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The Sennheiser HD 550 headphones on a wooden surface in front of a white brick background

Sennheiser HD 550 review: near-perfect premium gaming audio

by admin May 23, 2025

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Sennheiser HD 550 review: One-minute review

The Sennheiser HD 550 headphones are some of the finest audiophile headphones for gaming I’ve ever tested. This open-back model excels in its audio prowess, comfort, and simplicity in every manner of my testing, and I wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone looking for a top gaming headset for console or PC.

While cut from the same cloth as other Sennheiser headphones aimed at those who value audio quality above all else, the HD 550 headphones are very much intended to appeal to gamers who crave high-quality audio. They absolutely succeed in this: across PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC, audio is a dream.

Combine this with the expected excellence Sennheiser has for enhancing music, entertainment, and easy listening, and it really is a winner. It also means the HD 550 is ideal for work and everyday use, too.

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Price is perhaps one wrinkle on the score sheet, as it’s a little on the high side when you compare it to the immediate competition.

For example, you could bag a complete premium wired gaming headset like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro if you want more features and a built-in mic. You could even save money compared to the HD 550 while sticking with Sennheiser with slightly cheaper models like the HD 560S or 650 sets. Still, I think anyone buying them at their list price won’t feel any buyer’s remorse, such is the quality here.

(Image credit: Future/Rob Dwiar)

That begins with a simple and elegant design, but one that’s also robust and very comfortable. The open-back cup covers are made of high-grade metal mesh, while the strong plastic frame elsewhere inspires confidence. The synthetic leather of the headband and velour of the earcups are wonderfully soft, providing the right amount of cushioning and support.

Coming in at just 8.35oz / 237g, the HD 550 are incredibly light. You’ll barely notice that you’re wearing them, even after long sessions. There’s simplicity onboard too with only a 6ft / 1.8m cable attached (a 3.5mm to 6.5mm adapter is also provided).

All this comes together to provide an audio experience that I’ve not experienced for a long time – if ever. The HD 550 excels in all that you throw at it, and really can be the audiophile gaming-focused headphones you’ve been looking for. I’ve heard details in games I’ve not heard before, and enjoyed rich, atmospheric, multi-layered audio in game worlds. Combine this with Sennheiser’s established excellence for music, easy listening, and everyday use, and the HD 550 offers it all.

Brilliant for everything, and perfect for immersion-heightening single-player gaming, the HD 550 might be the last multiplatform gaming headset you ever need to buy – even if it’s not a traditional gaming headset.

Sennheiser HD 550 review: Price and availability

List price: $299.99 / $249.99 / AU$479
Premium gaming headset territory
Faces stiff competition from its Sennheiser brethren

At $299.99 / $249.99 / AU$479, the Sennheiser HD 550 headphones are pricey, but not wildly so. At this point, it’s pitched squarely against some great audiophile headphones and gaming headsets.

In terms of the latter, I see something like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro or the Beyerdynamic MMX 300 Pro or 330 Pro headsets as comparable alternatives. These are different propositions in terms of feature set, target audience, and what they’re built to do, of course, but if you’re looking for something in this price range that’s focused on gaming, then this is the sort of competition the HD 550 has.

On the other hand, the HD 550 does face a lot of competition its own Sennheiser brethren. For example, the HD 560S is a tremendous set of headphones that can still very much hold their own in the gaming sphere. In the US, these are around $20 cheaper than the HD 550, but in the UK, they are a staggering £99, which is extraordinarily good value and hard to ignore if saving cash is one of your top priorities.

Overall, the value the HD 550 offers is still superb. However, when price cuts inevitably come, the HD 550 are going to be very hard to beat and extremely attractive as a pair of top audiophile headphones for gaming.

(Image credit: Future/Rob Dwiar)

Sennheiser HD 550 review: Specs

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Sennheiser HD 550

Price

$299.99 / $249.99 / AU$479

Weight

8.35oz / 237g

Drivers

38mm

Compatibility

PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, mobile (where audio jack is present)

Connection type

3.5mm audio jack; 6ft / 1.8m cable (3.5 to 6.5mm adapter provided)

Battery life

N/A

Features

38mm transducer, 150 Ω nominal impedance, 6Hz – 39.5kHz frequency response, synthetic velour ear pads

Software

N/A

(Image credit: Future/Rob Dwiar)

Sennheiser HD 550 review: Design and features

Open back design
Lightweight and wonderfully comfortable
No onboard controls or mic

The design of the Sennheiser HD 550 headphones is incredibly stripped back and sleek – there’s no overcomplication here, and if you’re familiar with Sennheiser’s style, then it’ll look satisfyingly recognizable.

It’s a symphony in black with metallic accents offered by the Sennheiser logo on the cups, and metallic edging adjacent to the ear cups punctuating that sleek look. The headband is made of faux leather and has a good amount of padding across almost its entire length to ensure head comfort, while the plush synthetic velour earbuds are delightfully soft and comfy around the ears, with the headphone’s clamping force being just right.

The ratchet on the headband for finding the right fit is also perfect, offering a good amount of resistance and hold, and you’ll also get a neat drawstring bag for the headset, too.

Under the hood, you have the 38mm, 150-ohm transducer (driver) offering a dynamic range of 6Hz to 39.5kHz. The driver is, of course, Sennheiser’s own, made in Ireland, and I’m told by the brand in terms of construction that “the diaphragm is made of a laminate plastic foil material. The voice coil is made of copper, and the chassis is made of plastic.”

Feature-wise, the HD 550 are equally simple and stripped back: there are no onboard controls here like you’ll find on gaming headsets, and there’s no microphone present either. All you have is the 6ft / 1.8m (non-braided, non-detachable) cable that ends in a slightly chunky 3.5mm audio jack connection, and that can also be fitted with a screw-on 6.5mm adapter.

(Image credit: Future/Rob Dwiar)

Sennheiser HD 550 review: Performance

Superb Sennheiser quality audio for games
Exceptional for music and entertainment
Perfect for immersive single-player gaming

In short, the Sennheiser HD 550, as a set of gaming and entertainment-focused headphones, are nothing short of spectacular. The headphones may well have killed off using a gaming headset for single-player games for me, and I have nothing but praise for the gaming audio it’s given me throughout my testing.

On PS5, the booming soundtracks and sound effects of Doom and Doom Eternal have never been given to me so fulsomely and richly, with each heavy metal riff and combat finisher move sounding as raw and dense as they should. In Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, character dialogue was crisp and clear without ever being scratchy, and environmental noises were a joy.

Even the busiest of combat encounters in both translated well through the HD 550 headphones. The same was true for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Botany Manor on Xbox, but also the delicate and detailed audio in games like Frostpunk 2 on PC, and Control, with its atmospheric and spooky audio that emanates from the FBC building and its tenants.

(Image credit: Future/Rob Dwiar)

The audio jack connection made it the easiest headphone set to use across all the platforms, too, which is a dream. Of course, you’ll be relying on your devices or an amp to really push the headphones as there’s no onboard volume dial, but simply managing them in such a way has provided me with some real excellence and memorable audio moments in games.

Using the HD 550 for work meetings and video calls is great too, though you’ll naturally have to team it with a standalone, separate mic. I did that with my SteelSeries Alias Pro, and the combination worked like a dream. There’s a warmth to ‘real life’ voices from the HD 550, and there were never ever any piercing peaks or rough troughs.

When I wasn’t in meetings, I kept the HD 550 on to soak up music, and I was treated to a truly fantastic experience here. Playing tunes from my usual playlists on Spotify, but also using hi-res audio on Tidal, and even down to browsing tracks and videos on YouTube, the HD 550 kept providing me with some of the finest audio I’ve experienced.

The excellent bass response is brilliant and almost gave me a new appreciation for Tool’s back catalog, and the mids and highs dealt beautifully with modern country and punk pop music, and even classical music such as Allegri’s Miserere and Jan Garbarek’s Officium record.

Taking all this sheer audio excellence and putting it in a sleek, comfortable, and lightweight headset like the HD 550 means Sennheiser has a real winner on its hands that is fantastic to wear and use at all times, and for a long time.

(Image credit: Future/Rob Dwiar)

Should you buy the Sennheiser HD 550?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Sennheiser HD 550 review: Also consider

Still not sold on the Sennheiser HD 550? Here are two competing headsets for comparison.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyRow 0 – Cell 0

Sennheiser HD 550

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro

Sennheiser HD 560S

Price

$299.99 / £249.99 / AU$479

$249.99 / £179.99 / AU$405

$229.95 / £169 / AU$339.95

Weight

8.35oz / 237g

16.08oz / 456g

8.46oz / 240g

Drivers

38mm

40mm

38mm

Compatibility

PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, mobile (where audio jack is present)

Connection type

3.5mm audio jack; 6ft / 1.8m cable (3.5 to 6.5mm adapter provided)

USB, 3.5mm audio jack

3.5mm audio jack; 6ft / 1.8m detachable cable (3.5 to 6.3mm screw-on adapter provided)

Battery life

N/A

Features

38mm transducer, 150 Ω nominal impedance, 6Hz – 39.5kHz frequency response, synthetic velour ear pads

40 mm Neodymium drivers, Bidirectional microphone polar pattern, ClearCast Gen 2 microphone, GameDac Gen 2 control panel

38mm transducer, 120 Ω nominal impedance, 6Hz – 38kHz frequency response, velour ear pads

Software

N/A

SteelSeries GG

N/A

(Image credit: Future/Rob Dwiar)

How I tested the Sennheiser HD 550

Tested over the course of several months
Used in conjunction with PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, and PC
Compared directly to the premium gaming headset competition

I have used the Sennheiser HD 550 headphones as part of my work and gaming setup for a few months now, integrating them into my setup and using them alongside a host of other gear to test them out.

On my two PlayStation 5 setups, I plugged the headphones into a standard DualSense Wireless controller to test them with my PS5 Pro and PS5 Slim. I used them on both consoles for hours at a time, and also plugged them directly into my PlayStation Portal, too.

On PS5, I played Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, almost my full playthrough of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and all of my Indiana Jones and The Great Circle playthrough. I also gave the headphones a test on Xbox Series X, plugging them into a Victrix Pro BFG for Xbox controller or a Thrustmaster eSwap X2 controller to play games like Botany Manor and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

When testing on my RTX 3090 gaming PC, I plugged the HD 550 directly into the machine to play Frostpunk 2, Control, and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, and then also teamed the HD 550 with a SteelSeries Alias Pro mic for work and video calls.

Putting the HD 550 set to test with music and entertainment, I used them as I normally would with the likes of Spotify and YouTube, but also hi-res audio providers like Tidal to really hone in on the audio offerings.

During my testing, I was able to compare the HD550 directly to the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro wired headset, the wireless variant, an Arctis Nova 7, and an Audeze Maxwell.

Corsair Scimitar Elite SE Wireless Review: A not-so-virtual virtual Stream Deck?

by admin May 23, 2025

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The best gaming mouse for you depends a lot on what types of games you like to play. If you play competitive first-person shooters, you’re probably looking for something speedy and lightweight, like the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2. But if you play MMOs, MOBAs, or other RPGs while also streaming on Twitch or YouTube, you might want… whatever the opposite of that is — something consistent and comfortable, with a bunch of extra buttons that you can program shortcuts into.

Something like Corsair’s Scimitar line of mice — large and with a customizable 12-button side panel so you can do (almost) everything with just one input device.

Corsair’s new Scimitar Elite Wireless SE looks a lot like its predecessor, the Scimitar Elite Wireless — in fact, it’s identical, minus the new color scheme. But it sports some under-the-hood upgrades, including a new sensor: Corsair’s Marksman S 33K optical sensor, which has a maximum resolution of 33,000 DPI, a maximum speed of 750 IPS, and can handle up to 50 G’s of acceleration. It also has improved battery life — up to 150 hours over 2.4GHz wireless and up to 500 hours over Bluetooth, and features Elgato Stream Deck integration, including support for Elgato’s new “Virtual Stream Deck.”

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The mouse comes in black and yellow and gunmetal and white colorways — Corsair points out that this is the first time the Scimitar line has been offered in white, for what that’s worth — and costs $139.99.

Design and Comfort of the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE

The Scimitar Elite Wireless SE is a large, ergonomically-sculpted wireless gaming mouse with 16 programmable buttons — including an adjustable 12-button side panel. Like other mice with a ton of buttons, this mouse is aimed primarily at MMO and MOBA players — it’s large and heavy, designed to support your hand during long gaming marathons, not fly across your desk in seconds.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Our review unit came in black and yellow, which features a mostly-black chassis with a matte, soft-touch finish, and a bright yellow panel on the left side, surrounding the 12-button side panel. The scroll wheel is also yellow (though it has a textured black rubber cover for grip). It’s an interesting color scheme — the yellow is a bright true yellow just shy of neon, and it definitely pops. I’m not sure how many gaming rigs this is going to seamlessly blend with (probably not many), but the mouse does have two zones of RGB lighting — in Corsair’s ship logo on the palm rest, and in the numbers on the side panel. My high school colors were black and gold (yellow), and this mouse looks like something our Spirit Booth would have sold. It’s a pretty aggressive yellow.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The Scimitar Elite Wireless SE is the same size and weight as the Scimitar Elite Wireless, which we reviewed back in Aug. 2023. It’s a big mouse, measuring 4.69 inches (119.23mm) long by 2.89 inches (73.48mm) wide, and it’s 1.66 inches (42.17mm) high at its highest point, and it feels bigger because it’s designed to have a lot of contact with your hand. It has a wide, flat hump (shifted to the left for right-handed ergonomics) and the right side features a textured side panel / finger rest.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

I still use the Razer Naga V2 Pro as one of my primary mice — I love mice with tons of buttons — and the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE feels bigger than the Naga V2 Pro despite being slightly smaller (the Naga V2 Pro measures 4.7 x 2.97 x 1.72 inches / 119.5 x 75.5 x 43.5mm), because the Scimitar Elite Wirless SE has less sculpting on the left and it just ends up hitting more of your hand. Instead of a gentle slope like the Naga V2 Pro has, the left side of the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE is scooped out somewhat abruptly, which gives it a curved shape — similar to a scimitar. The 12-button side panel follows this curve — the buttons are arranged in a 4 x 3 grid, with texturing on alternating columns for easier distinction.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The side panel can be moved forward or backward approximately 1/4 of an inch, so people with smaller hands or shorter thumbs are better able to reach all 12 buttons. To slide the panel, you’ll need to unscrew it using a hex key (included with the mouse) and then move it to your desired location.

You can lock it into place using the screw at any point along its track, so you can fine-tune the positioning if you need to. I’m sure this flexibility is very much appreciated by some, but in general I don’t think it will wildly affect most people’s experience. Ergonomically the mouse is a little clunky and I don’t love the inward curve of the side panel — I find it makes everything a little less ergonomic. I would prefer a side panel that curves outward and perhaps angled buttons over the ability to move the side panel a quarter of an inch forward.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Speaking of the buttons, the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE has 16 programmable ones: 12 on the side panel, left/right primary buttons, a DPI switch button above the scroll wheel, and the scroll wheel center click. In addition to texturing, the side-panel buttons are also slightly different heights (the center row is slightly raised compared to the top and bottom row), and I didn’t love this. Maybe there was just too much going on — different textures, different heights, and there’s also a homing bump on the 5 — but it took me a while to get used to where the buttons were by touch. (And I normally use a mouse with a 12-button side panel!) I’m sure it will eventually become second-nature if I keep using it, but I prefer the Razer Naga V2 Pro’s angling.

The mouse has a notched scroll wheel — not a tilt wheel, like the Naga V2 Pro, and not adjustable or dual-mode like the Logitech G502 X Plus, just a regular scroll wheel. The scroll has a comfortable amount of tension, but the notches are on the softer side.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

On the bottom of the mouse, you’ll find four medium-sized PTFE mouse feet, a power/connectivity switch, and a profile switch button. There’s also a small compartment that holds the mouse’s 2.4GHz wireless USB-A dongle; the door is a little flimsy (and perhaps not necessary, as the dongle fits pretty tightly). This is also where you’ll find the screw that unlocks and locks the side panel.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The mouse comes with a 6.5-foot (2m) USB-C to USB-A cable and a hex tool for moving the side button panel. The cable is braided but fairly stiff — it’s a far cry from the ultra-flexible paracord-style cables that come with Razer’s and HyperX’s mice. You’ll be able to use it as a mouse cable if you need to, but it won’t be the most comfortable, drag-free experience.

Specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Sensor Model

Marksman S 33K Sensor

Max Sensitivity

33,000 DPI

Max Speed (IPS)

750 IPS

Max Acceleration

50 G

Polling Rates

1,000 Hz / 500 Hz / 250 Hz / 125 Hz

Programmable Buttons

LED Zones

Cable

6ft / 1.8m USB-C to USB-A

Connectivity

2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth, wired (USB-C)

Measurements (L x W x H)

4.69 x 2.89 x 1.66 inches / 119.23 x 73.48 x 42.17 mm

Weight (excluding cable)

4.02oz / 114g

MSRP

$139.99

Release Date

May 19, 2025

Performance of the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE

The Scimitar Elite Wireless SE sports Corsair’s Marksman S 33K optical sensor, which has a maximum resolution of 33,000 DPI, a maximum speed of 750 IPS, and can handle up to 50 G’s of acceleration. Corsair says the sensor features “improved DPI detection and IPS tracking,” as well as lower power consumption, and while the sensor was very accurate and consistent in my testing,

I didn’t have any issues with accuracy or consistency in the Scimitar Elite Wireless, either. The sensor is able to track on a variety of surfaces, including laminate, wood, plastic, glass, polished concrete, and, of course, mouse pads.

The mouse features Corsair’s house-brand optical switches, which are somewhat loud (though not any louder than the optical switches in other mainstream gaming mice). I didn’t have any issues with misclicks or double-clicking while I was testing the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE, but I did find the switches to be a little inconsistent in both sound and feel. They felt and sounded a little lightweight and “fluttery,” which made me worry there would be misclicks or accidental double-clicking, but this never happened.

This sounded more concerning if I clicked off-center — not at the very edge, just not directly in the center. I’m a little concerned with durability, but Corsair does say the switches are rated for 100 million clicks.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The Scimitar Elite Wireless SE performed well in MMOs and RPGS (and MMORPGs), with smooth, accurate movements and a relatively comfortable form factor for a palm grip. While I’m not the biggest fan of the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE’s side panel curve, I don’t use those extra buttons often enough that the lack of ergonomics was really an issue — it’s not like I’m constantly mashing them, even if I bind my most frequently-used actions and macros.

The mouse also performed decently well in more action-oriented / skill-based RPGs, such as Elden Ring, though it’s not the kind of mouse you can move around very quickly. Not only is it particularly wide and therefore difficult to really hold (as opposed to move), it’s also fairly heavy at 4.02 ounces (114g). That still makes it slightly lighter than my go-to, the Naga V2 Pro (4.73oz / 134g), and it definitely feels pretty hefty (especially compared to all the super lightweight mice we’ve been looking at recently).

It’s also not the type of mouse you can pick up and move around your desk — even if you can wrap your hand around it, it has a side panel full of buttons. This is definitely not a mouse for quick swipes and flicks.

Features and Software of the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE

The Scimitar Elite Wireless SE works (well, “works”) with Corsair’s universal peripheral software, iCUE. You can use iCUE to update your device firmware, customize the mouse’s RGB lighting, and adjust some settings, such as DPI steps, polling rate, and surface calibration. Unfortunately, since this is a 16-button mouse, you can’t really avoid iCUE completely — you’ll also need it to remap/program buttons, and I assume you want to do at least some of that if you’re getting a 16-button mouse.

iCUE is, however, terrible — not only did I have to restart my PC more times than I could count during the program’s extremely slow and inefficient updating system (where it updates each device, including the dongle, one at a time and requires like three restarts after each one), but it was unable to complete the mouse’s final firmware update because… it just wouldn’t go (I’m not sure why).

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Anyway, once you remap your keys and tweak some settings on the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE, you can save your changes to the hardware (three profiles) and uninstall iCUE if you want. Well, sort of. The other key feature of this mouse is that it has native Elgato Stream Deck integration and it also works with Elgato’s new Virtual Stream Deck app works with Elgato’s new “Virtual Stream Deck” software. Which is, of course, even more software for you to download (though Elgato’s software is, thankfully, much better than iCUE’s).

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The Virtual Stream Deck is… exactly what it sounds like: a virtual Stream Deck, i.e., a pop-up of a stream deck that lives on your desktop and can be used to perform various Stream Deck features, such as interacting with your connected Elgato equipment, or doing complicated multi-task “macros.”

Not only can the mouse interact with your Elgato streaming gear, it can also act as a physical ‘virtual’ stream deck with all of its buttons — you can assign Stream Deck actions directly to the side panel of the mouse, though you’ll need iCUE running in the background for this to work.

Wireless Experience and Battery Life of the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE

The Scimitar Elite Wireless SE offers three forms of connectivity: low-latency 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth, and wired (via USB-C). Corsair rates the Scimitar Elite Wireless SE’s battery life at up to 150 hours over 2.4GHz wireless with the backlighting turned off, which is pretty solid — 30 hours over the Scimitar Elite Wireless’ 120-hour rating, and on par with the Razer Naga V2 Pro’s 150-hour rating.

The Scimitar Elite Wireless SE also gets a serious boost in battery life over Bluetooth — up to 500 hours with the lighting turned off, which is a big jump from its predecessor’s 150 hours, but this is neither here nor there as even no gamers — not even those playing cozy, dreamy platformer/crafting games such as Infinity Nikki — are connecting over Bluetooth, unless they’re traveling or something.

Bottom Line

The Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless SE is basically identical to the two-year-old Scimitar Elite Wireless, but it’s been improved on the inside. It has a new sensor, better battery life, and it integrates with Elgato’s Stream Decks as well as the new virtual Stream Deck software.

But I would have liked to see some — any — attention paid to the mouse’s chassis, which felt bigger and clunkier than it needed to be when we tested the Scimitar Elite Wireless and feels even bigger and clunkier now. The fact that you can turn your mouse into an impromptu Stream Deck is neat, especially if you’re the type of person who actually uses their Stream Deck, but it doesn’t really feel like enough to be considered a “real” update. This is sort of like the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K — same mouse, new sensor… but that’s basically it. It’s also $139.99, which is $10 more than MSRP of the Scimitar Elite Wireless.

But if you’re looking for a mouse with a lot of buttons, your choices are a little scarce in our current world of ultralightweight, super-fast, eSports-player-endorsed peripherals. While it’s not my favorite 12-button side panel, it’s still a pretty good one, and it’s $50 cheaper than the $180 Naga V2 Pro.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Monster Train 2 Review – Engine Ingenuity

by admin May 22, 2025

“No two runs are the same” is an oft-spoken line in reference to roguelikes, and it has perhaps never been more true than with Monster Train 2. With five new Clans, new card types, and a side mode of dimensional challenges, every run is distinct, but combat never becomes less satisfying. Despite some cutscenes that leave much to be desired, Shiny Shoe has crafted one of my favorite roguelikes of the year so far, improving on the previous title in every way.

In Monster Train 2, you lead various armies of Hell in a war against the Titans, an old, powerful faction that threatens the existence of your world. To stand up against such an imposing threat, you have control of multiple Clans, unique societies of magical creatures that each have their own playstyles. The angelic Banished Clan focuses on the Valor buff, granting additional armor and damage, while the draconic Pyreborn Clan hoards gold and inflicts pyregel, a debuff that causes enemies to take more damage. Each Clan also has two champions, powerful units you build your runs around, to choose from. When a run starts, you pick a primary Clan and a secondary Clan, and with five to unlock (plus a load of secret ones), the sheer number of combinations is staggering.

Combat takes place aboard the titular locomotive, which has four tiers of train cars – three for your units to battle, and a fourth to hold the Pyre, the train’s lifeblood. If it takes too much damage, it explodes and your run ends, so it’s in your best interest to eliminate enemies as soon as possible. The end result is part deckbuilder, part roguelike, and part tower defense, as you draw cards to place units on each floor and defend the train from waves of attackers.

Most cards cast spells, dealing damage, healing, inflicting status conditions, and more, but Monster Train 2 introduces two new types of cards: equipment and room cards. Equipment is played on a friendly unit to give them better stats and abilities, while rooms add a modifier to an entire car, like boosting spell potency or granting money when units die. The game also adds unlockable Pyres, which have active or passive abilities to make your runs even more interesting. Each feature brings something new and exciting to the table, entering the gameplay so seamlessly that I often forgot they were absent from the last game.

Each run uses one of two clans, each with two champions and associated starting cards, meaning that if you exclude the game’s secret clans (which increase the total exponentially), there are 80 ways to start a run. While I haven’t played each permutation, every combo I’ve started with so far has been surprisingly exciting, as each cleverly designed Clan synergizes with another in a unique way. It isn’t randomness for the sake of big numbers – each run I’ve played has felt as fun as the one before it, and it’s an impressive feat.

Monster Train 2 also includes a collection of 21 Dimensional Challenges, restricting you to a preset combination of Clans and adding fun mutators to alter the game. For example, “Weapons Make the Warrior” reduces all cards’ upgrade slots to 1, but makes equipment cards twice as powerful and cost less to play. “Twofer” doubles all money earned, status effects inflicted, and makes it so each time you add a card to your deck, you get a copy of it. In contrast to the standard, ultimately customizable base game, it’s a collection of carefully curated rulesets and modifiers. I appreciate that these challenges adjust your strategies and the game’s difficulty beyond simply making it harder. Many roguelikes include unlockable settings or difficulty modes limiting your abilities, but sometimes I want to be challenged in different ways, and Monster Train 2 understands that.

My main issue with the game lies in its story, which is, thankfully, infrequent and easily ignored. Upon completing runs, you’re greeted by cutscenes of conversations between the Clans’ various Champions as they try to figure out what to do next in their battle against the Titans. It feels half-baked, with reused battle models standing against plain backgrounds and turning left or right to indicate which character they’re speaking to. The dialogue is mostly exposition disguised as conversation, and most characters are reduced to their Clans’ most basic traits – dragons are greedy and like gold, while the Lazarus League obsesses over science and experiments. Monster Train 2’s gameplay is inspired and expertly crafted, but its cutscenes are cliché and forgettable.

Still, I didn’t come to Monster Train 2 for an engaging story. I came for tense, strategic combat, hours of upgrading and optimizing spells and units, and that uniquely roguelike power fantasy of starting with scraps and blazing your way to the top. The realm of indie roguelikes is competitive and crowded, but despite years of tough competition, Monster Train 2 has strongly reasserted its series as one of the leaders of the pack. In other words, many games are good; few are as good as Hell.

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May 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Deliver At All Costs Review – Drive On By This Courier Action Game

by admin May 22, 2025

There can be a hypnotic nature to repetitive tasks, and plenty of games have leaned into that to give otherwise humdrum jobs a surprising allure. Deliver At All Costs goes in the opposite direction and transforms the unforgiving tedium and thankless nature of a courier job into an explosive, slapstick adventure. This makes for some fun and brief thrills, but too often Deliver At All Costs falls into repetitive monotony with an overly cyclical format, a dragging story, and unexciting in-game upgrades.

Narratively, Deliver At All Costs has a fantastically intriguing opening. You play as Winston, an extremely gifted engineer who’s late on rent, bereft of friends, and prone to outbursts of anger. He sees visions of a strange fox, someone is spying on his apartment, and he’s hiding something about his past. It’s all very mysterious and strange, and the setup immediately draws you into the story in hopes of uncovering who Winston truly is and what’s going on.

The mystique hangs over the first hour of Deliver At All Costs, which sees Winston take a truck-driving job at We Deliver, a courier service. Every delivery forces Winston, and by extension the player, to contend with a new type of challenging cargo, like surprisingly strong balloons making Winston’s truck extremely buoyant and prone to soaring over buildings at the smallest bump, or a statue that attracts a flock of seagulls obsessed with carpet bombing the statue with poop.

Deliver At All Costs is filled with unorthodox deliveries.

In that first hour, I really liked this dichotomy in Deliver At All Costs, as the intriguing mystery of who Winston was contended with the ludicrous absurdity of Winston’s present. The rigid and poorly mapped facial animations of the characters are as ridiculous as the poor writing, but I convinced myself that there was a possibility this was a purposeful choice to add an uncanny element to the people around Winston and further feelings of unease about his surroundings. And the slow drip-feed of details about who Winston is during each delivery felt like it was building up to a greater revelation.

Ultimately, Deliver At All Costs’ story doesn’t really deliver on the mystery it opens with, though. You do learn more about Winston, and the story ultimately takes a truly wild turn, but the reveals aren’t all that satisfying of a reward and don’t feel in-line with what the first chapter was setting up. It becomes clearer after that first hour that the uncanny animations and bizarre pacing of the story aren’t in service of a greater strangeness, but rather a byproduct of its aimless direction.

The gameplay is the far bigger focus for Deliver At All Costs, and much like the story, it wanes with time. Almost everything in Deliver At All Costs is fully destructible and Winston’s truck is practically invincible, allowing you to carve through street lamps, fences, and buildings like they aren’t even there.

The story eventually gets really weird.

Initially, it’s ridiculous fun to plow through half of a town to complete a delivery in record time, blasting your horn and plowing through any hapless citizens who refuse to heed your warning. There’s no consequence to your actions: If you do cause enough destruction to attract the attention of the police, you can immediately negate any heat you’ve raised by hopping into a dumpster–you don’t even have to break the cops’ line of sight (and if you are caught, the penalty is so minor, it might as well be nothing). If Winston dies or loses his delivery, the game quickly respawns you, thanks to generous autosave checkpoints. And no matter how destructive you are, Winston’s truck can’t be stopped or lost either–it flips itself upright on its own, can be fixed with a single button press, and teleports to you when you stop into any of the phone booths on practically every street corner.

It’s initially a joy to be so invincible, but that diminishes with each subsequent hour as the novelty of the setup wears off. There’s no incentive to be destructive other than wanting to. You don’t earn anything for demolishing a building or plowing through a group of citizens. There’s no benefit for completing a delivery as fast as possible, with as many casualties as you can, or with as few restarts as you can muster. The game doesn’t care about any of that. Winston is just an angry guy and Deliver At All Costs allows you to revel in that fantasy by being as destructive as you want with minimal repercussions. The issue, of course, is that the game is so uncaring of your destruction, that it begins to feel superfluous and dull after a while.

This design decision means that the game doesn’t throw any meaningful challenges in your way either, and if you aren’t really penalized for doing anything wrong, there’s no real opposition to anything you’re tasked to do and a shrinking sense of reward with every successful mission. This leads to the structure of the game feeling overly cyclical, with Winston waking up, getting a job to take an object from one spot to another, doing so, and then returning to his residence to go to sleep for the day and progress the story–the mayhem he did or did not cause is meaningless to him and all of the other characters, and this slowly makes it meaningless to the player.

Stealing from a rival company and making a frantic escape across town was my favorite mission in the game.

There are a few times Deliver At All Costs at least breaks free from the sameness of this formula to give Winston a task that’s a bit more unorthodox than delivering a package from point A to B, and this is when the game’s enjoyment really varies. Some of these missions are ridiculous fun–like breaking through buildings to chase down trucks of a rival delivery company, stealing their packages, and racing to deliver them yourself while utilizing your knowledge of the town to strategically leave enough destruction in your wake to hold off your rivals now in hot pursuit–but just as many are irritatingly awful, like ascending an erupting volcano and maneuvering through nearly impossible-to-dodge rockslides. A few of the traditional delivery assignments aren’t all that fun either, like a mission that forces you to ignore enjoying the joyous destruction to slowly drive through the streets and keep a bunch of melons from rolling out of your truck’s flatbed. It’s not a challenge; it’s just dull. Moments like these could have been improved with humor, and the writing does strive to be funny, but the game’s jokes regularly fall flat.

Optional assignments and collectibles fail to break up the tedium of the game’s repetitive cycle. As far as I can tell, there are no secrets to discover in Deliver At All Costs–the map marks where every crafting material-filled chest, “secret” car, or citizen in need is, so it’s always clear where you can go if you want a break from the story.

Crafting materials are used to build upgrades to Winston’s truck, like a horn so loud it can shatter windows or enforced doors you can quickly open to splatter a citizen you missed running over. As noted before, however, destruction is an optional addition, not a necessary component of each mission–causing more of it more easily does not change how the game is played, so all of the upgrades feel unfulfilling and unnecessary. A few of the mandatory truck upgrades (that are naturally unlocked as you continue in the story) make aspects of the delivery process easier, like a crane letting Winston load and unload cargo without having to get out of the truck, but they don’t affect the experience of playing the game beyond removing steps in the overall delivery process.

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.

The cars hidden around the map are similarly not worth going for. Most of them handle exactly like Winston’s truck, and you can’t use them to conduct deliveries anyway. There’s no garage to bring them to either–their sole purpose is an option to drive through the world and destroy it with a different-looking car.

The citizens who ask Winston for help are an easy skip too, held back by the game’s writing. Their side missions themselves at least offer interesting distractions–driving a possessed car that tries to run itself off the road up to the fires of a volcano to destroy it, finding a mayor lookalike hidden somewhere on the map, and crashing through everything you can to scare the greedy executives you’re ferrying around, among others. But the stories told around them don’t excite or offer anything to chew on narratively. It’s such a shame. Deliver At All Costs celebrates 1950s aesthetics and has such pretty and detailed locations, but I don’t want to spend any extra time in them.

Deliver At All Costs is a solid game for an hour. But then the formulaic nature of delivering goods from point A to point B becomes tiresome. Enacting wanton destruction and experiencing the unique setup of each delivery for the first time creates brief thrills, but breaking stuff just to break it doesn’t remain enjoyable for long and the meandering and unfulfilling story that connects each delivery drags the whole experience down. Parts of Deliver At All Costs work really well, but it too often ruins its own fun.

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May 22, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Honor 400 Pro review: an AI-packed almost-flagship for the discerning bargain hunter

by admin May 22, 2025

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Honor 400 Pro: Two-minute review

‘Flagship killer’ would perhaps be too strident a term to apply to the Honor 400 Pro. Rather, it seeks to subtly undermine the premium crowd with competitive specifications and a slightly lower asking price.

This is a well-built phone made of flagship-grade materials, with the kind of IP68/IP69 dust and water resistance rating that puts many a full-priced handset to shame. Its 6.67-inch OLED display, too, is about as bright, sharp, and accurate as you could reasonably expect.

While you won’t be getting the absolute best performance the smartphone market has to offer, you simply won’t notice that Honor has opted for last year’s top processor unless you take a glance at the spec sheet. The 400 Pro performs very smoothly indeed.

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The headline feature here is an all-new 200MP main camera, which captures good photos in a range of lighting conditions. You also get a decent dedicated 3x telephoto camera, which can be further boosted through the use of AI.

(Image credit: Future)

Another impressive AI camera trick is Image to video, though its ability to turn stills into brief videos is a party trick that probably won’t see much practical use beyond showcasing the latest artificial intelligence gimmick.

No matter – the Honor 400 Pro is a thoughtfully balanced phone built on solid specifications, which includes a larger-than-average 5,300mAh battery and speedy 100W wired charging support. You also get 50W wireless charging, though both speeds are reliant on you having the necessary charger to hand.

Honor’s Magic OS 9.0 continues the brand’s slightly tiresome obsession with iOS, and it remains a somewhat busy UI. However, it’s also fast and flexible, and Honor’s new six-year update promise is one of the best in the business.

All in all, the Honor 400 Pro is part of a compelling group of in-betweener smartphones, offering less compromise than even the best mid-range smartphones while still costing much less money than your average flagship.

It’s not unique, nor is it without its flaws, but it’s a very accomplished option for those willing to leave the usual suspects behind in pursuit of a bargain.

Honor 400 Pro review: price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

Costs £699.99 in the UK
Released May 2025
No availability in the US or Australia

The Honor 400 Pro was launched globally, alongside its brother, the Honor 400, on May 22, 2025. It won’t be receiving a launch in the US, as is customary from the brand, and there are no plans for Australia at the time of writing.

Pricing for the sole Honor 400 Pro model stands at £699.99 (around $930 / AU$1,450), which isn’t a figure we see all that often. This pitches it well above the Google Pixel 9a and the Samsung Galaxy A56 (both £499), and just short of the Google Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 (both £799).

This isn’t quite a full-on flagship phone, then, but it’s also far too expensive to be classed as a mid-ranger. It’s one of those ‘affordable flagship’ phones like the OnePlus 13R, the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, or the Nubia Z70 Ultra.

Incidentally, an even cheaper version of the Honor 400, the Honor 400 Lite, launched on April 22 at a cost of £249.99.

Honor 400 Pro review: specs

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHonor 400 Pro specs Header Cell – Column 0 Header Cell – Column 1

Dimensions:

160.8mm x 76.1mm x 8.1mm

Weight:

205g

Display:

6.7-inch 1.5K (2800 x 1280) up to 120Hz AMOLED

Chipset:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

RAM:

12GB

Storage:

512GB

OS:

Android 15 with MagicOS 9.0

Primary camera:

200MP (f/1.9)

Ultra-wide camera:

12MP (f/2.2)

Telephoto camera:

50MP with 3x zoom (f/2.4)

Front camera:

16MP

Battery:

5,300mAh

Charging:

100W wired, 50W wireless

Colors:

Lunar Grey, Midnight Black

Honor 400 Pro review: design

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

Silky matte glass back
Unusual curved-trapeze camera module
IP68 & IP69 dust and water resistance

With the Honor 400 Pro, Honor has dropped the distinctive Casa Milá-inspired camera module of the Honor 200 Pro in favor of a kind of rounded trapezium shape (a trapercle?). It’s a little wonky-looking, though I quite like the unorthodox camera configuration.

Otherwise, Honor has retained the basic look of its affordable flagship range – unlike the regular Honor 400, which has contracted a serious case of the iPhones.

This means that the Honor 400 Pro retains its gently rounded look, with 2.5D glass to the front and back – the latter in a pleasingly silky-to-the-touch finish. The aluminum frame, too, curves around gently, resulting in a phone that sits comfortably in the hand.

These curves also serve to disguise the fact that the Honor 400 is a fairly big phone, with a thickness of 8.1mm (the Honor 400 is 7.3mm) and a relatively heavy weight of 205g (vs 184g).

This time around, Honor has fitted its almost-flagship with both IP68 and IP69 certification. That’s quite an advance on the Honor 200 Pro, which only managed an IP65 rating.

The Honor 400 Pro is available in just two colors: Lunar Grey and Midnight Black. Not the most inspiring selection, it has to be said, but they do look nice and professional, which is kind of the name of the game here.

Honor 400 Pro review: display

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

6.7-inch quad-curved 120Hz OLED display
3,840Hz PWM dimming
5,000 nits peak brightness

Honor has really knocked it out of the park with the displays in the Honor 400 range this year. In the Honor 400, you’re getting a 6.7-inch OLED with a just-so 2800 x 1280 resolution and a 120Hz peak refresh rate.

That’s fractionally smaller than last year’s 6.78-inch screen, but I defy anyone to portray this as meaningful. Not when the peak brightness has been boosted from an already-excellent 4,000 nits in the Honor 200 Pro to 5,000 nits here.

This top-end figure applies to limited HDR scenarios, of course. With autobrightness switched off, I recorded a maximum brightness of around 600 nits. That’s decent enough, though it’s about half what the Pixel 9 can manage.

Color accuracy is superb, at least when you drop the slightly over-the-top Vivid color mode and select Normal instead.

The Honor 400 Pro display also supports an elevated PWM dimming rate of 3840Hz, just like the Honor 200 Pro before it. This helps reduce eye strain by lowering flicker at lower brightness levels. That’s something Samsung and Google continue to overlook.

The main differences between this screen and the Honor 400’s relate to small aesthetic choices. The Pro Display curves away at the edges, though this didn’t interfere with content in any way, nor did it lead to any unintended presses.

Slightly more bothersome is the longer display notch, which crams in depth-sensing capabilities at the expense of a little real estate. If you like to take your video content full screen, you’re more likely to be bothered by this, but it didn’t trouble me too much.

Honor 400 Pro review: cameras

(Image credit: Future)

200MP main (f/1.9)
50MP 3x telephoto (f/2.4)
12MP ultra-wide macro (f/2.2)

Honor has really ramped up its camera offering with the Honor 400 series this year. The headline event for the Honor 400 Pro is a new 200MP AI Main Camera, which packs a large 1/1.4-inch sensor, an f/1.9 aperture, and OIS.

We’ll get into the ‘AI’ part of that main camera soon enough, but at a basic level this camera takes sharp, contrasty shots in most situations. You can choose from three basic looks depending on whether you want your shots to look natural, punched up for social media, or to take on a certain artful film camera aesthetic.

Shots from this main sensor are slightly less impressive here on a £700 phone than they are on the £400 Honor 400, which shares the same component. There’s simply a lot more competition at this level. With that said, they’re still more than serviceable.

Unlike the Honor 400, this main sensor isn’t pulling double duty to provide all of your zoomed shots. There’s major assistance on that front from a dedicated 50MP telephoto camera, utilizing a Sony IMX856 sensor and aided by OIS, which grabs nice, sharp shots at its natural 3x zoom length and usable shots at 6x or even 10x.

Beyond that, you’ll find too much noise for this to be a viable option, though Honor’s AI image enhancement technology is one of the most impressive around. Stray beyond 30x, and the phone should offer you the chance to activate AI assistance. Head back into the picture after shooting and, after a minute or so of processing time, you’ll be given a much clearer shot.

The results here can vary wildly in effectiveness, and it certainly does no favors to the human face, while it can really miss the target with some fine details, particularly at the 50x maximum range. However, there’s no denying that this can turn out much improved hybrid zoom shots given the right subject and shooting conditions.

What I will say is that this 3x telephoto camera does change the tone of the shots from the main sensor. Moving from 2x (which crops in on the main sensor) to 3x sees a slightly jarring shift from a more natural look to a more vivid, dare I say exaggerated one. It’s not ruinous, but you don’t get the seamless transition of the truly top-level flagship phone cameras here.

(Image credit: Future)

The 12MP ultra-wide is the weakest camera of the three, bringing with it a marked drop-off in detail and contrast. Still, it remains a viable camera.

Going back to the matter of AI, perhaps the most attention-grabbing – if not exactly useful – feature of the Honor 400 Pro’s camera is Image to video. The Honor 400 series is the first to utilize this Google AI-driven feature, which essentially turns any normal still photo (it doesn’t even need to have been taken on the phone) into a five-second mini-video.

As with so many AI-driven features these days, the results aren’t universally brilliant, but some prove to be alarmingly convincing.

Using one shot that was sent to me of a chicken and a cat facing off under a table, this AI tool caused the chicken to strut forward while the cat casually twitched its ears. Another chicken scuttled in from off camera, while a second cat was revealed to be lying down behind that original chicken. Neither of those last two creatures even existed in the original shot.

It’s undeniably impressive, and even a little scary. But I have to ask myself when I’d use this feature beyond showing off the power of AI to my friends and family. So far, I’ve got nothing.

The 50MP front camera takes decent selfie shots, aided by an additional depth sensor for better portraits with nicely blurred, clearly delineated backgrounds.

Video capture extends to 4K and 60fps, which is another way in which the Pro stands out from the Honor 400 (which only hits 4K/30fps).

Honor 400 Pro review: camera samples

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Honor 400 Pro review: performance

(Image credit: Future)

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset
12GB RAM and 512GB storage

Performance has ostensibly taken an incremental bump over last year’s Honor 200 Pro. Out goes the stripped-back Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, in comes Qualcomm’s full-fat Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

However, that Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip turned out to be much less capable than its name initially suggested, dropping behind Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in graphical terms.

What we have here, then, is a phone that performs as well as the 2024 flagship crowd. That works out to be a pretty good level for a £700 phone, and indeed, this is the same component that runs the excellent OnePlus 13R. It also means that the Honor 400 Pro comfortably outperforms the entire Pixel 9 range.

Benchmark results are precisely what we’ve come to expect from this well-established chip, as is gaming performance. Genshin Impact will run fluidly on high settings, while demanding console racer GRID Legends speeds by at an appreciable lick.

The existence of the Nubia Z70 Ultra and the Poco F7 Ultra means that the Honor 400 Pro isn’t top of its weight class. Both of those rivals run on the superior Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, and only charge £649 for the privilege. However, Honor’s phone remains a very capable runner, backed by 12GB of RAM and a generous 512GB of internal storage.

Honor 400 Pro review: software

(Image credit: Future)

Magic OS 9.0, based on Android 15
Six years of OS updates and security patches

The Honor 400 Pro runs Magic OS 9.0, which is the company’s bespoke Android 15 skin. It’s the same basic software provision as that of the Honor Magic 7 Pro.

I think I can speak for the extended TechRadar family when I say that Honor’s UI isn’t our favorite. Bloatware continues to blight it, with unwanted preinstallations of Booking.com, Temu, ReelShort, and much more besides. Honor itself gives you duplicate App Store and email apps, and a stack of its own tool apps.

While this is a take on Google’s Android, Honor seems to be far more inclined towards Apple’s iOS. Everything from the split notification pane to the Settings menu and the lack of a dedicated app tray (by default) speaks to a fondness for Apple’s mobile operating system. Even the icons and the Settings menu are designed in a way that will be familiar to anyone who’s used an iPhone recently.

(Image credit: Future)

You even get a version of Apple’s Dynamic Island, here called Magic Capsule, which offers little widget-like bubbles of information around the extended selfie notch. With that said, it’s an undeniably useful way of surfacing media controls, timers, and the like, and Honor is far from the only Android manufacturer to follow Apple’s lead in this way.

Indeed, Magic OS, for all its clutter and bloat, remains a very functional and extremely snappy UI. Magic Portal is a power user’s dream, providing an easy way to drag text and images between apps. The knuckle gesture shortcut for circling text in this way isn’t 100% reliable, but you can get used to it.

Topping off Honor’s somewhat mixed software provision is a commendably strong commitment to six years of OS updates and security patches. Only Google and Samsung do this better with their respective seven-year promises.

What’s more, Honor has committed to providing an Android 16 update before the end of 2025, which isn’t something you see too often.

Honor 400 Pro review: battery life

(Image credit: Future)

5,300mAh silicon-carbon battery
100W wired charging
50W wireless charging

Honor seems intent on pushing battery and charging technology in its phones. The Honor 400 Pro gets a meaty 5,300mAh battery, which falls comfortably north of the 5,000mAh average – if not quite as far north as the OnePlus 13R and the Nubia Z70 Ultra, both of which hit the giddy heights of 6,000mAh.

It’s sufficient to get the Honor through a full day of heavy use with remaining charge to spare. Indeed, a moderate day with around four hours of screen-on time left me with more than 60% left in the tank. Average use in a fairly consistent network environment will get you two days on a single charge, no problem.

Talking of charging, Honor goes harder than it probably needs to here. There’s 100W wired charging support that’s seemingly able to get you from empty to 51% in just 15 minutes.

I say ‘seemingly’ because Honor, like most modern manufacturers, no longer bundles in a charger. Without one of Honor’s SuperCharge chargers to hand, I was unable to put those claims to the test.

Ditto for the claim of 50W wireless charging support. It’s good to see, but you’ll need one of the brand’s own SuperCharge wireless chargers to hit that maximum speed.

Should I buy the Honor 400 Pro?

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHonor 400 Lite score card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Design

The Honor 400 Pro isn’t the prettiest phone on the market, but it’s more distinctive than the rest of the range and it’s very well built.

4 / 5

Display

Honor’s display is sharp, bright, and color-accurate, with an appreciable focus on eye health.

4.5 / 5

Performance

It’s not quite a top performer, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 continues to do a good job.

4 / 5

Camera

The 200MP main camera takes good shots in all conditions, while the dedicated 3x telephoto is a competent performer. Honor’s AI features are a little hit and miss, but can be very impressive.

4 / 5

Battery

With a large(ish) 5,300mAh battery supplying two days of use, and rapid 100W wired/50 wireless charging support, the Honor 400 is very well equipped.

4 / 5

Software

Honor’s Magic OS remains cluttered and a little too beholden to iOS, but it’s fast and functional, and Honor’s new six-year update promise is very competitive.

3.5 / 5

Value

You’re getting a solid phone with some unique features at a low price.

4 / 5

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Honor 400 Pro review: also consider

The Honor 400 Pro isn’t the only affordable flagship phone on the market. Here are some of the better alternatives to consider.

How I tested the Honor 400 Pro

Review test period = 1 week
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, Samsung 65W power adapter

First reviewed: May 2025

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May 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

TMNT: Tactical Takedown Review – A Bite-Sized Saturday Morning Romp

by admin May 22, 2025

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are in the midst of, pardon the pun, a video game renaissance. In the last few years alone we’ve received the excellent retro compilation Cowabunga Collection, the retro-style brawler Shredder’s Revenge, and the Hades-inspired roguelike Splintered Fate. Not since their breakout success on Saturday morning cartoons have the turtles been so ubiquitous in games, but this time around, developers are more emboldened to experiment with different game styles. Enter TMNT: Tactical Takedown, a grid-based tactics game that feels both authentically nostalgic and like creative new ground for the heroes. While it suffers slightly from a limited scope, the short adventure is a great time while it lasts.

Tactical Takedown is presented with a clean, bright visual style reminiscent of the old Saturday morning cartoon. The turtles’ beaks are rounded just like you drew on your Trapper Keeper during geometry class. But this story takes place well after the original series–Splinter and Shredder are both dead, and the boys’ relationship has grown contentious as they’ve all gone in different directions and coped with the loss. The combination of Saturday morning aesthetics with this new story premise make this feel like a progression of that continuity and an opportunity to show us something new.

It’s also the conceit for the game’s core mechanic, which limits you to one turtle at a time as you fight your way through legions of Foot Clan goons. Objectives are usually to survive a certain number of turns or to defeat certain starred enemies. The stages are isometric grids like you’ve seen in lots of tactics games, but limiting you to one character at a time means a lot of focus on prioritization and crowd control. You’re always outnumbered, but they’re always outmatched. The stages are designed with a particular turtle in mind, which is explained by the story: Donatello is investigating happenings underground, so each of his stages take place in the sewer, while Raphael’s take place across the rooftops, and so on. These differences are mostly cosmetic, but some are more substantial. Hopping along rooftops of a Raphael stage requires you to reach the edge of one roof to clear another, for example, and Donatello’s sewer stages are rife with toxic waste which is, thankfully, purple.

Like the stages, the power sets of the turtles are neatly differentiated according to their personalities, which is a heck of a trick considering they all need to be capable of handling waves of enemies on their own. Michelangelo is particularly acrobatic, as his abilities focus mostly on leaping over enemies to do damage and juggle them. Raph, meanwhile, is super aggressive, gaining an extra action point every time he KOs an enemy. Leonardo has very limited range but he’s a powerhouse, since each enemy he KOs gives him a stack of “Radical” energy to make his next attack stronger. My personal favorite, in the cartoon and this game, was Donatello, who has extended reach thanks to his bo staff, along with a stun bomb that electrifies a section of floor and makes it deadly ground against enemies. Paired with his kunai, which can stun an enemy into staying in place, he’s the most defensive fighter, able to turn the battlefield hazardous and then force enemies to stay put.

And while the battlefields would seem to be similar to any other tactics game, this TMNT iteration gives them a kinetic twist. The stages themselves “mutate” over time, as new areas of the battlefield open up and others fall away. Anyone (including you) stuck in a red zone when it cycles out is instantly killed, and this clever twist encourages you to keep moving. Other times, hazards like cars will drive across the field, damaging anything in their path. You can even sometimes knock enemies off the edges of stages.

It’s a tactics game that feels infused with the spirit of the classic arcade brawlers, even down to a giant “GO!” appearing on-screen when a piece of the level is about to cycle out. Leonardo’s stages, which largely take place across subway tunnels, are the best example of the concept. You’ll be fighting among benches at the station, and then see a subway car pull up, move into it, and then sense the train “speed” away when the station disappears.

The story focuses on the turtles’ frustration with each other, and it’s relatable without ever feeling too self-serious. The writing gets at the heart of their relationships, showing that they have real affection for each other even if they tend to get on each others’ nerves. And it captures the characters themselves very well, like how underneath the gruff exterior Raph is a big soft-shell for his brothers.

The story of bickering brothers reconciling to take on a threat to the city is predictable, but well done. However, the gameplay application of it felt somewhat underwhelming. When the turtles do join forces, you’re still just playing as a single character. Tactical Takedown finds a clever and heartfelt way to illustrate the idea, but it still felt like a head-fake from what the game had been building up to. This may just be a product of its limited scope, but I had been envisioning coming up with complex strategies that would reward my familiarity with all four turtles’ abilities. Instead, what I got was essentially a single super-powered combo character.

TMNT Tactical Takedown

Gallery

Similarly, the ability to swap loadouts feels half-baked. You can purchase extra abilities for the turtles in the shop, using points accrued from your campaign missions. But the shop is never front-and-center in the campaign menu, so it’s very easy to miss it entirely while making your way through the missions. I bought a few abilities but mostly made my way through the campaign using the default kits. I never felt like I needed to really shift my strategy or try different abilities, because the missions were perfectly doable without using the shop at all. The handful of options for each turtle seemed aimed at giving each of them a secondary strategic hook, but they didn’t feel vital.

Imagine sitting on the floor in front of your TV watching the pilot episode for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the 1990s, and that’s how it feels to play TMNT: Tactical Takedown. All the elements are there, you had a great time while it lasted, but you can sense it’s really the rock-solid foundation for something much grander. The game itself is a great distillation of some radical concepts, but it also feels like it’s straining against its own limitations. Nonetheless, this is a great start to what I can only hope becomes another way to spend time with the turtles.

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May 22, 2025 0 comments

Dyson Supersonic r hair dryer in reviewer's hand, with Powerful air attachment

Product Reviews

Dyson Supersonic r review: an unusual hair dryer that’s perfect for precision styling

by admin May 22, 2025

Why you can trust TechRadar

We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Dyson Supersonic r: two-minute review

The Dyson Supersonic r began life as a professional-only hair dryer, but is now available to the general public. It looks unlike any other hair dryer on the market; there’s no barrel to speak of, but instead the handle curves to a right angle, so the whole thing looks like a pipe – or a lower case “r”, if you like.

I tested the model to see how it compares to the rest of the best hair dryers on the market, and overall I was impressed. It’s lightweight and comfortable to hold, and the unusual shape makes it super-easy to direct the airflow with precision, even in awkward spots such as the back of your head. As I’d expect from Dyson, it’s also impressively powerful, making speedy work of rough-drying hair.

The compromise of the design is that in order to achieve the ultra-streamlined shape, Dyson has shifted some of the mechanics into the plug, which in turn is so chunky, it likely won’t fit into some sockets. I also found the controls – which are small and positioned on the back of the handle – slightly fiddly to use, and a little too easy to accidentally press while styling. It feels like a design that would work just fine for professionals, who have a clear view of the buttons as they hold the dryer in front of themselves; but it’s a little awkward for drying your own hair.

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The magnetic attachments are thoughtfully designed and work well. Sensors enable the dryer to recognize which attachment is snapped on, and automatically adjust to your last-used temperature and airflow settings, which helps streamline the styling process.

Price-wise, it will come as a surprise to no one that we’re in ultra-premium territory here. While the Supersonic r’s build quality is impeccable, and the design innovative, some customers might find themselves more inclined to spend that amount on the Dyson Supersonic Nural, with its hi-tech Scalp Protect mode and ability to auto-pause when it’s put down (both of which are absent from the Supersonic r). Most of the Supersonic r’s appeal is in that lightweight and streamlined shape, and on that front it really is a standout option, and unique on the market, too.

That’s the short version; read on for my full Dyson Supersonic r review.

Dyson Supersonic r Professional Hair Dryer (Gold) at Best Buy for $569.99

Dyson Supersonic r review: price & availability

List price: $569.99 / £449.99 / AU$799
Launched: April 2025 (consumer version)
Available: Worldwide

The original version of the Dyson Supersonic r hit the market in February 2024, but it was available to professional hairstylists only. The consumer version reviewed here launched in April 2025.

At list price it costs $569.99 / £449.99 / AU$799. That’s firmly in the premium bracket for hair dryers, and one of the priciest on the market right now – possibly beaten only by Dyson’s other dedicated dryer, the Supersonic Nural, which comes in at $499.99 / £399.99 / AU$749.

However, the outlay is perhaps a little easier to justify with the latter, because the Nural offers several features not found in other models on the market, whereas the Supersonic r, for the most part, is simply a very efficient hair dryer.

As I’d expect from Dyson, build quality is top-notch, and there’s plenty of meticulous research and engineering that’s gone into the development of this dryer. It looks and feels premium, and as mentioned, it’s incredibly well suited to precision styling. Nevertheless, if the outlay is too much, there are plenty of excellent dryers available for a far lower price.

Value for money score: 3.5 out of 5

Dyson Supersonic r specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Wattage:

1,700W

Dimensions (L x H x W):

9.4 x 1.5 x 3.1in / 24 x 3.8 x 8cm

Weight:

Confirming

Airflow settings:

Temperature settings:

3 + cool shot

Extra modes:

None

Cord length:

9.2ft / 2.8m

Dyson Supersonic r review: design

Lightweight, with a unique, ultra-streamlined shape
Some mechanics have been shifted into the plug, which is enormous
Magnetic attachments with setting memory

The Dyson Supersonic r looks nothing like the Supersonic that helped cement Dyson’s status in the haircare market. In fact, it doesn’t really look like a hairdryer at all – it looks like a pipe. It’s tubular in build, with a top end that curves to a stubby right-angle.

The only difference compared to the professional version is that the cable is shorter. It’s now 9.2ft / 2.8m, which is still up there with the longest on the consumer market.

(Image credit: Future)

That diminutive build is made possible by some redesigned mechanics. On the inside you’ll find a more streamlined air heater than the one found in the regular Supersonic hair dryers. Ten heater foils follow the curve of the dryer, apparently to offer more consistent temperatures, with no hot or cold spots. That sits alongside a Dyson Hyperdymium motor (unconfirmed whether this is the same / a version of the Hyperdymium motor that powers today’s best Dyson vacuums).

(Image credit: Future)

Dyson has also redesigned the plug socket, which now “incorporates primary electronics” that would otherwise have been inside the dryer itself (it looks very similar to the one included with the Dyson Airstrait.) That shifts extra weight away from your arm, but it does mean the plug is now pretty chunky – the main part measures 4.8in / 12.2cm (excluding the wrap at the top of the cord), with a part that protrudes downwards from the pins and lies flat to the wall. If you have power outlets that sit close to the floor or above protruding baseboards, it might not fit.

There’s a removable filter cage, with a flashing yellow LED to tell you when it needs cleaning.

(Image credit: Future)

The consumer Supersonic r is one of the first Dyson haircare gadgets to introduce the brand’s new colorways (currently being rolled out across the full range). Rather than the tropical tones we’re used to seeing, it’s available in the more delicate Ceramic Pink and Jasper Plum.

Controls

In terms of settings, there’s a rocker switch to increase and decrease temperature, and another for windspeed. There are three levels for each, indicated by lights. There’s also a separate power button. All can be found on the rear of the handle. Round the front, beneath the curve of the dryer, is a cool-shot button.

(Image credit: Future)

Attachments

In terms of attachments, there’s an impressive selection. Compatible attachments include a Professional Concentrator, Powerful Air Attachment, Gentle Air Attachment, Flyaway Attachment, Smoothing Nozzle, Diffuser and Wide-Tooth Comb. Beware, though, what’s included in the box varies by region.

Personally, I’m a fan of the way the model is being offered in the UK: just as with the Dyson Airwrap i.d., you can choose between a Curly+Coily Supersonic r and a Straight+Wavy one. Both have a Powerful Air Attachment, Professional Concentrator and Flyaway Attachment, then the one for curls adds a Wide-Tooth Comb and Diffuser, and the other swaps in the Smoothing Nozzle and Gentle Air Attachment. That means you don’t end up with a bunch of attachments that aren’t suitable for your hair type, gathering dust.

(Image credit: Future)

As is standard for Dyson haircare products, the add-ons attach via magnets. And like the Supersonic Nural, they contain RFID sensors, which means the Supersonic r knows which one is attached. The recommended settings will kick in as default, and if you change them then the hair dryer will remember your preferences next time you snap that attachment back on.

Dyson Supersonic r review: performance

Comfortable to hold and incredibly easy easy to direct airflow
Controls a little fiddly and can be pressed accidentally
Attachment setting memory helps streamline the styling process

Dyson describes the r as being geared towards “fast, precision drying”, with the unusual design making it easier to reach areas that would otherwise be tricky to tackle – namely, the back of your head. On test, that absolutely held true. It’s comfortable to hold and extremely easy to direct; perfect if you want to be able to dry with precision. My only slight complaint is that I found the handle a touch too short.

Airflow is nice and powerful, drying my hair quickly; a rough-dry won’t take long at all. However, the Supersonic r is really geared towards more complex styling tasks, where its light weight and easy-to-direct airflow come into their own.

The Supersonic Nural has a feature where it will automatically drop into low-powered mode if you put it down. That’ isn’t present here, and I missed it, although I will concede that it’s a nice-to-have rather than an essential.

(Image credit: Future)

Moving on to the controls, the design of which I was a little less sold on. The switches to adjust speed and temperature are tiny and a little fiddly to use, and the positioning on the back of the handle means they proved fairly easy to press accidentally. I feel like they’re better suited to professional use – where the person drying the hair can easily see the buttons; they’re a little fiddly if you’re trying to dry your own hair.

I was far more impressed with the cool-shot button, which sits on the inside of the handle, where it’s comfortable to depress for setting your style.

(Image credit: Future)

Attachment performance

All the attachments are well designed and good quality, and the magnetic connection feels secure in use. Usefully, all the attachments have areas that stay cool, so you can comfortably remove them immediately after using if switching to another, for example.

Attachment memory is a welcome addition. It helps streamline the drying process, and means less fiddling about with controls as you dry. It will prove most useful for people who use multiple attachments throughout their styling routine. I guess it might also help with hair health, if it makes you less likely to default to “hot and fast” for everything.

(Image credit: Future)

Curly haired users might miss the two-part Wave+Curl Diffuser, which was introduced with the Supersonic Nural but is absent here – you’re just getting the standard all-in-one option instead.

A special shout-out should go to the Flyaway Attachment, which uses the Coanda effect (the same thing that makes the Airwrap work) to attract and smooth your locks once you’ve finished styling. It’s unique to Dyson’s dryers, and it made a noticeable difference to the sleekness of my hair.

Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

Should you buy the Dyson Supersonic r?

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Attribute

Notes

Rating

Value

Very much a premium buy, and while the quality is outstanding, the list of special features is relatively short.

3.5 / 5

Design

Lightweight with a unique, ultra-streamlined shape and a wide range of well-designed attachments. Plug is very bulky, though.

4 / 5

Performance

Powerful airflow that’s extremely easy to direct, while automatic attachment recognition saves time. Buttons are a little fiddly.

4.5 /5

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Dyson Supersonic r: alternatives to consider

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

Dyson Supersonic r (reviewed)

Dyson Supersonic Nural

Laifen Mini

Wattage:

1,700W

1,600W

1,100W

Dimensions (L x H x W):

9.4 x 1.5 x 3.1in / 24 x 3.8 x 8cm

10 x 4 x 3.1in / 24.5 x 9.7 x 7.8cm

8.6 x 3. x 2.5in / 22 x 7.7 x 6.3cm

Weight:

Confirming

1.9lbs / 680g (with cord)

0.7lbs / 299g (no cord)

1.1lbs / 482g (with cord)

Airflow settings:

Temperature settings:

3 + cool shot

2 + cool shot

Extra modes:

None

Scalp protect

Child mode, auto-temperature cycle

Cord length:

9.2ft / 2.8m

8.5 ft / 2.6m

5.9ft / 1.8m

How I tested the Dyson Supersonic r

I used the Dyson Supersonic r as my primary hair dryer for over a month. During this time, I tested all the settings and explored the different attachment options. I paid particular attention to how easy it was to use, and how efficient it was at drying and styling my hair. I compared my experience with other hair dryers I’ve used.

Read more about how we test

Dyson Supersonic r Professional Hair Dryer: Price Comparison

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May 22, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Ocypus Iota C70 case review: digital display and low noise levels

by admin May 22, 2025

Why you can trust Tom’s Hardware

Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Today’s review features a cooling newcomer I’ve just begun to become acquainted with – Ocypus, which was founded in Shenzhen in 2023. We last covered their Iota A62 WH air cooler and found it to have good thermals combined with a nice all-white aesthetic and digital temperature display.

Today’s review will cover their Iota C70 computer case. This case is a bit smaller than most we’ve reviewed recently, which might appeal to those looking for a not-so-large form factor. It features a wrap-around design to show off your PC’s inner components, low noise levels, and – like the A62 WH Air Cooler – a digital display for monitoring GPU or CPU thermals.

Will Ocypus Iota C70 make our list of best PC cases? Let’s take a look at the specifications and features of the case, then we’ll look at it in detail and wrap up our review with thermal testing.

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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Product Specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Standard Motherboard Support

ATX, Micro ATX, ITX

Back Connect Motherboard Support

ATX, Micro ATX, ITX

Color

Black or white

Type

Mid-tower

Case Dimensions (D x W x H)

425 x 295 x 388 mm / 16.7 x 11.6 x 15.3 inches

Drive Support

Up to 2x 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives supported

PCIe Expansion Slots

Six

Fan Support

Up to nine fans

Pre-Installed fans

6x 120mm ARGB fans

CPU Cooler Clearance

175mm

GPU Clearance

400mm

Vertical GPU Support

PSU Length

Up to 205 mm (with drive bay installed) Up to 410 mm (without drive bay)

Radiator Support

360 mm supported in top or bottom, 240mm supported on the side

MSRP

$129.99 US

Other features

Digital display for monitoring thermals

Features of Ocypus Iota C70

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

▶️ Build quality

The build quality of this case seems pretty sturdy, I didn’t notice any obvious weaknesses while testing this product. I expect this from most cases, especially those which cost over $100 USD.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

▶️ Side view

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The look of the side view is clean, but there’s not too much to comment about, as this case is more compact than most. The biggest thing that stands out to me is back-connect motherboard support, indicated by the holes in the motherboard area. At the bottom and side are intake fans, and there’s a standard exhaust fan at the rear.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

▶️ Radiator and fan support

This case can be equipped with up to ten fans. Up to 360 mm-sized radiators can be installed at the top, bottom, and side of the case.

▶️ Dust filters, Bottom View

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The case is supported by two metal bars with two rubber feet on them, to prevent it from sliding.

One nice thing about the Iota C70 case is the dust filters – all four of them are magnetically attached and are easily removed for cleaning.

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

▶️ Rear side view, storage, and cable management features

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The first thing that struck me when I looked at the back of this case is that the cabling is a bit of a mess, and it doesn’t offer much in terms of cable management options. While I suppose this won’t matter most of the time as you’ll have the cover on it, some will find this annoying.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

At the bottom of the case, there is an included ARGB and PWM controller hub, which many users will find handy. However, it does not have any expansion slots available – as all of the headers are occupied by the pre-installed fans. This might annoy users interested in adding fans to the top of the case for increased thermal effectiveness, but honestly you’d be better off just installing an AIO liquid cooler if that’s your concern.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

There’s also a drive bay in the top corner that supports up to two drives of either 2.5-inch or 2.5-inch size.

▶️ Front view

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

As this is a wrap-around case, the front has a glass panel in order to give you a full view of the inner components. The main thing that stands apart from competitors is the golden O in the top right corner. At first you might think it’s the power button, but it’s actually a digital display that allows you to monitor GPU or CPU thermals when the system is powered on.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The front display is designed to show a temperature reading and nothing else. As such, there are limited customization options. To change what the front display measures, you’ll have to download the control software. The process of doing this might scare you at first, because the first time you boot your computer into windows after plugging the case display’s USB header into your motherboard, the computer will automatically open your default web browser and download a zip file from a seemingly strange website. The zip file contains the control software, which is very simple.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

You have three sets of options to choose from. The first is the ability to turn the display on or off. The second is the ability to display readings in Celsius or Fahrenheit. Finally, you can choose to display the temperature of your CPU or GPU. There are no further ways to tweak the display.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

▶️ IO Panel

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The included IO panel is directly above the digital display. It includes your standard power button, audio jack, two USB-A ports, and one USB-C port. It also includes a button to change ARGB lighting settings on the fly.

▶️ Rear view

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

From the rear view, you’ll notice that the power supply is mounted vertically, this is typical of many dual-chambered cases, to keep them from being even wider. It supports six PCIe expansion slots and has a cover for the slots.

▶️ Included accessories

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

There’s not much in terms of included accessories. You have the standard screws and motherboard studs, a few zip ties, replacement panel securing parts, and a tool to easily remove or install motherboard studs using a screwdriver.

Thermal tests, test setup, and testing methodology

Swipe to scroll horizontally

CPU

Intel i9-14900K

CPU Cooler

Ocypus Iota A62 WH dual-tower cooler, configured with a single fan

System fans

Default Pre-installed fans Ocypus Gamma F12 BK ARGB

Motherboard

ASUS Z790-P Prime Wifi

GPU

MSI RTX 4070Ti Super Ventus 3X OC

Our thermal tests are presented to give you more information about the product’s performance, but aren’t intended as the sole judgment of the chassis. The style, price, features, and noise levels of a case should also be considered, and we all have different preferences. What I might like in a case, you might not, and that’s OK. My goal with these reviews is to give everyone, no matter their preferences, enough information to decide whether or not a product is right for them.

With today’s review, I’ve updated the configuration and testing methods I use for testing compared to previous reviews. For example, I used to use a single tower air cooler, but I’ve decided to use a dual-tower air cooler in case reviews going forward.

The measurements I’ve benchmarked this case against focus on the efficiency of the case’s thermal transfer.

We’ll test the system with its pre-installed fans at full speed and noise normalized at 38.9 dBA. For standardized testing, we’ll show one set of benchmarks with Ocypus fans set at full speeds for maximum potential. The other set of benchmarks will show performance with fan speeds set to 30% for those who prefer silently running systems.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

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May 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Monster Train 2 review | Rock Paper Shotgun

by admin May 21, 2025

Monster Train 2 review

A juicy and reasonably inventive roguelike card-battling sequel that will devour all the commutes you throw at it.

Developer: Shiny Shoe
Publisher: Big Fan Games
Release: May 21st 2025
On: Windows
From: Steam
Price: $25/£21/€20
Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7 12700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060, Windows 11

The roguelike deckbuilder is a remorseless evil that strives to colonise every dream ever dreamt by the human brain. It is a sparkling, shuffling plague, germinated by Slay The Spire, that threatens to absorb every other mortal pastime, from space travel through poker to carpentry. We must find a way to neutralise the entity before it assimilates us all. But in the words of the oldest proverb: just one more go. Just one more go, before I dissipate raging into that goodnight. Just one more run, before I play all those shortform avant garde releases in my Itch.io wallet.

If Monster Train 2 were the last roguelike deckbuilder I ever played, I would consider myself fairly pleased, and also very relieved. While not a huge departure from the game that plunged Matt Cox (RPS in peace) into unholy raptures, it’s a great pick if you’re fond of numbers going up and realising it’s 1.30am and that you are now too addled by card synergies to sleep. You do not have to like or understand trains, but it’s a plus.

As with Monster Train, Monster Train 2 is about riding a demon locomotive through an alternating series of battles and upgrade or customisation opportunities. In the first game, you were trying to oust the angelic hosts from the heart of hell. In this one, the angels and devils have bandied together to chase off the Titans, who’ve taken possession of Heaven.

There’s a certain amount of plot lodged in the crevices of the lobby town. This worried me at first – character development? In my progression system? – but it mostly consists of gentle sitcom sketches in which dragons complain about their husbands. Rest assured that none of it will keep you from your precious synergies. While embarked on your celestial commute, you will also bumble into random storylets that sometimes offer boons plucked from other roguelike deckbuilders, such as Balatro. The roguebuilding decklike singularity is nigh.

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The game’s big draw versus those other turn-based card battlers is that it’s actually three card battles in parallel, each feeding into the next like cunningly enfolded lanes in a tower defence game. During each skirmish, you pop unit cards on the lower three floors of your train to protect the all-important pyre on your fourth floor. The pyre is the source of points you’ll spend to play cards each turn. If it gets smashed to bits, your run is over.

Following a deployment phase, waves of enemies appear at the bottom (mostly) and travel upwards through the train, fighting a single round of combat per floor. This continues until the final assault from the local boss, which dispenses with the single-round-per-floor parameter – the boss must clear each floor of defenders before moving on. While units do battle automatically at the end of each turn, generally targeting the first enemy in the opposing line-up, you can intervene manually using spell cards that, for example, coat critters in Pyrogel to multiply damage received, or dazzle them with stardust so that they miss a turn.

It may seem a rickety, unintuitive format on paper. In practice, it’s wonderful. The overall challenge is to divide your cards and points scientifically between floors. An obvious gambit is to stock the bottom floor with your tankiest, most damaging cards to bollard the onslaught and saddle enemies with debuffs early on – there are plenty of attackers that power-up as they fight or climb. But the one-round-per-floor setup ensures that you can’t rely on any single floor. Besides, if that over-fortified foundation crumbles, the other, under-crewed layers will probably fall as well.

Enemy waves also form deviously alternating combinations of unit types, which thwart efforts to optimise any particular floor. Your heavies in Second Class might excel at melting juggernauts, but they’ll struggle against the hordes of fungus making their way back from the cafeteria.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Big Fan Games

Monster Train 2 retains all this curious, rattling magic, but fills out the gaps with a bunch of new card categories and interactables, probably derived from careful observation of the first game’s players. There’s now a choice of starting pyres, with varying stats and modifiers. Some unit cards have or may acquire abilities, which essentially give you a free move: these include conjuring back the last spell you cast, and body-slamming targets into the rearguard.

New equipment cards can be clapped on friend and foe alike to, for example, harm assailants based on the wearer’s max health, or chip-damage a unit when they shift between floors. I’ve found that last one especially useful in the case of more agile bosses, who roam around like disgruntled ticket collectors before committing to the push.

Room cards, meanwhile, help you specialise floors. Turn one into a fighting arena and you can farm the small fry for easy pyre points to spend on expensive cards elsewhere. Introduce a planetarium and you’ll amplify any magic you weave within. I have never been brave enough to play the burning room that does 50 points of damage to units inside, but there’s probably a way to hack the card chemistry so that the incendiary conditions actually benefit your defenders.

All of these ins and outs are shaped by the five factions, each a reworking and elaboration of elements from the original game. You pick two as your primary and secondary clan for each run, which dictates your starting champion card – a named unit with a choice of upgrade paths – and the kinds of cards you’ll acquire at rest stops between battles.

The factions are a treat, each a verdant entanglement of playstyles. I will spoil the workings of just two. The strength of the Lunar Coven waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon. As such, victory often comes from delicately timing your most powerful cards, but the hitch is that some cards are more potent when the moon is full, others when it’s in shadow.

The dragons of Pyreborn, meanwhile, are all about gold – grabbing fat stacks early in the run, melting it down into lobbable slag (“Make It Rain”), or jealously hoarding it for buffs. The first time I beat Monster Train 2 it was thanks to the Pyreborn’s Greed Dragons, who accrue health and attack points based on how many dragon eggs you’ve acquired. You can hatch those eggs for artifacts, which may be sensible when you’re trundling up to the last boss, but I consider that a poor return for sacrificing a train’s worth of Smaughs.

Buffs! Buffs? Buffs. As with many a Spirelike, much of Monster Train 2’s enchantment comes from “breaking” the combat, which is to say, violently skewing the starting card capacities in ways doubtless envisaged by the designers using an artful compound of hallucinogens and spreadsheets. A case study: here is how you transform Ekka, High Witch of the Coven with a proud total of five attack and health points, into a titan slayer. First, you’ll want to pick either the Celestial Spellweaver or Silver Empress upgrade paths, each of which steadily accrues magical power, or Conduit. The Spellweaver gains it for every spell you cast on the same floor, while the Empress gets a massive boost while the moon is full.

You’ll probably want to deploy Ekka alongside a Lunar Priestess, who performs a ritual each turn that slops yet more spelljuice over friendly units. Now, hand the High Witch a Moonlit Glaive that confers a “mageblade” multiplier based on all that pent-up sorcery. The result should be a champion who looks like an ailing fortune teller yet can somehow dish out 300+ damage a turn, mulching the chewiest of chthonic crusaders in a single hit – and that’s before you exploit the ludicrous multipliers for your spells on Ekka’s floor, afforded by her conduit level.

True, she still has a glass jaw, and true, if she cops it, your wizardly arsenal will be proportionately punier. But you can head off those risks by wedging her behind a Silent Sentinel that absorbs damage while making foes even more susceptible to spells.

I gaze upon my willowy Wiccan wrecking ball with boundless, aching pride and satisfaction. And then I start to feel like Bilbo Baggins regaining his senses after beating a large woodlouse to death in Mirkwood. The appeal of the roguelite deckbuilder is the joy of expressing your wit and invention through alchemical mastery of maths. At best, it is like improvising a tune in response to haphazard melodies, dancing your own composition into the cadences of enemies and bosses.

At worst, it is like doing times-tables with fancier graphics – not that much fancier, in the case of Monster Train 2, which is readable and digestible, but badly needs a more interesting colour scheme and some more creative character designs. And even at its best, there’s a necessary hollowness to it, as anybody who’s ever yielded 100 hours of day and night to such games will know. The randomisation element sinks its blood-crusted hook, even as the glittery card effects make no bones of the genre’s adjacency to casino slot machines. Run gives way to run gives way to run.

Still, that’s more of a wider, philosophical objection to the genre than a criticism of Monster Train 2 in particular. If you have no such hoity-toity qualms, this is as bountiful an experience as you could ask for. Each victorious raid on heaven produces a shower of unlockable cards and items that you can put immediately to the test. If you’re weary of raiding the main campaign for cards, there are bespoke puzzle-campaigns via dimensional portal back at the starting depot, where you can test out various overarching modifiers. Or, if you really trust the hand you’ve amassed, you can segue your victory directly into Endless mode and extend this roguelike railway unto infinity. Heaven is only a fleeting fiction, next to the protean immensity of the deck.

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Nexar Beam2 mini Dash Cam review: a mixed bag

by admin May 21, 2025

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Nexar Beam2 mini Dash Cam: two-minute review

I tried the original Nexar Beam dash cam around three years ago, but I seem to recall that it did everything I wanted it to do at the time. Things have moved on since then, though, and for the Beam2 mini Nexar has tweaked the design and features in a bid to stay up there with the best dash cams.

In fact, none of the latest crop of Beam models bear much resemblance to the original incarnation. The Nexar Beam2 Mini is my pick of these products – there are also Beam2 (road only) and Beam2 road and cabin model variants, plus an optional rear view camera.

The others are chunkier, and might suit folks with space on their windshields and the willingness to spend more for a beefier array of features. The Nexar Beam2 mini is right up my street though, especially when I need to fix it to the small screen of my sports car. I’m looking for compact, which was a key part of the appeal with the first edition.

However, the Nexar Beam2 mini isn’t quite as dinky as I’d anticipated, at 6.86 x 6.49 x 3.83 inches / 17.4 x 16.5 x 9.7cm. It feels quite hefty too, weighing in at 1.74lbs / 0.8kg, but that’s no bad thing, as it helps make the package feel like a quality purchase. Perhaps some of the additional weight comes from the internal storage, as there’s no microSD media card slot available on this model.

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This model features a landscape-oriented body design, with a 160-degree field of view lens that can be swiveled to get the view of the road suited to any type of vehicle. It attaches to the windshield in standard fashion, using a self-adhesive pad that sticks the base of the camera unit to the glass.

(Image credit: Future)

The Nexar Beam2 mini is available with 4G LTE connectivity, which means that it can deliver ‘always on’ performance including remote video live streaming. There’s 1080p resolution and internal storage of up to 256GB, though as mentioned there’s no external microSD storage. It features GPS tracking, a parking mode with real-time alerts plus 2.4/5GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and comes with an ODBII pass through connector cable, rather than a 12V plug for power.

Nexar offers the Beam2 mini with three different storage options: 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB, which offer recording storage times of 30 hours, 62 hours and 130 hours respectively. The internal storage can work harmoniously with Nexar’s unlimited cloud storage option, plus there’s the option to invest in an ongoing LTE Protection Plan that boosts this model’s appeal for just $9.99 (about £8) per month.

Due to its core ‘always on’ functionality, the Nexar Beam2 mini is ideally suited to folks who want to be sure they can keep tabs on their vehicle from anywhere, and at any time. The Nexar app helps here, enabling you to check in on your vehicle, as long as connectivity is retained. There are quirks, though, such as the need for a permanent connection, which can present power implications and add extra hassle during setup.

Performance is solid enough, and the features and functions do what they’re supposed to do. Nexar has tried to make purchasing the Beam2 mini as easy as possible too, with an array of plans to suit all budgets. There are cheap and cheerful models out there though, that offer greater plug-and-play simplicity, which might make the Nexar Beam2 mini seem a little too quirky for some needs.

Nexar Beam2 Mini Dash Cam: price and availability

Price starts at $149.95 / £113
There are three storage capacity variants: 64GB, 128GB and 256GB

The Nexar Beam2 mini is available in three storage variants. The base-level edition currently costs $149.95 / £113 (down from $199.95) and features 64GB of capacity. The 128GB model is $169.95 / £128, while the range tops out in terms of storage at 256GB, which costs $199.95 / £151.

An optional LTE Protection Plan is also available, and costs $9.99 per month or $71.90 annually, which at the time of writing represents a 40% discount. The latter delivers live streaming capability, unlimited cloud storage, a 24/7 Live Parking mode, real-time GPS tracking, and real-time emergency alerts too.

Nexar Beam2 Mini Dash Cam: specs

Swipe to scroll horizontallyNexar Beam2 Mini Dash Cam specs

Video

Front 1080p FHD

Field of view (FOV)

135 degrees front

Storage

Internal 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, Cloud

GPS

Yes

Parking mode

Yes, with constant ODBII power cable

App support

Nexar app

Dimensions

6.86 x 6.49 x 3.83 inches / 17.4 x 16.5 x 9.7cm

Weight

1.74lbs / 0.8kg

Battery

Yes

Nexar Beam2 Mini Dash Cam: Design

Slimline letterbox design and no screen
ODBII connector supplied for always-on power
Internal storage, with 64, 128 and 256GB versions

Anyone who needs something fairly compact will find the design of the Nexar Beam2 mini one of its most appealing aspects. This is a landscape-oriented box of tricks, with very little on its exterior to either fiddle with or go wrong. The design might not work for everyone, though, firstly because there’s no rear screen, so everything has to be done via the Nexar app. Second, until you have the app installed it’s quite tricky to get the angle of the lens correct.

The lens itself is housed in the front of the unit, and can be swiveled up or down, depending on the angle of the windshield in your vehicle. The power cable port is up on top of the unit though, which means it’s easy to get this out of the way during installation. The dash cam can be fitted to the windshield in the usual way, either using an anti-static film sheet first and sticking the adhesive mount to that, or directly to the glass itself. There’s no suction-cup arrangement though, and no removable option in the mount design either. Again, not for everyone.

(Image credit: Future)

There’s a small blue/green indicator light that flashes during setup and stays on when the camera is doing its thing. Power to the unit comes from a supplied ODBII connector setup, which is why this model is good if an ‘always on’ setup is required. However, the Nexar Beam2 Mini Dash Cam will also work if it’s plugged in via a sufficiently high-powered USB port, which widens its appeal somewhat, especially if a user doesn’t require constant surveillance. Don’t bother looking for a card slot though, because there isn’t one. My review unit came with a 64GB internal storage drive instead.

(Image credit: Future)

Nexar Beam2 Mini Dash Cam: Performance

Fiddly setup
Decent image and audio quality

I have to admit that initial setup and installation wasn’t as seamless as I’d hoped for. Sure, the power cable procedure is simple enough, just as long as you know where your ODBII connector is under the dash – these can be quite tricky to find in some vehicles. The Beam2 mini can be powered by a cable running into the 12V socket if preferred, although this isn’t supplied with the package, which only contains a ODBII adapter. Hard-wiring it is also an option, but you’ll need to pay for this additional accessory.

The main problem I had was connecting and verifying the app. Downloading it was easy enough, but the country code listings for inputting my number weren’t listed alphabetically. I then twigged Nexars lists by country codes on the right-hand side of the menu. Even then, with my country code and phone number entered, I couldn’t get a verification text to come through. Curiously, right after I’d tried this, I also got a couple of spam calls, so I’m hoping this was coincidental rather than anything to do with the Nexar setup process.

As it turned out, and after I got in touch with Nexar directly, I was told that there is currently an issue with UK cell phone companies blocking the verification codes. This appears to be a country-specific issue, so for US users this should hopefully not be an issue. A note on the Nexar website to explain this would have stopped me wasting a lot of time though.

(Image credit: Future)

One other thing that appears to be a potential issue, especially for anyone wanting to use the Nexar Beam2 mini in the UK, is that a strong mobile signal is needed for it to function correctly. As I drove off on my first journey, while the camera was doing its initial setup procedure, I kept on getting an audible alert suggesting I find a stronger cell phone signal. However, after a reboot, things seemed to settle down somewhat and the message stopped.

(Image credit: Future)

Maybe I was just unlucky, but the various teething troubles tainted my experience of the Nexar Beam2 Dash Cam somewhat. Nevertheless, this is a very decent dash camera, with results that left a positive impression. It’s great at capturing video in a wide variety of scenarios, and the audio quality seems really good too. Things look slightly less impressive on finer details, such as license plates, but this model is affordable, so some element of compromise is inevitable.

Should you buy the Nexar Beam2 mini Dash Cam?

(Image credit: Future)

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

How I tested the Nexar Beam2 Mini Dash Cam

I installed the dash cam in one test car for an initial period of two weeks
I used it for a wide range of journeys during the day and at night
I connected it to my phone and downloaded recordings to assess their quality

I was sent a loan package of the Beam2 mini Dash Cam by Nexar, which also provided me with the LTE Protection Plan for good measure. The camera was installed in a car I was testing at the time, and powered using the setup described in the review above. I also installed the Nexar app on an iPhone, which required me to follow a verification process that required the phone to receive a text in order to proceed.

I then tested the Beam2 mini over several days and in a variety of driving conditions, including local roads as well as larger highways. I was able to explore its capabilities in various weather conditions, including rainy days and in low-light as well as after dark.

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May 21, 2025 0 comments