The beautifully aesthetic world of Azoria is a welcoming sight to lovers of cozy fantasy video games.

Available on Switch and PC, Fae Farm may follow your typical farming simulator genre and gameplay, but that doesn’t mean to say it doesn’t hold its own ground with an abundance of heart and a sprinkling of magic.

Azoria welcomes you in with a cozy, warm hug. The locals are eager with quests to give you and to help you along the way, never having you stop to twiddle your fingers with nothing to do. Gameplay is simple and inviting, yet a bit tedious at times too. On one hand, always having to go into menus within menus to do things can be something to get used to, especially if a Switch console isn’t your usual go to. On the other hand, moments like tools auto changing to whatever you start interacting with, e.g, stone or trees, is a handy feature to minimise unnecessary clicking to enhance the experience.

Fae Farm guides you in a gentle direction through quests, but never forces any linear expectations on you as a player. Feel like exploring Azoria yourself for a while? Go right ahead. Or perhaps you prefer to tick off quests faster than your budding farm can keep up? That works too.

Night time at Azoria quickly became one of my favourite times to explore and play the game, which is saying something when usually not a lot is happening at that time or quests may be limited. The hustle and bustle of the residents continued with no limitations to time, so I loved chatting with residents and visiting the shops as the vibrant art style filled my screen along with the perfect night ambience. It should be noted though, that like most farming sims, if it gets too late, you will auto-spawn back home in bed to start a new day. I didn’t mind this too much though, as loot doesn’t get lost, so sometimes it felt like a win-win situation if I was eager to drop off loot into storage anyway.

Building character relationships was just as important as completing quests and building my homestead. With guidance at how to shape these relationships, or not, it wasn’t long before Azoria started to feel shaped to my imagination.

Fae Farm can be played on your own, online or locally with up to four players. Before the game’s release, excitement hit me at the possibility of being able to play another local co-op game with my partner, as local co-op games can be few and far between. After playing through the first chapter, which can be a bit of a task as your fellow player sits patiently eager to play too, I was disappointed to discover that local co-op only existed if the person wanting to join had their own Switch.

Solo play was in this household then.

Among an abundance of farming sim games, you have to stick out from the crowd to gather new players, and not just rely on fans of cozy games or farming sims, though Fae Farm was obviously heavily curated towards them, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Personally, I haven’t played a lot of farming sims because they all feel the same to me, and I can get bored by the repetitive nature. Like I said, this doesn’t mean to say I don’t play them. The gameplay is the same, the quests are the same, but maybe that’s the catch. The familiarity to know what to expect provides comfort to many, and I can respect that.

In terms of performance issues, I did find my game lagging sometimes, which was a tad frustrating, even at the beginning of the game. Loading times were on the slow end too, which, similar to performance issues, I thought would have happened much further down the lines when the game bulked up its content, as opposed to in the beginning.

Fans of farming sims certainly won’t run out of options, especially on the Switch and PC, but that doesn’t mean to say Fae Farm doesn’t sprinkle its own magic into the group. That spark of fantasy magic brings life to Azoria in ways some farming sims don’t, and new players will no doubt find themselves spending hours paving their way across the magical land and building homesteads to their liking.

The post Fae Farm (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

MOZA Racing never slows down and now introduces the new R3 Bundle, created in collaboration with Microsoft to be the first officially licensed racing simulator for Xbox.

The bundle includes the R3 DD base, an ES steering wheel and the SR-P Lite pedal set, the ideal combination to enter the world of sim racing without compromising quality. Compatible with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC and all racing games, the bundle is plug-and-play for instant excitement.

True precision, beneath the R3’s sleek exterior lies a powerhouse of precision – a 3.9 Nm motor that redefines direct-drive supremacy. Surpassing traditional 3 Nm bases, the R3’s motor offers consistent, unadulterated force feedback that breathes life into every race.

With adaptability at its core from desktop to fully dedicated rigs the R3’s compact design can be easily adapted to fit any scenario regardless of available space all the while maintaining exquisite craftsmanship which defines the R3’s essence. Aerospace-grade aluminium alloy housing, MOZA Quick Release, aluminium wheel rim, and high-strength steel converge to set a new benchmark for entry-level racing hardware. MOZA Racing’s commitment to quality ensures that every race is a testament to our excellence.

Step onto the track of your choice with the R3 Bundle. Seamlessly compatible with an array of mainstream simulation racing games, including Forza Horizon, Project CARS, F1, DiRT Rally, and Assetto Corsa series, the R3 lets you dive into your favourite virtual racing world.

Included in the R3 bundle is the MOZA R3 DD Wheelbase, The 3.9Nm Direct Drive Wheelbase breathes vitality into the realm of virtual racing, offering the optimal in detailed force feedback ensuring outstanding and consistent performance. Robust and compact this wheelbase grants sim racers an incredible immersion whilst empowering them with high-precision hardware built with top-quality materials.

The MOZA ES wheel has been crafted with durable ISF grips and an aluminum alloy framework, it’s a testament to durability and beauty. An RGB sequential shifter light indicator adds dynamism, while 22 programmable buttons keep you in complete control.

The MOZA SR-P Lite pedals complete the R3 Bundle, A masterpiece of engineering precision. Constructed from high-strength steel and equipped with an ultra-sensitive angle sensor, these pedals respond to every input of your footwork. Tailor your setup for comfort and synergy then connect directly to your PC or Xbox for a seamless racing experience.

And finally a necessary table clamp so you can race in limited space, using the table clamp to mount the MOZA R3 wheelbase to a table or desk.

Complementing the excitement surrounding the R3 bundle, MOZA Racing also unveil an array of long-awaited products at Gamescom 2023. Among the stars of the showcase are a GT wheel, a 400mm truck wheel, and a state-of-the-art sequential shifter. These remarkable and highly anticipated additions will officially hit the market in early 2024, marking the beginning of a groundbreaking year for MOZA Racing and sim racing enthusiasts worldwide.

The Moza Racing R3 Bundle for Xbox and PC is planned for a Q4 2023 launch at selected retailers.

The post MOZA RACING ENTERS THE CONSOLE WORLD appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Survival space simulation The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation has set a Steam early access release date.

The debut game from French indie Supercube blends simulation, survival, and base building into an atmospheric space sim experience.

In command of the three-surviving crew of Io-1, players will have to overcome the realities of surviving in an alien environment. Low gravity, volcanos, magnetic storms, and other dangers will put constant pressure on the ability to keep your crew alive. Exploration, crafting, science, and resource management will be crucial to survival.

Players can use their resources to build their base with various facilities. Upgrading the base will provide an array of services from crafting equipment to improved engineering and healthcare. The game’s early access will see regular updates and new content drops that will expand on game systems and strategic depth.

The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation is coming to Steam Early Access on January 20th, 2023.

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The latest iteration in Polyphony Digital’s seminal road racing simulator is upon us. Anticipation for Gran Turismo 7 has been huge.

Has the weight been worth it? We find out.

Back in 1997, the release of the first Gran Turismo was a revelation. Almost photo-real visuals (for the original PlayStation era) and realistic driving physics that did away with arcade racing was a shock in more than one way.

Breathtaking visuals and familiar road cars as well as supercars racing on exciting circuits both real and imaginary was one thing. But having to unlearn the arcade racing mechanics of the likes of Ridge Racer and its sequels was tough. The game’s insistence on making me and my mates pass driving tests to proceed resulted in more than one PlayStation controller hitting the wall.

Twenty-five years later and Gran Turismo is now the racing franchise to which all serious racing games are compared. The franchise dominates esports racing in hosting the first-ever FIA-certified video game racing championship tournament back in 2018.

Gran Turismo 7 starts with an introduction that sums up the design aspirations of the game. The montage of video and images shows the history of racing, as well as other notable historic moments over the last 100 years, right up to the modern-day where it switches to GT7 race footage.

As with previous GT games, Gran Turismo 7 is a celebration of cars and racing.

The title screen offers players two game options, World map and Music Rally, with Music Rally available as soon as the game has partially installed. There are also links to the online manual and the tuning guide, Beyond the Apex.

It’s Music Rally that will likely be most players’ first introduction to Gran Turismo 7 and a reminder that this is a Japanese game with all the eccentricities that go with it.

Music Rally is a checkpoint race that has the player trying to reach the maximum mileage, whilst a counter depletes in time with the beats of the selected soundtrack. There are a few tracks to choose from, but my favourite is Hooked on Classics by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, there’s nothing better than racing at breakneck speed to the William Tell Overture.

World Map is the actual Gran Turismo 7 game itself.

Here you can start your racing and car collecting career. The game does a good job of explaining itself, almost too good a job if you are already familiar with GT. The menu system and UI can appear overwhelming at first, but it slowly unlocks the various destinations on the map giving players a structured introduction to the game.

One of your first stops is the Café, which serves as a sort of quest giver, to use RPG parlance. The owner of the Café supplies players with menus listing missions, such as cars that need to be won via races, in order to proceed.

Finishing the races, or performing the task, as per the conditions of the menu wins the car. Completing the menus unlocks more circuits, races, and game features. Players are then treated to some optional information about the cars that have been obtained.

The circuits are a mixture of real-life and fictional.

Long-time fans will recognise Trial Mountain and High Speed Ring amongst the likes of Suzuka, Daytona, and Goodwood.

In total there are over 90 track variations in the game. Add in variable weather, including water ponding, and different times of the day and you have a seemingly endless combination of races.

As well as the main race events, players can select an arcade race, circuit experience, time trial, drift trial, or custom race for each of the unlocked circuits. These are designed to allow players to get to grips with the different circuit configurations.

Arcade races allow players to select the track variant, time of day / weather, and opponent’s difficulty. The circuit experience breaks the circuit down into sectors with players having to negotiate them within a time limit and without leaving the track.

Drift trials have players sliding around corners using the handbrake, again, without leaving the track. The time trials pit players against themselves trying to get the best lap time. Finally, custom races allow players to customise every aspect of the race including time of day, and opponents.

As players progress, new activities become available to players via new locations on the world map. As well as the racing, there are car showrooms for new, used, and legendary cars, the tuning shop, and the GT Auto accessories shop.

The cars are the stars within the game featuring everything from the humble Mazda Demio all the way up to crazy supercars and concept vehicles. There are over 400 cars, all meticulously modelled with authentic-looking interiors.

The race difficulties can be adjusted, but you can usually tune your way out of a loss. Adding better brakes, tyres and a more refined engine will usually help you along.

You can always grind for money by retrying previous races or some of the other events on offer to get extra cash for components.

According to the developer, there are 60 performance parts for each car. Adjusting ride height, dampers, toe-angle, negative camber, and tyres. You can turn your car into a finely tuned devil of the raceway or a dangerous automotive disaster. Thankfully the GT online tuning guide, Beyond the Apex is packed with all you need to know to become a car tuning wizard.

As with previous Gran Turismo games, to advance, players need to pass licence tests.

At the Licence Centre players can attain their National B, National A, International B, International A, and Super Licence. These are primarily designed to teach players proper racing skills such as cornering, passing, and the racing line. Each licence involves completing a series of drills followed by the actual test itself. I’ve never been a fan of this method of gatekeeping, but to be honest, for novices, it does teach good habits.

Vehicle handling in Gran Turismo 7 reflects that of real car handling physics.

This actually makes the game easier to play with something like the Thrustmaster T300RS (my racing wheel of choice) rather than a gamepad, although the PlayStation 5’s DualSense is a good second (more on that later). The game replicates the roll of the chassis when cornering, so both throttle and braking need to be applied with caution.

You can feel the traction increase as you brake on the approaches to corners and the stability increase as you accurate out of them. Taking a corner smoothly and at speed is immensely rewarding once you get the hang of it.

The game requires a lot more discipline and self-control than most over games, even, I’d arguably say the Xbox’s mainline Forza Games.

If you think GT7 is going to let you drift around the circuits with ease, you are mistaken. Put in the time and effort, though, following the advice in the game and yes, you will be drifting around corners and handling a supercar like a champion.

The Missions area offers a decent distraction for the main races and an opportunity to practice cornering and race discipline. The mission allows players to complete overtaking challenges and races.

Each screen has hints, tips, and anecdotes from current Gran Turismo esports racers. These optional little snippets offer additional pointers that may be useful if you are unfamiliar with circuits or features.

Whilst playing through the campaign game, with Luca, the Café owner, unlocking features cars and circuits as you fill his menus, you begin to realise that what you are playing is a cleverly disguised tutorial.

The game is designed to ready players for online competition.

Gran Turismo has always taken its multiplayer very seriously.

With FIA certified Gran Turismo championships held all over the world the game is a gateway to the world of professional esports motor racing, some going on to become real racing car drivers.

The Sport area on the Gran Turismo 7 world map invites players to take part in official races and championships. These races require sportsman-like driving and a well-tuned car that meets the event’s requirements. There is also a lobby-based multiplayer mode.

Players wanting to ease themselves into competitive races against a real-life opponent may prefer the 2-player split-screen, which is nice to see and invites a bit of couch multiplayer.

In keeping with the franchise’s tradition, Gran Turismo 7 is about more than just racing. The polished package invites players to really get to know their cars, to tune them, clean them and enjoy looking at them.

Whilst other racing games have failed to resist injecting some Fast and Furious-style awesome into their experience, Gran Turismo 7 maintains a style of its own.

An almost classical approach to the appreciation of cars and motorsport. The game’s presentation has a refined elegance to it that complements the attention-to-detail that may not be immediately apparent but sets it apart from its competitors and imitators.

Polyphony’s love of cars doesn’t get more apparent than the Scapes area.

The unique car photography mode from Gran Turismo Sport returns looking better than ever. There are hundreds of locations in which to position your car collection, pose them and photograph them. The professional photography tools available allow players to create hyper-realistic photographs. All your efforts, along with saved replays are stored in the Showcase area.

As your garage fills, the cars can be viewed via “Video Scapes”, animated showcases of owned vehicles against iconic backdrops. You can also read up on cars in your collection, all from the Garage area of the world map.

If you fancy a rest from the track, you can spend hours pouring over the videos and articles included in the game. These detail the history and background of the world’s most iconic car marques.

Tied into the general polish of the game are the soundtrack and audio.

The musical accompaniment to your races and replay is top class from classical to rock, with the video cut to the beat of the music. The GT7 soundtrack is very much intended to be part of the experience.

I was wondering how Gran Turismo 7 would stack up against the still very awesome 2017 Gran Turismo Sport, which looks stunning on PlayStation 5. GT Sport had a rocky start due to the lack of a decent single-player campaign, but Polyphony sorted that out making the game not only an incredible FIA certified esports racer but also a bloody good single-player offering. Post-launch updates have given the game over 320 cars and 80-odd tracks.

Gran Turismo Sport still holds up well due to the game’s general quality and the continuous support that it has had post-launch. It is, however, easy to see that Gran Turismo 7 has more fidelity than Gran Turismo Sport running on a PlayStation 5.

The cars and circuits in Gran Turismo 7 have that little bit of extra fidelity over its predecessor.

There seem to have been some subtle tweaks to the lighting, with circuits like Willow Springs looking photo-real in the setting sun. All this is running at a blistering frame rate in 4K HDR.

The big additional features of the PlayStation 5 version of Gran Turismo 7 are the quick loading times, ray-tracing, and haptic feedback via the DualSense controllers.

There’s real resistance in the brake and accelerator triggers. You can also feel every bump in the road. Unfortunately, ray tracing is only enabled during replays and some of the demo animations which is pretty disappointing, really. Ray-tracing was supposed to be the big deal for this generation of consoles, but both the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S seem to have difficulties.

The fast loading times, though, are most definitely a bonus, allowing you to get right into the races ASAP.

To play the game, you need an Internet connection and a PlayStation Plus membership.

Gran Turismo 7 is very much an “always online” game. You can play a bit of the arcade side of the game without an Internet connection, but you are wasting your money. I can’t see anyone finding the Internet connection an issue these days, but the requirement for PlayStation Plus membership may put some potential players off.

The game can be played on PlayStation 4, but it is really designed to take advantage of the new hardware. Gran Turismo Sport players will be pleased to know that mid-February (2022) will see stats and data from the GT Sport servers migrating over to the GT7 servers.

All in all, Gran Turismo 7 is a breathtaking addition to the PlayStation 5 catalogue. The game continues in the unique style that is a hallmark of the series. Gran Turismo 7 is an instant classic that shuns the trends of modern racing games to deliver a pure, polished, if sometimes eccentric, gameplay experience.

Gran Turismo 7 is out now for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

The post Gran Turismo 7 (PlayStation 5) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Age of Empires IV continues the much-lauded lineage of Microsoft’s veteran real-time strategy games.

Age of Empires II holds a big place in my heart as one of the first PC games that really captured my imagination in a big way.

As great as the likes of its contemporaries, Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena were, I found Age of Empires II to be a game that I couldn’t put down, and I played it for years.

Age of Empires III didn’t hit it off with me in quite the same way. It looked better but messed too much with the carefully honed formula of the second instalment (refined to perfection from the original). There’s been nothing like Age of Empires since.

The remastered / HD versions of the original games have been the closest thing to a new instalment. With the closure of the original Age of Empires developer, Ensemble Studios, in 2009 it looked like the end of the road for Microsoft’s groundbreaking real-time strategy franchise.

Age of Empires IV seems to have recaptured the magic of Age of Empires II. The developer, Relic Entertainment, is no stranger to the RTS genre with acclaimed games like Homeworld and Company of Heroes.

Starting Age of Empires IV up over twenty years since I first played Age of Empires II, it was clear how PC gaming has come a long way over the last two decades. My 1024×768 30Hz CRT monitor is now a 4K HDR 144Hz panel. Age of Empires IV, similarly, is a far cry from the pixelated visuals of games of old, or even their remastered counterparts.

The game throws players into an optional tutorial. This serves as a fun introduction to the game and familiarizes players with the game mechanics. It’s much more fun than just confronting you with a list of menu options.

The high-class presentation is immediately apparent. The camera is the same isometric view of the goings-on. The camera can be zoomed in and rotated.

Practically speaking, though, I found rotating the camera to be disorientating and had little need for the zoom, apart from to marvel at the detail of the units and buildings.

The core gameplay will be very familiar with veterans of the series. As with its predecessors, Age of Empires IV involves assigning villagers to collect resources (food, wood, stone and gold) to build a settlement. New buildings unlock new traits and units.

The settlement needs defenses, which can be in the form of fortifications and, more importantly, military units.

The population cap is determined by the number of houses for people to live in. More houses, more people. Houses need wood and people need food. Building mills, lumber camps and mines speed up resource gathering, as the villagers don’t need to walk as far. There are a range of support buildings, each with technology upgrades to make units more efficient and/or more powerful.

As fun as it is farming and collecting wood, Age of Empires IV is about protecting what’s yours and keeping your opponents at bay. You need to choose your battles, but sometimes conflict is inevitable.

Spearmen, men-at-arms, cavalry, archers and even galleons are a few of the military units that can be produced from barracks, ports and other buildings. Building an army needs resources, keeping the villagers busy.

The construction of fortifications protects your settlements providing the defenses needed to withstand assaults from enemy siege equipment. Contracting a keep creates an almost impenetrable central defensive building that can also produce military units.

On the offensive side, the various factions offer unique and exciting forces. I loved the power of the trebuchet and its ability to lay waste to the enemy from a very safe distance. Similarly, the use of elephants as a mounted unit looks amazing on the battlefield.

As with previous games in the series, players can update their civilization through ages. Obtaining a certain level of resources enables the advancement of an age, via the construction of a special building. Each new age unlocks new technologies, accessible via units and buildings.

The game has four historic campaigns: The Normans, The Hundred Years War, The Mongol Empire and The Rise of Moscow. Each campaign tells a historically accurate story with the player interacting via chapters featuring the scenarios and battles that actually happened.

My personal favourite is the Norman Invasion, the Battle of Hastings in 1066 being taught to me in school, as it happened not far from where I grew up. But each campaign is well presented offering an immersive history lesson.

Campaign missions include introductory videos filmed at the real-world location of the famous battles with animated troops superimposed. You get to see William the Conqueror’s army take on King Harold’s men overlaid against the East Sussex landscape.

There are also interesting unlockable documentary-style videos showing things like how chainmail was made, how crossbows work, falconry and even a real-life trebuchet in action.

The production quality of these videos is as high as you’d expect from, the BBC or National Geographic. Overall, the campaign game feels like an entertaining history lesson, the missions are even narrated in a documentary style.

As with its predecessors, I found the most fun to be had is via the skirmish mode. Here players can choose from several AI scenarios or set up their own unique sandbox. The map types, from open land to archipelagos, offer unlimited replay value as you can choose map size, the number of enemies or allies, and the various factions.

Players can choose from the English, Chinese, French, Holy Roman Empire, Mongols, Rus, Delhi Sultanate and Abbasid Dynasty. Each faction has unique units, buildings, and technology trees.

As well as the campaigns and skirmishes, the Art of War is a series of training challenges that introduced players to the game’s various mechanics. By no means essential, these timed exercises are a lot of fun and teach both old hands and new the intricacies of Age of Empires IV’s very deep gameplay.

Multiplayer gameplay is very similar to the skirmish mode, but with the option of both players vs. players and co-op players vs. AI. Matches can be customised for unique multiplayer confrontations or you can join someone else’s match from the in-game lobby. You can also observe other multiplayer matches.

The whole game is impeccably put together.From the menus to the actual gameplay, Age of Empire IV looks amazing. The game has a huge depth to it. The campaigns alone have hours of gameplay and a skirmish can easily last over two hours. There’s a phenomenal amount of replay value. With the game being available as part of the PC Game Pass subscription, it adds even more value to the service.

Age of Empires IV is a worthy addition to the legendary genre-defining real-time strategy series. It refines the gameplay and updates the visuals without taking away any of the fun.

The post Age of Empires IV (PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Get your plane tickets ready as Playground Games invites players to another Horizon Festival with Forza Horizon 5. ¡Viva México!

From the moment the game loads my heart was in my mouth, with me controlling exotic cars that had, just moments before, been launched from the back of a cargo plane (in flight). Forza Horizon 5 puts its cards on the table straight for the start.

Everything about the game is designed to be over-the-top.

The introductory race alone, though the Mexican landscape, racing against two motorcycles, a plane, and a guy in a wingsuit was exhilarating and had me smiling ear-to-ear.

The Forza Horizon games have always felt like the antithesis of the dry, overly-serious (but still excellent), Forza Motorsport games. The games’ missing campaign, as it were, and Forza Horizon 5 is no exception.

Back in 2013, Playground Games took Turn 10 Studio’s incredible Forza Motorsports game engine, with its sublime car physics, and loosened a few nuts to create, in the original Forza Horizon, an arcade racing game like no other.

An open-world extravaganza of cars, set against the fictional Horizon Festival. Part burning man, part Cannonball Run, the Horizon Festival is the perfect setting to showcase a crazy racing competition on-road and off.

The first Horizon Festival took us to the US state of Colorado introducing us to a vast open-world ready to explore and race across.

For the next festival, we were off to the French and Italian Riviera, where the world opened up even more with fences now smashable for some true “off-roading”. Australia was up next before 2018’s Forza Horizon 4 took us to the United Kingdom.

Forza Horizon 5 takes us to Mexico, giving us a huge map to race across. As before, it’s a microcosm of the diverse country’s biomes. From desert to rainforest, and even an active volcano, The game certainly delivers an exciting and new environment.

If you’ve played any of the other Forza Horizon games, you know exactly what to expect. Playground Games have found the perfect formula for their games and don’t seem keen to change it. And I don’t blame them.

As with the previous games, players are participants in a massive festival of racing. From old classics to high-tech modern racing cars, there are over 500 vehicles in the game at launch. These can be won or purchased at the Horizon Festival hub.

Unlike many similar extreme sports games, Forza Horizon 5 never feels the need to force the “awesome” to be down with the kids. The game design and presentation are exciting and immersive without the need to be “zany”. Some of the radio presenters can be a bit grating, but that’s also true in real life, though.

The cars handle perfectly, but probably not accurately.

The Horizon Festival gives you, its star driver, a free pass when it comes to the laws of physics and the limits of vehicular structural endurance. This is as much down to the realistic physics simulation of Forza developer, Turn 10’s game engine as it is Playground’s arcade tweaks. It doesn’t take much to get to grips with the cars as you drift around turns seemingly with ease.

Whilst Forza Horizon 5 is based on a serious vehicle simulation, the emphasis is on fun and exciting racing across a vast open world. As with all the Forza Horizon games since the second one, you can drive anywhere, smashing through fences stone walls, bushes, and general detritus.

The game world is breathtakingly realised and open from the start to explore. The reproduction of Mexico’s landscape looks amazing. The combination of dusty roads and jungle makes it look very similar to Forza Horizon 3’s Australia. The difference, though is that this map seems a lot bigger and a lot higher.

I took a car for a run, aiming it at some mountains in the distance (the type that is usually just a backdrop to the actual environment), straight-lining it through fields and fences.

I reached the mountains, crossed over the top mountains, and found a gorge and more rolling hills on the other side. Not only is it a huge game world, but it also doesn’t hide the fact from the players, giving them beautiful vistas that go for miles.

But the cars are the stars. Expertly modelled from their real-life counterparts, the game allows players to get up close and personal, checking them out in the Forzavista virtual showroom. Ever wanted to see what it looks like climbing into an Aston Martin DB5?

Well, you can do just that.

Each car feels different to drive. Car performance can be improved and customised by installing new parts. Increasing horsepower, braking, and handling, as well as gearing and weight reductions, can give you the edge over other cars.

New cars can be unlocked or purchased in-game. Players of other Forza games will be awarded free cars for their loyalty. I got six cars for playing the previous Forza Horizon games as well as Forza Motorsport 6 and 7.

The game is based around a series of racing events and championships that become available as players progress. The events around the main stage hub are expanded by opening new venues throughout Mexico.

Each of these venues has a specialisation that adds road racing, dirt racing, PR stunts, street racing, and my personal favourite, cross-country events, to the map. To unlock these hubs, you need accolade points earned from winning races.

The races are fast and (for want of a better phrase) furious. Cars jostle for their positions with little regard for each other. Personally, I don’t think that there’s any other game that offers the same motor-racing thrill. The game can be played via a third-person chase-cam, interior camera (with or without steering wheel), bonnet cam, or clean bumper view (my personal preference).

Forza Horizon 5 is free-flowing with activities and rewards. Your car collection increases quickly as the game progresses, similarly, the never-ending flow of cash allows the purchase of upgrades and outfits for your in-game avatar.

In a very short while I found myself absolutely spoilt for choice as to which event to partake in and races opened up, dotted about the entire map. As well as races there are barn finds to locate, bonus signs to smash, speed traps, and other activities littering the landscape.

The game is set up with arcade settings by default.

But these can be adjusted for an additional challenge. The racing line can be switched off, or set to indicate braking only.

Vehicle damage, which is cosmetic only by default can be adjusted to affect performance. The steering can be switched to simulation, more in line with that of the Forza Motorsport game. The game also caters for manual gearing, with or without a clutch. Most people will play the game using a controller, but on PC it also supports the popular racing wheel setups.

This versatility, something that I’ve overlooked in the past, almost turns the game from an arcade racer into a racing simulator.

Whilst reviewing the game on PC via Steam I had issues connecting to the online element of the game.

Even on Steam, it seems that you need to log into a Microsoft / Xbox account to play the game.

It was this that seemed to be causing problems, requiring me to type my password every time the game started. Fortunately, I was able to get hold of an Xbox/Windows Store version of the game, which worked with no problems- hence the delay on this review.

Just like its predecessors Forza Horizon 5 integrates the online component virtually seamlessly into the experience. Xbox friends have “Drivatars” generated for them.

These are AI models of their driving style and populate the game world. You may find yourself racing against some familiar drivers even in single-player. If you want to go head-to-head with real people, online races can be accessed at the click of a button.

As introduced in Forza Horizons 4’s UK, seasons also feature in the game, though I doubt these will be as dramatic as snowy winters in the Scottish Highlands.

Early in the game, I did have to race through an impressive dust storm. There were also some earth tremors whilst driving up the volcano. So, I imagine drivers will have to face some environmental effects during the game. It would seem from the menu that summer is the wet season and spring is the hot season, beyond that we’ll just have to wait and see.

Each season lasts a week in real-time comes with seasonal challenges and events.

The game’s visuals have been upgraded from its predecessors, looking even better for this outing. This is not something to be taken lightly, considering just how incredible the previous games look. Even now the first Forza Horizon from 2012 still looks pretty amazing.

Forza Horizon 5 pulls out all the stops to deliver next-gen visuals that are designed for Xbox Series X. I reviewed the game on a PC powered by an Intel i9 10900K with an Nvidia RTX 3090 GPU. This enabled me to crank the visuals up to Extreme and run the game in 4K with HDR, getting a framerate of around 75 frames per second (this is at the native resolution with no downscaling tricks). This is a drop compared to that of For a Horizon 4, where I was getting 115 FPS. This drop in performance is likely due to the game’s impressive draw distance and general graphical makeover.

I did notice the framerate take a small dive a few times in the jungle areas, still way above 60 FPS, though. Testing the game with variable resolution resolved this, but personally, the drop in visual quality wasn’t worth the performance gains.

Disappointingly, ray-tracing on PC and Xbox Series X is not utilised in the actual game, just the Forzavista showroom. But, the game engine does such a good job of faking ray-tracing, that you’d never know it didn’t utilise it.

The reflections on the cars’ bodywork are amazing, as are the reflections in puddles.

Naturally, the game runs really well on the Xbox Series X.

The game visuals can be set for quality or performance.

I also got to test the game on an Xbox One X, running at 1080p. Even on the lower spec machine, the game runs faultlessly, still looking amazing. Running the game on an OG Xbox One presented a noticeable drop in resolution, but it still looked great and ran smoothly.

The Windows Store version of the game grants access to both the Xbox and PC version of the game, allowing progress to be shared between the two platforms. Whilst I’m no fan of the Windows Store, this alone makes it probably the best way to buy the game for PC users, just in case they ever need to play on an Xbox.

With the standard version of the game being free for Game Pass subscribers on release, Forza Horizon 5 is yet another reason to join Microsoft’s game subscription service.

The game is available in a few tiers.

The Forza Horizon 5 Standard Edition is exactly that, with just the game. The Deluxe Edition includes the Forza Horizon 5 Car Pass as well as the game, giving access to additional car packs as they become available. The Premium Edition is as the Deluxe Edition but with the two upcoming expansions, the Forza Horizon 5 Welcome Pack and VIP membership, which grants extra bonuses, emotes, and a free player house.

Forza Horizon 5 is more of the same, which is fine.

The presentation is slightly more refined, but still has same the superb gameplay that sets the series above its peers.

The new location is a perfect choice and the festival setting is both uplifting and a bit crazy. The game has a wonderful collection of cars that it freely gifts to players. Not only is the breakneck driving absolutely breathtaking, but so are the visuals.

One of the best games of the year, without a doubt.

The post Forza Horizon 5 (PC / Xbox Series X) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

After selling over two million copies worldwide on PC and console, Pathea Games and Pixmain today announced the hit game, My Time at Portia, is coming to mobile.

Fans of the original will now be able to explore and craft their way through the town of Portia in a seamless mobile experience for iOS and Android devices.

My Time at Portia became a blockbuster title through its PC launch in 2019. Receiving praises from players and reviewers globally, the Town of Portia has since become the top destination for farming and crafting.

Once stepping upon the land of Portia, one will be tasked with restoring a neglected workshop and fulfilling the destiny of becoming the number one builder in town.

Besides setting up shop and fulfilling workshop commissions, one will also experience other aspects of farm life such as exploring beautiful landscapes and ruins, taking down monsters through combat, and charming one’s way through new friendships that could turn into more.

All the ingredients that made the success of the original release and what players came to love will be present in the mobile launch! Portia’s post-apocalyptic farming and town life sceneries, 3D crafting and farming, relationship systems will all become available on mobile.

The mobile version benefits from a few necessary and welcome upgrades, such as full touchscreen, UI redesign and new manual and auto-save functions to ensure a smooth portable gaming experience.

My Time at Portia mobile will be released on iOS and Android this winter.

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Icons for many decades, G.I. JOE and the villainous forces of Cobra are making their way into World of Tanks to do battle!

From today, tankers will be able to get their hands on two extra special 3D styles: one for the TS-5 (G.I. JOE Team) and one for the T-54 first prototype (Cobra). Alongside these unique 3D styles, players will also get legendary decals featuring the G.I. JOE M.O.B.A.T. and the Cobra H.I.S.S., both iconic to kids around the world.

But there’s more.

Players will be able to take on a special set of missions to earn unique emblems and inscriptions, as well as Personal Reserves. For pledging allegiance to the good guys, tankers will get the famous G.I. JOE logo as an inscription for their vehicles, whereas those who side with the evil forces will get Cobra emblems. These missions will run from today until March 26th, 2021.

Additionally, starting March 15th, 2021, a new Battle Pass season will be starting in World of Tanks. The fourth season will run until June 16th, 2021 and features some key differences when compared to previous iterations. Season 4 will be made up of 3 chapters, each with 50 stages, and the main reward of each chapter will be a collectable 3D style for the Object 705A, the T110E3 and the 121 medium tank, respectively.

Also, unlike previous seasons, tankers will be able to earn Battle Pass points in Random Battles, Ranked Battles and Steel Hunter, as well as through Daily Missions. There’s plenty more to be discovered, but World of Tanks is keeping some secrets up their sleeves for now.

At the same time, Steel Hunter 2021 will also be kicking off, running until March 22nd, 2021.

For the first time, Steel Hunter won’t have its own progression. Instead, players will receive Battle Pass points, which will be based on a tanker’s battle results and for completing battle missions within Steel Hunter. Tankers will be able to see just how many points they reaped in the Battle Results screen.

World of Tanks is the first team-based, massively multiplayer online action game dedicated to armoured warfare. Throw yourself into the epic tank battles of World War II with gamers all over the world. Your arsenal includes over 600 armoured vehicles from 11 nations, carefully detailed with historical accuracy.

Everyone that works on STG is a volunteer. If you like the site and it’s contents please think about donating. Even a small amount helps keep the servers running.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator is Microsoft’s longest running franchise with a history of 38 years, and the team are proud to announce that the latest entry is the fastest to grow to over 2 million pilots.

This was possible thanks to the incredible community of fans, real-world pilots, flight enthusiasts, and virtual travellers who have embraced the new simulation since its arrival on August 18th, 2020 and made it the biggest game launch in Xbox Game Pass for PC history.

The community have piloted more than 50 million flights and have logged more than 3.5 billion miles flown to date – the equivalent of flying 19 times roundtrip from the Earth to the Sun, or around the world over 400 thousand times.

Microsoft are so energized by the community of creators who have already embraced their SDK and developed over 500 airports, aircraft, and other add-ons in the short few months since launch. The quality of work, knowledge and passion on display from creators is an inspiration to the team every day.

Winning “Best Sim / Strategy 2020” at The Game Awards a last week, the team is extremely proud that they have been able to follow the storied history of previous Microsoft Flight Simulator titles that received such accolades, and feel humbled to be selected from the amazing group of games that were nominated for this award. The evening was perfectly rounded out as the team announced that Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming to Xbox Series X|S in Summer of 2021.

As a thank you to all of you – die-hard simmers and newcomers to flight simulation alike – Microsoft are pleased to announce that they are preparing a few surprises alongside the VR update launching on December 22nd, 2020. Everyone will receive a unique Microsoft Flight Simulator themed livery for the entire launch plane fleet and simmers will be able to fly with the same cute dog-themed liveries that Rufus and Sam flew in their Pitts Special. Finally, given the time of year, the update will add real-time snow and true-to-life ice coverage to the entire planet.

As the team have said time and time again, the launch in 2020 was only the beginning of their journey with Microsoft Flight Simulator. They are excited to carry this momentum into 2021 – where the game will launch on Xbox Series X|S in the summer, and already are planning 3 large updates to the simulation, and they will update the world 4-5 times with additional World Updates (as well as a few other surprises they have planned).

From the Microsoft team: “Thank you very much for all your support and see you in the skies! Happy Holidays from the Microsoft Flight Simulator team. Let it snow!”.

Everyone that works on STG is a volunteer. If you like the site and its contents please think about donating. Even a small amount helps keep the servers running.

The post Microsoft Flight Simulator is Fastest Growing Entry in the Series appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

For a while, I was seriously concerned about Star Wars games. The exclusive arrangement between Disney and EA seemed to have little to show for it.

Last year’s excellent Jedi: Fallen Order, however, made me reconsider, and now with the excellent Star Wars Squadrons I am excited to see where EA’s studios can take Star Wars next.

Star Wars Squadrons is a first-person ship-based combat fighter, in the vein of the old X Wing vs TIE Fighter PC titles of yore featuring both a story campaign and online multiplayer. Set between the explosion of the Second Death Star at the Battle of Endor and Episode VII: A Force Awakens, it follows a small team of elite fighters from both the New Republic (nee Rebel Alliance) and the crumbling Empire. You take on the role of a rookie in both teams, working to either strengthen the nascent new order or trying to stamp the weakened authority of the Empire back onto the galaxy.

These adventures take you across the galaxy in a range of traditional Star Wars craft. On the Rebel’s side there’s the old familiar X-Wing, A-Wing, Y Wing and U-Wing. For the Empire you take control of a TIE Fighter, Reaper, Interceptor and Bomber at various parts along the story.

And to the developer Motive’s credit, each feels like a distinct ship to pilot and fight with. The X-Wing is the Mario of the lot – versatile, stable and predictable. The TIE Fighter is fast, fragile but with exceptional combat capabilities. And support ships are crucial (especially for the Empire with their shield-less fighters), restocking you with crucial torpedoes, bombs and more. You know when you’re in each ship, not only from the excellent modelling work done for each ship’s cockpit, but the familiar sounds ripped straight out of the movies and the way that they feel to turn, bank, pitch and yaw. Growing up with Star Wars, each ship feels exactly how you imagine they would, and I was able to find my place piloting each of them with relative ease.

In non-Xbox versions of the game you have the chance to play Squadrons entirely in VR. Unfortunately the Xbox version doesn’t support this functionality, so I wasn’t able to try it out. But, seeing as the whole game seemingly grew out of the special VR mission for the original PS4 Star Wars Battlefront, I can imagine this is a fantastic way to experience the game.

That’s not to say the 2D experience is bad on the Xbox, far from it. Especially on the Xbox One X, Star Wars Squadrons is beautiful, abounding in dazzling space scenery. Some missions have you flying through and around asteroids and discarded, exploded ships. These were the most impressive scenes, with those revolving around taking out a larger ship (such as a Star Destroyer) set in the middle of empty space and less interesting overall. And thankfully Star Wars Squadrons runs at 60FPS on all machines – even the original Xbox One (albeit mostly at a somewhat blurry 720p). This is the right call for this sort of game, and it makes me want to play the game again on my PC at 120FPS on an ultrawide monitor. The Xbox One is also meant to support flight sticks, though my Logitech Xtreme 3D Pro didn’t seem like it would properly connect when I tried it.

The story is less impressive overall from a narrative standpoint, though that’s not to say there aren’t interesting missions within that story. In fact, I often found the mission design well-considered, with elements that show a deep understanding of Star Wars ship combat. It was rare that missions felt simply as if they were “go here, shoot that” – though of course that’s what each ultimately comes down to. Swapping sides between the Imperials and the Rebels, and between ships and their unique roles in each encounter kept the gameplay feeling fresh and I rarely felt bored with what I was being asked to do.

Alongside the single-player campaign sits a small but well thought out multiplayer mode. I am not afraid to say I got absolutely destroyed attempting to go up against other human players. It is certainly a step above the space fighter maps from Star Wars Battlefront II, where flying a ship felt more like controlling a model on a stick in front of you. It’s here in multiplayer too where you feel the true impact of the different loadouts available to you, giving yourself a more specialized role in each fight. It is harder however, to be a support ship I found when playing outside of a team, though when used properly support ships can turn a battle in surprising ways.

EA has stated that there will be no more content coming for Star Wars Squadrons so what comes with the game is unlikely to be expanded upon in the future. But for a game that costs just $AUD49.95 with no season pass or microtransactions to me this is a trade off I am willing to make. Hopefully it also means a Star Wars Squadrons sequel is in development already, given the success of the game as a unique package.

In many ways Star Wars Squadrons seems like a risk for EA. It is so unlike their other games that it seems almost experimental. But I think it’s an experiment that has been a success.

Stripped of the need to feed an insatiable microtransaction machine, or to sell us on buying a battle pass, Squadrons is a more focused, refined experience with far more personality than most other AAA games.

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