Echo is a futuristic stealth game in which you play as a woman named En who is trying to resurrect a man named Foster. Her species is known as the Resourceful, which was created by her grandfather. She enters this facility to find a cube that Foster is supposed to be inside. The story doesn’t explain a whole lot outside of voiced dialog here and there.
The game has a great opening sequence where you land on a strange planet full of square cubes and must descend into the facility. The first hour of the game introduces all of the game mechanics, with the biggest being that the enemies are clones of you and learn from you. These clones reset during power cycles every so often. The music changes, and the game goes dark, but this is when the system can’t learn your moves. If you shoot, jump, duck, hide, or smash clones in the face with crystal balls, they will be able to do the same moves during the next power cycle. It’s important to reserve using your gun or even using elevators until the lights go off.
There are other abilities you have, such as a power bar and being able to shove clones. Every action requires an action point, such as shooting and leaping over ledges. You also have a very limited sprint meter. You can slowly regenerate one action point, but there are little towers with white balls that can give you one point spread around a room. It’s both strategy and stealth to only use these points when necessary, as some rooms can have dozens of clones you need to sneak around. This is when all the problems start setting in.
Sneaking around is fine and all, but there are so many clones that it’s nearly impossible not to get seen in any single room. The only objectives you get are to make it to the next room or find keys in large open rooms to activate an elevator. This gets extremely frustrating when you restart an area over a dozen times only to never find a good path around the clones. So many times I was spotted and tried to run, only to run out of action points and energy. You get one freebie by fighting your way out of a clone’s grasp, and your proximity meter will glow red, meaning you can’t take another hit. Rooms can be so large that you can’t get to the other end even after lining up your shot with several clones, sprinting, using your free grab, and shoving clones down.
The next issue is that the game feels like it drags on forever. I love the art style and atmosphere, with strange Victorian-style furnishings in a nearly sterile environment full of silver and gold decor. The problem is that it repeats forever, never changes, and the constant repetition of going from room to room wears thin fast. If there were a variety of things to do here, it would be more enjoyable.
Overall, Echo has great voice acting, good graphics, a creepy atmosphere, and very interesting game mechanics, but they are poorly executed in a repetitive, frustrating stealth gameplay loop that outstays its welcome.
When you think PlayStation, you usually think God of War or Kratos. God of War was a game-changer back in 2005 with cinematic fluid combat, memorable characters, and intricate level design, as well as the birth of quick-time events. 13 years later, the entire game is reinvented, not just to change the way we play as Kratos but to reinvent the action-adventure genre itself.
I really want to go into detail about the story, but it would contain so many spoilers that I have to refrain. For starters, you do play as Kratos, but as an aged man, a father, now living in an entirely new world set in Norse mythology. Yes, the Greek myth of God of War is now done, and we get a whole new set of gods and enemies and a beautiful new world. Kratos is living humbly as a woodsman with his family until his wife dies, and he and his son, Atreus, must venture to the highest mountain of Midgard to spread her ashes. It feels like the most humble story and a stark contrast from past games, with Kratos’ rage and anger tearing down gods and endless Olympians.
I can’t stress enough just how well developed his character and personality are. Being revoiced by Christopher Judge, who is best known as Teal’c (Tee-ULK) from the Stargate SG-1 TV series, he has a more calming, aged, and tired look to him. He is extremely wise, quiet, reserved, and has learned all these years to control himself; however, he still struggles. Santa Monica Studios did an astounding job of developing his character and Atreus’. I was fully immersed throughout the entire game and loved hearing Judge’s voice on screen, soaking in every cutscene and spoken line of dialog. It’s one of the most well-written characters and scripts in gaming history and goes from a simple story to blowing up into the expected epic mess that Kratos usually gets into. The story does end on a cliffhanger, and there are a lot of unanswered questions, but fans will know that means more is coming, and more is better.
The next thing you think of when you hear God of War is the amazing and well-made combat. It is one of the top five best action-adventure combat systems ever created and has just improved over time. Santa Monica Studio not only reinvented God of War’s combat but also action-adventure combat itself. Instead of using a cut camera like in previous games, we are now behind Kratos from an over-the-shoulder perspective with similar combat mechanics to past games. Some would say this seems impossible, but they pulled it off. Light and heavy attacks are now mapped to the R1 and R2 buttons, with your Leviathan Axe being used to solve puzzles as well. This is another amazing twist to the weapons in God of War; they aren’t just for chopping off heads. The Leviathan Axe is an amazing tool that is powerful, used as a ranged weapon, and for various other reasons. The main attraction of the axe is that it can be thrown and returned to the player anywhere in the world. The Triangle button is permanently mapped to just returning the axe, which is an interesting game mechanic never seen before.
I can’t go into further detail about weapons as it’s actually a huge story spoiler, but the combat feels very familiar to past games while also feeling fresh and new. I can’t think of the combat being done any other way. On top of chopping off heads, the magic system was reinvented with new enchantments and rune stones that you can collect around the world. These can be socketed to armor and weapons and add various moves to certain button combinations for each weapon. These are keys to surviving in battle, and without them, you just wouldn’t be able to finish the game. I always changed them up and upgraded them, as there’s a huge variety of magic moves in this game.
Epic cinematic kills are also back, but less quick-time event-heavy. While I did miss them, I understand why they were excluded. It does get repetitive, and you constantly relied on seeing that circle button pop up to gain health, magic, or experience orbs, but the animations went from awe-inspiring to shrug-inducing very quickly. The game does harken back to the first God of War in the sense that the game isn’t heavy on epic giant bosses. There are a few, and they are scripted, beautifully animated, and jaw-droppingly epic to see. You still feel like you are taking down these giant creatures, but in a different way. There are larger, smaller enemies like trolls and elemental golems that can be defeated similarly to past games, but it’s changed just enough to feel new and different. The combat is still cinematic, epic, and enjoyable, with awesome slow-down and gore everywhere.
Atreus himself is also a great combat tool, as he’s a companion that actually works and never gets in the way. He’s mapped to the square button, and you can use him no matter what Kratos is doing, and that includes death kills, being knocked down, etc. He shoots various types of arrows that can stun enemies and bring their stun meter up. Unlike past games, you can’t just deal so much damage, and then the kill button appears exactly the same for every enemy. You need to use various attacks to bring that meter up, and it’s difficult on tougher bosses. It keeps you from relying on quick-time events, like in past games. The well-invented and amazing enemies also help, as each one stands out and is unique, and you will learn what moves work with what enemy.
If the combat wasn’t enough to hook you, then the world will. The third major part of God of War is exploration and puzzle-solving, which make up over half of the gameplay. They took the secret chests of past games and blew them up tenfold with various types of chests, from simple small treasure chests full of Hacksilver (currency) to actual puzzle boxes where you have to hit various bells with runes to match the box. These can get tricky and require using all of your skills to solve them. God of War is also an open world. Yes, an open world. Midgard contains several realms you can explore, two of which are only for trials and challenges, but Midgard itself is a giant lake with various islands full of puzzle goodness and amazing challenges that will keep you hooked for dozens of hours. There are so many tasks in God of War that it really feels like an awesome open-world RPG, thanks to a leveling system and a brand new upgrade and crafting system.
The last part of God of War goes from using red orbs to upgrade things to finding various items in the game like any RPG and using them to craft and upgrade armor, weapons, enchantments, and even Atreus bow and his armor. There are certain armor sets that require various items from certain realms, and this can be a challenge, but it’s possible I actually finished the story before reaching the max level and acquiring the best armor. That’s all reserved for the bigger challenges seen elsewhere in Midgard.
Overall, God of War is the single best game to be released this entire console generation cycle. This is what we needed more of from every console maker. It took Sony too long as it was, but here we have it. The game is literally perfect, and I can’t think of any flaws in God of War that are detrimental to the overall game. I could say the game is too hard in spots, but that’s because I ventured too far too early and needed to come back later. I could say there are a lot of hidden items and they are hard to find, but I need to explore more and look more carefully. I could say that the story is too short and the lower amount of epic bosses is what made God of Warand hurts the game, but it just doesn’t. God of War is the best game I have played in the past 10 years, and many other developers need to take note.
Note: The game plays best on the PS4 Pro. It looks really awful on the standard PS4, but the Pro is running in 4K checkerboard, and the textures and added effects are well worth a purchase just for this game.
Every time I play a Call of Duty game, I expect less and less each time. The game is designed from the ground up for the lowest common denominator and people who have never played games before. Infinite Warfare is no exception, being the third game from Infinity Ward this console cycle. I have to give Infinite Warfare some credit, as it did surprise me more than the series has since Modern Warfare 2, and that’s saying a lot. The game has excellent acting and surprisingly interesting characters that you kind of care for, which scared me coming from such a mindless series.
You play Lieutenant Reyes, who is part of the USDA and is trying to protect Earth from the SDF, who are a bunch of rebels living on Mars and want to wipe out all of Earth. It’s a typical war plot with basic objectives, but the chatter in between is quite entertaining and kept me hooked. I actually sat through the entire game in two long playthroughs, which I have never done for Call of Duty. They usually get boring after the second mission or so. I do have to mention that the use of Kit Harrington (Jon Snow in Game of Thrones) is wasted on a villain that is rarely seen in the game and whose character never evolves or has the potential to grow. Why did they use him for a half dozen lines of dialog? I know Call of Duty is famous for using celebrities in its games (Ghosts being the worst use), but this seemed rather pointless with almost no face time.
Reyes’s partner, Lieutenant Salter, creates a strong duo that helps drive the game forward. I was actually able to figure out what was going on at all times, and the story never got convoluted or overly complicated. The game also changes pace quite often, which keeps it from getting boring despite these changes being the same and just shuffled. Outside of boots-on-the-ground combat, there is some zero-G combat and space combat in a jet. The space combat is great, and the Jackal has buttery smooth controls and feels very cinematic and challenging. The only objectives here are to destroy other fighters and larger ships while keeping missiles off of you and staying out of danger. Locking onto other jets puts you in auto-pilot mode, where the game will automatically follow the jet and you just have to shoot it down.
Zero-G combat is used the least, but it is still quite fun. You can tether to objects for cover, grapple enemies, and initiate pretty awesome melee kills. The environments are rather beautiful, with a lot of detail and massive objects in the background. This is not an ugly game by any means. Once you get indoors, though, the game is boring and stale, with metallic corridors, generic monitors, and the same crap we’ve seen over and over again. There are a few small moments outside of all this, such as when you can call in certain weapons or airstrikes to turn the tide. It feels good to use them, and they always come in handy right at the last moment.
One thing that really surprised me was the use of side missions that you could optionally go on. According to the Trophy listing, most people never played these as they are rare achievements, but it helps divert people away from the main story if they just want to finish real quick and move on. These missions include a few stealth operations as well as flying the Jackal and rescuing hostages. This was a nice mixed bag of gameplay that was fun to play through. The main reason to go through these is to take down top officers from the SDF that are part of the “card system,” which is a series of “hits.” It’s pretty meaningless and just one more reason to unlock an achievement.
Once you finish the campaign (about 6 hours), there is the multiplayer suite, and honestly, the campaign is stronger this time around. The multiplayer is very safe and doesn’t do a single thing different from what we’ve seen before with the same type of maps and modes that we’re used to. Is it worth grinding through the Prestige levels? Probably not, but there is zombie mode, which is even starting to show its teeth these days.
Sadly, Infinite Warfare just doesn’t have any personality, despite all the pluses it brings to the series. At its core, it’s still a generic space shooter that has strayed so far away from what made Modern Warfare great that it’s laughable. With the fake made-up guns (which are actually interesting), robots, and spaceships, this could have been any other name, and it would have still been a good game. The Call of Duty branding seems to hurt the game more than help it these days.
With that said, Infinite Warfare doesn’t’ deserve the flack it has gotten from fans, is surprisingly smart and entertaining, and at least tries to do some new stuff that we haven’t seen before. The multiplayer is passable, but at a bargain bin price, you are in for an entertaining day of shooting robots and saving the planet.
Remedy Entertainment is one of my favorite developers. You may know them from little games like Max Payne and Alan Wake. These were both fantastic third-person shooters with great characters and an interesting story. It’s been a while since we have seen anything from them, and Quantum Break was quite ambitious with big-name actors, live-action cutscenes, and just an overall large budget.
The game starts off with you playing Jack Joyce, who is the brother of William Joyce and gets stuck in a fight against Monarch Solutions to save the universe. It sounds pretty cliche, but the time-bending gameplay and story have some merits. Paul Serene, the antagonist of the game, steals a time-travel device from William Joyce and uses it for profit. The game does this whole start at the end, then work your way back to the beginning sort of story, filling in gaps along the way. I really wanted to like the story here, as the acting is top-notch and the live-action cut scenes are fantastic, but it’s so convoluted and there are so many things that aren’t explored.
One such thing is the end of time. It’s frequently mentioned that the end of time is caused by a fracture in the time machine, but we never see it. Seeing the end of time would have been fascinating, if only for a little while. On top of this, the five different choices you make in the story don’t affect the outcome of the story, which makes it feel pointless. After each chapter, there is a junction in which you play as Paul and have to make a choice. Then you get a 15-minute live-action cutscene, which is the best part of the entire game.
The gameplay itself has time-stopping and bending abilities with Jack Time. Rushing enemies to fly by them, using time blasts for AOE effects, shields, and various other abilities. You will use them all throughout the game, but it feels forced. The guns feel fun to shoot, but they’re all so generic and boring. The same four enemies repeat, and to make you use your powers, they throw in enemies that are immune to your powers and ones that you need to use your powers to get past their armor. They don’t show up often, but when they do, it slows down the gameplay and makes it drag.
I did use different weapons for different situations, but I had no choice, as the game can be so difficult at times that you need to use these weapons or powers by default and not by choice. You can upgrade your powers to make them more useful, but they require hidden upgrade points, which are really hard to find (I only found 5 through my whole playthrough), so it defeats the purpose of having an upgrade system if the points to use it are hidden. The action and storytelling are also poorly paced, with entire chapters of just pressing buttons, walking around, and climbing things. Then you would get an hour of non-stop shooting. Then the final boss took me 3 hours to beat, as it’s so incredibly difficult and requires you to use all your powers beyond what the game will allow. You can only turn so fast, move so quickly, and shoot so much with time bombs going off behind you and enemies zipping around and shooting you. It’s overwhelming and clearly breaks the system in place.
I really wanted to love this game, but it’s entertaining at best and very forgettable. The game looks fantastic with amazing character models and animations, but the PC version suffers severe performance issues as it’s poorly optimized. The art style, however, is rather dull, with nothing but sterile gray hallways, generic buildings, and nothing that really stands out. Outside of the Nissan and Microsoft product placements and the yellow accenting throughout the entire game.
Remedy really could have done more here, but most people will find it either too boring or too hard to care about. It’s an entertaining weekend playthrough, but nothing more.
MSRP: $54.99 (3 pack, no software), $89.99 (3 pack with software, $24.99 (single pack)
RGB fans are the big thing right now, and Thermaltake is taking on Corsair for the best out there. I purchased these with my Thermaltake View 31 case, and I’m incredibly impressed with them. If you buy the three-pack, you get a control box that can be mounted in the chassis, so you can link all the fans together so they can sync with each other. There is a more expensive pack that allows you to control them through software, but the hardware box was fine for me.
Installing them is easy, as you can either use them as case fans or radiator fans, and screws for either choice are included. You can mount the control box with the included velcro tape, but a magnetic bottom would have been better. I had to actually cut up the velcro and place it in a way that would work for my case, which was annoying.
The fans come with sleeved cables and are quite long, which makes them easy to work with. You can stretch them across a full-size tower, so they can plug in wherever you want. Once you plug them into the box, you can start or stop the fans in your favorite color, change the fan speed to full or quiet mode, and also change the mode from solid colors to 256 color mode. The fans look amazing and show bright, vivid colors, and the 256-color mode looks fantastic.
Overall, the fans are amazing. At full speed, they produce very little noise and have great airflow, and the RGB effects are the biggest seller. For half the price of Corsair’s fan, you can’t go wrong here.
MSRP: $99.99 ( 2 Blue LED fans), $129.99 (3 RGB fans)
PC gaming isn’t just about having the best GPU, fastest CPU, or 64GB of RAM (which is stupid, honestly), but also how good your PC looks. When you invest a large amount of money in a machine, you want to put your own stamp on it, and it starts with the case itself. I moved on from the Raidmax Viper GX case, which was a good case for beginner PC builders. I actually had an accident in which my son knocked me off balance, and I spilled soda on top of the tower and had a major disaster. This led me to need a new case, and tempered glass is the way to go.
Now if you aren’t really into showmanship, lights, colored radiator fluid, and cool hardware, then don’t get one of these. However, with some good cable management and patience, you can get a simple setup to look top-notch. The Thermaltake View 31 comes pre-installed with two Riing 14 Blue LED fans (the one I have) or three Riing 12 RGB fans (which cost extra). The case itself looks sleek, is lightweight, and is easy to use and set up. The tempered glass sides just have two screws on each side, and they pop right off, allowing full access to the inside. This tower is void of 5.25″ bay drives, and everything inside is customizable.
There are 3 HDD trays with an amount that is moveable, or you can install them on the back of the PC if you want them out of the way or need to install a large coolant reservoir. There are plenty of options for fans and radiators, as they can go on all sides. I opted for the two Riing 14 Blue LED fans to go in the front, and I purchased an additional 3 packs of Riing 12 RGB fans for the top. I don’t have any fans on the bottom yet, and I have a Corsair H75 AIO radiator with a dual fan setup for the CPU in the rear. It looks fantastic, and just a little effort goes a long way.
One major feature I love is the magnetic dust screen that lays right on top of the top fans, as this allows you to see the lights from the top. The front panel has vents on the sides to allow air in and is darkened so only the lights show and you don’t see the blades spinning. When I actually started placing things inside, it was nice to see the motherboard stand-offs were pre-installed for an ATX motherboard, and the front panel cables were already tied down and managed. There were plenty of holes and places to put cables and loop things through. Even with a crowded system and every port filled, you should be able to find plenty of areas to manage cables neatly. There is also an option to have your CPU face towards the case for those with custom GPU coolers.
The front panel features a clean and sleek blue-lit square power button, a smaller reset button, an HDD LED, two USB 3.0 ports, and two USB 2.0 ports, as well as a microphone and headphone jack. This was a huge plus over my last case, which only had two USB 3.0 ports up front.
Overall, the case is just slick, clean, and tidy, and it looks high-end and professional for a reasonable price. I do have a few minor issues, such as the fact that there are not six HDD trays, so you can have three up front and three in the back. I’m actually contacting Thermaltake right now to see if I can have more sent to me. Some additional trays would have been nice. People who don’t use AIO liquid cooling systems will find the big empty area on the right to be an eyesore (I don’t mind it). It does not come with a PCI-E ribbon cable for the GPU stand-off. It also lacks more fans, pre-installed RGB or not. What do you get? However, the case is fantastic, and I don’t think I’ll be swapping it anytime soon.
I love adventure games as they tell incredible stories with such detail that most other games can’t put out. They put action and gameplay on the back burner to bring the story upfront and into your face. They are typically slow-paced and keep you hooked with interesting characters, settings, and atmosphere. Night in the Woods is about a cat named Mae who drops out of college and comes back to her hole-in-the-wall town to hang with friends and discover a mystery plaguing her town.
The game starts out fine with several scenes of character introductions and plot setting. Mae meets up with her four friends, and each day goes by with several activities such as talking to people, attending band practice (complete with a rhythm mini-game), and checking your laptop. This is fine and all, but this dragged on for way too long. Several days went by, and almost nothing happened outside of character development. The game talks about the real-life struggle of today’s younger generation (Millenials) and the day-to-day lives of lower-middle-class Americans. The game is set in a cartoony paper cut-out style but set in real-world problems that are very unique and interesting. I really connected with the characters, and their problems were genuine and real, but I wasn’t sure if I was playing a game sometimes.
Each night you go to sleep (after several days go by), you are presented with the only real gameplay here, which is annoying platforming on confusing “maps” to find four band members to complete the dream sequence. You go through five of these maps, and they are boring, a chore to navigate, and feel like forced gameplay. Outside of these sequences, there’s nothing but text and story. I really think this should have been a visual novel or just an animated cartoon rather than a game.
The actual relevancy of the title only comes into play during the last half-hour of the game, and it’s forgettable and almost feels forced compared to the day-to-day struggles of the characters, which are more interesting. I like how the game is written and the characters it portrays, but if you’re going to make this a game, actually give me a game to play. I started getting bored towards the end and just wanted the entire game to end.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy this game, but the praise it is given is a little ridiculous. It doesn’t do anything special in its own genre, and as a game itself, it’s barely that. I can only recommend this game to hardcore adventure game or visual novel fans who are okay going through hours of text and dialog with almost zero gameplay. It’s a great time killer and a fun way to burn away a lazy weekend afternoon, but nothing more than that, and there is no memorable story to care about from this.
Life is Strange is one of my favorite games of all time and one of my top adventure games. The atmosphere, music, characters, writing, and story all made me feel nostalgic to be a rebellious teenager again, and it seriously sparked my imagination long after I finished playing it. Before the Storm pulls us back to Arcadia Bay as Chloe Price and helps us see who Chloe really was before the events of the first game.
We also get to see who Rachel Amber really was to Chloe, as this was a huge mystery in the first game that wasn’t fully explored. Rachel helped shape who Chloe was in the first game, and she had a huge impact on her life, albeit a short-lived one. We also get to see the formation of the people around Chloe in the first game, such as her parents and some schoolmates. Before the Storm still captures that teenage nostalgia of being free and not having to worry about the stresses of adult life such as bills, cars, a job, and food. All we had to worry about was our feelings and friendships, which are probably the most cherished parts of our lives.
What the game fails to capture, however, is the great pace and actual gameplay of the first game. Before the Storm is very slow to start and to pick up and was almost boring for the first hour, and without the gameplay quirks of the first game, all you have is an adventure game with very few decisions to make. Most of BtS is just watching events unfold and clicking on objects. So gameplay takes a backseat, and the story kind of did too. The characters are still as strong as ever, but there’s just not much to build here, as Chloe’s life before the first game was fairly generic and not much different from most teens’ troubles.
Each episode did tend to leave a cliffhanger somehow, and I wanted to know what was going to happen next, but there was a lot of filler content, and most of the actual events that involve the first game are far and few between. If you never played the first game, this would actually be quite a boring and generic adventure game with no meaning. I could have easily settled on this game being just a one-hour animated movie to fill us in on Chloe’s earlier years.
At least the visuals were slightly upgraded with some better lighting, but overall, it’s a seriously dated game that all adventure games have seemingly been doing. I can only recommend this game to anyone who finished the first game, but don’t expect a tear-jerking and emotional roller coaster like it provided. You’ll sit through a few heartfelt moments and some laughs, and that’s about it.
Razer has been the spokesperson for PC gaming hardware for years now, and there seems to be a divide in their products. Some live and die under Razer, and some can’t stand them. I personally have mixed feelings. I’ve only ever used their wireless mice, and I had bad experiences with both. The Razer Mamba cut out constantly, and the material it was made out of slowly fell apart. The Ouroboros was a better-designed mouse, but the laser and software were just plain awful. I then acquired a Razer Firefly mousepad, only to have it die on me in a month. I also owned the Razer Kabuto and Vespula mousepads, only to have both of them slowly disintegrate over the course of a few months. I eventually gave in and bought a Man O’ War headset to be pleasantly surprised by the quality and durability of the product. So, it was time to buy another keyboard, and I realized I had never bought a Razer keyboard before. What could go wrong?
I felt a little lost choosing a Razer keyboard, as there are so many of them. There are the smaller Tournament Editions of the standard keyboards, membrane keyboards, and keyboards with their own version of Cherry keys. I saw mobile keyboards, Chroma keyboards, and licensed keyboards. I started off by knowing I wanted a Chroma keyboard that supported the latest Synapse 3, as I hate Synapse 2 as it is. I had a choice between Blackwidow X and Chroma V2. The Chroma V2 just seemed like a better keyboard all-around, had a wrist rest, and felt better ergonomically.
Once I plugged the keyboard up, I noticed it had three plugs. One for USB passthrough, and then a 3.5mm jack. I didn’t bother with the jack as I have a headset and a speaker and never used standard headphones, but the passthrough was nice. What I do like about Razer products is that you don’t have to go download drivers and firmware updates. Once you plug in your device, Synapse will recognize it and download everything for you. This is one thing Razer has above most other hardware companies.
Once I plugged it in and started fiddling with Synapse 3, I was surprised at how much customization the Chroma lights have. You can literally change every key individually, which is amazing and something I have never seen before. Razer really has a leg up in the lighting department over all other keyboards. The standard effects were really nice, with fire being my favorite. Sadly, Synapse 3 is still in beta as of this review, and chromosome profiles cannot be imported. So, for now, you have to make your own. The Chroma V2 doesn’t have insane customization button-wise like other keyboards, but I bought this as I have learned my lesson, and gimmicks on keyboards are mostly useless and just drive up the price. There are 5 macro keys on the side, media controls, an on-the-fly macro recording feature, and a gaming mode that disables the Windows key.
These features are all fine and all I will ever really use. I prefer lighting on keyboards over other features, and this keyboard has all that. Now, as for actually using it, the keys are a little different than what I’m used to. While they are clicky, they don’t require as much force as Cherry keys, and the clearance is higher than standard membrane keys. They are clicky but feel a little soft, which is weird at first. The wrist rest feels nice and soft and is magnetic, so you can just remove it from the keyboard whenever you want. I am going to question the material of the pad, as it feels soft but seems like cheap vinyl that will crack and fade over time.
Overall, the Blackwidow Chroma V2 is a fantastic keyboard and the best one I have owned. It may not have as many gimmicks or features as other keyboards, but its quality and overall usefulness are at the top. From the amazing Chroma lighting to the magnetic wrist rest and great-feeling keys, as well as the USB and 3.5mm passthrough, the Chroma V2 has a few tricks, and I doubt anyone would be disappointed.
For the first time ever, I finally had a chance to build my own gaming PC the way I wanted. Building gaming PCs isn’t cheap, and I don’t just go for budget builds. I get the latest and greatest, or not at all, because I want to future-proof my system and I want quality products. Searching for a motherboard started with the first priority of having a wireless LAN, as nothing in my house is connected through a wired LAN to save on cable space. I also wanted to acquire everything at my local Fry’s Electronics, and this was the only 300 series motherboard with wifi. The price was a little more than I wanted to spend, coming in at $200, but this motherboard boasts a plethora of features, some of which I will probably never use.
Let’s start out with just how it looks. This is a sexy motherboard with raised accents, gorgeous lighting, and a sleek layout of all ports and plugs. As I started slapping in my parts, the first of which is the CPU, and then bolting it to the tower, I started noticing just how much was on this thing. From the top of my head, there are 6 SATA ports, 3 M2 PCI-E ports, several fan ports, temperature, USB headers, RGB ports, 2 16x PCI-E 3.0 ports, and 3 PCI-E x4 ports. There’s enough here for a powerhouse of a system, and I loved putting this thing together.
All of my fans were able to plug into the same row, which was nice, but the SATA ports being right on top of each other caused retention clamps to get in the way, and it was a bit of a struggle. When I installed my Intel Optane M2 card, I noticed the M2 lanes disabled two whole SATA ports each. With this installed, I’m limited to only 4 SATA ports, and if I wanted to put an M2 SSD in here, it would drop me down to 2 SATA ports. This is an unfortunate thing, but most people won’t be using M2 ports anyway.
The back of the motherboard features a decent array of ports, such as USB 3.1, which I honestly don’t know what supports that, HDMI, a display port, USB-C, 7.1 audio jacks, 2 wifi antenna coaxial ports, 2 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, and LAN. It’s not the largest motherboard input setup, but it’s enough to get the job done. If you need more USB ports, most cases come with front USB headers, or you can buy a 5.25″ USB bay drive or even a PCI-E USB card. I could also go on about the black caps, audio capacitors, and all that boring stuff, and to be honest, it means nothing to me. I know it means the board will last longer and won’t be subject to power issues, but most newer motherboards have all these features.
There’s also a dual BIOS feature for overclockers and various fail-safes in the software. There’s a quick flash feature, and you can even restore the BIOS to default settings if an OC goes belly up. Once you get into Bios itself, there are so many options that I don’t know where to start. The M.I.T. is your first screen, and unless you have a K-series CPU, there’s nothing much for you to do here as it’s all for overclocking. You can change the BLCK clock, startup speed, change the integrated graphics speed and splice it, and various other features. I have the non-K 8700, so I couldn’t use most of this.
There are sections to overclock your RAM, which is actually quite complicated, plus various other settings that allow you to change the basic RGB lights, wake devices, and other little minor settings. What’s nice is that there is an easy mode that displays just the basics and what most people will use. You can even access Speed Fan 5 and change all your fan settings right in the BIOS. It’s rather robust, but it’s very basic-looking and rather bland.
Gigabyte boards come with loads of software, and to be honest, they aren’t that great. They feel outdated and basic, and some don’t even work. There’s a Gigabyte App Center, which I actually like as it detects updates for all of your drivers, but there are so many apps, and most of them I found useless. I wanted to be able to use the 3D OSD, which is a customizable OSD for various information that you can select, but I couldn’t get it to appear on screen in any game. There are various cloud storage apps that I found pointless, power management, and EZ Tune, which allows you to OC your CPU and RAM from within Windows, which was pretty handy, but it’s very basic and doesn’t have the details that the BIOS had. You can flash the BIOS and even export and import straight from the app; you can change the USB DAC, EZ RAID setup, GPU tuner, which is basic, and Smart HUD, which I couldn’t even figure out how to use.
There are a couple of neat apps, such as TimeLock, which allows you to set timers to lock down your computer or shut it down. There’s an app that allows you to backup files and recover them, which is pretty cool and useful; however, there are better-dedicated programs out there for that. SIV is the System Information Viewer, which allows you to control your fans with Smart Fan 5. I just set this to performance and let it go, as it did its job well. You can click on each fan in your system and set it to auto-stop or change its various speeds. There is a game boost app and an app that allows you to upload files from your phone, control your computer from your phone, and even OC remotely. The app is awful, feels like it was made 7 years ago, and seems pretty useless. There’s a BIOS fast boot feature and a blue light killer that would completely mess with your picture setup, and that’s about it. I kept maybe five of the dozen or so apps. This is an overly bloated software suite that needs serious updating and trimming.
This motherboard has a plethora of features and so many options for overclockers and anyone wanting to fine-tune their BIOS and control all of their hardware. The bloated and dated software is a huge disappointment, but there are a few gems in there, for sure. Having the M.2 slots take up 2 SATA lanes each is disappointing, and there aren’t as many rear ports as most people would like, but the addition of wifi and built-in lighting make up for it in the long run.
Specs:
Support for 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 processors/Intel® Core™ i5 processors/ Intel® Core™ i3 processors in the LGA1151 package
L3 cache varies with CPU
(Please refer “CPU Support List” for more information.)
Chipset
Intel® Z370 Express Chipset
Memory
4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 64 GB of system memory
Support for 11ac wireless standard and up to 433 Mbps data rate * Actual data rate may vary depending on environment and equipment.
Expansion Slots
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16) * For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8) * The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x8 mode.
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4) * The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the M2P_32G connector. The PCIEX4 slot operates at up to x2 mode when a PCIe SSD is installed in the M2P_32G connector.
3 x PCI Express x1 slots * The PCIEX1_3 slot shares bandwidth with the SATA3 1 connector. When the PCIEX1_3 slot is populated, the SATA 3 1 connector becomes unavailable. (All of the PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
Storage Interface
Chipset:
2 x M.2 connectors (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M2M_32G, M2A_32G)
1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 PCIe x4/x2 SSD support) (M2P_32G)
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 * Refer to “1-8 Internal Connectors,” for the installation notices for the M.2 and SATA connectors.
Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready
Multi-Graphics Technology
Support for NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ and 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ technologies
Support for AMD Quad-GPU CrossFire™ and 3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFire™ technologies
USB
Chipset+ASMedia® USB 3.1 Gen 2 Controller:
1 x USB Type-C™ port on the back panel, with USB 3.1 Gen 2 support
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port (red) on the back panel
Chipset:
1 x USB Type-C™ port with USB 3.1 Gen 1 support, available through the internal USB header
6 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)
6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers)
Internal I/O Connectors
1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x CPU fan header
1 x water cooling CPU fan header
4 x system fan headers
1 x 3 Amp fan/water cooling pump header
1 x system fan/water cooling pump header
2 x digital LED strip headers
2 x digital LED strip power select jumpers
2 x RGB (RGBW) LED strip headers
3 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1 x S/PDIF Out header
1 x USB Type-C™ port, with USB 3.1 Gen 1 support
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 header
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header (2×6 pin, for the GC-TPM2.0_S module only)
1 x Thunderbolt™ add-in card connector
1 x Clear CMOS jumper
2 x temperature sensor headers
Back Panel Connectors
1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
2 x SMA antenna connectors (2T2R)
1 x DisplayPort
1 x HDMI port
1 x USB Type-C™ port, with USB 3.1 Gen 2 support
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port (red)
4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 x RJ-45 port
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In, Line Out, Mic In)
I/O Controller
iTE® I/O Controller Chip
H/W Monitoring
Voltage detection
Temperature detection
Fan speed detection
Water cooling flow rate detection
Overheating warning
Fan fail warning
Fan speed control * Whether the fan (pump) speed control function is supported will depend on the fan (pump) you install.
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