Alienware AW510H 7.1 Surround Gaming Headset

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/26/2020
Posted in: Hardware, PC Reviews. Leave a comment

Headsets are not something that is vital to my PC setup, but I do enjoy them. I have my own place so I can enjoy loud booming speakers (which I do have), but some times when people are sleeping or I want to block out noise I enjoy a good headset. I’ve ever had three in the past, with this being my fourth headset, and I have to say I’m quite impressed with these for various reasons.

The unboxing experience is quite nice as the box is very large, and when you open it the headphones are just laying there strapped in with velcro ties. Below it is a compartment which house the cables and that’s about it. The headphones are quite heavy and bulky, but for my large head they felt fine. The strap cushion is rather nice and made of a soft silicone rubber type material and the ear cups are large, soft, and cushy. The earphones adjust inside the strap rather than the strap lengthening. I found this rather nice and the cups always swing out 90 degrees so they rest flat. There is a nice alien head logo on each ear cup and the name across the strap. They are very minimalist and sleek looking. I picked the white ones to match my Lunar Light laptop and mouse.

You have the option of the USB DAC cable and a 3.5mm jack with a splitter for the mic. Obviously, when using a PC you should use the included DAC cable as it drives the audio better than just analog input. I installed the DAC software and there wasn’t much tinkering after that. There’s no RGB so they don’t show up in Alienware Command Center, but you do use the audio section to set everything up to make it sound how you like. Once I installed the driver and restarted I booted up some music and it sounded absolutely fantastic albeit a bit tinny. I had to turn on the Treble Enhancer to make the tinniness go away, but the bass booster was awesome. This is the largest bass I’ve heard in any headset to date.

Once I booted up a game, I picked Doom Eternal, I was met with fantastic audio including some that affected me physically. Because these are noise cancelling and create a suction when you have them on and they audio works differently than standard headphones. There are plenty of YouTube videos that explain how noise cancelling works. When I moved my mouse around on the menu in Doom Eternal I literally felt the sound in my skull, and it felt like a dentist drill. That sounds unpleasant, but it was actually quite awesome. The enemies surround you and the guns boom and rock your ears and you can’t hear a thing outside of the headphones. I felt fully immersed, and I now see why noise cancelling headphones are loved by audiophiles and how they actually immerse you into the sound more. The 7.1 Surround option in ACC seemed to have helped, and while this isn’t true 7.1, the simulation sounds great and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

After a few months with this headset I have to say I quite enjoy it. The physical build is holding up, it still sounds amazing, and it’s a perfect match for any Alienware PC. While most people wouldn’t reach for these if they didn’t have an Alienware system, for those who do have one, this goes great with the latest systems aesthetics and is a great sounding headset.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/20/2020
Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Sony Consoles, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S. Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Treyarch/Raven Software

Release Date: 11/13/2020

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $59.99

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Well, well, well, here we are a year later with Treyarch’s installment of the series once again after a decent hiatus. Black Ops is back on the table with an entirely new reboot just like Modern Warfare was last year, but does it make as big of an impact? Well, most people will jump straight into the campaign first which is one of four modes that flesh out Cold War’s myriad of gameplay variations.

The campaign is set during the Cold War as if the title hasn’t clued you in at all. The game is specifically set in the early ’80s as you play as a band of special operatives ordered directly by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to stop a Russian terrorist from setting off a bunch of American nukes. The story is well-paced and the characters have potential, but here’s the main problem with Cold War – the story is only a few hours long and is probably the shortest Call of Duty campaign to date. It was over way before I wanted it to be as the slow burn was a nice pace over Modern Warfare’s fast-paced action, but that game had a much longer campaign and stronger characters that were, dare I say, pretty memorable and stood out. Cold War is set up differently and takes a different approach to the campaign in an almost 80’s spy type of way and I enjoyed those brief moments. You walk about a hideout and on the evidence board is your next mission, but also two of them that require you to solve decoding puzzles which were rather fun and neat. You need to find all the evidence pieces in the campaign to solve these and they were quite challenging. Once you do, you get a short side missions, nothing special, but those puzzles are one of many things that didn’t get enough time to mature.

There are bombastic scripted events like in every Call of Duty, but the quieter more subtle moments are just as enjoyable. There’s an intense open-ended level in a KGB base in Russia that has you playing as a double agent. It’s very tense as you have to decide how to plant evidence to get access to a vault. You can do it in many ways by sneaking around restricted areas and planting things, opening things, and the various cat and mouse of everyone being on to you, but not quite knowing it’s you yet. You have to stay one step ahead and the script is well written for this. I loved this level and that was the only one like it. The final level is a repetitive mess and feels too much like previous Black Ops campaigns that made no sense, but the campaign is enjoyable albeit just way too short and underdeveloped.

When it’s all said and done you’re going to uninstall the campaign and move on to Zombies and multiplayer. Let’s get into multiplayer first. I can’t stress enough that Cold War is more arcadey than Modern Warfare. Even in the campaign, the guns don’t have the same realistic weight, quick scoping is faster, and everything feels like it’s on fast-forward. The movement is about three times as fast, there are health bars above everyone’s heads, and there are scorestreaks instead of killstreaks. It seems like chaos coming from Modern Warfare, but it’s a nice alternative to a more serious and realistic game. The UI and menu are pretty much identical to Modern Warfare with a few tweaks so you can jump right in without having to relearn where everything is. Blueprints, attachments, load-outs, and all that are still here. It just feels a bit more streamlined and maybe some fat has been shaved off. Some will like it and some will hate it.

The actual playing of the multiplayer is standard Black Ops affair. The same modes from Modern Warfare carry over like Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, etc. The maps are also just as hit or miss as Modern Warfare and take some getting used to. Not everyone will be fans of these maps as they were with Modern Warfare’s launch maps. The game is faster paced and more arcade like than Modern Warfare with enemies darting across the map at an alarming and almost too hard to target speed. Sliding is extended, shooting feels less weighty, and the overall scope of the game is just faster and lighter. This isn’t something I prefer. I like the more realistic physics and weight of Modern Warfare as it makes the game a bit more tactical and slower paced, but not necessarily easier mind you. I do like the era specific weapons like the M-16, M-79, M-60, and various other weapons that have been discontinued in today’s military practices.

Most people will probably come to Black Ops for its Zombies mode though. That’s the bread and butter of this series and it doesn’t disappoint here. I won’t delve too far into this mode, but the newest features are larger maps and a weapon rarity system similar to RPGs. You’re allowed to bring in your multiplayer loadouts the first time and I liked the larger areas with the many hidden secrets. I feel like this mode needs to broken off and expanded into its own game honestly. There is also the Dead Ops top down shooter mode which is a complete waste of time. It’s boring, repetitive, and feels half-baked. At this point Black Ops is running into the ridiculous amount of modes and heading into Mortal Kombat territory for half-baked mini-games and too many ideas at once.

With that said, Cold War isn’t as good as Modern Warfare. It doesn’t feel as polished or as well thought out and honestly feels rushed. I think another year and the game could have been better if not just as good, but as it stands, Modern Warfare is still the best game in the series to date. I love the faster-paced multiplayer, it was fun and exciting, but the maps are lackluster and left me wanting more. I also got bored of the multiplayer much faster than Modern Warfare. I honestly haven’t touched the game since the week of the game’s launch. I didn’t get that excited addictive feeling of wanting more. The campaign was actually a lot of fun and really interesting, but it felt rushed and half-finished and just wasn’t long enough. There are a lot of good ideas here that didn’t get a chance to flourish and that’s quite a shame.

2020 Game of the Year Overview

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/19/2020
Posted in: 2020, Game of the Year Awards. Leave a comment

Well here we are, and it’s been one hell of a year. Between COVID-19 lockdowns, electronic shortages, panic shopping, and many other things that happened this will be a year for the history books. It doesn’t surprise me that even my own game awards have changed drastically due to the video game landscape shifting. I’ll explain what categories have been excluded and why, what has been added, and the overall view of video games this year.

Let’s start with what’s been removed. The biggest change we saw this year was the lack of console exclusives. These are what usually drive sales of systems, especially with a new generation of hardware launching, and there was a serious lack of them. For another year Xbox One has been excluded and it will remain that way since this is the year Microsoft announced all exclusives will be on the Xbox Series X. With a lack of handhelds this year that entire category is gone most likely forever. We have seen the dawn and dusking of dedicated handhelds, but I am also excluding mobile awards this year. Over the years mobile games’ quality has declined and there are maybe only a couple a year. The microtransaction heavy shovelware is in full force this year. Even the iOS and Android reddit pages have almost jumped ship due to this. The mobile landscape is a hot mess indeed.

With all that said, that leaves the PS4, Switch, and PC and this wasn’t the best year for exclusives for any system. Not to mention PS5 and XSX launch games were mostly ports and upgrades. This is a strange year for exclusives as we are in an in between where only a few big budget ones released and then mostly smaller ones. I am also excluding a few achievement categories such as music as there weren’t enough games whose music blew me away like previous years. Fighting games are also excluded as there just wasn’t much. It was a sad year for fighting games and every single heavy hitter was also absent outside of continued DLC. Puzzle games are also out as it was a lackluster year. Mostly just small tiny budget games that didn’t make much off an impact.

The only category I added was Best Single Player game. Single player games are making a huge comeback as gamers are getting tired of online multiplayer features never evolving. I’m actually really happy about this as we saw a ton of great single player only games this year. This year was also a heavy year of botched releases. Cyberpunk 2077, Watch Dogs Legion, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Fallout 76 Wastelanders, Horizon: Zero Dawn Complete Edition, Crysis Remastered, the list goes on! This is one of the worst years for buggy releases I have ever seen and it doesn’t seem to be trending downward.

With that said this was still a great year for gaming, and hopefully after the lockdowns lift more games can be released on a timely manner. It’s been an odd year for software and hardware developers around the world.

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Atmosphere

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
Posted in: 2020, Game of the Year Awards. Leave a comment

Atmosphere in a game is very finicky and hard to get right. The game can look and sound good and feel amazing to play, but pulling you into its world and immersing you is another thing. Very few games can do this well even the best of them out there. A game’s setting needs to fully pull in the player in every way it can and that’s visuals, storytelling, characters, art, and design.

Cyberpunk 2077

Something about a dystopian cyberpunk universe that feels like Blade Runner just sits so well with me. This could have easily been screwed up and felt like a cybernetic GTA clone, but I felt like I was in the game and story thanks to the towering buildings, immersive characters and storytelling, and there’s a ton of detail in every corner. Lots of clutter objects, tons of messages to read throughout the game, advertisements, posters, and the vehicles. The game oozes with atmosphere more than any game this year.

Runner-Ups

The Last of Us Part II

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Half-Life: Alyx

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Resident Evil 3

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Star Wars: Squadrons

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2020 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Story

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
Posted in: 2020, Game of the Year Awards. Leave a comment

One of the most important parts of a game is the story. Sometimes this is the only important part of a game. It helps makes a game worth playing. Gameplay can only get you so far. This year saw some of the best told stories in years and it was hard to choose what to put here. A great story doesn’t just mean a twist ending, but it has to be interesting and well-told all the way through to the end.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk’s story is amazing in a sense that it’s characters, lore, and setting bring the main story together in a very beautiful way. There are multiple stories to tell here and they are quite memorable. It’s one thing to craft a single long story with key points, but to create stories for numerous characters and make us care about them? That is a serious achievement. Cyberpunk does this through its entire game. It’s not just one amazing thing but a multitude of factors that come together to make an amazing thing happen in this game. It’s very unique and no other game has done this in such a long time.

Runner-Ups

The Last of Us Part II

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Crusader Kings III

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Ghost of Tsushima

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Half-Life: Alyx

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2020 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Sound Design

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
Posted in: 2020, Game of the Year Awards. Leave a comment

Soundscapes are something that is heavily underlooked in games. Most concentrate on soundtracks and voice acting, but sound design can also make or break a game. You need to feel immersed and part of the experience and the right sounds matter. A game with great sound design with bring you into its universe without you even knowing. Think of a game that feels alive or bustling? A major part of that is the sound design.

Cyberpunk 2077

It’s hard with open world games to make you feel like you are part of it. There is so much sound involved in making you feel like you’re in a large city compared to a hallway in a ship. The sounds of the city are incredibly important in open-world games. You need a lot of ambience and many games don’t get it right. Cyberpunk sounds like a living breathing world and more so than most others have accomplished. More than just honking cars, people chattering, and footsteps. Cyberpunk 2077 feels alive and sounds like it too.

Runner-Ups

The Last of Us Part II

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Resident Evil 3

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Ghost of Tsushima

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Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

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2020 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Indie Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
Posted in: 2020, Game of the Year Awards. Leave a comment

Indie games are no longer the underdogs of the industry. They proudly push the boundaries of genres, gameplay, storytelling, and controversy. They lead while larger studios tend to follow suit and copy using them as guinea pigs. Indie games now give us gameplay experiences larger budget games can’t provide and blow-up financially and critically. This was an amazing year for indie games with so many I hard such a hard time deciding which go here.

Hades

Hades is the new love child of Super Giant Games whose claim to faim was Bastion and Transistor. With a similar art and combat style, Hades is oozing with Greek mythology culture and art. The game has procedurally generated dungeons, but the RPG elements are addictive and you can’t stop coming back for more. The animations are beautiful, the voice acting is great, and it just feels so polished and fun.

Runner-Ups

Deep Rock Galactic

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Spelunky 2

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Carrion

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Paradise Killer

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2020 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Voice Acting

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
Posted in: 2020, Game of the Year Awards. Leave a comment

Diversity is the key to the voice acting game. It’s not just about delivering good lines. Usually unique voice actors such as celebrities can really drive a game home as it doesn’t happen very often. Just because you have a lot of dialog or lines doesn’t make the voice acting good either. Look at The Elder Scrolls or Fallout. Tons of dialog, but all the lines are mediocre at best and sound cookie cutter.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk had some of the most diverse voice acting this year. Each actor really delivered the character home and the addition of Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand was a pleasure to listen to. Each character felt unique and individualized and what won me over was the sheer amount of them. That’s something that’s incredibly hard to pull off with this many characters and so many lines of dialog. CDPR could have just taken a shortcut like Bethesda and gotten a few actors to voice multiple characters, but they didn’t, and it paid off.

Runner-Ups

The Last of Us Part II

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Half-Life: Alyx

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Ghost of Tsushima

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Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

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2020 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Graphics, Technical

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
Posted in: 2020, Game of the Year Awards. Leave a comment

A game that looks good usually has state of the art technology driving its engine and pushes systems to their limits. The visuals should be consistent, beautiful, and groundbreaking in some way. With the launch of next-generation consoles and new graphics cards we are on the cusp of what the next set of games can look like, but we did get a glimpse this year.

The Last of Us Part II

Naughty Dog knows how to push PlayStation hardware in ways no one dares or dreamed could be possible. The Last of Us II looks amazing on the PS4 Pro with highly detailed textures, amazing lighting, fantastic animations and motion capture, and it just overall looks impressive, almost next-gen. While there were a lot of other amazing games released this year with ray-tracing and other technology they weren’t as consistent with their impressive visuals as The Last of Us II was.

Runner-Ups

Cyberpunk 2077

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Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

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Microsoft Flight Simulator

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Resident Evil 3

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2020 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Graphics, Artistic

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
Posted in: 2020, Game of the Year Awards. Leave a comment

There’s great graphics and then there’s great art. These are two completely separate things. A game can look good technically (Serious Sam 4) but be sterile and uninteresting to look at. Then there are games that are both. There weren’t’ a lot of really artful games this year, but what we did get was incredibly impressive. What makes a game uniquely artistic would be in the eye of the beholder, but generally it is a unique art style in and of itself that no other game can produce.

Cyberpunk 2077

A cyberpunk setting has been done numerous times, but never in as much as detail as Cyberpunk 2077. From the amazingly detailed cybernetic enhancements on every character to the striking vehicles, advertisements, propaganda, and object clutter, there is so much beauty to look at here. Some may say it looks too realistic, but that’s the game’s thing. A fantasy future set in a realistic tone.

Runner-Ups

Doom Eternal

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Hades

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Sackboy: A Big Adventure

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Ori and the Will of the Wisps

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