Let's talk Halo, The Ascent, and the OnePlus Nord 2 in this week's Totally Rated

The latest episode of Totally Rated is here - Future's news and reviews show from GamesRadar and our tech and gaming sister site. You can watch the new episode above right now.

This week, we're looking at the brand new Halo Infinite Technical preview, which went live yesterday and runs until Sunday night.

Elsewhere, we've got reviews that went live for Neon Digital's new co-op, cyberpunk adventure, The Ascent. It hit Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC on July 29 - along with Xbox Game Pass. According to our own Josh West, “the Ascent is a beautiful-looking game that feels overburdened by ambition. The scale of its world is grand but there's little of interest to do in it."

“It's densely populated with characters, but few have much to say and even less have a reaction to the way your actions are impacting their reality. The combat is tight to control but has little in the way of real variation."

Over in tech, OnePlus released its OnePlus Nord 2 handset - albeit not worldwide. TechRadar's James Peckham said that the Nord 2 has the features and specs that will mean it will be capable of dominating the mid-range phone market.

“In fact, the OnePlus Nord 2 is one of the very best phones in this segment of the market. It features some impressive specs including a 50MP main rear camera, 65W fast-charging and a 6.43-inch 1080 x 2400 display with a 90Hz refresh rate."

“That screen offers a good experience, although some will be disappointed that the company hasn’t stretched to a 120Hz refresh rate here. That said, it offers good picture quality at a suitable size for many people."

TechRadar also noted its excellent battery life, and fast-charging options, but noted that the company has moved to a MediaTek chipset for the first time. Which, as it turns out, has been a lucrative move thanks to the performance boosts it has granted the Nord 2.

In other news, this week fresh Unreal Engine 5 footage has arrived from Gears of War dev, The Coalition - the future of that company is looking very pretty indeed.

Sam Loveridge is the Brand Director and former Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar. She joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.