonable temperatures. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the Orion X stayed so calm, cool, and collected. In fairness, the water cooler will make a big difference in that respect. Even compared to ATX AIO coolers that have airflow space and size to work with, the cooling in this machine knocks it out of the park. Moreover, it does so without creating loads of noise pollution too, even when boosting to the higher levels of the Predator Sense overclocking tiers. 

During TimeSpy and FireStrike tests, I tend to see processors and the best graphics cards reach their hottest temperatures. The best CPUs for gaming especially, can reach boiling point. During both tests, the Orion X's key components sat between 40 and 70 degrees, which is exactly where you want them. The CPU peaked at only 80 degrees across both stress tests, and considering the CPU in the Orion 7000 was reaching above the 90-degree mark, that really tells you everything you need to know. It makes no sense at all, but this ITX build stays cooler than Acer's ATX one.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Orion X?

It'd be easy for me to look at the quirks the Orion X has; its slower SSDs, its slightly obscure case, and its high price, and say it isn't worth buying. On the contrary, and regardless of its size, this is a gaming PC giant that's worthy of its namesake. Admittedly, it could work out cheaper for you to put a rig of this type together yourself - depending on the parts you assemble. If this seems a little steep for you, maybe wait to see if Acer comes out with any mid-range configurations, because those would no doubt be kinder to your wallet.

This is a plug-and-play gaming PC from a brand that in a few short months since I reviewed its last machine, has improved. The holistic experience of using this PC every day has been so enjoyable for me, and I love that it harnesses all the power it has into a chassis that's not obnoxiously loud and doesn't take up all the space in the world. 

If you have plans to upgrade parts later on, you're going to struggle here. Getting inside the PC in itself is a challenge, and the motherboard is bizarrely positioned. If, on the other hand, you're looking to buy something that will last, that will make things simple, and let you play modern games with minimal fuss, the Acer Predator Orion X might be one of the very best options on the market.

How we tested the Acer Predator Orion X

I tested the Acer Predator Orion X over a number of weeks before this review, comparing my experience closely to my everyday rig built in a similar size case, and to the Predator Orion 7000 I reviewed in 2023. I captured hours of gameplay footage using this machine, edited together a video for YouTube, and used it for the recreational PC games I'm playing at the moment. 

For more formal review figures, I benchmarked the PC using our go-to testing games, as well as Cinebench, 3DMark, CrystalDiskMark, and CPU-Z. 

For more on the ways we test the latest gaming gizmos and gadgets, take a look at our hardware policy.

For more on the best gaming PCs, check out the best Alienware gaming PCs, the best PC cases, and the best computer speakers.

Any genre fan will tell you that when The Walking Dead zombie-shuffled onto screens way back in 2010, it had a certain je ne sais quoi. By its conclusion, though, there's no denying that it had stumbled off course. With too many characters and too much emphasis on action (who remembers all that slow-mo in season 11?), it seemed to have lost sight of why people raved about the series at the start; it was an intimate drama as concerned with studying group dynamics and how different people respond to world-destroying events as it was apocalyptic horror. 

With its spin-offs, the franchise has carved out an opportunity to start afresh, to streamline itself and revert back to its glory days. Well, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon doesn't quite achieve that, but it comes much closer than its predecessor The Walking Dead: Dead City – and close enough, really, to make it worth your while.

As its subtitle suggests, the new outing sees Norman Reedus reprise his role as survivor Daryl, the original show's only character not to have appeared in Robert Kirkman's graphic novel. Set some time after the events of The Walking Dead season 11, it opens on Daryl getting washed up on a beach in Marseille, France, before a run-in with a couple of violent soldier-types sees him knocked out cold and rescued by a bunch of crossbow-wielding nuns. At the habit-wearers' holy castle, which is harboring a priest-on-the-turn, Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) explains to Daryl that he's the one they've been waiting for: a warrior who could escort Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), a young French boy born from a pregnant walker, who's believed to be the new messiah thanks to his extreme levels of empathy ("I can feel your sadness; you deserve a happy ending") and alleged Rubik's Cube skills, to an undisclosed location in Paris. 

In his best Joel-from-The Last of Us impression, Daryl immediately rejects the idea, growling that these are not his people and that he needs to look for a ship to get him back to his loved ones in the US. Isabelle, then, offers to sort him out a ride if he'll do what she's asked, which gets him listening. But it's not actually until the nuns' safe haven is assaulted by another lot of aforementioned soldier-types that our titular hero agrees. 

From then on, the well-paced six episodes play out like a road-trip movie, as Daryl, Isabelle, and Laurent trek northwards, meeting rebels, drag queens, and a crackpot conductor with an all-zombie orchestra along the way. Some of what follows is familiar stuff, sure, but the roving narrative gives the show a certain energy; each encounter switching up the tone from the one that came before it.

The mystery behind how Daryl came to be in France unravels slowly – perhaps too slowly for some – in flashbacks, while Isabelle's dark, drug-fueled past gets the same treatment – in creepy, past-set sequences that showcase how the virus quickly ravaged the French capital, too. In the show, the kindred spirits instantly vibe thanks to Poésy and Reedus's great chemistry – and it's a good thing they've got it, too, as Daryl and Isabelle's relationship is undeniably the best of the two romantic connections the former has ever had since the original show began. (Sorry, Leah – though it's worth noting that even here, the character still doesn't pucker-up). Both are similar performers, brooding and quiet but naturally warm, making it easy to root for their partnership as well as them as individuals, despite their occasionally snappy or selfish moments. 

The tension between the pair is palpable from the minute Daryl wakes up confused in Isabelle's picturesque convent and dips into a bath, and it's really rewarding to see that obvious physical attraction deepen and become more meaningful as the show goes on and each of them learn more about one another – and we discover more about Daryl's family and his heartbreaking link to France as well. Unfortunately, Scigliuzzi isn't as strong as the show's two adult leads, often delivering dialogue in a rather forced, wooden manner, but you still believe in the bond of the newfound trio – and after all, found family encompasses what The Walking Dead has always been about.

If it wasn't absolutely clear where The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is set, showrunner David Zabel regularly deploys songs from across the channel to make sure you know, which feels a little cheap and on the nose, but also gives the series an interesting, more ethereal quality than we're used to. The mix of French and English dialogue keeps those watching who speak the latter engaged and on their toes – The Walking Dead's last few seasons were punctuated with rather snooze-inducing moments – while the beautiful French backdrops make for a welcome change to a dilapidated Georgia and Manhattan. 

As does the exploration of a different culture's reaction to the decimation of civilization. Towards the end of the main show, small communities like Hilltop, the Kingdom, and Alexandria would trade goods and services in an attempt to recreate some before-times normalcy. In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, groups are more secluded; some finding solace in faith while others have been driven underground to indulge in more hedonistic pleasures. 

As always, though, there are those looking to establish control in a largely lawless world; and Daryl Dixon has a couple of juicy, memorable villains. First, there's Quinn (Adam Nagaitis), the sleazy, suited-and-booted owner of a Parisian nightclub who has a complicated history with Isabelle and bigger-bad Genet (Anne Charrier), a kind-of corrupt army general who's working with a scientist to seemingly weaponize walkers. 

Those who have been entrenched in The Walking Dead fandom since the beginning might want more from Daryl Dixon. Now we know the apocalypse started in France thanks to The Walking Dead: World Beyond, perhaps fans will be hoping for more of a backwards-looking show that details how it all kicked off. Instead, we get something a little deeper, a little more human, as Reedus's Daryl gets lost, finds a purpose, and wrestles with what it means to belong. Well, you know, when he's not batting off burner zombies anyway…

Just as Scream 6 escapes Woodsboro to see Ghostface hit Manhattan, Evil Dead Rise elects to up sticks from its customary woodland cabin (well, a fun prologue aside) and head for Los Angeles. But whereas S6s action takes in New York’s sights, this reboot has no interest in LA’s lights, instead keeping things contained and claustrophobic in a condemned apartment block as events furiously unfurl over one long night.

Primarily set in an apartment inhabited by tattoo artist Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her kids Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), Danny (Morgan Davies) and Kassie (Nell Fisher), the mayhem begins with the arrival of Ellie’s sister Beth (Lily Sullivan), a guitar technician (or ‘groupie’, as Ellie has it) with a history of messing up. 

Beth’s back for a reason, but her troubles are rendered trivial when an earthquake opens a vault beneath the block, and the investigating Danny emerges clutching the Book of the Dead. No sooner can you say ‘Kandar!’ than rotting, rage-filled Deadites are toying with this well-drawn, likeable family.

By ‘toying’ we mean, of course, possessing and then spectacularly dismembering, with gallons of gore unleashed through creative use of guns, knives, scissors, broken glass, a screwdriver, a cheese grater (!) and, naturally, a chainsaw. The principle of Chekov’s, um, mop is employed to particularly bloody effect. And if there’s one thing that Deadites like more than blood, it’s vomit, as evidenced by the bile, worms and eyeballs that are variously choked up. Hell, at one point viewers get the full bingo card as a character spews blood, and lots of it.

Truth be told, the building’s desaturated colour scheme and sepulchral interior design benefit from a splash of red – or a tidal wave of it, as when writer/director Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground) gives us an elevator scene inspired by Kubrick’s The Shining.

OK, this Evil Dead entry can’t Rise to Raimi’s first two movies for kamikaze camera moves, while the moments of humour, though decent, fall short of Bruce Campbell’s splatstick antics. What’s more, the Deadites now seem to be mimicking Japanese ghost girls – all tics and twitches, clacks and cracks. But this easily surpasses Fede Alvarez’s overrated 2013 reboot and suggests there’s plenty more life – and death – in the franchise yet. Groovy.

Evil Dead Rise is released in cinemas on April 21. For more upcoming movies, here's our guide to all of the 2023 movie release dates.

‘From his darkest fears comes the greatest adventure'. So goes the tagline for Beau is Afraid, Ari Aster’s 179-minute follow-up to his landmark 21st-century horrors Hereditary and Midsommar. With all due respect to the marketing department at A24, rarely has a pithy tagline – and the whimsical, Benjamin Button-esque poster it adorns – done a greater disservice to the substance of a film it purports to represent. 

That’s because Beau is Afraid is an extraordinary rendering of severe clinical anxiety, using the language of horror cinema to visualise the paranoid nightmare that something as simple as stepping foot outside can turn into. At points, it’s a stress-watch to rival the Safdie bros' nerve-shredder Uncut Gems. But it’s also a deeply funny Freudian head-shag, laden with Jewish guilt and unresolved mummy issues. Try selling that on a poster.

Continuing his mission to become the leading man of choice for every auteur filmmaker working in Hollywood, Joaquin Phoenix stars as Beau, a troubled fortysomething about to visit his successful, domineering mother (Patti LuPone). Residing in a dilapidated apartment situated on the most dangerous street corner in America, Beau is living in a hell of his own delusion. Dead bodies go ignored in the middle of the road, a venomous spider is loose in his building, and a serial killer called Stab Man roams the streets completely starkers. It’s pure chaos – the world hostile to Beau to comical extremes.

Is any of this supposed to be taken at face value? That seems unlikely. Aster is operating in the realm of psychosis and metaphor here. Pre-release materials have downplayed the film’s horror leanings, but fear remains a key feature; it’s just that Aster’s twisted sense of humour registers higher in the mix than ever before. Broken into four distinct, episodic sequences (followed by a conclusive epilogue), the opening 45-minute chapter set in and around Beau’s apartment is instantly arresting and extremely effective, expanding on Aster’s own 2011 short Beau and culminating in one of the most hysterically tense and funny freakouts in recent memory.

There’s still miles and miles to go after this, but the film never quite reaches the same heights again. En route to his mother, Beau is run over by Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan’s suspiciously cheery couple, and taken to their home to recuperate. Things take a turn for the Lynchian here as Beau, in a perpetual state of panic, finds himself trapped in white-picket-fence America, with a family so unhinged he appears the picture of sound mental health in comparison. 

In another chapter Beau stumbles across a travelling theatre company in the woods, who put on a production designed to ‘blur the line between the audience and the players’. What follows is the film’s most significant stylistic flex as Beau imagines himself the subject of the tale being told onstage, traversing striking arts-and-crafts landscapes for a dark storybook fable. It looks great, but you might be left wondering what it all means.

The specifics of the confrontational final chapter deserve to be discovered in context, but it’s no spoiler to say that the film is reinvigorated by the arrival of Parker Posey as an old flame of Beau’s. She appears to be in the film purely to facilitate the funniest sex scene – set, incredibly, to Mariah Carey’s Always Be My Baby – since Team America: World Police. And while the film is undoubtedly too strange to be embraced by awards bodies, LuPone makes such an outsized impression during her brief time on screen that you could imagine her cleaning up if this were a more accessible release.

At a minute shy of three hours, it’s an awful lot of movie, and we haven’t even mentioned Denis Ménochet’s crazed army vet who turns Terminator for a stretch. Phoenix is typically committed in a way that hardly warrants mention, packing on the paunch and reportedly passing out during filming, but there’s only one (m)Aster of ceremonies here. And while the director pulls out a few familiar party tricks – night-to-day match cuts, figures lurking in the rafters, people plunging to their death on rocks – he’s in full tonal control of a staunchly esoteric odyssey into a broken mind, flipping proceedings from hysterically funny to horrifying in a heartbeat.

Like many an auteur filmmaker’s passion project, it’s a huge swing that doesn’t always fully connect, and one that undoubtedly peaks too soon. But at a time when safe-bet sequels, franchise extensions and movies built on brand recognition are more prevalent than ever, the fact that something so singular exists and succeeds on its own terms is something to be celebrated. 

Beau is Afraid is released on May 19 in the UK and on April 21 in the US. For more upcoming movies, check out our guide to the 2023 movie release dates.

"Is this a dream? It would make more sense," sighs holidaymaker Em (Cleopatra Coleman) halfway through writer/director Brandon Cronenberg’s (Possessor) third feature. But in reality, the moral dilemma facing her and her novelist husband James (Alexander Skarsgård) is the stuff of nightmares: one that not only shakes their relationship to its very foundations, but gives ‘tourist trap’ a completely new meaning.

Set in a fictional nation called Li Tolqa, an island paradise for wealthy vacationers provided they don’t venture past their resorts’ barbed-wire fences, Infinity Pool takes the same setup as the recent Jessica Chastain/Ralph Fiennes film The Forgiven (western visitor kills local in road accident while on foreign soil) and proceeds to give it a delirious sci-fi twist.

Said calamity happens after James, bored by the opulence of his five-star hotel and needing inspiration for his long-delayed second book, rashly accepts an invitation from admiring actress Gabi (Pearl’s Mia Goth) and her architect husband Alban (Jalil Lespert) to take a drive with them down the coast. One unexpected handjob and a dead farmer later, he finds himself in the clutches of lawman Thresh (Thomas Kretschmann) and on the business end of a zero-tolerance death sentence.

Fortunately for him, Li Tolqa has a get-out clause for international travellers: a way for them to dodge punishment while still satisfying its strict tradition of retributive justice… To disclose more would spoil the surprises Cronenberg has in store for both James and the viewer: blindsides that not only maintain the family penchant for visceral body horror (see Cronenberg Sr’s Crimes of the Future), but also probe the ethical implications of crime without penalty. Suffice to say that James starts developing an appetite for hedonistic thrill-seeking, confident that another party will pay the price for his infractions.

From the rotating camera that spins this enclave on its axis to the freaky so-called ‘Ekki’ face masks that are available in its gift shop, Infinity Pool delights in finding fresh ways to disturb and nauseate the audience. You do start to wonder, though, if there’s anything more to it. One hallucinogenic orgy scene appears to have little function besides exploring the boundaries of what can be got away with. 

There’s no questioning Skarsgård’s commitment to his character’s descent into depravity, while the gifted Goth is fearlessly uninhibited. But just because Infinity Pool looks good on the surface, that doesn’t mean it has hidden depths.

For more upcoming movies, check out our guide to 2023 movie release dates.

Upon finishing the Lego Rivendell set, I felt a bit like Frodo at the end of Lord of the Rings. "It's done," I said with vague disbelief, sinking back into my chair with a weariness born out of spending more than 20 hours building one of the company's biggest kits. But you know what? This wasn't a burden. If anything, I was sad the project was over.

That's because this tribute to Lord of the Rings is one of the best Lego sets I've ever made. Even though putting it together takes a lot of time (and it'll leave a Middle-earth-sized dent in your bank balance), Lego Rivendell is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. A fiercely inventive design riddled with secrets, this kit is the definition of a chef's kiss when it comes to Lego for adults.

Lego Rivendell - features

Lego Rivendell recreates Tolkien's elven hideaway in three distinct sections; the council courtyard where the Ring's fate is decided (along with a central chamber in which the shards of Narsil are kept), a tower that's home to Bilbo Baggins' bedroom, and a forested area complete with a gazebo, waterfall, bridge, and smithy. The latter is where Lego's new fern brick - which can be stacked to create more realistic bushes - comes into its own.

Because this is the first Lord of the Rings set in a decade (the last one hit shelves back in the mists of 2013, followed by Hobbit tie-ins the following year), it's rocking plenty of upgrades too. Along with dual-molded hobbit legs that finally allow the halflings to go barefoot, elves are now sporting hair with separately-colored ears. There are new, more screen-accurate weapons to arm your minifigures with too.

How easy is it to build?

Despite all of its wonders, this Lego set isn't for the faint of heart. At more than 6,100 pieces, three massive instruction books (one for each 'section'), almost 50 bags of bits, and a few complex parts that'll require care to finish, it's one of the more complicated kits you can buy right now. 

With that in mind, you'll have to set aside a good chunk of time in order to plow through it. Even though I've heard of fans completing Lego Rivendell in 15 hours or so, it took me somewhere between 20 and 25. It's a full-on build and is certainly the most intense project I've tackled, so consider yourself warned.

However, that's not to say the process is hard. Thanks to clear and concise instructions, the whole process is surprisingly easygoing. It's less of a headache than other big projects like The Mighty Bowser, anyway. Whereas that one isn't always clear about where certain bricks should go, Lego Rivendell outlines everything being added in an eye-catching red. It's easier to spot than the green silhouettes of Lego Ghostbusters ECTO-1 too, and I didn't ever feel lost while putting it all together. 

Even the trickiest parts of this build are forgiving; if you ever go wrong, you're always able to rectify the issue before it's too late. The same can't be said for all large-scale kits.

This laidback atmosphere allows you to appreciate the creative - and often bizarre - solutions used by Lego to bodge certain elements of the Middle-earth stronghold. You'll build chairs with golden hotdogs for arms and construct elaborate pillars held up by cupcakes, so the whole process is delightfully tongue-in-cheek… for those putting it together, anyway. They're well hidden, so unless you've read the wry asides within the instruction booklet pointing out where these disparate pieces come from, you wouldn't even realize they're not custom-made. (If this proves anything, it's that Lego are master recyclers.)

This is a great example of how Lego strives to keep you engaged throughout the project. Unlike some sets that devolve into monotony, Lego Rivendell tries to make things amusing with hidden secrets, quirky asides, and the daddest of dad jokes. There's no other way to put it; this is fun.

Design

Even part-way through the build process, it's obvious that this is a wholehearted celebration of Peter Jackson's movies and Middle-earth as a whole. Whether it's teeny sticker maps of the world or the inclusion of Bilbo's scary 'hey, that's MY ring' face (even as a tiny cartoon, it still freaks me out), Lego Rivendell is a triumph for anyone in love with Lord of the Rings. This has so clearly been put together by fans, for fans.

A lot of it comes down to how many hidden nooks there are throughout the build. Numerous hidey-holes and side-rooms litter the kit, giving you lots to explore whenever you stop to admire it. In addition, it gives you ample opportunity to set up scenes - or recreate well-known moments with all those minifigures. The council of Elrond arguing over what to do with the Ring? Check. Aragorn and Arwen on the bridge? You got it. The Fellowship setting out on their quest? Go for it. 

Sure, it's not a 1:1 recreation and takes some shortcuts along the way. (It's a shame that the shards of Narsil and that iconic painting of Isildur vs Sauron are relegated to the back of the model rather than being in a room of their own, for example). But these compromises make sense considering how massive the kit already is. It's sprawling enough in terms of height, depth, and width to dominate any room, so adding more would only result in it becoming unmanageable.

Plus, it successfully captures the ethereal yet cozy vibe of Rivendell despite being a 'greatest hits' amalgamation. As per Lego Home Alone, it emphasizes how the location makes you feel through smart design choices and a strong understanding of what makes the elven hideaway so beloved. The ensuing nostalgia is a force to be reckoned with, and Lego skillfully weaponizes those emotions for something fans will adore. 

The fact that key sections come off easily - to be displayed separately or for a better view of what's inside - shows just how much thought has gone into this set. As Samwise Gamgee would say, it's "an eye-opener and no mistake."

Should you buy Lego Rivendell?

If you can get over the price, I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Lego Rivendell. It's magnificent - there are no ifs, buts, or maybes. Actually, I've got very little to complain about here. The design team deserves a round of applause for distilling everything we adore about one of fiction's best-loved locations into several-hundred plastic bricks.

In a nutshell? If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, you need this in your collection.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Lego Rivendell

I spent around a week putting this kit together, and it took up almost every evening from when I finished work until going to bed (be warned, it's quite the commitment). During the process, I took plenty of notes about how easy it was to build, how it compared to previous sets, and how well its instructions held up.

For more, check out our guide to how we test products.

This sample was provided by a third-party PR company on behalf of Lego.

For more recommendations, don't miss these Lego Star Wars sets or the best Lego Super Mario sets. These should be crammed with Lego deals as well, so there's plenty of opportunity to save along the way.

The team behind the Evercade EXP isn’t hanging around, as this is its third console since 2020. First, we had the original Evercade handheld, closely followed by the Evercade VS, a home console version played on TV with a couple of controllers. And now there's the EXP, a new member of the officially-licensed retro port family, which might just be the best version of one of the best retro consoles yet. 

On paper, the specs against the original might not look that different, and bear in mind all three consoles run the same cartridges, so you might be wondering if the EXP can justify its existence so soon, especially as it costs a fair bit more at $149/£129. I was skeptical when it was first announced, but after a few weeks of playing some of the new releases and some older carts too, I'm totally sold.

If you're unfamiliar with the Evercade brand, you might wonder why I keep talking about cartridges. Well, rather than just have you download digital titles, this console is supported by cart purchases (around $15-$20 each), most of them focusing on a single publisher for some of their greatest retro hits.

There are plenty out there with more on the way and they work on all versions of Evercade hardware. However, digital titles are involved this time as the Evercade EXP comes with a selection of preinstalled Capcom titles, and you can not buy a cart version of them. Presumably, this made the license more affordable, as these are Triple-A retro IP titles for sure. 

So while that means they're always at hand, and considering the epic selection on offer, that's a great thing, it also means you can't play these titles from the Japanese giant of gaming on your Evercade VS TV console if you have that one at home.

Display

I'll come back to the games later. Let's dive into the hardware itself. First, if you're wondering if there's a single killer hook over the original in this upgrade, then I'm happy to report there is, and it's the display. It's the same 4.3-inch size, but it has a better resolution (800x480 up from 480x272), better viewing angles, and is much brighter. So much so that you can enjoy some extra detail that gets lost on the now-gloomy first model - something I could confirm when I compared it to the original firsthand. eBay beckons for the first Evercade once you go EXP. 

The vibrant display really lets you appreciate the detail in the more advanced games like In the Hunt, a side-scrolling submarine shooter where explosions are packed with retro particle effects, and you blast your way through environmental obstacles. The redesigned game selector menus are much cleaner, and the box art is also shown in far greater detail.

Controls

Compared to the original Evercade, you're gaining an extra pair of shoulder buttons, and the rear ones have some extra travel. So, along with face buttons, you now have something that matches the number of inputs of modern controllers (analogs aside). Are we potentially looking at more recent ports further down the line? I hope so because the reality is, most games still only use two action buttons. Street Fighter can use six, but that's the max I've seen so far.

Without adding a couple of analog sticks though, we're running out of runway for what the hardware can look forward to as far as the PS1 era and later goes, and let's face it, that's technically retro gaming nowadays. It would be licensing hell, I imagine, and Nintendo already has the Switch, NES Mini, and SNES Mini, and Sony had the PlayStation Classic, which was something of a letdown due to it not being able to license all the third-party classics. 

If anyone's going to have a crack at porting genuine licensed versions of retro PlayStation and Xbox games with the care they deserve, even if we have to wait a while longer for extra retroification, I'm rooting for the Evercade crew to get the call as these ports have been fantastic so far and the EXP will be getting a slot on our best retro console guide for sure.

Before we move forward though, the Evercade EXP wants to rollback with another retro feature with the new Tate mode. There’s an extra set of AB face buttons near the D-Pad, which retro shooter fans will enjoy. Simply press the dedicated Tate button on the underside of the console, and the display shifts to a vertical position so you can use the console sideways to get a feel for the elongated display of the original arcade version. It's a lovely feature, but I can't say I found the EXP comfortable to hold for long in this position as it was too top-heavy, and the action buttons were just a touch too high to get a steady, even grip going. Sure, the games look better, but I noticed an immediate improvement to my scores when I returned to horizontal mode, despite the more condensed view on vertical shooters. 

While I'm talking about the controls, the buttons are smaller this time, which helps the console have a cleaner (dull?) look, but I preferred the larger buttons on the previous models. The D-pad is smaller too, which is generally fine until you fire up Street Fighter, that is, as it's not great for accurately mapping those essential quarter circles and Z-shaped motions (Guile and Zangief fans, be quiet).

It's not helped that it's actually Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, which might just be the worst (OK, hardest) version of the timeless classic. As the name suggests, it's a sped-up version of the game, so nailing the inputs for specials is already difficult, and there aren't even difficulty-tuning options on this port for some reason. And Ryu is an absolute shit, spawning Hadokuns in an endless loop with perfect timing. And I'm a half-decent player (or so I thought) at Street Fighter, but this wrecked me.

Games

There's no denying the quality found elsewhere on the built-in Capcom selection, as they really were absolute rock stars of the retro era and it feels like the Evercade's finest catch yet. The selection of 1940 WWII shooter games shows an impressive series growth, and I relived one of my favorite Mega Drive/Genesis games in Mercs - bless you, Evercade, for giving me infinite continues in my old age. I've no idea how I finished this back in the 90s.

Final Fight is here too, and while Streets of Rage 2 still stands way above it, this game has held up remarkably well, much more than the painful-to-play Double Dragon series. There are also three Mega Man games, Strider, Bionic commando, Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, Forgotten Worlds, the original Breath of Fire, and more. The bundled Irem cart packs in more classics like R-Type, Battle Chopper, and the first western release of the excellent Lighting Swords.

Extra Features

Button remapping is currently absent, but it’s being worked on for a future update. It would certainly be extra handy in games like 1943, where the rarely used screen-clearing bomb requires a single button press of A, but the essential loop (an aerial dodge move) is activated by pressing A+B together. I do like how the controls for each game are viewable on the system’s pause menu, though as it’s great for getting to grips with unfamiliar games.

The option to use HDMI-out to a TV is sadly broken again. The original Evercade lost connection and reset the console upon slight movement. On the EXP, the connection is more secure. However, while the menu dashboard had sound on TV, upon diving into a game, the sound would only play through the console itself. If you removed the cable, the display would not return, and I would have to reboot. 

And you have to supply your own  Micro HDMI cable/converter. Almost as if they didn't want you to use this mode because it's not functional. It's a shame as I really want to play the Capcom games on the TV, which makes the lack of a cart version all the harder to bear, especially for existing Evercade owners not wanting to upgrade for just a single set of games, classics though they may be. 

The save system is now better equipped to handle multiple saves on a game. Thanks to the clearer slot menu and a dedicated quick save function, it's much easier to manage multiple saves on a single game. 

Quick save is new and right at the top of the system menu, so if you have to cheese your way through, you won't have to access irritable menu trees as quick load is right beneath it too. Even so, assigning these to the shoulder buttons would be handy. Overall though, being able to save wherever you want and a button to pump in as many extra quarters as you want is a lovely quality of life improvement for my aging skills, even if continue points vary between titles from on-the-spot respawns to back to the start of the level.

Given this little cheats miracle, it's hard not to feel that maybe more options could have been included. A turbo mode for action button inputs, a regular feature of many a dodgy third-party controller for just holding down a button instead of mashing it would have saved me some sore hands on many of these shooters. I'd totally be down for a shameless infinite health mode in some titles where you're dumped back to the start from cheap one-hit kills, but there's the quick save/load function if I must see the end credits on everything. 

The lack of a sleep mode stings too, especially given the quickfire nature of many of these games' stages, which are perfect for ad breaks and half-time (or a whole afternoon as the battery is good for around five hours). The speakers are great, but if you're commuting, it’s wired headphones only as there's no Bluetooth. Given this is highest price yet for an Evercade, going for extra touches like this should be becoming the norm. 

Should you buy the Evercade EXP?

When all’s said and done though, the Evercade EXP is a marked improvement on the original and the games library continues to grow with a strong selection of titles. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the next version gets some analog sticks and dives into some 2000s titles. However, anyone on the hunt for a high-end retro device will take great pride in adding this device to their collection. 

How I tested the Evercade EXP

Having reviewed all the previous Evercade models, I could test not only the built-in Capcom games and the Irem and Toaplan carts supplied in my review sample but a range of the other carts too. I regularly put the same games into the new EXP and the original Evercade to compare them visually and examine how systems and menus have changed. I also tried the EXP on my TV via my own adapter and cable (none are supplied). My play sessions would vary from quick fire 5-15 minutes or a few hours at a time, slowly developing claw hand and erasing what's left of my left thumbprint in SFII. For more information on how we make product recommendations, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy. 

For more handheld goodness, check out the latest Nintendo Switch deals and Nintendo Switch Lite deals. Or, if you're after a more mobile solution, take a look at the best gaming tablets on the market. 

Warning! This review contains major spoilers for The Walking Dead season 11, episode 21.

"People remember the last thing that you do", Seth Gilliam's Father Gabriel tells a dying, repentant Commonwealth trooper in The Walking Dead's latest episode. After Daryl's intimidation tactics fail to pry information out of the soldier, the priest tries a softer approach, urging the gang's nameless enemy to tell them where Pamela Milton has taken their friends, as a way to atone for his former sins before he passes. "The end of each story is important," he adds before the man obliges – a clunkily meta line as the horror drama moves towards its own conclusion.

'Outpost 22' gets away with it, though, because the installment – written by Jim Barnes and directed by Tawnia McKiernan – is so clearly geared toward said finale. It's well-paced and propulsive, more so than any of its predecessors that have aired as part of season 11's last chapter, as it reunites a bunch of major players and sets them on a path to convene with several others. 

It opens with Maggie waking up in the back of a truck and breaking a drowsy Rosita and Gabriel free from their restraints as a trooper snores beside them – but their hushed escape leads to the trio getting separated. Wandering the woods, Maggie crosses paths with a child zombie – a somber reminder of the dangers beyond community walls, and an opportunity for the episode to deliver a memorably moving moment, too. 

Typically, when a walker pops up in the show, the characters dispatch it without a second thought, but the undead youngster triggers Maggie's anxieties over her missing son Hershel. Having spared it earlier, Maggie lets the walker distract a lone trooper before she attacks the latter, and in the tussle, she's grabbed by the snarling kid from behind. She wrestles it into her arms, before reassuring it that "it's alright" and putting it down. Lauren Cohan's near-silent performance here is heartbreaking, as you remember how much grief Maggie has had to navigate over the years or imagine what losing Hershel would do to her.

'Outpost 22' doesn't let up there. The very next scene is just as emotional, as Carol – having stumbled upon her in the wilderness with Daryl – consoles a tearful Maggie, urging her not to scold herself for moving Hershel and the rest of Hilltop to the Commonwealth. 

Cohan and Melissa McBride have always made for great scene partners – 'The Same Boat', from The Walking Dead's sixth season is a prime example – but they rarely share the screen, so it's a treat to see them together again. "After The Fall, we were forced to become family. That's a good thing. It's a gift that's held, even in that place," Carol tells her old friend. "They had to come at us when we were separated, what does that say to you?" she continues, to which Maggie replies: "That we scare the shit out of Pamela."

"Exactly, and she failed. We're not alone anymore, and we're gonna make it right," Carol says confidently. An endgame is finally in sight, and it (rather predictably) revolves around our heroes coming together again – not just to best an enemy this time, though, but because their bonds are what makes the new world worth sticking around for.

Alongside the tearjerks, the episode boasts decent action. Carol, Daryl, Maggie meet up with Rosita and Gabriel, and attempt to save a kidnapped Connie while hijacking the Commonwealth train. After jamming a railroad switch, the foursome sneak up on as many of the train's operators as they can before a shoot-'em-up breaks out. It's a thrilling sequence but, admittedly, wraps on a bit of a bum note as Daryl pursues a fleeing trooper through the trees on a motorcycle and the camera starts flitting between normal angles and cringeworthy, shaky close-up shots of both riders' faces.

Elsewhere, the likes of Ezekiel, Kelly, and Negan have been put to work on the train tracks and are weighing up their options. Kelly wants to flee, but Ezekiel knows better – and is proved right when a bunch of runners are gunned down by those in charge. Later, an exchange between Negan and Ezekiel suggests that the former is planning to spark an uprising, inspire hope (the latter's “thing”), and sacrifice himself to save the gang and his pregnant wife ("For the shit I've done, I probably deserve to be in a place like this", Negan mumbles). In the comics, Rick Grimes and co let Negan live after they take down the Whisperers, but they ultimately send him away from Alexandria. In the show, he's stuck around, and the writers haven't really known what to do with him or how to justify him being there. Might this be the start of a worthy redemption arc at last?

The Walking Dead's disjointed narratives are still a big issue, however. We've not checked in with the likes of Aaron, Jerry, and Lydia for two weeks, despite that shocking 'smart zombie' reveal, and the new installment features no Yumiko either. An odd decision, given her personal rebellion against Pamela last week, when she vowed to defend Eugene in court following the death of the Commonwealth governor's son Sebastian. It's hard to visualize the show managing to do both of these storylines justice while seeing through the main Daryl, Carol, and Maggie one, too. As a reminder, there's now just three episodes left…

'Outpost 22' ends strong, at least, with Rosita – pretending to be a jeopardized trooper – radioing the titular base and asking for directions on how to get there. After the woman on the other end responds with instructions, our heroes learn that the colony their pals have been taken to is actually Alexandria. Incensed their old patch is being used as a hard labor camp, Maggie growls: "Milton has underestimated us since day one. We are gonna get our kids, take back our home, and make it right," echoing what Carol said to her earlier, and teasing one hell of a showdown. "Pamela's never gonna see it coming," she finishes." The fight is on – and we can't wait to see how it plays out.

Make sure you never miss an episode with our The Walking Dead season 11 release schedule, and check out our how to watch The Walking Dead guide if you're wanting to watch/rewatch the main series and its spin-offs.

Warning! This review contains major spoilers for The Walking Dead season 11, episode 19. Turn back now if you've yet to catch up with the show.

After weeks of having us wonder who or what the main threat to our survivors would be in the final chapter of The Walking Dead's final season, two enemies have finally come to the fore: Pamela Milton and wall-climbing, doorknob-turning walkers – and they're a welcome (and formidable) addition to help keep the characters on their toes.

As made clear by the montage of old clips at the beginning of episode 19, Josh McDermitt's Eugene is a focal point of the latest installment. After inadvertently causing the death of Pamela's son Sebastian, he spends most of it hiding out from the vengeful Governor as Rosita, Daryl, and the gang plot to get him out of the Commonwealth. With Pamela out to make an example of Eugene and get his rebellious lover – and her assistant – Max (Margot Bingham) to fall back in line, Max's brother Mercer (Michael James Shaw) finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. As army general, does he follow orders, or help his sister and pals get away? Unfortunately for Max, he errs towards the former.

Now, Eugene has never been the most interesting character. Historically a bit of a weasel, he's lied and tricked his way through the apocalypse; often flipping allegiances so as to give himself the best chance of survival. It's been a challenge to root for him. 'Variant', though, highlights how much he's changed in recent months, as he vows not to leave until Max agrees to go with them, or they can at least confirm she'll be safe in their absence – expanding McDermitt's role beyond cookie-cutter comic relief. 

When Max gets taken into custody by Mercer, he turns himself in – something the old Eugene would never have done, especially after a teary-eyed Rosita tells him "it's not" going to be okay. The growth of the characters on The Walking Dead has always been one of its most fascinating aspects, and this turn is undeniably moving and, more importantly, feels earned.

While Eugene is busy growing a pair, Mercer's seemingly blinkered dedication to bringing him in causes a rift between him and his girlfriend Princess (Paola Lázaro). This subplot arguably gets the episode's meatiest stuff, as a plea from him to not leave ("It could be worse") prompts her to open up about her dark past. When she was a kid, her stepfather and stepbrother used to abuse her – and her mother would often argue that it was worth it because they still had a roof over their head. "Fuck that thinking," she growls at Mercer during the emotional moment. "It could be better, too. It should be." It feels a little clunky and rushed; a last ditch attempt to add depth to a zany character the show has never really known what to do with – but Lázaro sells it beautifully. 

Elsewhere, Eugene isn't the only one Pamela has it in for. In another scene that echoes those involving David Morrissey's Governor in seasons 3 and 4, Pamela lives up to her title, throwing her zombified son Sebastian into a padded cell with Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton). 

Unlike The Governor, who used a similar tactic to kill Angela (remember her?) way back when, Pamela gives Lance out – she leaves him with a knife and a "still warm" dead body, suggesting he feed the corpse to the undead Sebastian. The deceased was shot in the head, so won't reanimate – how deliciously dark would that have been?! – but it's still a sadistic side to her we've not seen before, and Laila Robins is clearly reveling in playing such a complex, slow-burn villain. 

Before, it seemed like Lance or Sebastian were the ones our survivors had to worry about, but this scene really establishes her as a menacing big bad as we head into the last few episodes. The Terminus and Alexandra years covered that ground briefly with Rick, but when it comes to its straight-up antagonists, The Walking Dead has never really charted a character's descent into darkness before. Up until now, they're already at that point by the time we meet them. 

It's a real treat, then, to see it here – and how we see it is a real treat as well, as the show continues to jazz up its visuals. At one point, the camera captures the kneeling Lance from face on, as Pamela's hand creeps into frame to put his decision-making coin in his top pocket. It looks almost walker-esque, drawing a fun parallel between her and the dangers beyond the community walls. 

While all this is going on at the Commonwealth, Aaron (Ross Marquand), Jerry (Cooper Andrews), Lydia (Cassady McClincy), and Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari) travel to Oceanside to deliver some supplies. On the journey, Jerry is injured and they're forced to set up camp in an abandoned Renaissance fair building. 

Three episodes into this final batch, and we've seen a handful of moments where certain characters bring up those they’ve lost to other characters. Previously, Daryl name-dropped Glenn and, in the prior episode, Lydia mentioned her brief romantic involvement with Carol's "son" Henry. 

This week sees Aaron sweetly encourage Lydia to embrace her blossoming romance with Elijah as he remembers his late husband Eric. Given that the likes of Daryl, Maggie, and Negan are getting their own shows beyond The Walking Dead, it’s refreshing to see some of its supporting characters get some much-deserved screen time. Marquand is so compelling as Aaron; the perfect blend of vulnerable warmth and warrior-like strength – and in 'Variant', he's able to explore both sides. 

True to the title of the episode, it's in this storyline that we see the introduction of the new strain of walkers. Ambushed during their overnight stay, the foursome immediately assume that the more intelligent infected must be Whisperers, and they scramble to come up with a plan to isolate them from the horde. (They've dealt with them before, they can do this, right?) While Elijah and Lydia flank the undead from the rear, Aaron protects Jerry on a rooftop, but one walker manages to climb up. He angrily beats it before shouting, "Goddamn Whisperers!" and ripping its "mask" off. Only it's not a mask. His eyes widen in fright as Jerry exclaims from behind, "How the hell did a walker do that?!"

With just five episodes of the long-running horror drama left, we figured that not everyone was going to make it "out" alive, but given the confirmation of spin-off series, how lacking recent episodes have been in the stakes department, and how superhero-esque the main characters have become over the years, it was hard to believe it. With 'Variant', writer Vivian Tse and director Karen Gaviola change the game – and the future feels excitingly unpredictable. Boasting tons of tension, some exciting zombie action, and an all-too-rare jump scare, it makes the world of The Walking Dead feel dangerous again. It's about damn time. 

Make sure you never miss an episode with our The Walking Dead season 11 release schedule, and check out our how to watch The Walking Dead guide if you're wanting to watch/rewatch the main series and its spin-offs.

The JBL Quantum 610 headset is the latest mid-range gaming unit from the veteran consumer audio brand. Replacing the previous JBL Quantum 600 model, the 610's look to pack in a seriously competitive set of features for the price.

Spatial surround sound, customizable RGB lighting, and a battery life of up to 40 hours make the JBL 610 seem like one of the best gaming headsets you can buy for their $149 / £100 asking price. That's on paper, however, and there's stiff competition in the mid-range market from the likes of Logitech, SteelSeries, and Razer headsets. To see if the Quantum 610's can stand out in a packed field of rivals, I put them through their paces with over 40 hours of testing.

Design

The JBL Quantum 610 features an all-black all-plastic design that's centrepiece is the RGB logo on the outside of each cup. Aside from these LEDs and a little bit of flare via orange accents on the cabling, the JBL 610 is fairly subdued overall. 

The LEDs themselves are nicely bright and colorful without being overpowering. They're a nice touch and one that's fully customizable with thousands of possibilities via the companion JBL QuantumEngine software.

The best things about the JBL 610 design, however, are the little things. On the inside of each cup is a prominent orange print of either left or right - something so simple but effective that it makes me wonder why every headset doesn't have it. Also, on the end of the mic is an unobtrusive LED that turns to red once it's muted. Again, very simple but incredibly handy to remind you that you're muted on discord.

Weight-wise, the JBL 610 sit at around 357 grams, which is on the medium to heavy scale for a modern wireless gaming headset. They aren't heavy enough to fatigue you over long sessions, but they are noticeably heavier than some similarly priced rival headsets, such as the Logitech G535 Lightspeed.

Another criticism of the design is that the JBL Quantum 610 are slightly on the bulky side for a headset. While generously proportioned and very comfortable thanks to the excellent padding and pleather covering, I found the cups to look fairly bulbous when worn. While no one turns up to a LAN party with style in mind, those with smaller heads (such as mine) might find these cans on the bulky side.

Features

Where the JBL Quantum 610 look set to stand out against its rivals is with a specs sheet that's absolutely crammed with features. Major selling points here include JBL's 7.1 QuantumSurround technology and DTS headphone:X v2.0, which are both standouts for a headset within this price range. 

You'll also find a nice set of physical features that lend to an excellent user experience. On the outside of the left cup, you have a USB-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a mic mute button, volume, and a useful chat volume dial that balances chat with game audio. Everything is really well placed ergonomically and easy to use in-game. In regards to overall usability, the JBL Quantum 610 knocks it out of the park.

Provided in the box is the USB dongle (which is needed as the 610s are not Bluetooth compatible), a USB to USB-C charging cable, and a 3.5mm jack cable with in-line controls for the volume and mic. If you're low on battery, the JBL Quantum 610 will work passively over the 3.5mm cable, which is a handy feature. On a side note, it's also nice that the cables provided feature a braided fabric design, which lends to a nice premium feel.

One big caveat with the Quantum 610 is that the headline JBL and DTS surround sound features are only compatible via JBL QuantumEngine software, which is currently only available on Windows. While the JBL Quantum 610s are technically compatible with Mac, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch (while docked), and mobile devices, bear in mind you'll be forgoing the more advanced features if you game on these platforms.

Performance

Out of the box, the JBL Quantum 610 features a fairly balanced sound, with decently powerful bass and nicely rolled-off highs that lends to comfort over long sessions. There's nothing fatiguing to the sound, although you can customize the profile to your heart's content using the provided 8-band equalizer in the JBL QuantumEngine software if you want a little more clarity in the highs. In the standard stereo mode, the JBL Quantum 610 is equivalent to rival headsets in this price range when it comes to sound quality. 

Where things get a little trickier is with the 7.1 surround sound features. Personally, I found both the JBL and DTS settings to be finicky at best, with experience widely varying from game to game and track to track. Both settings, while offering slight benefits in regards to sound imaging and placing enemies, can really go overboard with the reverb, often throwing the overall sound out of whack.

Even with heavy tweaking on the provided 8-band equalizer, I often found the audio to be unpleasantly scooped in the mid-range, with overly booming lows and unpleasantly shrill highs. On more chill sessions of Cities: Skylines and Total War: Warhammer 3 this was absolutely fine, but in more intense applications like Hell Let Loose I found the surround sound overpoweringly cavernous and sharp sounding.

If you're going to use the surround sound features, I highly recommend getting down and dirty with the equalizer to get the best out of the set. For the record, the best presets to my ears were the 'Bass Boost' in stereo and 'Long Session' for the DTS surround sound setting. Enabling the 'Precise' setting for the JBL QuantumSurround sound is also absolutely essential for reducing the reverberation effect if you're going to use this mode in my opinion.

The JBL Quantum 610 has a rated battery life of up to 40 hours in its documentation, but I believe this was probably achieved by turning the RGB lighting and advanced features off. In testing, I got around 25 hours of playtime on a single charge, which is still great for a headset within this price range.

Should you buy the JBL Quantum 610?

If I sound overly critical of the JBL Quantum 610 - especially the surround sound features - know that these are great sounding if you're willing to experiment with settings. Overall, it's a good headset but one that needs a bit of tweaking to truly shine and to get the best possible results. Because of this, it's probably not the best PS5 wireless headset or console headset in general, but gamers in search of the best PC headset for gaming will find a lot to work with here.

The headset is solidly made, features powerful drivers, and includes a competitive array of tech under the hood for the price. If you can overlook a few minor quibbles with the bulkiness of the design, you'll also have a really comfortable pair of headphones with great battery life.

Price-wise, competitors in this budget range include the Logitech G535, SteelSeries Arctis 5, and Razer Nari Essential, all of which - aside from the Arctis 5 - don't offer any RGB lighting. Because of this, the JBL Quantum 610 are definitely worth considering if you're looking for a more customizable 7.1 gaming headset without breaking the bank.

How we tested the JBL Quantum 610

I used the JBL Quantum 610 as my main gaming headset over a week-long period, totaling about 20 hours in-game, and around 30 to 40 hours listening to music while working. Titles played while testing this headset included Hell Let Loose, Monster Hunter: Rise, Total War: Warhammer 3, and Cities: Skylines.

You can read more about how we test gaming headsets as well as how we make all our recommendations in the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

For more console-specific options, check out our guides to the best PS5 headsets, best Xbox Series X headsets, and best Nintendo Switch headsets.

It’s safe to say that the new balls-to-the-wall Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE is one of the best gaming laptops you can buy right now. The Strix Scar 17 SE is a thoroughbred gaming machine whose sole purpose is to run games without compromises. Everything from the design aesthetic to the internal components is focused on that singular goal. 

Retailing at north of $3,000/£3,000, the Scar 17 SE has a superb build quality and packs the newest, fastest Intel i9-12950HX processor, an Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a blisteringly fast FHD 360Hz 17” display. A similarly specced Razer Blade 17 costs almost $500 more and doesn't quite match the performance of the Scar 17 SE.

Design & Features

The Strix Scar 17 SE looks and feels like a seriously powerful gaming laptop. It's big, bold, and has an edgy design aesthetic. The lid has a backlit ROG logo and hidden graphics that reveal secret codes under UV light while half the keyboard deck is translucent so you can see the internal components.

There’s a vibrant, wrap-around Aura Sync RGB light bar that stretches across the front and sides with additional lighting on the bottom bezel of the display. The keyboard is also fully backlit and all the lighting is customisable in the Armoury Crate software hub.

The capacious keyboard includes a numpad but it's sadly not of the mechanical variety. Nevertheless, it's responsive and satisfying to type on thanks to slightly domed caps and a generous 2mm travel distance. The touchpad is satisfactory and suitably large though not as generous as the one on Razer Blade 17.

The 17-inch display comes in a choice of FHD 360Hz or QHD 240Hz refresh with both sharing a 3ms response time. For most people, the QHD display is the better option but for competitive games, the faster FHD is the way to go. It’s ridiculously smooth with vibrant colors and contrast though at just 75% Adobe RGB it isn’t the best for color-accurate work, and you'd need something resembling a contender for best gaming monitor to make up for that. Notably missing is a webcam which is really unacceptable in 2022.

I/O ports are plenty with the majority on the back of the laptop which is great for cable management but there are also two more accessible USB ports and a headphone jack on the left. The right is left clean with only a special port for the ROG Keystone which does special things like activate custom profiles, secure the laptop, or unlock the encrypted shadow drive.

The speakers on the Scar 17 SE sound good and get quite loud without distortion. The bass is lacking though so audio in games doesn't sound as impactful and directionality is iffy but it's still very usable when you don't have one of the best gaming headsets in reach. Although massive, the Strix Scar is still just 2.8cm at its thickest point. The 3.1Kg weight and massive power brick doesn’t lend well to portability but that's not really the point of this machine.

Performance

The Strix Scar 17 SE is an extreme performer thanks to the 16-core i9-12950HX processor running at 65W. Asus includes 16GB DDR5-4800 RAM and a really fast 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD too, and, lastly, the RTX 3080 Ti can reach 175W with dynamic boost making it the fastest laptop GPU - and our test scores prove it.

The Scar scored 13,822 3DMark TimeSpy, 29,616 in FireStrike, and 8329 in Port Royal ray-tracing. In Cinebench R5 that i9 crushed a whopping 20,977 which shames many of the best gaming PCs. The SSD scored an impressive 6990MBs reads speeds in CrystalDiskMark. This performance carried over into gaming where even in ray-traced titles at ultra settings like Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the Strix Scar easily hit 100fps.

However, it's only eSport titles like Valorant or CS:GO that come close to the panels 360Hz refresh - but most other AAA games easily run over 100 fps at ultra settings. Slaying demons in Doom Eternal at almost 200fps on a laptop just puts a silly grin on my face.

Most impressively, the Scar remains astonishingly quiet under load, far quieter than most other laptops I've tested. Temperatures remained very reasonable averaging mid 80’s during extended gaming sessions and the keyboard deck remained perfectly cool to the touch.

As you can expect with so much power, battery life isn’t great: about 3 hours of moderate office and web browsing. Gaming will drop that to about an hour and you certainly won’t get the best performance. This beast is designed to be tethered to its power supply most of the time.

Overall - should you buy it?

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE is quite simply, a helluva RTX 3080 laptop. It looks, feels, and performs excellently for what it is. Performance is chart-topping in games and productivity tasks; more than enough to easily be the centerpiece of any desk setup. I would choose the QHD 240Hz screen which would be better for hi-res games and creative tasks. 

However, if you want something more portable, the Razer Blade 17 or Alienware X17 R2 is a better option and those also have webcams to boot. But if it’s raw performance you care about, there's nary a laptop better than this.

How we tested the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE

I used the Scar 17 SE as my primary Windows production and gaming machine for the period of a week with another week as just a gaming and media consumption device away from my main desk. I did all my writing, research, and photo editing on the laptop and took the opportunity to finally finish my playthrough of Doom Eternal which I followed up with a fresh start on Assassins Creed Origins on PC Game Pass.

I ran the laptop through our usual suite of synthetic and game benchmarks and a number of stress tests to judge system stability, thermal performance, and most importantly, noise. The battery test was done using PCMark10 battery drain tests as well as just using the laptop away from power.

You can read more about how we test gaming laptops at GamesRadar+ in our full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy, as well as how we decide verdicts on our reviews, too. 

Fill out your research on 30-series laptops by browsing the latest and best deals on RTX 3070 laptops, RTX 3060 laptops, and RTX 3050 laptops.

Coming from the established Trident line, the MSI MEG Trident X 12th that we had our hands recently is the latest generation of small form factor PC's from MSI and is easily one of the best gaming PCs you can buy. The 12th is a nod to the latest generation of Intel Core processors powering the Trident X.

Retailing for $2,499.99 and $3,699.99 for the top-end model with an RTX 3080 Ti which is what I have here for review. That’s a large amount of money but the sheer amount of performance and utility you get out of this small machine means you can use it to render 3D animated films and then move it to your living room for some true 4K@120, ray-traced gaming on your big screen TV.

Design & Features

The Trident X is impressively svelte standing at 16.6 inches tall, 15.61 inches deep, and just 5.4-inches wide. To put that in context, the PS5 is 15.4 x 10 x 3.6-inches so that’s pretty darn close but the Trident X packs far more of a punch than that console and has the benefit of easily changing parts.

The Trident X is a rectangular slab with some edgy flourishes and sits on a wider base for stability – which means you can't lay it on its side without killing critical airflow. That’s fine though as it really doesn’t take up much space on a desk or TV cabinet. The case has two side panels that easily pop off to give you access to the innards and also comes with a tempered glass panel in the box in case you love looking at your hardware.

The front of the Trident X has a good selection of ports: USB Type-C, USB 3.2, and dual audio jacks. There's a distinctive thunderbolt-shaped RGB light strip as well as RGB on the internal case and cooler lighting which is customizable in MSI Center. At the back, you're well serviced too with a total of six more USB 3.2 as well as three DisplayPort and an HDMI 2.1 – perfect for playing games at 4K 120Hz on one of the best gaming TVs (or best gaming monitors, of course). Additionally, there's Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet for networking.

Powering the Trident X is an air-cooled Intel Core i7-12700KF (one of the very latest and best CPUs for gaming), sitting on a Z690 MSI motherboard with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD. An 850W PSU ensures that the RTX 3080 Ti has plenty of power to run 4K games.

Performance

It goes without saying that the Trident X is a performance beast. I wasn’t kidding when I said you can play big screen gaming at 4K 120Hz, something I was able to do in Destiny 2 with the Trident X paired with the excellent Sony A80J OLED. The new 12th Gen Intel’s are serious performers in both productivity and gaming especially when paired with DDR5 memory and a fast SSD for gaming.

In our usual benchmarks, the Trident X scored top marks, coming in only a little behind the much bigger Alienware Aurora R13 we recently reviewed. The system drive measured 6893MB/s and 5283MB/s read/write making Windows tasks and game loading quick and snappy.

Creative tasks like 3D animation and video editing will fly but I spent most of my time using the Trident X for pleasurable gaming. The MSI Ventus RTX 3080 Ti ran every game I had with laughable ease and I was often well past the limits of my 165Hz monitor in quite a few titles. Wolfenstein Youngblood and Doom Eternal even at ultra settings and ray-tracing often ran so fast it was almost nauseating.

More impressively, the Trident X does this while staying cool and relatively quiet; temperatures generally settle around the high 70s on the GPU and high 60’s on the CPU during my prolonged gaming sessions which is great. The fan noise is noticeable when under load but certainly far from unpleasantly so like Alienware Aurora.

You can tweak performance settings in the MSI Center though it does come with some performance presets that you can switch between at any time but I was happy to leave it in Balanced Mode which was perfect for performance and quietness.

Overall - should you buy it?

The MSI MEG Trident X 12th is a fantastic RTX 3080 Ti PC that works just as well in your living room as it does on your desk. It outperforms most prebuilt PC’s in this form factor and handily wipes the floor with current-gen consoles. The update to 12th Gen Intel processors and PCIe 5.0 plus the inclusion of DDR5 memory certainly future proofs this machine for years to come.

However, the Trident X costs as much as four next-gen consoles and is also $200 more than the bigger Alienware R13. That’s a lot of money and the argument can be made for a DIY build now that GPU prices are coming back to normal. That said, MSI is a well-established brand with great hardware quality control and support. So for what it is, this kind of power is well worth the money.

How we tested the MSI MEG Trident X

In my month-long period with the MSI MEG Trident X 12th, I stress tested the gaming PC with our industry-standard benching software, such as Firestrike, Time Spy, PC Mark 10, and CDM, while also using it as my primary gaming machine.

I don’t have a personal gaming PC so the MSI MEG Trident X 12th was my main rig connected to an ultrawide 34-inch QHD MSI monitor. I exclusively and judiciously used it to make headway on my understandably massive backlog of Steam, Xbox PC, Ubisoft Connect, GOG Galaxy, and the Epic Games Store for an encompassing overview of what this machine could do.

I also tested this PC when connected to a 4K OLED Sony TV over HDMI 2.1 where I benefited from VRR, HDR, and experienced living room PC gaming.

You can read more about how we test gaming PCs in our full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy, as well as how we decide verdicts on our reviews, too. 

And if you fancy your gaming machines portable, be sure to check out our best gaming laptop guide right now too.

The iBuyPower Y60BG201 looks like a very powerful fish tank, and it's not far from it. This prebuilt beast will cost you $2,199, and it's fully kitted out with a ton of bells and whistles packed inside an iBuyPower Hyte Y60 tower case. With tempered glass that wraps around three of the four sides, this is the kind of PC you want if you're looking to show off impressive components and groovy light shows. 

The Y60BG201 is one of several of iBuyPower's prebuilt 'Gaming RDY' rigs, which make great options for gamers who want all the power of the best gaming PCs but may not have the ability to kit out a computer themselves. It's got some impressive performance figures for its price range - and if you end up wanting to go in and add more power you can easily access its inner workings once you remove the tempered glass. But if you're happy with what it's got going on, or aren't comfortable building your own PC, iBuyPower's RDY rigs are plug and play - you can literally set this bad boy up in seconds. 

But how does the iBuyPower Y60BG201 stack up when it comes to design, performance, and more?

Design & Features

The HYTE Y60 case is a glass-encased behemoth that looks a lot like an expensive, neon-soaked fish tank. After, it's big enough to fit fish in it, with a length almost as long as is tall. At 18.2 inches tall, 17.95 inches deep, and 11.2 inches wide, this isn't exactly a low-profile rig.  But there are more than a few fish floating around this PC, and if you're the kind of person who wants to show off the neon lights and impressive hardware inside the tower, the tempered glass is undoubtedly a tempting addition. 

The iBuyPower Y60BG201 has an Intel Core i7-12700KF processor, one of the best CPUs for gaming you can get on the market. It has 16GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, plus the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, one of the best graphics cards for gamers. The front has two USB 3.0 ports, a USB 3.2 port, and an audio jack flanking the front-mounted power button. The back of the tower has an array of audio jacks, a DisplayPort, an HDMI port, an Ethernet connection, one USB-C port, two USB-A 2.0 ports, two USB-A 3.2 ports, and your traditional ports for a wired keyboard and mouse.  

That means the iBuyPower Y60BG201 can easily handle all your favorite peripherals, whether it's the best gaming mouse, the best wireless gaming headset, or the best gaming keyboard. Or all three - who cares, you have the space with this rig. If you want to go in and make upgrades to it, you can easily remove the tempered glass by unscrewing a rear safety screw. We have to note that the first graphics card that was sent with the Y60 somehow came unseated/was otherwise not functioning correctly, so we had to replace it with another card provided by iBuyPower. It's here that I, someone who has never opened up a PC let alone installed a graphics card, saw how easy it was to do both with this rig (and with a full set of acrylic nails). 

Performance

I am lucky enough to have a serious contender for best 4K monitor for gaming (clearly some of the best gaming monitors money can buy) so I put the iBuyPower Y60BHG201 through its paces. That means I ran multiple games at top-end settings across 4K, 1440p, and 1080p resolutions and tested it against some industry-standard benchmark tests.

The iBuyPower Y60BG201 has some pretty impressive numbers on the latter. Its PC Mark 10 score handily beats out the Acer Predator 7000 (a much more expensive rig that, to be fair, does have the RTX 3090 in it), as do its Cinebench CPU tests. However, the Predator 7000 has a much better score across our range of Firestrike tests and its SSD performance. SSD benchmarks are where they should be, with transfer speeds just under 3.5GB/s read and just over 3GB/s write, which is excellent, albeit something many users may not notice.

The iBuyPower prebuilt can easily handle Shadow of the Tomb Raider at all six of benchmark tests, from the highest quality 4K setting to high quality at 1080p resolution. It never even comes close to dipping below 60fps at any point. It can't manage to hit 4K 60fps for Total War: Three Kingdoms or the highest possible setting and resolution in Metro Exodus. It struggles and fails to hit consistent 60fps in Red Dead Redemption 2 at the highest possible graphical settings, though it frequently jumps above 60fps at 1080p resolution. 

During my time playing and working with it, I did notice that it can get quite warm when in the midst of gaming sessions and got especially hot when running benchmarks. That isn't ideal considering the current global heat wave we're all facing. It's also quite a big rig, which meant I had trouble figuring out where to put it so that it wasn't perpetually in my way. However, I never noticed any real slowdown or issues when working with two monitors, an embarrassing amount of chrome tabs open, and running Spotify in the background.

Overall - should you buy it?

If you've got ample space and love the idea of your PC showing off all of its internal workings with all the lights and pizazz of the Las Vegas strip, you may want to consider the iBuyPower Y60BG201 - it's pretty bold and pretty powerful. As someone who enjoys PC gaming but doesn't obsess over framerates or resolution, I thoroughly enjoy using this rig - but also fully understand that the price tag may not be enough to justify buying a pre-built that can't really pull off consistent 60fps at 4K. 

However, with an easy-to-adjust layout, you could just as easily buy this pre-build and use it until you save up more to upgrade it. That's more that can be said for the iBuyPower Revolt 3, which may be more compact but is much more difficult to adjust. And considering the Y60BG201 is recently on sale, this is a great value for a fully-fledged RTX 3070 PC that performs well compared to others of its ilk. 

If you're like me and building your own custom PC is entirely out of the question, the iBuyPower Y60BG201 will give you great performance - sometimes at and sometimes below the 60fps 4K benchmark, and you don't have to ruin your nails in the process. 

And if you fancy your gaming machines portable, be sure to check out our best gaming laptop guide right now too.

It's finally happened: SCUF's new Reflex line of controllers marks the first big addition to the third-party PS5 controller option list that we've all been waiting for. The SCUF Reflex controllers look strikingly similar to the official DualSense pad, but claim to offer the traditional extras that SCUF gamepads do: bonus buttons that are customisable, a DIY-design process to get the right controller for you, and some other enhancements aimed to bring the pad up to competitive gaming levels. Oh, and a price tag north of the $200/£200 mark.

First, though, you have to decide what kind of SCUF Reflex you want. There are three broad 'types': the standard Reflex, the Reflex Pro, and the Reflex FPS. All offer slightly different variations upon a theme, and you can pick your way through each step customising the pad on the official site (though the three main core pads will come to retailers at some point, we're sure). While ours was custom-designed - we had a bit of fun with the design, don't @ me - it's based on the Reflex Pro model. But is it the next level of PS5 pad, and also one of the best PC controllers going? Maybe - for some folks, anyway.

Design

As I've mentioned, the actual aesthetic design can be chosen if you're building you're own - though the grey schemes in the marketing do look smart too - so you can really go to town and personalise from the off. 

But the structure and the physical form of the SCUF Reflex are basically identical to the PS5 DualSense controller. It really does look like SCUF has had access to the official pad's blueprint and then been able to work directly from that, adding the extras on top.

Where the Reflex deviates from the DualSense form and design - mainly - is on the rear where the extra buttons or paddles are positioned. There are four of them, carefully placed and together with a profile button add a bit of extra heft and weight to the pad and fit very neatly and appropriately. Even for my slightly weird hands, the placement is perfect.

Otherwise, the sticks, all the buttons, and the D-Pad are all where they 'should' be and it really does feel like and have the design of, a DualSense. Simple.

Features

From the off, as mentioned, the buttons are all in the same position as the DualSense, and largely feel the same - though you can change a few things like the shape and form of the sticks in particular if you're looking for some extra edges. The sticks, face buttons, and shoulder buttons all feel solid and as expected, with no real difference from the DualSense.

On the back, however, we get to Scuf's famous back paddles. Or buttons. Or padtons. Well, the reality is that these buttons are somewhere between paddles and 'click of a mouse' buttons. This makes for an actuation that is both satisfying and also not overly easy to accidentally press. These are also well placed, conforming to the contours and form of the DualSense shape and fit neatly under the pad. Those with normal-sized (and up) hands will have these almost literally at their fingertips. Above these sits the profile button too, allowing management of the paddles between three setups.

The triggers can be changed to hairline ones that are excellent for FPS play with a near-instant actuation, but our model came with the standard stock ones - much like the other face buttons and D-Pad, these just feel normal and familiar.

A feature that really should be considered and that stands out for me, however, is the grip texture that can be applied in the customisation process - this is excellent, it needs to be said. On each wing, this really made the controller feel like it would never slip out of my hands and offers way more comfort and, well, grip than the regular DualSense. It's almost a shame this feature alone is locked into such a pricey pad, as I would add it to my regular DualSense pads in a heartbeat.

A somewhat missed opportunity in the features department here is the lack of software. This is unfortunate as almost all of the customisable competitors, like the brilliant Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro, have a suite where you can fully overhaul the pad to your preference. Not here though - the Reflex controller must be manually changed.

Performance

The Scuf Reflex Pro controller plays almost identically to the DualSense. As a result, to just pick up and use it for a quick session felt exactly the same as any other DualSense pad, and it does share all the best bits - the adaptive triggers, the haptics, the rumble, the solid weight and build, and so on.

Now, where it can come alive is in single-player games that require any extra advantage like Elden Ring, where you can really utilise the paddles to instantaneously mount a glorious counterattack or flee at just the right time, or ensure you can run, jump, and combine other actions altogether, almost all at once. However, if you're on PC and playing Elden Ring, the Razer Wolverine V2 or the Turtle Beach Recon Controller will do that same job for a fraction of the price of the Reflex - albeit with an asymmetrical design.

The other place where, predictably, the Reflex will offer something else is in the online multiplayer and competitive field. This scene has long been one that has been the home of many a customisable controller player, and it will shine again here in games like Apex Legends or Warzone where folks have their own preferences and button layouts with jump or reload on the rear, for example.

Otherwise, this is a DualSense in every way and for everyday players looking for a neat pad to play Assassin's Creed, Stray, or Sniper Elite 5 with, then this will be a bit too much and also not quite right.

Overall - should you buy it?

Throughout my time with the Scuf Reflex Pro it has felt rather like I'm reviewing a DualSense. This sometimes has made it hard to see the pad as its own thing. On one hand, that's great, as it'll feel very familiar to those who own and love the DualSense who are looking for a bit more, but on the other, it's a bit underwhelming - there's nothing truly revolutionary here, and certainly nothing to sway a mass of the player base.

Is it worth the price of three DualSenses? For most folks, no, and it would just be a very expensive DualSense alternative that doesn't offer much. But then, much like other Scuf controllers such as the Scuf Instinct Pro for Xbox, this just isn't aimed at most folks, and until other players or models enter the market, the Reflex series from Scuf really does remain a quality option for those looking for more customisation and possibilities from their PS5 and PC controller - for a big price.

How we tested the SCUF Reflex controller

The SCUF Reflex controller became my go-to gaming pad for my PS5 (my main platform) and for PC play, where I also tested it out thoroughly, for several weeks.

I used it for all my games and gaming, regardless of genre or how I was playing - be it co-op with my friends in Strange Brigade, traversing near-future London in Watch Dogs Legion, or messing around in our testing games on PC like Red Dead Redemption 2, The Division 2, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Tested on PS5, and with a Razer Blade 15 laptop supplied by Razer and with an Acer Predator X38 monitor from Acer.

Remember to browse other specialist PS5 gear like the best TV for PS5, best PS5 monitor, and best PS5 headsets to fully kit out your setup.

Destiny expansions always make a good first impression. Destiny 2: The Witch Queen makes the strongest first impression of any expansion from developer Bungie to date. It delivers the most memorable campaign in the series, and its story is the best thing Bungie has ever written. Ironically, this makes it more difficult to review. 

These behemoth updates are measured in impact and longevity. It's not just how I feel 10, 20, 40, or – as I am now – even 80 hours in, but how I feel after several weeks or perhaps months. At 10 hours, The Witch Queen felt peerless, like no other live game could pull off something this ambitious. At 20 hours, it was overwhelming, the sheer variety of new activities and goals pulling me in a dozen, equally tantalizing directions. At 40 hours, it was engrossing. Weapon grinding and character building have been casually rewritten once again. Only after 80 hours and a run through the Vow of the Disciple raid do I fully understand the enormous impact of The Witch Queen. I don't know exactly how I'll feel about it in a few more weeks or months, but I know I'll still be playing it and watching the game's future with eager eyes. 

Every time a new Destiny expansion drops, the hype kicks in and many players are quick to assert that this, surely, is the best the game has ever been. And yet again, it is. But then out come the comparisons. Is it as big as Forsaken? No, but I don't think it needed to be. Is it as good as The Taken King? Listen to me, forget The Taken King. Forsaken and The Taken King were about fixing Destiny. The Witch Queen is about celebrating it. This is the expansion I've wanted for seven years. 

The gold standard campaign 

We've never seen Destiny 2 so unified. The Witch Queen doesn't have a weak link across all of its core activities, and they feed into each other in meaningful ways. The initial premise of the expansion is pretty straightforward: Savathun, the Hive god of deception, has gotten her hands on the Light, presenting a clear threat to humanity's Vanguard and sparking conflict within it as Guardians question their connection to the Traveler. Between the campaign, missions in the open world, the raid, and seasonal developments, Savathun's plot becomes a catalyst for The Witch Queen to simultaneously fill gaps in the game's universe, flesh out the best villain in the franchise's history, and frame the rapidly escalating threat that will define the next three years of Destiny 2.   

The Witch Queen has done more for Destiny 2's narrative than any expansion or season before it, and that's saying a lot after the past year. It is a new peak for the series, and it's only possible because of what it is. Destiny is absurd. It's incredible, and sometimes a mess. It's an ever-growing pile of growing pains. It's the best-feeling first-person shooter you can play. It's one of the richest universes in games, and that universe shovels stories at us but we usually catch them with a teaspoon. All of that – the lessons, the messes, the successes – is right here in this expansion, collected, polished, and presented like never before. The Witch Queen isn't just paying off story threads that Bungie's been planting for years. It's cashing in on everything Destiny is and could be.

The campaign fashions years of lore into an enthralling plot that doesn't require a video essay explainer, and it has clearer stakes and stronger momentum than any previous storyline. This isn't some expansion-exclusive side story; it's now the heart of the entire game. We don't hit the same abrupt stop that we did with Eramis in Beyond Light; Savathun can't be compartmentalized so easily. Bungie's playing some big cards here, cards I didn't expect to see for another year at least. Now that they're on the table, I can't begin to imagine how the next year will go. 

It's not just the story, either. Destiny 2's difficulty has often struggled to keep up with its sterling gunplay, but the Witch Queen campaign, particularly its Legendary mode, is a superb balance of challenge and power fantasy. Legendary feels just right. It's excellent in co-op. It's rewarding in a literal sense: missions spit out twice the loot on Legendary, which makes the Power leveling process even easier. If you could somehow separate the Witch Queen campaign missions from Destiny 2, they would make for a great standalone shooter, but the campaign's place in the bigger picture makes it exponentially more compelling.  

Vow of the Disciple  

This is also true of the new raid, Vow of the Disciple. The mysterious pyramid ships that first appeared when Destiny 2 launched in 2017 have officially arrived, and in Vow we get some first-hand experience with what lies beyond them. Past the swamp of Savathun's Throne World are obsidian halls strewn with arcane glyphs, vibrating oddities born of unthinkable engineering, and the most intimidating final boss of any raid yet. 

Destiny raids remain world-class experiences. There is simply nothing else like jumping into these multi-boss sagas with five of your friends, and they're only getting better. Here you'll find some of the finest vistas and soundtracks in all of gaming. The variety of obstacles in Vow alone is staggering, and Bungie's signature blend of method and madness is practically aerobic exercise. As ever, the secret ingredient is failure. Destiny 2 is happy to let you screw things up, but it also gives you a chance to recover, and getting things back on track through improvised roles and urgent callouts is where the real magic lies. I love a perfectly executed plan, but it's the emergencies I remember. 

Just as The Witch Queen's story quickly goes beyond what previously passed for a campaign, Rhulk, the final boss of Vow, demonstrates just how far Destiny raids have come – how far Bungie has come at the helm of this impossible game. There are traces of Atheon, the boss of Destiny's first raid, in the beginning of the fight, where the boss is mostly just another piece of set-dressing that sits back while we fart around with mechanics for a few minutes. Then we get to act two. Rhulk invites us into a smaller, separate arena where we have to tango with him directly, not unlike a matador and a bull, only the bull has a glaive three times your size and knees like Captain frickin' Falcon. 

You might think that after toppling titans like Oryx, Aksis, and Riven, a tall dude with a glaive wouldn't be too daunting, but that's the rule of video game boss fights. There's something infinitely more terrifying about a humanoid with a blade compared to a giant with heavily telegraphed attacks. Rhulk defies conventional raid knowledge – including the timeless strategy of idly shooting a dude while standing in a Well of Radiance – and puts yet another unforgettable face to the Darkness.

Why I'll keep playing  

I look forward to running Vow several times a week for the foreseeable future, partly for fun and also for the new raid gear, and there's plenty more to do outside of it. The Witch Queen came out the gate with an impressive arsenal of guns, many available through the new weapon crafting system and many more sporting new weapon traits. One lobs a giant worm. Another is basically the edgy cousin of the Needler from Halo. The glaive, Destiny 2's new jack-of-all-trades, first-person melee weapon, is my favorite of the bunch because of what it brings to combat – mainly badass melee animations and an overpowered shield – but there are dozens of guns to pursue and just as many builds to craft. 

Weapon crafting is less essential than it appeared, but its launch has gone about as I expected: with bottlenecks that needed to be adjusted. It wouldn't be a new Destiny system without them. Bungie has been good about pushing out patches to help players actually engage with weapon crafting in a reasonable time frame, but I reckon there are still a few more variables that need to be tuned. 

Enhanced perks were positioned as a major appeal of crafted weapons, but most of them are pretty underwhelming. Despite early fixes, some crafting materials are still so rare, or have such low inventory caps, that you can't amass enough to fuel more than one crafting endeavor at a time. And due to some lingering RNG issues, unlocking and leveling a craftable weapon is often less appealing than just hoping for a good roll of that gun to drop naturally. Weapon crafting is a good addition to Destiny 2, but it's not as revolutionary as some might have hoped – at least not yet, but hopefully it opens up as more guns become craftable. 

The newly updated Void subclasses have brought much bigger changes to Destiny 2's everyday gameplay. Void 3.0 is the first of three subclass overhauls coming in Year 5, and overnight it turned the most obscure element in the game into the most powerful. Void is now an irresistible cocktail of explosions and barriers that I can't put down. The skill tree of aspects and fragments established by the Stasis element in Beyond Light has been elevated for Void's face lift, and it's one of Destiny's sneakier time sinks. There's no telling how many hours I've spent in menus tinkering, contemplating, min-maxing stats, and combining mods. Building the perfect Guardian has never been more fun, and seasonal activities – yet more snacky hoard modes where you shoot dudes to fill a progress bar – have been the perfect testing ground for my new weapons and builds. 

So, how do I say it this year? Destiny Christmas has come again? Destiny is the best it's ever been? The future of the game looks bright? All of this is true but I've said it all before, and The Witch Queen is not like anything before it. There's a change in kind here, a measure of confidence and intent that's hard to measure. All of Destiny 2 is now heading in a bold new direction informed by years of history, shaped by years of failures, and steered by years of successes. The Witch Queen is the best Destiny expansion ever, but it doesn't just build a better game; it imagines something better still. 

Another year, another dazzling high-end Corsair One. That’s right, the coolest compact PC is back, with an internal hardware refresh and another price tag that makes us want to cry. The new One i300 has a few different models, with our top-end iteration retailing at a staggering $4,999 (even the cheapest version is only a thousand dollars less expensive).

Fortunately for the piratical PC producer, we’ve loved the Corsair One ever since its debut. Its intelligent internal design and brilliantly small footprint are even more impressive considering that it can put many of the best gaming PCs to shame with its performance. The i300 is no exception, but we’ll get to performance later on. For now, let’s take a look at what makes this dinky system so special.

Design & Features

At first glance, the i300 is no different to any previous Corsair One model. That’s largely because, besides the revamped component list, it isn’t! The chassis is almost identical to the very first One that Corsair released, with the same dark gunmetal casing and the same RGB strips running down either side of the front panel. The word ‘sexy’ has been over-used in reference to tech hardware for decades now, but we could live with it being used to describe this PC.

At just 20cm deep and less than 18cm wide, it’s a breathtakingly small PC for its weight class. Like its predecessors, the One i300 has perforated side panels and a single large fan at the top of the case, which draws air in and vents it through the roof. The slender design means that most of the components sit upright inside the frame, with the GPU tucked away behind the motherboard thanks to a nifty flexible PCIe riser.

As they say: 'if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it'. The Corsair One chassis needed no fixing, and while such a compact layout has its drawbacks (the top vent can get a bit warm during resource-intensive gaming), it wins more points than it loses. There have been minor changes since the original - gone is the ‘VR Ready’ HDMI output on the front I/O, replaced by a more useful USB-C port - but for the most part, this is still the same One we fell in love with a couple of years ago.

So, what is new? Well, the graphics card is arguably the most important aspect of any gaming PC, so let’s start there. The i300 is packing an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, one of the most powerful and best graphics cards on the market right now, with a hefty 12GB of VRAM and significantly better memory bandwidth than the original RTX 3080. It’s the ideal card to build a 4K gaming system around, which is exactly what Corsair has done. This really is an RTX 3080 PC that will go toe-to-toe with any RTX 3090 PC.

Backing up that GPU is an equally high-end CPU, the Intel Core i9-12900K. A 16-core processing powerhouse, this contender for best CPU for gaming should tear through CPU-bound games and tasks with ease. It’s joined by 64GB of shiny new super-fast DDR5 RAM; arguably more than anyone needs, but hey, this isn’t a machine for those who are shopping on a budget.

There’s no hard drive to be found here - as in, an HDD - as it would likely take up too much space inside the One’s chassis. Instead, we’ve got a 2TB high-speed SSD plugged directly into the motherboard, functioning as our primary storage. This comes with Windows 11 pre-loaded, so bear that in mind if you’re aiming to stick with Windows 10 for now (we’re sure you have your reasons).

Unfortunately for any would-be hardware modders, you’re not likely to be able to upgrade or tweak much inside the i300, just like older Corsair One models. Everything is neatly slotted away inside the case, and just opening it up for a spring clean with a can of compressed air is tricky enough. The motherboard is custom-designed to fit inside the minimalist space, and everything is tightly secured. You won’t be buying a new third-party graphics card for an upgrade in a year or two, because it just won’t fit. Thankfully, the hardware on offer here is cutting-edge enough to last for years to come.

Performance

We weren’t remotely shocked to see the Corsair One i300 obliterate our suite of game benchmarks. Even the dreaded Metro Exodus RTX benchmark, which once made 2000-series Nvidia GPUs tremble in fear, was left in the dust with a framerate well clear of 60 fps. Ray-tracing in other games sees similarly brilliant performance; Control plays like a dream on the i300 at maximum settings.

At 4K, the target resolution for this machine, basically everything runs at 60+ fps, regardless of graphical settings. Metro Exodus offers an ‘extreme’ option above 4K ultra graphics, and even that gave us more than 80 frames per second. CPU-bound games like strategy title Total War: Three Kingdoms make great use of the i9-12900K processor for similarly fantastic performance.

It’s no surprise that this machine is a beast for 4K gaming: it cleans up at any resolution if you’re rocking one of the best 4K gaming monitors or even an 8K monitor; though, going in the opposite direction, if you’re an esports nut who wants an ultra-high framerate and is willing to trade down to 1440p or 1080p to get ridiculous numbers, it'll do that too. Remember that you’ll need a high-refresh-rate panel - like one on our best gaming monitor guide - to take advantage of that, though. Speaking of esports, we took a cheeky dip into Valorant at 4K and were comfortably seeing framerates in excess of 200 fps.

Although this is first and foremost a gaming machine, it’s got more than enough hardware oomph to handle all manner of workstation-level tasks. High-end rendering and video processing work is no problem here, nor are number-crunching scientific modelling programs thanks to the powerful CPU and truckload of the best RAM for gaming. The 2TB solid state drive is also extremely fast, loading games in no time at all and shifting massive file transfers without any difficulty.

One thing we did notice was that the i9-12900K runs pretty hot under load. The Corsair One’s single-fan configuration means that its thermal performance is never going to beat a more spacious and well-ventilated case, but some of our benchmarks saw CPU temps rise as high as 97C, with noticeable heat from the top exhaust grille (though no external parts ever became too hot to touch, which was good to see).

We didn’t see any significant performance throttling, however, and the rest of the system remained relatively cool despite the scorching processor temps. Arguably the most impressive part was how quiet the i300 remained throughout our testing process, with only a slight fan hum to let us know it was under duress. The CPU is cooled by a compact all-in-one liquid cooling unit, and we couldn’t detect any noticeable whine from the pump either—a common complaint in AIO-cooled machines.

Overall - should you buy it?

Yes, you should, if you want a new PC that offers you unbridled power. But that power comes at a price. Five thousand bucks is no small order. However, given the current state of the market building your own PC won’t be hugely cheaper and definitely won’t be as compact. Hell, the RTX 3080 Ti alone is hard to find for less than a grand and a half right now, so opting for a pre-built system makes a lot of sense. If only we all had access to those OEM wholesale prices, eh?

Really though, the Corsair One i300 is one of the best 4K gaming desktops available right now, offering blistering performance in virtually every area thanks to top-of-the-line hardware, and it does all that while packing one of the best-designed cases we’ve ever seen housing a pre-built PC. Corsair clearly knew that they were onto a winner with the One, so why mess with a good formula?

And if you fancy your gaming machines portable, be sure to check out our best gaming laptop guide right now too.

The BenQ EW3880R seeks to find a place among the best gaming monitors not with a blisteringly quick fresh rate, but through the screen quality itself. Make no mistake, either. The BenQ EW3880R is a big monitor with an equally large price tag of $1,050 / £1,030, which positions it at the upper echelon of panels up there with the best from the likes of Samsung and Alienware. 

While it's been promoted heavily on its media potential, due in part to the aspect ratio and panel tech used, it's attempting to be a bit of a jack of all trades and doesn't quite strike every box with confidence. 

BenQ EW3880R review: Design and features

The first thing that's going to catch your eye with the BenQ EW3880R is its substantial size, especially when set up on one of the best gaming desks. Even compared to similar ultrawide displays and the best curved gaming monitors, it's fair to say that this monitor is an absolute unit; and that 38-inch panel really gets to stretch itself out over the 2300R curve. The BenQ EW3880R is an attention-grabbing display though it might be the leanest monitor that you can have in front of you. I won't go so far as to call it bulky, but it has some meat on its bones so to speak, which is most noticeable when taking a closer look at the bezels themselves, because they, too, are on the thick side. 

Turning your attention to the bottom of the BenQ EW3880R reveals two of its most exciting inclusions, namely, the built-in audio bar (2.1 channel sound with a 3w speaker and 8w subwoofer) and the dedicated HDRi button. The HDR modes themselves are split into three distinct categories which can be toggled on the fly depending on the task, with an all-arounder HDR mode as well as "Cinema" and "Game" options. The differences between them may not seem too large at first, though, extended use of the display revealed the specifics well, but more on that later. 

On the more technical side, the BenQ EW3880R utilizes a 21:9 WQHD+ IPS panel (with a DCI-P3 rating of 95%) to deliver deep blacks and vibrant colors, which you would expect for a monitor marketed on its entertainment prowess. I found that the viewing angles were consistently strong sat up close to the display, as one would expect from a curved computer monitor, and when a fair distance away, too. 

BenQ EW3880R review: Performance

Let's get one thing straight out of the gate, the BenQ EW3880R is built with multimedia in mind first and foremost over its raw gaming potential. This can be evidenced by its 60Hz refresh rate, which is definitely going to be on the slower side, especially if you're someone that enjoys the latest titles running at their silkiest. With that said, I found that gaming in 1440p on this monitor to be enjoyable despite the low refresh rate, with FPS games and racing titles benefiting from that ultrawide display the most. 

Ride 4 was a particular highlight, especially when enabling the title's supported HDR modes across the 21:9 Ultrawide display. The subtle curve of the BenQ EW3880R allowed for decent visibility on the tracks as well as lending an immersive feel when in first-person on some of the more challenging circuits available. It was a similar story with both Cyberpunk 2077 and Halo Infinite, especially with the Game HDRi mode enabled. 

The former of which looked especially dazzling stretched with all the screen real estate in play; whether driving through Night City or getting into gunfights. If you're considering a monitor for competitive titles, such as Valorant or Apex Legends, then the BenQ EW3880R isn't going to be able to give you the kind of frame rate that you need. With that in mind, should you be after a display for action/adventure games, RPGs or single-player games where max FPS isn't too important, then you've got a decent option here. 

The main draw is how the BenQ EW3880R handles multimedia, and that really is where it shines the brightest. The 21:9 aspect ratio was built with premium viewing in mind, and I can safely say that it delivers on all fronts in this respect. In order to put this monitor through its paces, I consumed a lot of movies over my time with the monitor. If you're after a panel to make the most of the pictures old and new, then I can say hands down that this is the nicest screen I've ever seen for cinema. 

The HDRi Movie option was stellar at bringing out the colors, contrast, and saturation of many movie scenes which was especially noticeable in a film's darker moments. The blacks looked incredible during one of the final shootouts of John Wick: Chapter 2, with the BenQ EW3880R being the only display I've ever used to accurately display contrast in the shadows when moving into light, especially when a muzzle flash cuts through the darkness. Venom: Let There Be Carnage was just as strong here as well, considering how much of that movie takes place at night. Black and white movies were equally as striking on this display, though with black bars at each side as you may expect. Everything from Seven Samurai, Dr. Strangelove, and The Lighthouse looked spectacular with prominent, and faithful, contrast where needed. 

Productivity is another strong suit of the BenQ EW3880R. As someone who spends an awful lot of time in front of screens, both for work and leisure, the big and bright panel here made working as painless as possible, as text and images were especially crisp. If you're someone that's ever had to zoom in on your browser windows to see everything well enough, then it's highly likely that this screen will eradicate the issue. It's also easy on the eyes over extended periods of time, both through specified eye-care options and when adjusting the HDR to dull the dazzling of white-on-white displays.  

BenQ EW3880R review: Should you buy it? 

The BenQ EW3880R is one of the nicest panels I've ever had my hands on and is fantastic for both consuming media and being productive. However, if you're purely after something geared towards gaming first and foremost then this really isn't the panel for you. The 60Hz refresh rate gets the job done, and games do still look good on this display, but it's clearly not the main focus here and it shows overall. While it's amazing for movies, it's just decent for gaming. Ultrawide QHD alternatives from the company, such as the EX3501R or EX3203R may prove to be more up to the challenge with higher refresh rates built for more specifically for gaming. 

If you're looking to go big but have gaming in mind first and foremost, then you'll need one of the best gaming TVs, best TVs for PS5 and Xbox Series X, or best 4K monitors for gaming.

We'll get straight to the chase, the Kingston Fury Renegade SSD is one of the best SSDs for gaming that you can slot into your motherboard's M.2 port in 2022. At a time where the potential of Gen 4.0 NVMe drives continues to exceed expectations launching into the third year on the market, Kingston has proved that it knows how to deliver consistently excellent performance across the board. 

Whether you've been considering making the jump over from a more traditional SATA SSD, considering the upgrade from a slower Gen 3.0 SSD, or just wanting more consistent current-generation performance, then the Kingston Fury Renegade excels at everything you throw at it. However, given that its 2TB configuration will cost you a staggering $424.99 / £430 - it's far from the cheapest option you can get. 

Kingston Fury Renegade SSD review: Design and features

The Kingston Fury Renegade SSD utilizes a Phison E18 Gen 4x4 controller in order to deliver some incredible numbers that aren't always seen in drives of this current NVMe generation. 

On the aesthetics front, there really isn't much to talk about - for all the difference that looks make. The Kingston Fury Renegade aims for efficiency over flashiness, and this is evident in its clean black and white visual design. Speaking of its physical build, though, there's a built-in low-profile graphene aluminum heat spreader for keeping the core temperatures down as well. 

We found in our testing that the Kingston Fury Renegade SSD kept well below its max operating temperature of 70 degrees (it peaked at 68 degrees), which is impressive for something as thin and lightweight as this. We normally only observe heat readings like this from our thicker, dedicated motherboard heatsinks, so it's clearly doing the job here. 

Kingston Fury Renegade SSD review: Performance

There's no debate that the Kingston Fury Renegade SSD is one of the fastest Gen 4.0 models on the market right now as the numbers proposed by the company have certainly been met. It was claimed the drive could achieve up to 7,300 read and 7,000 MB/s write respectively. Our testing proved that this level of performance was very much the case, as our CrystalDiskMark scores of 7,344.99 read and 6,874.21 write reveal. The total Anvil score was just as commendable: 21,649.35 overall. 

Those are some seriously fast figures, however, they would mean nothing if the actual real-world performance wasn't adhered to. For example, most PC gamers have had to transfer games from one drive to another, especially as NVMe drives continue to become faster. We tested this ourselves with another Gen 4.0 drive and were absolutely blown away by the write speeds on display from some of the larger games in our library. 

Take, for instance, CyberPunk 2077 (and its 64.88 GB file) which was transferred over from another NVMe SSD to the Kingston Fury Renegade in only 22.66 seconds. Destiny 2 (full to bursting with several years of DLC at a staggering 73.5 GB) made the jump over to the Renegade in a similarly impressive 28 seconds. If you're someone that wants to have all your games in one place ready to take advantage of DirectStorage, which will utilize Gen 4.0 SSD performance in the latest titles, then you can rest easy knowing that the handover process shouldn't take too long at all.

What about in-game loading times then? Halo Infinite on PC is a bit of a frontrunner for stellar optimization (when it comes to loading from a faster SSD) and the Kingston Fury Renegade SSD is no different. We were able to launch straight into gameplay from the main menu (into a campaign mission) in only 18 seconds. How about coming back from a death screen when Master Chief catches a couple of bullets? Well, we couldn't even clock a second here, that's how fast we're talking.

Kingston Fury Renegade SSD review: Should you buy it? 

We can wholeheartedly endorse the Kingston Fury Renegade SSD as one of the best gaming SSDs. It's also worth noting, due to its form factor and built-in heat spreader that it's an easy contender for one of the best PS5 SSDs on the market too - though you could add your own extra heatsink to be sure from this perspective.

Be forewarned, as with other faster drives of its ilk, it can get pricey at 2TB and up, but if you're someone that wants incredibly fast, and consistent performance then there's very little that the Kingston Fury Renegade SSD can't do. 

I'm increasingly convinced that movement-driven games aren't just my type of game; they're the best type of game. Demonstrably – mathematically, even. Because a game that turns the simple act of getting to point B into a constant delight, and then presents infinite points to get to, is always at its best. No dips, no clutter, just 100% uptime on the thing you signed up for. 

I signed up for Solar Ash, the second game from Hyper Light Drifter developer Heart Machine, looking to skate elegantly on the clouds of a beautiful world, and that's exactly what I got. It's a third-person platformer that pushes its core skating mechanic to its technical and creative limits, and the result is a sublime chorus of double jumps, grind rails, bounce pads, collectibles, and momentum. What I didn't expect was for the wrapper on that straightforward idea to be so heavy and memorable. I didn't anticipate so many pitiable, endearing, and even charming characters ruminating fatalistically in a melancholic world sculpted from loss, or for that world's plight to hit so close to home. Solar Ash is simultaneously exactly what I was hoping for and also full of surprises, and it's one of my favorite games of the year. 

Now this is fast travel  

Solar Ash opens with our hero, Rei, quite literally dropping into the Ultravoid, a colossal black hole that will soon consume her home planet. Rei's one of several Voidrunners dispatched to the Ultravoid with the goal of halting its destruction, and we come to know her colleagues through audio logs hidden around the world, each log stored with a scrap of a new unlockable suit that enhances Rei's abilities in some way. Not that Rei needs any enhancements; you've got everything you could ever want from minute one.

In the same way that a nice knife makes chopping vegetables downright addictive, Solar Ash makes cutting through clouds and gliding over platforms endlessly exhilarating. Rei moves with enchanting grace and explosive power. You're unstoppable. Boost to build momentum, double-jump off a ledge, grapple upward, and slow time at just the right moment to launch off an enemy and preserve your momentum. Take in the sights as you cruise along a grind rail, pop some plasma containers as they whiz by, then pirouette to a stop to scan the horizon for new markers and collectibles, or just new trails to blaze. Do whatever you want, as carefully or helter-skelter as you want, and bask in the flow state. 

Fluid controls aside, the reason Solar Ash feels so good to play is because its world is so intelligently designed. It makes things look easy, which can only mean it was painstakingly made. Minor puzzles and light, one-button combat enhance movement rather than disrupting it, with different enemy types adding new challenges to traversal. Blobs and crystals of plasma, a currency used to increase your maximum life with help from the AI companion Cyd, draw your attention to key points in the world. Voidrunner caches are just hidden enough that you have to poke around, but visible enough that finding them never feels tedious. Everything was tailor-made to make the most of Rei's abilities while minimizing frustration, and it shows. 

There are no intrusive markers telling you where to go, and there's next to no tutorializing. Solar Ash doesn't need it. New challenges are introduced smartly – first in a controlled environment, then with ramping complexity and stakes. Slow time mid-air to extend your grapple range, deliver these color-coded spores before they time out, don't touch the green acid for too long, don't touch the lava at all. Mechanics and hazards combine and elevate each other without overcomplicating things. The core verbs are emphasized, never muddled. 

This clean design shines in fights with the Remnants, towering behemoths reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus, that stalk each world. You skewer void marks all over the landscape to weaken them, then scale them to attack exposed nerves with Rei's needle-like lance, each assault a tight time trial of its own. It's hard to oversell the rush of a breakneck sprint along a titan's body, nimbly piercing weak points as you jump between plates of bone. By the time you reach the boss of each area, you'll find you've already learned how to take it down after exploring the environment. The timing, the tricks, the openings – you learn to see the lines without being told. The visual language is so strong that it dyes your neurons. It's magic – doubly so given this is Heart Machine's first 3D game. It just feels correct, and it feels good. 

Come on in, the void is fine  

The backdrop to this thrill ride is contrastingly somber, and at times sharply relevant. The Ultravoid is an unfathomable pit where time and space go to die, but as you explore the fractured worlds spat out by this vortex of dark matter, you find that a black hole wasn't the only danger these planets and their people faced. Rei herself laments that the leaders of her homeworld wasted valuable time arguing about how to address the Ultravoid problem until the only option they had was the worst-case scenario. Later, you explore a planet which was ruined by corporate pollution long before it was devoured by the void. Stop me if this sounds familiar. 

The tragedy of the Ultravoid is enormous – as the diary of one traveler puts it, it's something a god would struggle to process, let alone one person. So it's often the smaller stories buried here that cut deepest. It's one thing to gawk incredulously at the loss of an entire civilization, but another to personally witness and unpick the looping sorrow of a widow lost to time. Traces of Rei's fellow Voidrunners also frame some of the most interesting snippets. The promise of new suits initially convinced me to hunt for Voidrunner caches, but as I found newer suits more and more forgettable – I'll stick with the better boost, thanks – it was the diary entries, enlivened by some excellent voice work, that kept me searching. 

I especially looked forward to post-boss fight encounters with the mysterious astral figure named Echo. Her withering criticism and foreboding advice kept me guessing right up till the ending, which hit pretty hard despite being heavily foreshadowed. I'm very tempted to play through again, both to annihilate my initial play time of roughly 10 hours – relatedly, I can't wait to see what speedrunners do to this game, and neither can Heart Machine – and to see how a different climactic choice may affect the ending. I'm certainly not tired of Solar Ash. Hell, I don't know if I could get tired of it. It is ceaseless, distilled fun – the best type of game. 

Reviewed on PS5. Code supplied by Heart Machine. 

HP’s Omen 30L range is the gaming PC for those who don’t want to build their own gaming PC. Assembling your own system can be a daunting prospect (and it’s easier to buy depleted uranium than a new graphics card right now), but luckily HP has you covered, offering a gaming machine personally tailored for you with a variety of possible specs.

Naturally, that means that the Omen 30L—whatever configuration you might buy—works just like any expertly-assembled homemade gaming PC. Want to upgrade later on with new components? It’s a breeze. Installing custom software? No trouble. We’ll get down to the nitty-gritty of the specs in a bit, but all of the Omen 30L models are serious gaming machines, sharing the same slick chassis of metal and tempered glass.

It’s a statement that HP is taking their pre-built machines seriously, and a lot of work has clearly gone into making the 30L a best gaming PC contender. But does it actually measure up to the competition, and is it really worth the hefty asking price? Let’s find out.

Design & Features

Straight out of the box, the Omen 30L is a gorgeous piece of hardware. It’s fairly middle-of-the-road in terms of size, far from compact but nowhere near as big as some gaming-oriented cases. One side panel is clear glass, showcasing the internal components, while the other is solid aluminum.

At the front, we’ve got another glass panel, although this one is tinted to mute the brightness of the RGB intake fan mounted near the base. Above it lies the ‘OMEN’ typeface and the brand’s iconic diamond logo, also illuminated in matching RGB. It’s unexpectedly subtle compared to many other pre-built PCs; the rest of the RGB lighting is limited to a single LED strip at the top of the case, a bright square on the CPU cooler block, and RGB HyperX Fury RAM (an optional extra).

It’s an excellent case; where many pre-build sellers use cases from other manufacturers, HP has committed to their own style, and it was a good choice. The 30L chassis also offers superb ventilation; large perforated metal panels run up either side of the front, and the fixed top panel is similarly ventilated. There are dust filters tucked away underneath, although accessing these for cleaning could be a chore.

Fortunately, reaching the guts of this build won’t be an issue. A big user-friendly button on the rear of the case pops open the glass window, allowing you to freely access the majority of components for upgrades or maintenance. At the front and back of the case, we’ve got a variety of I/O ports for physical connectivity (a front USB-C port would’ve been a good inclusion, but it’s not a dealbreaker as there are two to be found at the back).

Inside, we’ve got a highly customizable selection of parts. Our review unit packs an RTX 2080 Super GPU and an Intel Core i7-10700K CPU; both previous-generation parts now, but given the difficulty of knowing where to buy RTX 3080 or where to buy RTX 3070 stock, for example, it’s a pretty fair deal at the price point. With 2.5TB of storage in total and 16GB of high-speed memory, this Omen 30L is guaranteed to still pack a punch. Models with RTX 3000-series GPUs and a variety of other components are also available, should you wish to spend more for better performance.

If we had one key criticism of the 30L’s design, it wouldn’t come down to the aesthetic choices or the selection of available components. The RGB light strip hidden behind the windowed panel throws the internal assembly into sharp relief and sadly reveals a few places where the cabling work could’ve been neater. We also wish there was some kind of PSU shroud here; the exposed non-modular power brick from Cooler Master isn’t pretty to look at, with a bunch of information labels printed on the top.

It’s not disastrous by any means—this reviewer has put together some far messier systems in the past—but buying a pre-built PC comes with a certain assurance that the cabling work will be as tidy as possible, and that isn’t quite the case here. A few cables have been squeezed awkwardly into innocuous corners, and a crumpled piece of black fabric tape secures one audio cable at the top of the case for no obvious reason.

In terms of pre-installed software, the Omen 30L comes with either Windows 10 or 11 Home, and mercifully only has a small amount of bloatware already on the drive. Some of this is worth keeping (such as the existing RGB control software and the GeForce Experience app) but the rest thankfully isn’t too onerous to remove.

Performance

Appearance aside, how does this Omen 30L perform? Well, we’re pleased to report that despite now being more than two years old, the 2080 Super can still get it done. This GPU is a monster for gaming at 1440p and can handle its own at 4K in the majority of games. Demanding triple-A titles may struggle to keep above 60fps at 4K ultra, but esports games run fantastically. Dropping graphical settings down a little will allow 60+ frames per second at 4K resolution in the vast majority of games.

The only real downside to the 2080 Super in comparison to the newer 3080 is in real-time ray-tracing performance. Activating ray-tracing in supported games with a 3000-series card results in a minor hit to framerates, but doing so on a 2080 Super batters your fps down by as much as 50%. We saw this both in Metro Exodus and 3DMark’s Port Royal RTX benchmark test. As the great philosopher, Thanos, once said, ‘this ray extracts a heavy toll’. At least, we’re pretty sure he said ‘ray’.

As mentioned earlier, the Omen 30L case is impressively well-ventilated with a smart fan layout, ensuring good airflow. Despite the small rear fan, exhaust airflow at the back of the case feels strong. We didn’t see any troubling component temperatures throughout our entire testing process, although we did note a bit of fan whine during heavy processor load testing, which unsurprisingly seemed to come from the AIO CPU radiator fan. Some BIOS adjustments to the fan curves might rectify this, though.

Fan noise aside, the Core i7 CPU actually performs admirably, keeping framerates up in CPU-dependent games like the strategy title Total War: Three Kingdoms and powering through core-intensive workloads like the Cinebench R15 benchmark.

Less impressive was our SSD speed; this 512GB M.2 drive wasn’t able to break 2GB/s in transfer speeds, and while the results we got are still incredibly fast (to the point where load times in most games are trivially quick), it’s still slow compared to the 5+GB/s drives that are readily available right now. In practical terms, this won’t make much of a difference for gaming, and it’s still leagues faster than the 2TB hard drive packed in here for secondary storage, so make sure your games are installed on the SSD.

There’s plenty of upgrade potential here, of course, and that doesn’t necessarily mean removing the existing components. There’s an empty drive bay for expansion, and a spare heat shield covering a slot for a second M.2 SSD, should you desire more high-speed storage. You could potentially buy two more 8GB sticks of HyperX RAM to fill the two empty DIMMs, but you might struggle with this due to Kingston’s recent acquisition and subsequent separation of the Fury memory brand!

Overall - should you buy it?

The HP Omen 30L is beautiful on the outside and a little bit ugly on the inside, but it gets the job done and then some. A 1440p gaming powerhouse with the ability to stretch up to 4K gaming in a pinch, all for $1,999, is a reasonable proposition in today’s computer market. A quick trip to eBay shows that a brand-new RTX 2080 Super will currently cost you upwards of a thousand dollars, which makes the Omen 30L an attractive option right now. And while it won't have the power and premium nature that an RTX 3070 PC, RTX 3080 PC, or an RTX 3090 PC will have, it's not a bad choice right now.

Of course, if you’re able to buy a new GPU at the actual market price, building your own PC will likely be a bit cheaper overall. You won’t be able to get the custom Omen case, though, which is one of our favourite parts of this machine. The internals might be a tad unrefined in places, but it’s hard to deny that this is an exceptional pre-built gaming system. Keep up the good work, HP; just leave the tape in the toolbox next time.

If you fancy your gaming machines portable, be sure to check out our best gaming laptop guide right now too.

And if you like saving money, then don't forget the upcoming Black Friday gaming PC deals and Black Friday gaming laptop deals.

The Philips Momentum 559M1RYV has been marketed as being the first real 4K gaming display that’s optimized specifically for Xbox Series X. It’s a lofty claim to be sure, but with its three HDMI 2.1 ports, HDR support, and 120Hz refresh rate, this panel certainly does enough, on paper, to be a potential contender for the best gaming monitors released this year. 

However, that’s only theoretically. Being that the best Xbox Series X monitors are rivaling the best TV for PS5 and Xbox Series X, and this display is large enough to directly compete with some of the best gaming TVs on the market, does the Philips Momentum 559M1RYV do enough to justify its £1,299.99 price tag? 

Keep in mind, if you are interested in this particular gaming monitor, it's currently not available in the US, but will be launching holiday season for $1,599.99. 

Philips Momentum 559M1RYV review: Design and Features

Aside from its size, there’s little that would catch your eye regarding the aesthetics of the Philips Momentum 559M1RYV, save for the exception of the soundbar underneath which is something fairly uncommon on gaming monitors even to this day; there's also a small remote included, which is another rarity on displays of this ilk. Be advised that there’s a decent weight to the monitor, so if you’re intending on moving the unit around, you should probably employ the help of someone else; it could be especially tricky to line the display flush against a wall to bring out the best of the Ambiglow (Ambilight but for monitors) features.

Speaking of Ambiglow functionality, however, it is one of the more disappointing additions to this particular Philips monitor. Given that the company has been honing this technology for years, it's a genuine shame that it didn't seem to work properly on our particular review unit. No matter which of the customizable modes that we tested (we normally settled on ‘Follow Video’ to allow the display to blend into the background), the panel always defaulted to a harsh static green after we made changes on-screen; including but not limited to: changing the HDR modes, adjusting the color saturation, and opening the menu. 

The viewing angles aren’t the best. Given that the Philips Momentum 559M1RYV is a gaming monitor, you’re going to want to be sat dead center in front of it, with the screen titled to your liking. No matter where I sat (or stood) at any angle close to, or far away from, the display, I was met with aggressive greying as opposed to deep blacks. This comes back to the panel type itself though, you’re not getting the color production potential of an IPS panel, and you don’t benefit from the likes of OLED or QLED which, given that this gaming monitor retails for as much as it does for a decidedly average picture, is disheartening. 

Things are better on the audio front, however, the Bowers and Wilkins soundbar below is suitably loud and sufficiently clear with its 40w 2.1 channel stereo. It’s not the most bass-heavy speaker that we’ve ever heard, but it’s distinct enough to make your games sound the way they should. The Xbox Series X features Dolby Atmos surround, too, so either way, you’ll be getting far superior audio quality compared to internal speakers on some monitors and gaming TVs. 

Philips Momentum 559M1RYV review: Performance

From a technical perspective, the Philips Momentum 559M1RYV includes all the ports that you would hope to find on a premium gaming monitor, complete with one DisplayPort 1.4 and 3x HDMI 2.1. We primarily tested this panel hooked up to an Xbox Series X running games at 120Hz (or High-Performance mode as it’s called in certain games that support it). However, we did also test the Momentum's capacity as a big-screen PC monitor with one of our Razer Blade laptops to less enthusiastic results at 144Hz. 

While our time testing PC games on the panel was consistently smooth and aiming around those kinds of frame rates, the overall picture quality was a little dull and muted, and lacked the vibrancy of what was possible on Xbox Series X. Because of this, we wouldn't recommend it as a PC gaming monitor. Regardless of the platform, as far as pure performance was concerned, we found that variable refresh rate (VVR) and Adaptive sync went a long way in reducing visual artifacts, screen tearing, and ghosting, though there’s one major caveat to this rule as far as the actual picture quality is concerned.

The VA LCD panel used is more than serviceable when in motion, especially utilizing the ‘Xbox’ HDR mode that’s been formulated for use with the system, but the blacks (and darker colors of any kind really) are prone to some serious, ugly blooming. It’s most noticeable when the screen goes dark, as is common in such games as Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Doom Eternal, and Devil May Cry 5, where excessive white bloom and ghosting would completely blow out the picture quality and made for an overall unpleasant gaming experience in those moments. Considering the 4000:1 contrast ratio, the blacks just aren’t up to par, and we found that the colors were washed out regardless of HDR setting when plugged into our gaming laptop setup regardless of which HDR mode we took advantage of. 

Now, it's worth remembering that despite its size, the Philips Momentum 559M1RYV is a gaming monitor, meaning it misses out on the Dolby Vision HDR format that has begun to be rolled out on the platform. That said, the included SmartImage HDR modes (HDR Game, HDR Movie, ‘Xbox’, etc.) all generally looked pretty good, with faithful color reproduction as you may expect from a panel with sRGB 125% coverage. However, the advertised mode, DisplayHDR 1000, looked lifeless and dull, especially in vivid games like Doom Eternal with its dark orange and bright red visual design. We recommend keeping the monitor in ‘Xbox’ mode for the most consistent picture quality, unless you intend to stream media, then HDR Movie is more than fine.

With all that said, how does the Philips Momentum 559M1RYV hold up when gaming at 120Hz in some of the latest games? Well, performance is stable with no flickering, ghosting, or distortion when in motion. We touched upon above about how the colors can be disappointing when you’re specifically watching for it, but when gaming, in Dirt 5 and Doom Eternal specifically, the onscreen action is silky smooth at all times, with no discernible stuttering or frame rate dips to speak of.

Philips Momentum 559M1RYV review: should you buy it?

In a world where high-end gaming TVs, such as the LG OLED CX (which is our number one pick for best TV Xbox Series X) retail for a similar rate to the Momentum 559M1RYV, and offer superior picture quality and features yet, it becomes a very hard sell. Console gamers after high refresh rates in Ultra HD are much better off with choice cuts from our best 120Hz 4K TV roundup in all honesty. 

Not unlike some other high refresh rate monitors, the Philips Momentum 559M1RYV trades performance for picture quality and ultimately suffers for it. While everything on the display looks great in motion and benefits from vivid colors, the overall package is harmed by weak blacks and poor viewing angles, which could make everything else that you do on this monitor far from ideal when you're not just gaming.

The Philips Momentum 559M1RYV is available from Amazon UK and eBuyer UK. Coming soon to the USA.

Lena Headey's voice emanates from a floating head made up of hands, various flora, and the deep indigo expanse of the galaxy. "In this place, *you* are the namer of names," she says, her voice layered and warped so it sounds like a monstrous version of Cersei Lannister is admonishing a young man for his indecisiveness. 

That young man is the protagonist of Annapurna Interactive's The Artful Escape: Francis Vendetti, a musical prodigy whose uncle is Johnson Vendetti, this universe's Bob Dylan. Francis can't get the specter of folk icon Johnson Vendetti out of his head, however, and it's bound to ruin his music career before it even starts. So, on the eve of his first show, he is jettisoned into the far reaches of space by a galaxy-hopping rock icon named Lightman (voiced by Carl Weathers) in the hopes he'll discover his own rockstar persona. 

Headey as a surreal head floating in the vacuum of space is far from the apex of trippiness in The Artful Escape, which is like a playable psychedelic rock movie from the '60s. If Jodorowsky actually made Dune, it'd feel a lot like this - galaxy brain takes about the true nature of the self, sci-fi guitar riffs that sound as if they're beamed down from UFOs, and trippy visuals like glowing fish with neon cities growing out of their backs and boats made of patchworked metal floating above sand dunes. 

The Artful Escape looks and sounds better than any game I've played in a long while. Although it's billed as a platformer, the platforming is fairly simplistic and very easy to navigate. Players act as the conduit through which a beautiful story is told, casually navigating Francis through the side-scrolling world. It's light on the challenging gameplay, but oh so heavy metal. I suppose that's what happens when a former rockstar makes a video game, isn't it?

Have you ever considered becoming someone else entirely? 

Francis Vendetti lives in the fictional town of Calypso, Colorado, which looks like a magical, impossible version of the western United States. Even though Calypso is meant to be the most grounded location in The Artful Escape, it's still quirky and surreal, with paper doll-esque characters strutting about multi-layered 2D settings, crossing in front of storefronts like Cafe Cliche and Maps of Imaginary Places. Calypso is clearly capturing the creative director (and former rockstar in question) Johnny Galvatron's fantastical view of America he mentions in our Artful Escape preview - it's a city nestled amongst the mountaintops, so impossibly adorable I wish I could retire there. 

Francis is right at home in the folksy Calypso with his mop of curly brown hair, shearling-lined coat, and gangly gait that sends his limbs flopping about with every step he takes. After all, he's an up-and-coming folk musician - or he is? Francis may have the blood of a folk icon coursing through his veins, but after strolling through Calypso and ending up at his house, his bedroom reveals where his true love lies. His heart and mind reside in the psychedelic worlds of sci-fi novels, spaceships, and robots - he isn't the earthy, folksy kid singing about the toils of miners, but a galaxy-hopping superstar shredding a holographic guitar. But Francis isn't comfortable with the idea of taking his persona public, and thus is trapped in rockstar limbo.

Luckily, Francis gets a chance to step into Bowie's moon boots and out of his uncle's shadow thanks to a girl named Violetta. In very Ramona Flowers fashion, Violetta appears seemingly out of nowhere at the top of a mountain in Calypso and dryly asks Francis the most important question of his adolescent life (and one that speaks to us all): "have you ever considered becoming someone else entirely?" It's that question that cues up The Artful Escape title card and sparks the match that starts a fire in Francis' belly - a fire that nearly flickers out whenever he doubts himself along the way.

The self-doubt that plagues Francis will also speak to many of us. Those who have taken the road less traveled on their journey to self-identification know all too well the vice-like grip of anxiety that takes hold at the thought of disapproval from friends and family, or the fluttering of self-doubt butterflies that threaten to bring up your dinner when you venture out in a new look. Change is scary, and change in the face of what feels like a predetermined path is petrifying, but The Artful Escape makes the journey towards self-discovery downright beautiful.

Play the game

The Artful Escape is like a downhill snowboarding title meets a gentle platformer meets a rhythm game. You can choose dialogue options throughout the game, but they won't affect the plot in any discernible way. You also get to craft Francis' alter ego by choosing from a variety of fictional home planets, handcrafting your grandiose stage name, and customizing his outfit. I choose a naughty word I won't repeat here and decide Francis hails from Galaxram, a place where they brew milk that transports all consumers to a Manchester dance party in September 1987. My Francis has a two-tone mullet, fishnets, hotpants, and a fringed leather jacket - but your Francis may look more like Kurt Cobain. The choice is yours. 

The platforming elements in The Artful Escape are the main focus for much of the game, and they're incredibly forgiving. If you fall off a ledge you're immediately brought back to a point very close to where you just met your demise. And meeting your demise is actually rather difficult, as the platforming itself is very simple: slide down slopes like a downhill snowboarding game, double jump to clear larger gaps, press "X" to perform a flourish while playing the guitar to propel you slightly further. 

The Artful Escape is not about conquering the platforming, but moving forward with relative ease through a gamespace that reacts to your movements. If you choose to hold down "X" while Francis bobs his way through an area (which I do almost the entire time), he'll freestyle guitar riffs that transform the environment in ways that will leave your jaw hanging. A psychedelic sci-fi riff conjures a neon green light bridge out of thin air, a funky chord awakens dormant aliens that look like Lovecraftian crabs, an epic gap jump sends lasers emanating forth from the ground as both you and Francis simultaneously whoop with glee. The Artful Escape is like conducting a psychedelic alien orchestra set to acid rock.

Speaking of acid rock, there are rhythm minigames throughout, and while they're certainly not difficult, the creativity in which they're folded into the game is unmatched. You're told at the start of the game that The Artful Escape is best enjoyed with a gamepad (read: controller), and that's definitely true. The left and right bumpers, "X", "Y", and "B" buttons on my Xbox controller are used in the rhythm parts, and they're mapped onto the faces of the larger "boss" characters you'll encounter throughout your journey. You'll quickly pick up on what buttons to press as they light upon the face of a cosmic being blocking your way to a booking agent known as Star Gordon. And even if you mess up a rhythm bit, you'll only be subjected to a quick, disapproving shake of a cosmically improbable head before you're given the beat again, so it's impossible to fail. If only life were that easy.

A/V Club

The Artful Escape is as much an experience as it is a game, with developers Beethoven and Dinosaur offering up consistently striking visuals and incredible audio. The visuals will frequently stun you, and their connection to that incredible audio makes them even more powerful. I use 'incredible audio' an umbrella term, under which is nestled original music composed by Galvatron and Josh Abrahams, superior voice acting, and sound mixing that is brilliantly tied to your movement. 

The voice acting cast is impressive, with Hollywood stars Headey (Game of Thrones), Jason Schwartzmann (Moonrise Kingdom), Mark Strong (Kingsman), and Carl Weathers (The Mandalorian) lending their voices to the fray. The A-list actors certainly bring their A-game, with Headey leaning into a commanding posh British accent, Schwartzmann doing his best groovy '70s man, Strong coming off perfectly unhinged, and Weathers playing an aging rock god with all the misdirected confidence of an aging rock god. But the two main characters, Francis and Violetta, are voiced to perfection by newcomers Michael Johnston and Caroline Kinley, who ground the world in human emotion. Then there are the random NPC voices that will startle you into laughter, like the heavy metal screams of a side character known only as Calvagio. 

It's clear that Johnny Galvatron is a man who has spent a lot of time donning over-ear headphones and getting lost in soundscapes, because The Artful Escape is like a four-hour sound bath. After Francis is shot into the cosmic extraordinary, he makes his way to what will be his hub in the world beyond worlds: The Cosmic Lung. There he walks through a gathering of vibrant colored aliens bobbing to a beat, and you hear the familiar sounds of a party, but as soon as you cross the threshold into the next room the audio opens up and sounds like you're in a gigantic opera hall - because you are. A stolen European opera hall sits at the center of the Cosmic Lung, and the cacophonous sound of music bouncing off the high ceiling is almost as striking as what you hear when you double back through the room via a catwalk and hear everything from higher up. The almost obsessive attention to spatial audio is really impressive, and a testament to just how much Galvatron values sound.

Though The Artful Escape starts with a beautiful folk tune, it leaves the acoustic guitar behind rather quickly, swapping it out for a sci-fi electric guitar reminiscent of Queen's work on the Flash Gordon soundtrack. You can choose to shred pretty much anywhere in the cosmic extraordinary and it always sounds perfect - whether you're riffing against a gentle piano or going back-and-forth with a creature that speaks in jazz trumpet. 

Francis' talent makes for effortless, powerful guitar playing that looks as awesome as it sounds, as the creatures and foliage of the cosmic extraordinary will harmonize with your shredding, changing colors or flickering lights as they respond to your call. The Artful Escape offers up an entrancing psychedelic world that is somehow still half-dormant, waiting for a few chords to help burst it open at the seams in explosions of colors and lasers. It is beautifully surreal and as close as I've ever gotten to taking hallucinogens because I have anxiety and avoid them like the plague.

The Artful Escape feels like the first game to truly capture the sheer transformative power of music, and it is an absolutely joyous ride from folksy start to electric finish.

Reviewed on PC with a code provided by the publisher. 

Like the Colonial Marines of the 1986 Aliens film, nothing about Aliens: Fireteam Elite is delicate or quiet. It's not hiding in ventilation shafts trying to silently breathe while a xenomorph stomps by, but kicking down doors and letting loose a barrage of fire from an array of weapons that would make Private Hudson salivate. 

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is not a deftly handled tool that only belongs in the hands of a well-trained professional, but a big ol' hammer looking for some nails to beat in. Those nails are the xenos, and there's plenty of them to go around. Aliens: Fireteam Elite feels like the ideological and mechanical sequel to Alien: Isolation - the gaming version of Aliens to Alien.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite drops you into tense and often chaotic firefights that pit your souped-up team of Colonial Marines against waves of varying xenomorphs and Weyland-Yutani synthetics. It's clearly meant to be played with friends - despite the lack of crossplay - and the gameplay mechanics that lend themselves to co-op play are simple yet effective. Aliens: Fireteam Elite won't blow your mind with a nuanced approach to gameplay or groundbreaking graphics, but it will keep you and a group of friends entertained for several solid hours. 

Dripping in Alien lore 

The first Aliens: Fireteam Elite mission is set on an oil refinery called the Katanga that's full of the industrial hallways and tight spaces you'd expect from an Aliens game. Thankfully, however, Aliens: Fireteam Elite doesn't just invoke the Aliens film in its level design, as the second mission takes you to the planet Katanga is orbiting - and straight onto what could be a set from the 2012 film Prometheus. 

There, during a lovely reprieve from an hour of metal-lined hallways, you explore ruins left by the Engineers, an alien race credited with the creation of mankind. Those ruins are being used by Weyland-Yutani as a xenomorph breeding farm. Because of course, it is. The story at the core of Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a sign of Cold Iron Studios's dedication to its source material. Any fan of the Alien franchise will enjoy picking up the random hidden lore items or getting a bit of exposition from NPCs while aboard your ship.

That's why it's so odd that there are no cut scenes or even animated faces in Aliens: Fireteam Elite. There's little to no dialogue from the character you choose to play as - a nameless Colonial Marine you can customize in ways that nod to the Aliens' film squad. Your character emits the occasional grunt, warning, or heads up as they're healing - but nothing else. However, there's plenty of talking coming from Sergeant Herrera, who acts like this game's Cortana, directing you via comms from the safety of the ship. She's often joined by a few other heavenly voices, including a doctor you save early on and a synthetic named Esther. Herrera and the side characters propel the story as you play, acting as commentators fulfilling different archetypes.

When you're on the ship you can talk to other members of the Colonial Marines by choosing dialogue options from a simplistic menu. And while the voice acting here is surprisingly good, the Marines simply shift through some cycling animations as they chat, their faces frozen in an uncanny caricature of humanity. As I play, I can't help but wonder why Cold Iron Studios didn't animate these scenes - especially since Aliens: Fireteam Elite has no cutscenes that could suck up precious dev time. It's an odd choice that pesters me throughout, but certainly not a deal-breaker.

You know the drill

Aliens: Fireteam Elite feels like a solid arcade shooter from the late 2010s with some added perks. There's nothing here gameplay-wise that will wow you, but its core features have been tried and tested by its predecessors, and they work. While you can pick from one of five classes - Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, Doc, and Recon - some of them feel half-baked, especially the underwhelming Doc. There are RPG elements, but they seem equally half-baked. However, the classes will definitely help make co-op sessions more fun, especially if everyone is fighting over the heavy flamethrower that only the Demolisher can carry. 

Aliens: Fireteam Elite feels like Left 4 Dead and Gears of War made a baby that then burst through someone's stomach. It sends waves upon waves of xenomorphs at you that scurry over chest-high walls at your lumbering Colonial Marine who is armed to the teeth. Some of the guns feel disappointingly light, while others (like the flamethrower) afford you all the power of an absolutely unhinged soldier facing something out of their nightmares. You can't help but scream with all the himbo power of the late Bill Paxton's Hudson when firing some of these guns and unlocking attachments, which comes from opening crates or buying them with in-game credits from the vendor, helps make the weaker ones feel better.

There are four campaigns in Aliens: Fireteam Elite, each split up into three missions. The basic mission structure is as such: head through several spaces clearing aliens, arrive at a bigger space that requires you to set up perimeter defenses before triggering a gigantic horde, defeat that horde and end the mission. Yes, this format can get a bit stale, but Cold Iron Studios is banking on the variety that comes with co-op and a bevy of Challenge Cards (which we'll get to in a moment) to keep you from getting too bored.

The first mission in Aliens: Fireteam Elite throws only a handful of xenomorph enemy types at me like swarming, skittering soldiers and acid-spitting spitters, but as the campaign progresses I run into a nice variety of baddies. There are xenomorph warriors that stand 7-feet-tall and charge you like a horrific bipedal bull, twitchy facehuggers that leap out of unfurled eggs, Weyland-Yutani synthetics wielding flamethrowers, and a semi-invisible enemy known as the Leon stalker. Aliens: Fireteam Elite does a great job of capturing the feel of Aliens, where a seemingly impossible amount of xenomorphs swarm and leap out at you at every turn. It can quickly get overwhelming, and playing with friends means there will be a lot of panicked laughter.

The only save points come at the end of each mission, which can run anywhere from 20-40 minutes depending on your difficulty level. Yes, that means you could get all the way to the end of a nearly 30-minute stretch of gameplay and have to restart it because you died, so mentally prepare yourself for this. I was only playing on casual and this happened to me more than once - the most painful of which was when I felled two xenomorph praetorians (the biggest you can get aside from the queen) just to get a single swipe from a lowly foot soldier and die right before the mission ended.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite again?

Despite my struggles and the fact that I only played with two AI teammates hilariously skinned like friendly Weyland-Yutani synths, I'm done with Aliens: Fireteam Elite in about five hours on a casual playthrough. Beating it on casual automatically unlocks the option to play through the missions on both 'extreme' and 'insanity' difficulties, which will definitely entice achievement chasers. 

Then there are the Challenge Cards, which Cold Iron Studios is very clearly banking on in terms of replayability. There are over 40 different Challenge Cards that act as mutators, either making your play-throughs more difficult, more easy, or just more chaotic. I don't use any Challenge Cards during my play-through as I'm keenly aware of my review time limit, but myself, Sam Loveridge, and Leon Hurley used a few during an Aliens: Fireteam Elite hands-on preview. They're definitely fun, but serve the same purpose in terms of replayability as the difficulty levels, in that it will only entice achievement chasers or players who like to repeatedly up the ante. For those of us who crave new content or a longer campaign, it doesn't seem like Aliens: Fireteam Elite has any plans to deliver on that. 

With the short campaign and focus on three-person multiplayer (sans crossplay), I can't help but wonder if Cold Iron Studios should implement a share-play option. At $40, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is not a full-priced game, but with the experience so heavily invested in the concept of getting friends together on the same consoles, it would be nice to offer a way into the fray for free - even if it's just for a mission or two.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is just okay as a solo shooter, but the inclusion of friends makes the gameplay sing. As far as the curse of Alien games goes, Aliens: Fireteam Elite seems to have safely avoided it - this is a fun, frantic third-person shooter set to a score that feels like James Horner himself wrote it. Xenomorphs will rain down from the ceiling, scammer over walls, and jump out of ventilation shafts almost ceaselessly, which makes for a really fun, fast playthrough. Whether or not Aliens: Fireteam Elite will keep players enticed for a second go-round has yet to be determined...

Reviewed on Xbox Series S with a code provided by the publisher.

If Disneyland is "the happiest place on earth", it stands to reason that Disney Plus would be the happiest streaming service. And for the most part, it is. This is our childhood bundled up for comfort-watching. 

Alright, so it isn't perfect. It needs more original content and is lacking mature shows due to a family-friendly image (in the US, anyway). But it couldn't have come at a better time nonetheless. Disney Plus is exactly what we need right now, and that's just as true one year on as it was when the service first came out in 2019.

Disney Plus content

When Disney Plus was first announced, some scoffed at the idea. What would it offer that we couldn't already get from Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu? Quite a lot, as it turns out. The service draws from over 90 years of movies, TV shows, and documentaries that go way beyond Disney cartoons. More specifically, its library stretches from Loki all the way back to Steamboat Willie, a 1928 cartoon that served as one of Mickey Mouse's first appearances. 

It also spans some of the world's most popular franchises. All things Disney are obviously present and correct, but so is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That includes all of the movies you'd expect, not to mention TV shows. 

Star Wars has made the leap as well, and the saga appears on the service in its entirety. That means you can catch up on the Skywalker story or blaze through spin-offs such as The Mandalorian or The Bad Batch.

Then there are Fox properties like The Simpsons, X-Men, Avatar, and National Geographic. In short? Disney Plus is surprisingly well-stocked. 

Because the service streams in 4K resolution wherever possible, many of the above will look better here than anywhere else as well. Seeing as Netflix and other competitors charge extra for the privilege of 4K, that's a big selling point.

The service does a pretty good job in terms of value as a result. There's a whole lot to enjoy in a Disney Plus sign-up, and I'd argue it's got something for everyone (be it fans, kids, or viewers that just want something to do during the pandemic where indoor fun is a bit more important). Seriously, you could sit nostalgic Disney nerds like me or younger members of the family down in front of it and not see them again for months.

Casual viewers aren't as well served, though. In fact, I'm not sure there's enough to hold their attention past the first few months. Even though the situation is improving with every passing week, Disney Plus still doesn't have the wealth of original content you'd find on Netflix. Shows like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier or WandaVision are flat-out excellent, but must-watch hits are otherwise few and far between. Yes, Soul arrived during Christmas 2020 and you can stream Hamilton via the service. But there's nothing truly essential for a broader audience beyond Marvel and Star Wars. As such, I'm not sure I could recommend much more than a couple of months' subscription for most people.

Fortunately, that's due to change as 2021 wears on. Various Disney Plus-exclusive films and throwback series (such as Home Alone) are on their way. In addition, an Obi-Wan series is in production as we speak along with a Hawkeye miniseries. As such, the list of upcoming content is impressive. 

But the emphasis is on 'upcoming'.

Equally disappointing is the lack of more grown-up content in the US. Although I understand the decision (Disney Plus has always been pitched as an all-ages venture), it means we miss out on classics from Disney-owned studios that would really round out the library. Alien. Logan. Even MCU shows like Daredevil or The Punisher, which are of course still showing on Netflix. It's a noticeable gap, and not one I can ever see being filled. 

This is frustrating. Isn't the whole point of Disney Plus to have all your content under one roof? While the US at least gets the more mature Hulu discounted via a Disney Plus bundle, it's an irritating extra step.

Still, I can't really knock Disney Plus too much for this. It'd be like criticizing The Lion King for not being more violent. That's not really what it's for.

It's not a problem for folks based in the UK, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, either. These regions now benefit from the 'Star' channel, and it's home to a wealth of sorely-needed dramas, sitcoms, thrillers, and horror. Click on the Star icon and you'll be able to binge the sort of programming you'd normally have to rely on Netflix or Amazon for, including but not limited to The Walking Dead, Family Guy, 24, Lost, How I Met Your Mother, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alias, and Modern Family. I could go on.

To cut a long story short, this is a shot in the arm for Disney Plus. The fact that you can keep it out of your children's reach via comprehensive parental controls sweetens the deal further.

The addition of Premier Access is another big win for the streaming service no matter where you live, too. Allowing members to watch brand-new movies on the same day they launch in theaters (for a small fee, of course), it lets us catch up on some of the year's biggest films without braving the great outdoors. And while you may balk at the extra Premier Access cost, think of it this way: it'd be much more expensive for a whole family to watch that same film at the cinema. Sure, seeing it on your TV isn't the same experience. It might not be worthwhile for a singular person, for that matter. But you do get to watch the film as often as you like and at your leisure. You're paying for ease, and that's a big deal.

Disney Plus user-experience

Everything else aside, I've been impressed when it comes to using Disney Plus. It's fitted with a handsome layout that's easy to browse, and the whole thing feels flashier than its competition. For instance, the brand boxes along the top - for Marvel, Star Wars, etc - are animated and eye-catching when you select them. Elsewhere, the homepage pops with color. Basically? This doesn't feel like a cheap rip-off. It's every bit as premium and well-crafted as you'd expect from one of the biggest companies in the world.

Sure, it borrows features from rivals here and there. But I'm not complaining. As with Netflix, you can back out of a show and it'll remember exactly where you were when you drop back in later. Then there's the now-essential 'skip intro' option, a countdown to the next episode, and an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. So long as it works, I don't much care where it's from.

It's true that Disney Plus as a system hasn't always been plain sailing. It sucks that some shows like The Simpsons weren't being displayed in their original aspect ratios at first (thus cutting off some visual gags), and a few teething issues like random German dubs replacing English voiceovers were weird. Yet most problems have been worked out in the months since launch. What's left is pretty fantastic.

Disney Plus price

If there's something about Disney Plus I can't fault, it's the cost. The service is aggressively affordable across the world, and in most regions, it's around half the price of a Standard HD month of Netflix. More specifically, it sets you back $7.99 per month in the US, $11.99p/m in Canada and Australia, and £7.99p/m in the UK. Considering how many services there are jostling for our attention these days, that's a welcome twist. 

I'll admit that it's more expensive now than it was thanks to the Disney Plus price increase, but it's only gone up by a single dollar for US subcribers since launch. And because the in the UK, Canadian, and Australian price hike arrived alongside the Star add-on and its avalanche of new content, fans elsewhere are hardly being short-changed.

The monthly subscription (which you can cancel at any time) is pretty great because of this. While it's disappointing that the seven-day Disney Plus free trial has vanished, the low entry fee keeps Disney Plus broadly accessible nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the annual membership - which gives you 12 months for the price of 10 - is slightly harder to recommend in the US. Because many viewers will get bored after a few weeks, I'm not sure how sensible it'd be to invest in a full year if you're not a Disney fan and aren't compelled to watch the new shows coming in 2021.

Unless you have kids, that is. If your children are going to watch Disney Plus as well, it's fair bang for buck regardless of which package you go for. It's not all essential viewing, but the smorgasbord of movies, cartoons, and TV shows at your finger-tips will amuse any child for months.

That makes it a no-brainer during holidays such as Christmas or Thanksgiving when you'll be spending more time with family. Indeed, this is arguably when Disney Plus is at its best.

I just wish there were more offers on it across the world. You can choose from a handful in the US - like the exclusive North American bundle of Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus for $13.99 per month - but everyone else misses out. As an example, the only discounts we've seen in the UK would be an O2 extra and an Xbox Game Pass / Disney Plus combo.

That said, these are niggles rather than actual problems. For the most part, it's hard to criticise the value of Disney Plus if you're paying on a month-by-month basis; there's more than enough to justify it in the short-term. And if you're living anywhere other than the US, concerns about value are fast fading away thanks to the Star add-on.

Overall - should you buy Disney Plus?

If you're a Disney fan or a lover of all things Marvel, Star Wars, and Simpsons, you can't ask for much more. Disney Plus brings the goods both new and old, and it's the TV equivalent of a massive hug. The low price certainly doesn't hurt; even if you only watch it for a month, you won't have lost much doing so.

For more casual viewers, on the other hand? I can see the service losing its shine after a little while (unless you live outside of the US and have access to the Star add-on, anyway). At the time of writing, there's not enough red-hot original content to keep you coming back day after day.

That's not to say this will always be the case, of course. It may not be on-par with Netflix right now, but it's worth remembering that Disney Plus is still in its infancy. From everything the House of Mouse has announced so far, there are many reasons to believe it'll continue flourishing down the road.

With that in mind, I'd recommend grabbing a monthly subscription and playing it by ear if you're not massively pro-Disney. It's easy enough to cancel once you're done, and you can always sign back up again later when something new arrives.

If you’re struggling to find the best RTX 3070 price for the card itself to upgrade your old rig, the prospect of getting a pre-built RTX 3070 PC that already comes complete with such a GPU is certainly tempting.

Acer’s hardware refresh of the Predator Orion 3000 is one such PC, coming with a 10th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and loads of storage as well as the fabled RTX 3070. The Orion 3000 range represents Acer’s more affordable gaming desktops, with previous models featuring GPUs like the GTX 1660 and RTX 2060.

This version sits at the very top end of sensibly-priced gaming PCs, costing a tidy $1,500 / £1,500 (previous models tend to cost closer to the four-figure mark). Considering that 3070 graphics cards can sell for upwards of a grand right now - thanks a lot, scalpers - this Orion 3000 certainly feels like a smart purchase and coule be a strong contender for best gaming PC this year.

Design & Features

Considering that it’s quite the powerhouse, designed to be capable of 1440p and 4K gaming, the Orion 3000 is surprisingly compact. It’s not exactly lightweight, but a carry handle on top means it’s not hard to pick up and move around, making it potentially ideal for shifting to the living room for the occasional bit of tethered VR fun.

The case looks a little cheap, but it’s understandable given the price point. The front I/O hides behind a snap-open plastic panel, with a pop-out headphone hook above it. These felt a tad flimsy for our liking, but they aren’t killer features to begin with, so it’s not ruinous. LED strip lighting illuminates the front of the case, with an RGB case fan sitting behind a clear panel. Our model came with a tempered glass side panel that could be swapped out for a metal panel with hexagonal air vents.

Internally, we’ve definitely seen neater pre-built systems, but it’s not messy. The beefy twin-fan RTX 3070 dominates the interior, trying but failing to draw attention away from the fact that Acer has used a bog-standard stock cooler for the CPU. It’s not exactly terrible, but overclocking enthusiasts beware; while fitting a new air cooler should be simple enough, there’s no way to easily mount an AIO liquid cooler here.

Fortunately, there’s room for customisation elsewhere. The case has a free slot for adding a second hard drive, and upgrading individual components like the CPU, RAM, or SSD shouldn’t be too troublesome. This Orion 3000 comes with 16GB of RAM as standard, but upgrading to a 32GB kit should be a cinch thanks to the 2 unused DIMM slots.

The included case fans are quite small and basic, but they get the job done. Including the CPU cooler and integrated GPU fans, there are five fans in total inside this PC; unsurprisingly, it gets noisy under load, but 4K gaming shouldn’t cause any overheating issues.

Physical connectivity here is solid, with a front I/O that supports USB-A and USB-C as well as headphone and microphone jacks - so it'll easily accommodate the best gaming mouse, the best wireless gaming headset, and the best gaming keyboard, for example. The rear port selection is simple but includes everything you’d need, with six USB ports, high-speed Ethernet, three DisplayPort plugins for a 4K gaming monitor or best gaming monitor contender, and an HDMI output for a VR headset or best gaming TV screen.

The Intel Core i7-10700 processor is an excellent choice, although we can’t help but gaze longingly at the shiny new 11th-gen chips and their newly minted PCIe 4.0 support. This allows for some frankly ridiculous SSD transfer speeds, but while the benchmark scores might come back lower, we didn’t notice much of a difference in practice. Games still load super-fast on PCIe 3.0.

Performance

In broad terms, this system performed exactly as well as we expected it to. The i7-10700 and 16GB of HyperX memory pairs well with the RTX 3070, offering stellar performance in a wide range of games at 1440p with maximum graphical settings enabled. This is a good example where combining the best graphics card, the best CPU for gaming, and the best RAM for gaming - without going too overboard - can pull off excellent results and work seamlessly together.

The only game we found that struggled to keep above 60fps at that 1440p resolution was Metro Exodus with its full range of ray-tracing settings engaged, which is a punishing benchmark if there ever was one. It’s not entirely surprising, since most games with ray-tracing options will tank your framerate if you so much as look at the settings. Just about any game should be able to hit 60fps at 1440p on this system if you’re willing to dial the graphics down a tiny bit.

1080p benchmarks were obviously a blowout, with the majority of games easily pressing past 100fps. 4K performance was more interesting, with demanding games struggling to keep up at maximum graphical settings.

That’s not to say that 4K gaming is out of the question on this machine. Esports titles and indie games will be fine; we tested Valorant at 4K and it ran buttery smooth, leaving us with nothing to blame but ourselves when we botched Brimstone’s ult. Triple-A games are certainly a possibility, although you may need to dial the settings down to High or Medium in some titles if you want to maintain a crisp 60+ framerate.

Elsewhere, we were impressed if not blown away by the Orion 3000’s performance. Real-time 3D rendering tests came out with scores we’ve come to expect from the RTX 3070, while the i7-10700 processor did a solid job in the Cinebench R20 benchmark. A decent PCMark score demonstrates that this PC is a reasonably capable workstation, in case you’re on the lookout for a desktop that can be used for professional purposes as well as gaming.

Thermal performance was surprisingly good given the rather basic internal fan setup, which we would attribute mainly to good case airflow. While the fans did get pretty loud during intensive stress-testing, component temperatures never rose much above 60C.

One area where the Orion 3000 fell flat a little was the SSD benchmark. As we mentioned earlier, this boot drive uses PCIe 3.0, which should be capable of hitting transfer speeds up to 3.5GB/s. The Western Digital SN530 drive inside this machine was only able to make a (still decent) 2.5GB/s sequential read speed, which admittedly won’t be hugely noticeable to 99% of users.

That SSD acts as primary storage for the OS and your games, with 512GB to play around with. The included HDD provides a further 1TB of secondary storage, good for keeping video files, music, and the like. It’s a perfectly adequate amount of storage for a PC of this calibre, and tagging in a new drive should be straightforward enough even for the least experienced tinkerers.

Overall - should you buy it?

If you’ve given up on GPU hunting and just want a shiny new system for a sensible price, the Orion 3000 is a fantastic choice. Acer’s preloaded PredatorSense software lets you do a little bit of tweaking, and the potential for physical upgrades is certainly present.

Acer has done a great job when it comes to matching the internal components at play in this PC. No one part of this build is going to bottleneck you, or hold you back when you’re contemplating upgrades a few years down the road.

It's fantastic value, and as a fully-fledged RTX 3070 PC, it really stands out a s a strong performer and tempter for those looking to dive into the latest generation of graphics cards - even with more powerful RTX 3080 PCs and RTX 3090 PCs being available.

The Orion 3000 is a compact, good-looking PCthat provides stellar gaming performance at a very reasonable price. Were we looking to build a similar system by ourselves, even without the current GPU situation, we’d still be looking to spend at least $1,300 / £1,300. For two hundred more you can get peace of mind, a single centralised warranty, and all the hard work done for you. Sounds smart to us.

And if you fancy your gaming machines portable, be sure to check out our best gaming laptop guide right now too.

Mario Golf: Super Rush lives up to its name in most ways. This is golf where someone has leaned on the fast-forward button and the pressure to swing and slice as quickly as possible is just as important as accuracy. That pace also extends to the game’s design, where every mode feels like it’s been designed to be devoured swiftly instead of savored. Unfortunately, the one aspect where nominative determinism doesn’t come into play is the ‘Super’ part. 

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 Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro is the next venture from the hardware stalwarts into the field of changeable - literally - gamepad controllers. Coinciding with the new-gen Xbox Series X|S console family, the eSwap X Pro has also had some generational changes, evolving from the eSwap controller built for PS4 and PC a couple of years ago. And, almost without exception, the eSwap X Pro positively builds on its brethren in every way.

Also, to add some personal flavour to this: I have weird, different hands. This has long meant that I've been unable to use asymmetrical controllers, and thus, unable to play on or own Xbox consoles. While a PC and DualShock controller can go some way to filling that gap in recent years, I'm a console player mainly and just prefer that experience. Thus, when a controller like this comes about that I can personalise into a form that plays nicely with my different hands (and opens up the world of Xbox and its exclusive games to me), then I have to take notice. It might just prove revolutionary for me.

Before we go any further, this absolute unit is available widely at Amazon and Box (in the UK).

Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro - Design

The eSwap X Pro is clearly treated as a premium product by Thrustmaster, and that's obvious even in the packaging and when unboxing. Magnet seal, posh black styrofoam with custom holes cut into it for each part - it's well done and feels well looked after. 

Inside are the controller, the cable (micro-USB), a small double-ended tool (screwdriver head one side, 'T' bar at the other), a carry bag, two convex thumbsticks (the default are concave ones) and your usual manuals and warranty booklets. 

Out of the box and in the hands, the eSwap X Pro is chonky - and quite big. Certainly compared to other controllers of the day. Specifically, it has a larger main unit or 'central core', for lack of a better term, than your standard Xbox pad or PlayStation controller which makes up the bulk of it. The wings are ever so slightly more like that of the PS5's DualSense, while everything else, naturally, is more Xbox-like in arrangement and size. 

All in, the larger size and weightier core means it's a bit heavier than your usual controller for console, particularly in its front. However, this is sort of to be expected to house the wired connection (this is quite a big cavity that's then filled by a robust connection point) and cater for the modular bits and bobs, though it adds a wee bit more to the 'getting used to it' time. 

This is a wired controller due to Thrustmaster's preference for near-zero latency for inputs, and as a result, also circumvents Microsoft's own proprietary wireless systems. Of course, while everyone wants to cut the cords on everything these days, I can't really call it a proper 'negative' as this is certainly robust in its wired connection, has a long cable, and this does mean you'll get that excellent near-zero latency for inputs too. 

Said cable is 3 metres in length and of a premium braided design, so this should really suffice most setups - and even if this is for PC use, the cable folds on itself neatly too. I'd probably prefer the cable to use a USB-C connector for the controller, but the micro-USB connector, but still.

Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro - Features

This is where we get into it, as the eSwap X Pro is chock full of stuff - quite literally.

First up, the modular features set, design, and swappable units. In short, these are terrific, fitting together satisfyingly and coming out of their docks just as easily. You'll need the small T-bar tool to get the D-Pad unit out but it makes sense and saves you clawing at the thing yourself. While the main point here is to change the layout of analog stick and D-Pads depending on what you prefer or are playing, the change in layout is, obviously, dramatic and clinical, making the controller feel like a totally different one. More on how it feels to play with later.

The face buttons are immovable and satisfyingly set into the pad, while the LB/RB buttons are incredibly clicky - but I like that. Satisfying, quite loud, but great to push. Similarly, the RT/LT buttons have a great shape and default resistance to boot. These can be changed with a simple slide of a switch on the back, which alters the triggers from full-depth actuation to hair-trigger-type buttons. Very neat.

Also on the back, below the trigger sliders, are four extra buttons. Simply labeled as numbers 1 to 4, these can be remapped to any function you like, adding increased options and versatility for button load-outs and controls for different games. 

It's worth pointing out that these back buttons could fall victim to the controller's big design and form. They feel a bit of a stretch to get to with regular and certainly smaller hands, though others with bigger hands or longer finger reach may well be perfectly happy - you just won't know until you've got it in your mitts. 

When you can interact with them, there's just a simple, light push to actuate them, despite then looking a bit like switches.

On the bottom, there are six buttons and the audio jack input. The latter is a welcome feature so you can fit a wired contender for best Xbox Series X headset into it with no problems, while the former is of two natures. The three on the left consist of a volume up, volume down, and mic mute/unmute buttons (useful, particularly if your headset doesn't have any on-line controls). Meanwhile, the three on the right are two profile buttons to quickly select between preset control mappings and a map button so you can remap buttons on the fly.

Slightly away from the more functional features, there are some aesthetic ones here too - which are also interchangeable. Although the swappable elements are only blue or green camo at the moment, hopefully that range will expand. My unit came with the green camo design and extra modules, and you're damn right I put the camo on straight away so I could be A Real Gamer. 

Seriously though, as camo goes, it's pretty tasteful and helps to make it a bit more unusual, and with more variants surely to come, more personal.

Thrustmaster eSwap X Pro - Performance

The proof is in the testing and the using, and to cut the chase, the controller is a dream. It's a joy to use and each of its parts and features really excel, and combine to make something that's genuinely a premium product for those who crave flexibility and versatility. It's also something that's genuinely revolutionary for me personally.

In terms of general layout, flitting between designs is not something I found myself doing that much, and you'll likely find a layout that works and stick with it - though for folks who separate the style of how they play with what they play, then having both asymmetrical and symmetrical layouts at your disposal and being able to easily swap between them at the touch of a game's pause button is an undeniable plus point. You can have three analog sticks if you like, for heaven's sake. Go wild. 

Switching it to a symmetrical design was the first thing I did, and I've barely looked back since in my time with the pad.

I grew to like the weight and feel of the controller, despite it being a little on the big size. And that's because there's plenty going for it. For example, of the modular units, the analog sticks are particularly good. Their positioning is excellent, the weight and resistance good, and they helped me feel in total control in games like Ryse Son of Rome. Even moving them around menu screens feels good. 

OK, the D-pad module buttons have some slight looseness to them, but it's nothing more than a slight distraction. It doesn't impact on actual performance.

The grippy panels on the wings, despite feeling strangely 'non grippy', do a genuinely good job - be it the standard black or the camo ones. However, I'd really like a stipple or more 'sandpaper type' type to be available in the future for extra grip (the interchangeable RT and LT buttons would benefit from this too, actually). 

Elsewhere, the face buttons are better in actuation and feel than standard controllers, I'd say - not quite as satisfying as the Razer Raiju Ultimate's pressing action, but certainly more so than the regular Xbox controller.

Gears of War Ultimate and other shooters really benefited from the shortened trigger depth on RT and LT, on the other hand, making the controller and your inputs feel even more instant and responsive. While this can often be dismissed as a bit of a gimmick, when you're actually firing weapons at enemies or flinching for headshots, it really does happen quicker, even instantly. The difference itself in the RT and LT buttons' actuation is excellent and means you'll likely see the plus points in switching, not just keeping it at one setting. For bows, and engine revs, the deeper actuation feels great, but, naturally, for shooters, and particularly online shooters, that shortened trigger is a godsend and is nailed-on to be used by default.

The controller's vibration is the only area that raised my eyebrow. Basically, it can be quite wildly varied, and in some instances, is a weird 'high-frequency' vibration rather than a rumble. In Ryse, my unit's spear throws were welcomed by this wildly high-pitched vibration, and in racing games like Forza Horizon 4, the rumble can flit around a bit. Sometimes you'll get the traditional vibration you'd associate with driving and crashing, and at others, you'll get that real high-frequency rumble again, which can be surprising but also quite jarring. Now, you can modify and adjust this in the software on PC so all is not lost, but not quite to the degree of genuinely evening it all out. All in, this is no great caveat or something to stop me from recommending it, but rather a nuance and characteristic of the controller worthy of note.

The Thrustmapper software is pretty simple to use too, and is crucial for getting the latest firmware onto the controller. Otherwise, it enables you to remap buttons, and take full advantage of the extra back ones. When I used these, it was a joy to just have more controls at my fingertips (just about). It's a great extra weapon for the armory.

Overall - should you buy it?

The eSwap X Pro is a revolutionary controller for me - this is the last time I'll say it, I promise. Allowing me to have a symmetrical Xbox controller and play those games long out of reach, it's amazing. And so, for others who just prefer a symmetrical controller, this is an easy pad to recommend. It has a sizeable price of admission, but it's revolutionary for those of us who have been, for whatever reason, 'symmetrical controller preferrers'. Plus, it's still cheaper than the Razer Raiju Ultimate, around the same price as the Elite Series 2 controller - which isn't versatile or as changeable of course - and, well, having to buy one of the best gaming PCs or best gaming laptops to enter Microsoft's ecosystem too.

For those who don't have such a niche requirement but are looking for a premium, personalizable, customisable, flexible controller for Xbox Series X|S and PC, this is about as good as it gets. Given the flexibility on offer and the endless control schemes, mappings, and solid design and build, there's plenty to justify that price point, and it'll offer way more than other competing controllers. As a result, I do see the controller as decent value, especially as it can be your PC controller too. And should the price drop due to any sales period, then this is a no-brainer; a quality, robust, and versatile gamepad, and one of the best Xbox Series X accessories and best PC controllers for gaming going.

The Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless XT is an updated model of the Virtuoso SE from 2019 and, thus the latest in Corsair's premium flagship headset, costing a pretty penny but offering the world in return (as much as one of the best gaming headsets can offer the world, anyway).  

At £249.99 / $269.99, it’s certainly got a ‘premium’ asking price. The Virtuoso XT feels worth it, though; just unboxing the headset gives an immediate sense of quality craftsmanship and class. This is a serious piece of hardware for those who want the absolute best in audio for all kinds of media from their PC headset for gaming.

Design & Features

Surround sound is naturally a selling point here, with an impressive frequency range to boot. Reaching up to 40KHz, the range on offer here far exceeds that of most (lower-priced) gaming headsets. Corsair promises crystal-clear audio from the XT’s dual 50mm neodymium drivers.

Versatility in connectivity is also something Corsair touts about the new Virtuoso. The original Virtuoso SE was a wired headset, but the XT adds Bluetooth support as well as Corsair’s new ‘Slipstream’ 2.4GHz wireless, which uses a USB-C dongle. There’s also support for 3.5mm and USB-A wired connections, meaning that the XT can be a wired contender for best PS5 headset or best Xbox Series X headset, or PS4 headset, or Xbox One headset and basically connect to any device you might have. You can even connect it to two devices at once, such as a PC for gaming and a phone for calls. Flexible.

The detachable microphone offers omnidirectional sound pickup with an impressive degree of clarity for a headset mic, almost (but not quite) rivalling the audio quality of the best microphones for streaming. Speech comes through clearly regardless of pitch, with very little background fuzz or compression.

The Virtuoso XT doesn’t change too much of the SE’s design, bar a darker finish on the exterior of the earcups. The construction is mostly solid metal, which makes the overall headset somewhat weighty, but not so much that it’ll be an issue for most users. Clamp force is also reasonably low; enough to keep the Virtuoso on your head, but not enough to squeeze your skull.

The earcups are slightly more padded than the SE and the leatherette is very soft to the touch, which is lovely, but the material isn’t especially breathable, so be wary of using this headset for long stretches on hot days. The headband is also very nicely cushioned, resting comfortably on top of the head.

The physical controls on the right earcup feel fantastic, from the firm click of the Bluetooth buttons to the tactile resistance on the volume roller. Once again, the build here just screams quality.

Naturally, there’s some RGB lighting on show here, but for once Corsair has kept it classy and low-key. A simple ring of light on the end of the microphone and two softly glowing logos on the earcups makes for a refined appearance, befitting the headset’s double billing as a product for both gamers and audiophiles who might usually err towards the best headphones.

Performance

With versatility as a key feature of the Virtuoso XT, we tested the headset in a variety of situations, using all of the available connection options. The Slipstream wireless is fantastic, offers extremely low latency for gaming and movies. Bluetooth with mobile devices wasn’t quite as good, but that was to be expected.

Sound quality here is among the very best of what gaming headsets have to offer. Between the broad frequency range and Dolby Atmos, games sound absolutely incredible. We had no difficulty using the surround sound to pinpoint enemy locations in shooters, and while the Virtuoso XT is a tad less bassy than many gaming headsets, the clarity of higher-pitched sounds like footsteps rings through.

AptX HD audio means that playback is essentially lossless, making the Virtuoso XT a great choice for listening to music too. If you want to blast some tunes on Spotify while working or grinding in a game, this headset has you covered. TV and movie audio is also excellent, allowing you to pick up on every single bit of weird sound mixing in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (seriously, why is it so bad?!)

Battery life is as good as advertised, with the XT comfortably lasting for a full day’s use without needing a recharge. It’s worth noting that this does drain the battery a bit faster, but battery life sits around 20 hours as standard, so it’s not a huge issue. The Corsair iCue software allows for a small amount of tweaking, but nothing too exciting.

Overall - should you buy it?

The Virtuoso RGB Wireless XT is perhaps the best headset Corsair has ever produced. If you can look past the eye-watering price tag, you can rest assured that your headset is among the greatest, dominating in games and going toe to toe with audiophile headphones too.

Put simply, this is the complete package: Dolby surround sound, a great mic, four different connection types, and absolutely stellar audio quality. If you’re a gamer with the cash to spare, this is unquestionably one of the best wireless gaming headsets you could buy.

Initially released to market just after the thawing of the last ice age, the Recon line from within the range of Turtle Beach headsets has offered reliable gaming audio through the ages at a price point that’s kept them attractive to the mainstream, even being some of the best gaming headset contenders. And no, this isn’t the 500th model revision. It is pretty momentous though.

You see, the Recon 500 introduces a new driver, and thus a totally new tonal character. It’s a combination of specs that would ordinarily send a whole clown’s sleeve worth of red flags to the headset expert: massive drivers, dedicated woofers and tweeters within one earcup, befuddling trademarked terms like Eclipse and AccuTune... and yet against all odds, these headphones sound absolutely wonderful.

Design & Features

Pointed squarely at the $100/£100 and under market, the design and finish of these Recon 500s aren’t that of pricier Astro headsets or EPOS/Sennheiser gaming headsets - nor Turtle Beach’s own range-topping Elite cans. There’s a lot of uniform matte finish plastic throughout, and it’s of the same lightweight feel you’ll get a lot of at the sub-$100 end of the market. 

There’s little to distinguish the 500 visually from other Recon models or the rest of the market; this is the very epitome of playing it safe, and while that precludes it from high praise for its overall aesthetic, it also means an inoffensive style that’s blessed by an absence of garish ‘gamer’ flourishes.

Controls on this wired model are minimal: a large mic mute switch on the lefthand earcup and a volume dial at the lower-rear of the same lefthand cup (let this henceforth be known as the Arctis configuration). The flexible rubber finish mic arm is detachable, and stays in a handy position when you place it.

Performance

Onto the main course: these drivers sound fantastic for the price. And that’s especially surprising considering they’re built to a massive 60mm spec. Many readers will remember the 50mm driver fad several years ago, and the hopelessly muddy bass response we were treated to as a result. But times change, and these 60mm Eclipse drivers are tight and precise.

Dedicated woofers and tweeters in each cup, too, sounds worryingly close to an ill-fated dalliance with true 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound which gaming headset manufacturers brought to market in the twenty-teens. But again the Recon 500 deftly sidesteps those prior pitfalls. Maybe it’s the AccuTune wood composite-injection technology, a similar technique to that employed by studio monitor manufacturers like Dali. Truthfully, this reviewer has no idea why it works, just that it does. 

Overall - should you buy it?

Let’s underline the caveat here: this is a very impressive sounding headset for the money. We haven’t found an Astro A50-beater at a fraction of the cost, but what Turtle Beach has delivered is a reimagined Recon whose sound is powerful enough to sell the bombast of battle royales, yet flat enough to render the little details of Spotify old guard. And at max volume, there’s not a whiff of distortion, which speaks for the quality of these new drivers. 

Combine that quality with it being a wired model, and this can, naturally, turn its hand to everything, thus becoming a top contender for your next PC headset for gaming, PS4 headset, Xbox One headset, or an underrated contender for best PS5 headset or best Xbox Series X headset.

Replete with fancy features this is not, but the sheer sound quality of Turtle Beach’s remixed Recon elevates it above the vast majority of budget headsets.

Since Epos and Sennheiser transitioned from collaborators to separate entities, the sets that were once Sennheiser headsets for gaming now carry only the Scandinavian company Epos’ logo, and seem pitched more towards a luxury consumer goods market than Sennheiser’s previous positioning, which might mostly aptly have been described as ‘gaming cans with studio know-how.’ The first question about these H3s, then, is what’s been lost, and what’s been gained, during this slightly confusing rebranding of what were some of the best gaming headsets going.

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.

Despite being a prominent brand name in the world of the best gaming monitors, the AOC GH200 gaming headset is its first step into the audio market. Releasing simultaneously alongside the GH300, the AOC GH200 is the stereo offering of the pair, aimed at those looking for a budget solution to their gaming audio woes. Without the allure of wireless capabilities, 7.1 surround sound, or any special features you may find on products in our best gaming headsets list, however, how does it perform?

Design & Features

If you were to picture the most ordinary PC headset for gaming or similar, chances are, you've come up with something incredibly similar to the AOC GH200. A matte black coats the entire design, from the leather band at the top to the bulky earcups, which are perfectly circular rather than the oval shape you often find on gaming headphones. Bear in mind that if you've got bigger ears than most, they'll likely overlap slightly, rather than fitting entirely within the cushion.

The headset has a simple 3.5mm jack connection too, so it might just offer a good budget headset for those looking for a quick fix while their search for the best PS5 headset or best Xbox Series X headset takes a bit more consideration.

As far as comfort levels go, I've had no complaints after using them daily for a while now. It's a fairly lightweight pair of headphones coming in at just 326.5g and the cable is long enough to never be an issue, but also not hit that point of being too long it gets caught in your contender for best gaming chair, for example. The only issue I have had is that sometimes within the left earcup, there's a slight rattling sound that isn't always easy to replicate, but when it happens is very noticeable.

Performance

There's no beating around the bush here, unfortunately: only having stereo sound really lets the GH200 down. It's absolutely serviceable and if your usual premium gaming headset has broken and you need a budget replacement until you can get something more upmarket or if you just want a headset to talk to pals through party chat, then the GH200 will do a good job. But it's just not got the wow-factor that so many of the products on our aforementioned list of the top gaming headsets offer.

Again though, it's not bad, there's just so much more on the market that you could get that this headset comes hard to truly recommend. I've used it in numerous games now and nothing sounds bad – gunshots in Valorant are clear although footsteps are harder to distinguish, Pokemon cries and flufffruit throws in New Pokemon Snap sound adequate, and the whoosh of cars flying through the air to aerial the ball in Rocket League certainly happen – but it's nothing to write home about. It's all distortion-free, but not exciting.

Overall

At the £39 price point (US pricing is pending at the time of writing) though, you can't really go wrong. I've absolutely seen worse-performing headsets priced higher than this, but it does beg one question; why has AOC released both this and the GH300 simultaneously, when the GH300 offers 7.1 virtual surround sound at just £49, so only £10 more? I've not used the GH300 – it could well have some glaring flaws that make it a poor choice – but on paper, if they are essentially the same headset but with 7.1 surround sound over stereo, it is a no-brainer to fork out the extra £10. The audio quality should be worth the slight price increase because otherwise, the GH200 is a budget headset that might just serve as a temporary as a PS4 headset or Xbox One headset for example, but has no real features beyond convenience, and budget and can be summed up as "it works and isn't uncomfortable to wear".

Returnal’s cycle begins abruptly. A crashed ship on a mysterious planet. No goals other than to chase a signal called the White Shadow. Only your wits and the discarded pistol of what looks like your own corpse to help you survive. By the time you’ve acquainted yourself with this roguelike’s basics, just about getting a handle of how quickly stranded astronaut Selene can glide through environments, a luminescent monster comes along to body you and start the real task of trying to break out of this Alien-meets-Groundhog-Day nightmare. 

While Ridley Scott’s seminal classic might be the game’s most obvious visual reference - from the putrid egg-shaped wildlife to the dull green hum of the game’s menus - Returnal as a whole isn’t quite as easy to nail down. While the action is pure bullet-hell twitch adrenaline, with your screen teeming with fluorescent orbs that stand in stark contrast to the harsh, dark colors of the environment, the game’s story is elliptically told through brief, ominous flashes of life back on Earth. Add on a structure that is reminiscent of Hades, where death gives you just a scrap of new information each time, it all adds up to a real grab bag of influences. While they initially seem at odds with each other, they come together to create one of Sony’s most beguilingly weird blockbusters in a long time.

Living in your White Shadow

The main reason you’ll want to come to Returnal is the game’s combat, an evolution of Housemarque’s signature run and gun style that introduces a significant risk/reward dynamic. Killing enemies will increase Selene’s Adrenaline levels, which grant perks such as bigger active reload windows or enhanced melee attacks, but take one hit and you’ll have to build them up again. Add on a combination of well-balanced weapons and challenging enemies, which really sings once the screen is overflowing, and it’s a combat loop you’ll happily trap yourself in. In terms of the arsenal that Selene can find scattered around, although you start with a discarded pistol, there’s a range of guns to quickly discover that each comes with considered strengths and weaknesses. Over time, you’ll develop your own style of play thanks to the permanent traits you can unlock with them. 

For instance, I tend to prioritize the Electropylon Driver (EPD), which deals damage over time and can be used to lay traps for enemies, with spikes that dig into the ground and a current connecting them if they’re close enough. This allows me to keep a healthy distance from enemies, knowing I can retreat and that they’ll still be taking damage if I’ve got a few hits on them. However, the EPD isn’t a great close-range weapon, and considering there are plenty of foes who will rush me, diving at my feet and exploding on impact, it means I have to be wary of letting myself get swarmed. Of course, if you’re more aggressive, you can focus on upgrading the traits of the Spitmaw Blaster, a powerful shotgun that’s devastating up close and a peashooter at range. No strategy is perfect and that allows for you to tackle Returnal in a way that suits you, without ever feeling like you’re getting an easy ride with your weapon. 

Perfect organisms  

As you fight through the game’s six biomes, enemies present a real challenge, from cannon fodder that you’ll take out in a couple of hits to more complex sub-bosses that require agility and aggression to overcome. No creature represents an insignificant challenge, and each can take you down quickly, especially early on, which creates a real sense of jeopardy throughout each cycle, as you dive, weave, and (once you’ve unlocked the hook) grapple across contained areas. At full flow though, it hits the sweet spot of making you feel like you’re just about in control without ever feeling under-challenged.  

However, there are frustrating issues that will have you moaning when you die. For one, the game never quite resolves the main problem with 3D bullet-hells, where you can be struck by a projectile that comes from off-screen. If that is a minor annoyance, then the design of arenas is more of an important one. The game’s environments, which are appealing enough to stave off any boredom from looking at them repeatedly, all have some degree of danger when it comes to bottomless drops. But on more than a few occasions, I found myself dashing back to avoid a wave of projectiles only to go tumbling because I couldn’t see the cliff behind me. I’ll happily admit that I’m not the most spatially aware at the best of times, but it does cheapen some of the otherwise excellent action.  

Astro-fraught

Similarly, these issues are also compounded by the RNG baked into the game’s structure. Every time you die in Returnal, you lose your gun, and any of the Parasites (critters that latch on and grant you a buff and debuff) you’ve found. There are a few permanent upgrades, but on the whole, progress is by and large reset with death. While that’s not uncommon in a roguelike, it does mean that cycles can be heavily influenced by what randomly spawns in, especially when some items are infected with malignancy, which means you can take them, but you’ll get a suit malfunction that makes the game harder, such as your map getting scrambled or an increased dash cooldown. 

I struggled on my first few cycles, and then discovered a Parasite that gave me an auto-repair buff with damage from a long fall debuff. This is an extremely good perk with a quite soft caveat, and it meant I was able to get through the game’s first three worlds in one cycle by playing conservatively when I was on death’s door. While the balance can feel off on some runs, where you pick some handy attachments early on or limp on through without much to aid you, it doesn’t distract too much from that core combat loop.  

Of course, Returnal isn’t all spraying and praying. Like Hades, it also wants to tell a complete story within the structure of a roguelike, and it’s this intriguing story that helps pull you through the more intense moments of frustration. Selene’s tale is told through Scout Logs you’ll find scattered throughout the worlds you explore, as well as first-person segments that put you inside her house (which has mystifyingly turned up on Atropos) and play like a simplistic P.T., all foreboding corridors and shifting environments. While trips into the house are very much Horror 101, a few misdirects followed by the occasional jump scare, they help create a sense of mystery that you want to unravel as you embark on each new cycle. 

Selene it all before?

While the overarching themes, which start in sci-fi before slowly evolving into something far grander, intrigue, Selene’s character suffers from this isolation. While Hades created a cast of hilarious, fully-formed characters who are a joy to learn from, Returnal puts Selene front and center, with only her own voice for company throughout the game. She is a cipher for the most part, someone who is deathly determined to carry out her mission with seemingly little agency of her own. While this makes sense for what the story wants to do - and we’re not expecting belly laughs from a game about trying to escape a living hell of blasting away aliens on a distant planet - it does mean the human elements of her predicament don’t land quite as forcefully as they could have done.

I have to admit that, despite reaching the credits twice now, which comes with its own moment of partial resolution, there’s still plenty left for me to discover. The endgame has introduced new permanent items for me to hunt down, teasing further details and threads to tie off. While I’ve tried to keep details deliberately vague, Returnal touches on themes you might not expect from this sort of sci-fi setting and it’s a testament to what I’ve played so far that I’m keen to see how Housemarque brings them together. 

DualSensed

While Returnal is not a blockbuster at heart, it’s also Sony’s biggest PS5 exclusive since launch, and the game should satisfy anyone looking for an experience that gives their DualSense and headphones a workout. Rain feels like it’s coming through your controller with the pitter-patter effect of the DualSense, while a clever use of the triggers lets you aim by pulling the LT a little, and using a weapon’s alt-fire by bringing it in fully. Letting a volley of projectiles fly while your controller buzzes away is an endless simple pleasure. While 3D audio might be initially less noticeable, the little chittering of Parasites or booming drones in the distance all come together to sell the game’s alien environments more convincingly. 

But while Sony has been keen to emphasize these elements of the game, it perhaps does a disservice to Housemarque’s fine action and compelling story. Returnal is a breakaway from the type of exclusive Sony has focused on in recent years, using a genre that has only recently come back into fashion as a starting point for a story that makes you work to understand it, offering plenty to chew on without wrapping it up neatly. It’s an unexpectedly daring step forward for a developer who has refined what makes its style so compelling while adding in new elements. 

Returnal was reviewed on PS5 with code supplied by Sony.

The AOC CG34G2X seems to offer something incredible: a 21:9 ultrawide monitor with 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time for under $/£500? The age-old phrase states that if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is, but in the case of the AOC CU34G2X and our picks for the best gaming monitors, that might not be the case. AOC has plenty of gaming monitors on the market, ranging from budget 1080p screens to top-of-the-line 4K beasts, but on paper, the CU34G2X may well be the best curved gaming monitor option when it comes to ultrawide gaming, and not just from within AOC's own range. 

Design & Features

You might expect a monitor with such promising specs to make an aesthetic statement too, but the AOC CU34G2X actually does the opposite. Despite being 34", this screen would fit in at most offices, with the only hint of color being a deep red that accentuates the very bottom of the display, a circle on the base, and some lines on the back. The rest is a matte black with very little else noteworthy, which means you'll need to add the flashing RGB lights later if that's to your tastes.

As monitors go, it's a sturdy and well-built beast, though we'd expect nothing less from AOC. Assembling it is as simple as slotting the arm on the back and screwing in the two-pronged base. Inside, it's rocking a 3440x1440 (21:9) resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, all inside a FreeSync VA panel which is impressive in and of itself. Externally, you're looking at four USB 3.0 ports, two DisplayPort 1.4, and two HDMI 2.0.

Performance

First impressions from the second I plugged the monitor in were that it looked considerably darker than most monitors and despite fiddling with the settings, that issue persists. It certainly doesn't look bad – I'll get onto gaming performance in a moment – but it isn't as vibrant or noteworthy as other displays I've used, which means it isn't a great option for doing color-sensitive work or watching films. Not that you'd want to watch them on a 21:9 screen anyway…

In-game, however, it's a different case altogether, which is what matters since this is marketed as a serious gaming monitor. Ultrawide isn't as much of an advantage as it may have led you to believe but it does provide a small boost. While your aim probably isn't good enough to snap onto someone in your peripheral vision on Counter-Strike because of just how wide the screen is, the ability to spot them and call their location out to your teammates is vital. Combine that with the 144Hz 1ms specs and kerblammo, you've got yourself one heck of a gaming monitor. In Valorant however – my PC shooter of choice – ultrawide isn't supported.

Shooters aren't the only place you'll see benefits though. Any racing or driving games, whether you're behind the wheel of an F1 car or cruising in a truck simulator, having the FOV set up just right with an ultrawide monitor means you can see at almost a full 180° angle; no more swiping the mouse or pressing a button to look left and right. In games like League of Legends you can see way more of the map, as is the same in any strategy game with an isometric view. Also, a special shoutout has to go to Elite Dangerous – few things compare to having almost your entire cockpit in view as you hurtle at lightspeed through space. 

Overall

Sure, you can get the ultrawide experience with any 21:9 monitor, but the AOC CU34G2X is by far the best ultrawide choice for fast and twitchy games; those that require quick reflexes and benefit from the wider FOV, like shooters or racing titles. I say it in every monitor review I personally do: 144Hz+ refresh rate and 1ms response time will trump any monitor with worse specs and once again, that's the case. The added bonus here is that you can get it at a very affordable price indeed. Other than the slightly lackluster color and HDR performance – which don't matter quite as much when you'll primarily be gaming on it with one of the best gaming laptops or best gaming PCs – what's not to love?