Mobile Reviews

OnePlus 6T

Posted by binarymessiah on 11/03/2018
Posted in: Android, Blogs, Hardware, Mobile Reviews. Leave a comment

OnePlus-6T-ConceptManufacturer: OnePlus9.5

Release Date: 11/01/2018

MSRP: $529.99 (6GB RAM, 64GB Storage), $579.99 (8GB RAM, 128GB Storage), $629.99 (8GB RAM, 256GB Storage)

Colors: Mirror Black, Silk White, Midnight Black

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Coming from being a dedicated fan of one manufacturer and switching to a new one can be jarring, but sometimes it can bring in a breath of fresh air. Recently I looked at my Note8 thinking about the Note 9 and realized how little of a difference there is between the two, and about $400. Samsung’s phones have gotten more expensive over the years and have become so pricey that I now have to start putting down payments on my upgrades which I never did before. Then after I decide to wait it out for a while along comes OnePlus. I’ve heard of them before, and most of us have, but they were a flash in the pan that didn’t last very long.

Here we are at the end of 2018 and OnePlus comes out swinging with features that both Samsung and Apple have not done yet or haven’t done right, and that’s what gets you sales. The biggest attraction by far is the on-screen fingerprint sensor and the best screen notch to date, and not to mention it’s 1/3 the price of other phones. The same hardware packed into the Note 9 with a fraction of the price? Yes, please!

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Looks Matter

The 6T is a very sexy device and probably one of the nicest I have ever seen. The extreme bezeless display is just amazing to look at and has a look even Samsung can’t get right with their Edge displays. We finally have a phone with about 95% screen and that’s a big deal. Gone are the days of physical buttons and large bezels for cameras and sensors. OnePlus managed to pack ambient light, camera, notification LEDs, and everything else into a tiny spot on the front of the phone that is just about the same width as the notification bar. It’s really a sight to behold and looks so damn good with the AMOLED display. OnePlus did not cut any corners here and this is clearly a luxury phone that tops some of the big dogs already.

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The entire phone is also made of glass so it feels high-end and features a volume rocker, power button, and a volume slider that allows you to physically silence or set your phone on vibrate, and I can’t say how nice this feature is enough. I got so tired of taking my phone out to silence it and this feels like a great addition. The phone has a USB-C connection and a vertical rear camera and flash. It looks sleek, minimal, and attractive at every corner, and it’s still slim with a large 3,700 mAh battery.

Underneath It All

If you go inside the hardware we have heavy-duty state of the art hardware that makes this a high-end phone. For starters, the Snapdragon 845 is present with the Adreno 630 GPU for insanely smooth high-end gaming, and thanks to OnePlus’s OxygenOS the Android experience is buttery smooth and games never see any slowdown or suffer from poor OS optimization which is something that Samsung and a lot of other manufacturers suffer from at least in a small amount. The $580 model also comes with 8GB of RAM which makes switching apps and loading them lightning fast and they instantly load. This is also in part with being the first Android phone to launch with Android Pie 9.0 which has insane optimizations and feels on par with Apple’s iOS which is well known for being fine-tuned to their hardware.

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Gone are the days of 32 and 64GB of storage so we get 128GB and 256GB options on the 6T which is more than enough, and the exclusion of an SD card slot is a little disappointing, but OxygenOS has the option of using OTG (On-The-Go) storage built into the OS so your USB-C flash drives will come in handy there. The phone also has no headphone jack, but at this point, most phones are leaning that way and it does save space inside the phone. This isn’t a deal breaker for me at all as I don’t use headphones with my phone hardly ever. I do have to mention that this phone does not have wireless charging which was a bummer and probably the biggest disappointment with this phone, but it makes up for it with the fastest charge time I have ever seen. In my first test, my phone was at 30% and charged to 90% in just 30 minutes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, so a full charge would be about an hour or less which is insane. Even on my Note8 a full charge from 0-100 was almost 2 hours on fast-charge and it was a smaller battery. With that said, you have to use OnePlus’s proprietary charger cables and plugs.

The phone features a 16MP+20MP rear camera dual-lens camera and a 16MP front facing camera which is kind of unheard of. It can actually shoot 4K at 60FPS which the Note 9 can do but only for 5 minutes. The photos are incredibly sharp and vibrant and I am not disappointed at all with this setup. Camera enthusiasts won’t be disappointed.

A Smooth Ride

There are quite a few options in OxygenOS that just kept impressing me and this is clearly the most innovative and optimized Android OS variant I have ever used. I actually didn’t need my third party home launchers for once which was nice. There are plenty of options to change themes, accent colors, icon packs, and the Shelf is a great alternative to Samsung’s Edge Bar as you can swipe left and have a whole area full of neatly organized widgets that allow you to add weather, app shortcuts, contacts, and various other things. I use it a lot and it’s much easier than searching for apps in the drawer.

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OnePlus’s Game Mode works well and while not quite as robust as Samsung’s it feels more optimized and has some options Samsung doesn’t like various ways notifications display and what part of the hardware you actually want to be optimized rather than a universal setting. It has more options rather than features which is fine by me. OnePlus also added a night mode and reading mode which will make apps appear in black and white and change the darkness based on the ambient light.

OnePlus is also the next phone to use something similar to Samsung’s Always On Display as the 6T has a gorgeous AMOLED screen. However, it utilizes this feature better as the actual notifications will now pop up with text while the phone is off rather than just an icon which is really awesome. The Ambient Display is also not always on to conserve battery life but allows you to tap the screen to show it or when you pick up your phone. These are quality of life features that other manufacturers aren’t thinking of.

There are some nice gesture features such as drawing letters on the screen while it’s off to launch apps, and the navigation bar is fully customizable. You can hide it, and even use gestures to navigate the phone which I am currently using and it’s incredible. Swipe up on the bottom left corner for back, bottom right for forward, and up the center for recent apps. It works so well and I haven’t run into any issues with it.

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Overall, the OnePlus 6T is the phone we’ve needed in 2018 when the big guys aren’t innovating anymore. Each year phones are less and less dissimilar and the prices are skyrocketing. OnePlus brings us premium luxury features at a budget price, and it knocks every single feature out of the park that it does have. Sure, it’s missing a 3.5mm headphone jack, wireless charging, and a higher resolution screen, but in the end, it doesn’t matter as it does everything else the others are doing better and bringing new things to the table. In-screen fingerprint scanning, ultra-fast charging, a nearly invisible notch, and a gorgeous camera as nothing to scoff at.

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Kingston HyperX Cloud Revolver S Gaming Headset

Posted by binarymessiah on 08/25/2018
Posted in: 3DS, Android, DS, Editor's Choice, GameBoy Advance, Hardware, iOS, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PSP, Sony Consoles, Switch, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One. Leave a comment

71f22SSSqKL._SL1200_Manufacturer: Kingston9.0

Release Date: 03/09/2017

MSRP: $149.99

 

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I’m not really big on gaming headset as I don’t need to use them often as I have my own place, but when I do I want something amazing, something that can deliver the quality and power of large speakers inside some cans. After having the Razer Man O’ War for about 18 months I switched over to some wired headphones and moved brands. Why Kingston? Well, the reviews are great and it’s plug and play, which may say iffy to some, but it works out well in the end.

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Some people want fancy software, RGB lighting, and crazy controls, but Kingston went a different route here. Most PC headsets are not compatible with a console, but these are thanks to a proprietary USB 7.1 audio card built in the cable with Dolby. Now the downside is that these are only stereo headphones with the 3.5mm jack adapter, but they still sound amazing. The USB part has a three-part equalizer for flat, bass boost, and vocal. For gaming and movies, you can activate the Dolby 7.1 surround sound with just a button allowing the headphones to control everything and no need for any software.

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The mic is completely removable which is a nice feature and works just how you would expect. There’s a button to mute the mic on the control box, but for consoles, you will need to remove it completely to mute it through the hardware. Outside of these features the headset itself is extremely comfortable and feels like a cloud sitting on your head. Instead of adjustable bands, we get a tension-sensitive soft band under a hard outer band. This means the band adjusts to your head shape easily without any fiddling. The earcups are super soft and no sound escapes. Since these are wired headphones I had to figure out where to clip the control box which wound up going on my keyboard cable to keep it nearby and so I can access the controls easily. The cord behind that is rather long which is needed for console use.

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Here’s the big question: How does 7.1 audio sound in games and movies? Well, it works surprisingly well. The built-in sound card does a good job decoding the audio and making it sound incredible. I could hear gunshots behind me, people talking next to me, and explosions sounded epic and amazing. Games with 7.1 options sound even better and more realistic, but sadly there aren’t many games with this built-in.

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With that said the HyperX Revolver S is a solid wired headset without the flash and fancy software accompanying most headsets these days. They are extremely comfortable, give an amazing sound output that is crisp and clear, and also have great 7.1 audio capabilities. There are a few minor gripes like the control box being in a weird spot on the cable, only three equalizer settings, and missing software for those who like to fine tune, but what’s here works surprisingly well straight out of the box and being plug-and-play. This is a versatile headset for any gamer, but sadly the 7.1 only works through USB and the 3.5mm jack is strictly stereo. For the price point, you get bang for your buck that you won’t get with most other headsets.

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Flower

Posted by binarymessiah on 07/07/2018
Posted in: iOS, Mobile Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Vita. Leave a comment

downloadPublisher: SCEI7.5

Developer: thatgamecompany

Release Date: 11/12/2013

MSRP: $14.99

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thatgamecompany are a really talented bunch. With Journey and Flow under their belt, they are known for making artistically stunning games on Sony’s consoles. When Flower was released on PS3 is amazed gamers around the world with its gorgeous visuals and music. It’s a very simple game, but that’s okay for what it does.

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You control a single flower petal and ride the wind to help other flowers bloom and rid gloom and grayness from the world around you. You can control the speed of the petals and the novelty came from using the PS3’s SixAxis controller to move the petals around. On the Vita, you can use the gyroscope or hold the rear touchpad. I honestly don’t like the controls and feel it is very difficult to control at low or high speeds. I always missed a set of petals in a run and had to turn around and go back breaking the magic and flow of the game.

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It was like this constantly through the entire game. Once I felt the game had jumped from petal set to petal set only to let me go and lose focus of the current run. As the game progressed this became more complicated as you avoided fallen electrical towers that would shock you and send you flying backward. It’s a beautiful game to behold, even on Vita, but the frustrating controls and mechanics bring it down quite a bit.

Flower also has some underlying environmental message that feels hypocritical. The game goes from green grasses to dark and dreary in a few levels only to have you restoring color to the city (that clearly represent Los Angeles) so I don’t have any idea what the story is or the message is about.

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There are about seven levels not including the credits level which was interesting. Flower is a PlayStation classic and should be played just for its beauty and unique gameplay that no other game can touch. The music is amazing and I really felt sucked into the game only to be ripped out again by bad controls.

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OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood

Posted by binarymessiah on 07/04/2018
Posted in: Android, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Vita, Xbox One. Leave a comment

downloadPublisher: RollingMedia Ltd.8.0

Developer: Roll7

Release Date: 03/03/2015

Rating: Teen

MSRP: $14.99

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Skateboarding games have always been one of my favorite genres. They’re intense, require an insane amount of skills and coordination, and are just so much fun to play. I started all the way back to the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and ended at Skate 3. From there the genre pretty much died, but OlliOlli revived the series a bit and I fell in love with the first game.

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The second is no different, and that’s both good and bad. On the plus side, the game feels smoother, there are more tricks, the entire game is more responsive, and there are more modes and new levels and themes. The downside is that it’s pretty much the same game with no real evolution of the series.

Career mode is where you will spend most of your time. Here you have six different goals varying in tricks, scores, and special spots. Using the left analog stick you can push down and then up to pop the board up and flick it around to do tricks. Holding it down over a rail will allow you to grind. To properly land a trick you must press X right before landing or they will all be sloppy. This trick system is similar to Skate’s and is a great evolution of the button combo system.

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Sadly, you can’t do grabs and there’s no vert skating. Half-pipe rounds would have been fun and it’s sad that the sequel doesn’t really add all that much. There are two other modes which are trick spot and just a leaderboard tracker. They’re fun but aren’t different from the career mode really.

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The game looks nice with fun music, awesome 2D sprites, a great Hollywood/Los Angeles theme and it’s just super smooth. With all that said, OlliOlli2 is a great entry for newcomers and veterans will find enough new stuff in the career mode to consider a purchase.

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Apple iPad Pro 10.5″ (2017)

Posted by binarymessiah on 07/01/2018
Posted in: Editor's Choice, Hardware, iOS, Mobile Reviews. Leave a comment

1-featured-content-ipad-icon_2xpngManufacturer: Apple9.5

Release Date: 06/13/2017

MSRP: $649.99 (wifi only) $749.99 (4G)

Colors: Rose Gold, Space Grey

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Some longtime followers of my site may actually laugh at this review and some may have noticed I’m a hardcore Android user. Sure, I have a ton of iOS reviews from years back, but after my last iPod Touch 4G, I hadn’t looked back at the platform. As the years went by there were a ton of iOS games that just never made it to Android from Infinity Blade to Civilization VI and not to mention timed exclusives. Why an iPad and not a Touch? Well for starters, the Touch devices are being phased out and haven’t been updated since the iPhone 6 hardware. Second, the iPad series is still frequently updated and features more powerful hardware and a better experience than the Touch. Third, price. You can finance an iPad at wireless carriers as the full price for these things is outrageously expensive.

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For starters the device is about what I expected, it’s sleek, fairly slim (not as slim as the Samsung Tab S tablets, however) and the 10.5″ size makes a huge difference over the standard 9.7″ tablets I am used to. The screen is gorgeous and the speakers are phenomenal. So what’s powering this iPad? The A10X processor is Apple’s latest and greatest chip offering and runs everything at lightning smooth speed. It is accompanied by the PowerVR 7XT GPU which will run the latest and greatest games at high framerates. The display is an odd 4:3 aspect ratio at 1668×2224 resolution, which is also odd, and has a 12MP rear-facing and 7MP front-facing camera. The iPad features HDR10 and 120Hz refresh rate for HDR content on YouTube and Netflix as well as lightning fast framerates. Probably the best looking tablet camera I’ve ever seen. Let’s not forget those speakers. I thought the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3’s speakers were great, but these blow those out of the water. I can actually feel the bass rumble in my hands at max volume and the sound projects very well and actually sounds like PC speakers rather than tinny muffled garbage.

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The iPad Pro also features the new lightning charger cable that was featured in the iPhone 5. It’s no big deal to longtime Apple users, but for me, coming from the older iPod Touch hardware is really nice. Sadly, the tablet has no wireless charging which should be available by now and just isn’t due to Apple’s stubborn design quirks. With that said the tablet features a great physical home button with a responsive fingerprint sensor that’s quite impressive. You can clearly tell the iPads aren’t second-rate hardware like some other manufacturers on the Android side.

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Onto the software, and this is where the impressions kind of sizzled away, the iOS suite hasn’t changed much in 8 years. It looks nearly the same just more streamlined, sleek, and faster. My iPad came with iOS 11.4 and the new dock and multitasking features actually impressed me as they are more intuitive than Android’s. Swiping up from the bottom on any app to get to the dock and then long swiping for the control panel is genius. The snap multitasking works so smoothly by dragging an app from the dock into the screen and having an overlay or tapping the title bar to bring up true multitasking. It works so well and they seemed to have gotten it right. The only downside is you need the apps you want to snap in the dock or it won’t work.

I do like how iTunes is dying and is no longer required to tether to your PC to download apps and music. The App Store is now separate from iTunes which is awesome as back in the day these were all in one. There is plenty of customization settings and ways to tweak your device, much more than 8 years ago, and I was pretty satisfied. However, customization is still absent after all these years. No widgets, custom home launchers, or any of those awesome features that Android offers including the more intuitive drop-down menus. What iOS offers is simple and easy to use, and very smooth, but hasn’t evolved really in 10 years.

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Games look and play amazingly well on the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil is the big selling point for these tablets. I don’t have one myself, but I’ve used my wife’s as she draws with it and it’s so smooth and responsive, it’s a fantastic piece of hardware. The Pencil alone has evolved the iPads into something more than just steamrolled iPhones. They are true productivity devices that can do things laptops can’t even do.

Overall, the iPad Pro is an amazing tablet and offers Apple’s best tech. It’s great for mobile gaming, drawing, watching videos, and overall everyday use.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab S3

Posted by binarymessiah on 02/28/2018
Posted in: Android, Editor's Choice, Hardware, Mobile Reviews. Leave a comment

bau-32845-samsung-galaxy-tab-s3-sku-header-310517Manufacturer: Samsung Electronics9.5

Release Date: 03/24/2017

MSRP: $599.99 (wifi), $649.99 (4G)

 

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The Galaxy Tab S2 was the best tablet I have ever owned. It’s sleek, powerful, includes a familiar Samsung Android OS, had a beautiful screen, and I never had a single issue with the tablet. That was 3 years ago, and I felt it was time to upgrade. While I understand the Tab S3 isn’t the dramatic change that the S2 was from the original Tab S to me at least, it’s a marginal difference to justify an upgrade, especially if you are growing tired of your S2 or realize, like I did, that Samsung is no longer supporting it.

When I took the tablet out of the box the differences were noticeable right away. While it’s shaped the same way, is the same size, and looks familiar, it’s made completely out of glass so that plastic feeling is gone. It’s also half the weight and thickness of the S2 which is insane as the S2 was the thinnest tablet around for the longest time. The Tab S3 also includes the S Pen for the first time since the Note 10.1 tablet. The S Pen is large and full-sized unlike the pens for the Note phone series, and it doesn’t go into the tablet. This is a bit of an issue because you always have a loose pen floating around unless you buy a case for the tablet that can hold the pen.

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Once I turned on the tablet, it was a familiar experience. The Noughat OS is exactly like the S2 with a few added features. Sadly, I noticed that Samsung Themes is absent from this tablet as well and seems to be exclusive the newer Samsung phones. I did notice that everything ran a bit smoother and was more responsive overall.

The biggest change of all would be the sound and screen. The S3 features four speakers for surround sound by AKG which sounds fantastic. As I was playing games or watching videos I could hear the sound differential change with each speaker and was a huge change from the S2’s stereo speakers. The screen features HDR which was the first tablet to do so. Watching HDR videos on Netflix or just high res videos, in general, look fantastic on this screen and almost looks better than Samsung’s high-end phones. I can’t stress enough how great everything looks on this tablet, these two features alone are worth the upgrade.

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Let’s get under the hood of this beast. While there are more powerful tablets on the market, the Tab S3 is one them. The S3 boasts the Snapdragon 820 SOC with a quad-core CPU running at 2.15Ghz. We get 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU. It’s not the biggest leap over the S2 and disappointed a lot of people, but as a whole, it’s a worthy upgrade and still more powerful than the S2. It has a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front facing which is just fine. Who really takes photos with their tablet? I took maybe a dozen with my S2 over the last 2 and a half years and it never got used. Thankfully the S3 has a flash on the back this time so your photos will turn out a bit better.

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I benchmarked the S3 with 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme, and it did fairly well with the Vulkan and OpenGLES 3.1 API. As you can see when the system is pushed fairly hard it can maintain a solid 30FPS so it’s ready for games for the next few years.

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Overall, the Tab S3 is a fantastically powerful and feature packed tablet. It’s a worthy upgrade from the S2 or if you want an all-new tablet this is a great one to jump into. With a gorgeous screen, HDR support, a versatile S Pen, quad speakers, and a slim design, there’s nothing wrong here at all. While the SOC isn’t as powerful as I’d have hoped, it’s not enough to deter me from recommending this.

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The Walking Dead: Season Two

Posted by binarymessiah on 12/12/2017
Posted in: Android, iOS, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Vita, Xbox One, Xbox360. Leave a comment

downloadPublisher: Telltale Games8.5

Developer: Telltale Games

Release Date: 12/17/2013

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $24.99

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The original Walking Dead was a fantastic adventure game. It was well written, tense, memorable, and had amazing characters. The dialog choices kept the game moving and you always felt like you were in control of every moment. Season Two adds to this while taking place moments after the end of the first game.

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This time around you play solely as Clementine. Right off the bat, I can tell you that your choices from the first season hardly impact Season Two. I imported my save, but I didn’t see many changes or choices I made from Season One affect anything here. We get an all-new cast, setting, and goal for Season Two that kept me going until the end.

Clementine is a child, but her raw character shows in this season thanks to what she went through. Going from an innocent child to a hardened killer isn’t easy, and it makes Clementine such a likable character. Adults respect her for how mature she is, she can make adult decisions, but she still has some vulnerabilities that a child would have at her age. The new characters come across strong, just like Season One, but I felt a slight disconnect from them. Something about these new characters didn’t quite click as well. A lot are introduced early on so this might be the reason.

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Throughout the game, we are seeing Clem get to a word-of-mouth safe haven called Wellington as on the way she meets new friends, makes new enemies, and has to escape dire circumstances. I feel that this time around the game is more of an interactive movie rather than a game. There are hardly any gameplay moments and there’s zero puzzle solving. The action sequences are somewhat entertaining, but the horrific moments of terror are far and few between this time around. The few spots you can walk around an area feel pointless as all you do is go to the only interactive object to progress. Gameplay is seriously lacking here, but that’s not really a bad thing.

The dialog options are still strong and many choices had me wanting to go back and change my choice, but that’s good. I always thought what would happen if I chose something else as some choices are designed to unfold later and some are immediate. The pacing of this game is also slower and less balanced. There are many slow moments of downtime and dialog build-up. Sometimes 20 minutes would go by with nothing but dialog options and is a stark contrast from the first game.

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I did notice the visuals are slightly improved with better lighting and more detailed textures, but overall the game engine is seriously aging and doesn’t hold up to other games. Season Two is still a memorable game with great characters, excellent writing, and tense moments. If only it were paced better and had more gameplay.

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