JSCO JNL-101 Silent Mouse

WHAT IS

Mouse

1. REALLY A SILENT CLICK: nothing to add, the click is noiseless.
2. GOOD GAMING PERFORMANCE: accurate, lightweight and good hand-on DPI switch.
3. VERY CHEAP: it costs around 30 dollars. A gaming mouse can't be more cheap.
4. HANDY SPEED SELECTOR: I found the DPI switch selector useful and smart enough.
5. COMFORTABLE: it is subjective but I have quite standards hands and I really feel confortable with it.
6. LIGHTWEIGHT: another subjective point. Some player prefers heavier mouses. Personally I want my mouse as lightweight as possible.

1. NO REAL WINDOWS 8 COMPATIBILITY: on Windows8 if you insert the mouse when the system is operative, you'll get a blue screen. To make it works under W8 you must connect the mouse when system is turned off. Anyway the manufacturer doesn't claim the Windows 8 compatibility.
2. DOESN'T FEEL STURDY: it is one year since I bought this mouse and it's still working. Anyway it is clearly not sturdy and must handled with care.
3. WEAK EXTRA BUTTONS: side buttons and DPI switch feels weak and must be pressed gently.
4. WHEEL NOT THAT SILENT: the wheel is not too noisy but certainly not silent.

FINAL RATE

6/10 ...good but not for everyone

PERSONAL COMMENT

It is a shame it's not fully compatible with Windows 8 because if the noisy click is a problem to you, and you play games, this mouse is one of the best choices around.

Sennheiser MX-365

WHAT IS

Earphones

1. GOOD FIT: these earphones are perfect for prolonged use.
2. GOOD SOUND: Every frequency is well balanced. Bass frequencies are deep but not too deep to mask the highest ones.
3. OK TO MAKE MUSIC: if you are a musician, these earphones are good enough to provide a fast, portable and reliable audio feedback.
4. EXTERNALLY QUIET: playing loud music won't annoy people around.
5. EASY TO FIND IN SHOPS: in Europe they can be found in every mid/large hi-tech shop.
6. STILL GOOD WITHOUT FOAM: with the foam they wear and sounds better, but without foam they are still comfortable and good sounding.
7. PERFECT CABLE LENGTH: cable length is just perfect, not too short nor too long.
8. AVAILABLE IN MANY COLORS: in case you care about color matching with you apparel

1. NO LONG LIFESPAN: sadly this is a common problem of the (many) Sennheiser earphones I had. After about one year of daily use the sound quality start to drop a little (with some crackling noise too). If not handled with adequate care will lead in damaged earphones.
2. SHOULD BE CHEAPER: this earphones are just a repaint (with a very little sound enhancement) of the MX-170. Problem is the MX-170 are just half the price.

FINAL RATE

8/10 ...great earphones

PERSONAL COMMENT
Probably one of the best earphones in this price tag. If you don't care about fancy color and can live with a little less deep bass frequencies, I suggest the MX-170 instead that are sold half the price.

State Of Decay + DLCs (Lifeline, Breakdown)

GENRE

Free roaming zombie survival.

1. WALKING DEAD FEEL: you take care of your people and soon you'll get attached to them. You can control directly everyone and they all have different personality, skills and weak points.
2. NICE BASE / RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: expanding your base, looking around for food, weapons, medicine and other people is always on top of your priorities. The game succeeds in making it never that boring.
3. TENSE AND UNFORGIVING: making mistakes, doing something stupid or simply overdoing will end most often in a bad situation. Best feature of the game.
4. NO ONE IS SAFE: there is no main character, everybody can die and inevitably you'll loose a lot of people without the possibility to reload a previous save. Who is dead remains dead here.
5. NIGHT TIME IS CREEPY: sneaking through a forest in the night, surrounded by ravenous glowing eyes, or driving along a dead city lightening houses full of zombies is truly thrilling.

1. BASE GAME AND LIFELINE ARE TOO SHORTS: they suddenly ends while the game is making you believe that more has to happen. Truly heart breaking.
2. LIMITED WORLDS: game and DLCs have quite small and bare worlds.
3. UNEXPLOITED STORY: a lot of potential has been missed on the story side (especially in the base game). I'm not going to say any more to avoid "spoilers".
4. REPETITIVE MISSIONS: playing for long time (especially the DLC Breakdown) will highlight the repetitiveness of some missions. A little more variety would have been cool.
5. DLCs ARE NICE BUT VERY DISAPPOINTING: after finishing the base game your only desire is to bring your people in a wider map that extends the original one. It doesn't happen and it's very disappointing.

FINAL RATE

5/10 ...just ARGH for the missed potential

PERSONAL COMMENT

A possible masterpiece that turns to be just OK

Master Reboot

GENRE

First person interactive story.

1. NEAT AND INTERESTING VISUALS: (attention: subjective opinion) it's almost entirely untextured and heavily post-processed. It's love or hate.
2. TENSE AND CREEPY: one thing is sure, the developer knows how to catch your attention.
3. SENSE OF WONDER: the game looks like a dream, making you "wow" often.
4. SHORT BUT NOT TOO SHORT: although it's just few hours long, the variety of situations in these few hours is impressive.
5. AUDIO: musics and sounds are really well done and help shaping the right atmosphere.
6. UNPREDICTABLE: sometimes it's action, sometimes it's horror, sometimes it makes you think, sometimes it's relaxing... you never know what to expect. Best feature of the game.

1. REALLY BAD CUT-SCENES: poorly printed and bad animated 2D scenes that clash against the neat visuals of the game.
2. TOO EXPANSIVE: 15 dollars is way too expansive.
3. GOOD STORY BUT: sometimes it's really confusing.
4. PUZZLES: most of them are cursed with an "already seen" feeling.

FINAL RATE

6/10 ...interesting

PERSONAL COMMENT

If you like the genre, jump in without hesitation.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

GENRE

FPS on rails.

GREAT NARRATIVE SKILLS: the way the story is told and how it conveys the game is something fresh and original. Best feature of the game.

1. GOOD GRAPHICS: the settings are really well pictured and the general style is unique, bold and solid.
2. STORY: the story itself could stand a movie, or even a book.
3. ON RAILS WITH STYLE: it defines new standards for on-rails games
4. AUDIO: voice acting, sounds and music reaches the high peaks of the previous points.
5. COLLECT THE STORY OF THE WEST: the game is fulfilled of historically realistic characters and settings. Collecting hidden stuff will unlock the real story of them.
6. UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS: (attention: subjective opinion) this is one of those rare games that provide intense and unforgettable moments.

1. ENEMIES AI: they just move to the scripted point, shoot like hell at you and wait to die. No strategies, no real threat.
2. FLAT ACTION: fortunately the story flow makes you forget that the action is quite repetitive and somehow flat.
3. AVERAGE WEAPONS AND PERKS: weapons are just right but lifeless, so the leveling-up perks.

FINAL RATE

7/10 ...really good

PERSONAL COMMENT

A must play. Even if you don't like westerns and/or FPS.

Ridge Racer UNBOUNDED

GENRE

Arcade drive'n'destroy.

CAR ACCIDENTS: best feature of the game. Crashing opponents cars is spectacular and addicting.

1. GRAPHICS: bold, shining, well detailed and with a good variety of locations.
2. REQUIREMENTS: on PC the game is not demanding.
3. GAMEPLAY: generally really well done. The game provides a good variety of funny challenges and situations.
4. TRACKS: designed very well (from a racing point of view) and fulfilled of destructible buildings and stuff.
5. PHYSICS AND DRIVING: really solid physics (the best I've seen in a videogame). Each car has a well defined personality.
6. DIFFICULT BUT NOT FRUSTRATING: races are unpredictable due the high aggressiveness of the opponents.
7. GREAT AI: CPU opponents drive in a natural and engaging way. They are smart  and will do the possible to make you loose.

1. SOUNDTRACK: (attention: subjective opinion) Uninspired. Forgettable. Out of scope. And Skrillex...
2. NO CAR CUSTOMIZATION: just select one of the four colour schemes and drive.

FINAL RATE

8/10  ...just great

PERSONAL COMMENT

A pure arcade driving gem.

Resident Evil 6

GENRE

Third person horror shooter.

1. COOP: really well made. It is the best feature of the game.
2. MELEE: easy to use, effective, funny and provided with a wide variety of moves.
3. LENGTH: 4 campaign for about 30 hours of non-stop zombie splatting. Awesome.
4. LEVEL DESIGN: levels are great to look and play.
5. OVERALL GAMEPLAY: bear in mind that it is NOT a survival horror. It's a third person action shooter. If you like the genre, this is for you.

1. LEVEL UP: just silly. There are many perks to choose but generally they are useless and uninspired.
2. STORY AND SCRIPT: worst than a bad B movie. Leon and Chris seems idiots. Story is forgettable.
3. STIFF INTERACTION: that is usual in the RE series but it starts to be really annoying.
4. NO WEAPON CUSTOMIZATION: come on!!
5. UNEVEN OVERALL QUALITY: sometimes the game is very good and sometimes it's very bad.

FINAL RATE

5/10  ...just ok

PERSONAL COMMENT

Must have for Coop