Azurephile27

Joined 02/23/2012
  Super Member

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329 Posts

Play Far Cry 6 For Free This Weekend
Far Cry 6 is free to play this weekend. According to the Ubisoft website: "Access is available from Thursday 24 March 2022 (18:00 UTC) to Sunday 28 March 2022 (18:00 UTC). You can preload the game from Tuesday 22 March 2022 (19:00 UTC)." It's available for multiple platforms. If you need help accessing it you can check the following website or ask me and I'll see if I can help: https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/help/far-cry-6/gameplay/article/information-about-the-far-cry-6-free-weekend-march-2022/000101445?origin=search

If you're playing on PC I strongly suggest you do so via UPlay as it will let you download and install. At the moment Epic Games Store says it's "unavailable." (after 12AM EST and it's still "unavailable," but I'm playing it on UPlay.)

Quick note: HDR is a feature. I was impressed with my benchmark. The lowest FPS I got was about 66 (at 1440p), highest was just over 80 and avg was about 75. My PC is almost 3. I have an i7, 32GB RAM, NVME SSD, and a GTX 1660 (EVGA XC Gaming). GeForce Experience is recommending "optimal" settings which are lower than I have already set, so I suggest ignoring that. The game will detect your hardware and allow you to customize it.

Oh and there's a Ubisoft Spring Sale going on now until 3/31. This game is 50% off (it's never been cheaper), so it's a great time to try it out and get it while it's on sale.

Also, this is a co-op game, so if you want to play together on UPlay, feel free to let me know. As usual my username is "gregopeck." If you want to play on EGS I can reinstall it for that platform when it's available there.

Be sure to check the embedded video as it's a "Game Overview Trailer." It's nearly 7 minutes long, but worth watching if you're interested or unsure.

Perhaps the most appealing thing about this game in my opinion is that it stars Giancarlo Esposito. I've only seen him as Moff Gideon (The Mandalorian) and he did such an amazing job!

I've played Far Cry Primal and liked it. I've tried Far Cry 3 (which I got for free), but didn't get far (hahah "far") with it (I ran out of ammo). I also tried Blood Dragon, but didn't get far with it either, I didn't really like it.

Let me know what you think. Are you planning to play this weekend? Are you a fan of the series? Share your thoughts!

PC Building Simulator: Not Just For Experienced Enthusiasts
Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
PC Building Simulator is very interesting. It’s the only “simulator” game that I care about it. It’s the only one that perfectly fits my expertise. One of the great things about this game is that you don’t have to know how to build a PC, the game will teach you. After all, to put pieces together, you just point, click, or hold the mouse button anyway. Still, there’s a little bit of challenge to it. Perhaps what’s most interesting to a PC enthusiast like myself is the vast amount of available parts to use.

CPUs, RAM, GPUs, custom water cooling, storage devices, PSUs, case fans, and cases, everything you could possibly need for a PC build are available. More parts unlock as you progress. These parts are available IRL and that to me is exciting. I was glad to see many of the components I used in my latest PC build (Azure Azule still for those that know), including my case (Fractal Design Focus G Petrol-blue). There are so many brand names in the game it’s hard to cover them all. I recognize very many of them, but there were some I didn’t. Some of the ones I am familiar with include MSI, NZXT, Corsair, EVGA, Intel, AMD, Cooler Master, and very many more!

Want to build that really awesome expensive PC you dream of? Want to build a budget PC as cheap as possible? You can do all that! In fact, during the campaign, you’ll get the chance to do each multiple times. So, let’s go over the game play.

This is kind of my dream job actually. You’ve inherited a PC business that does general troubleshooting and builds PCs for customers. The troubleshooting is basic in that if an issue isn’t hardware, it’s a virus. That to me is one of the reasons I love this, it’s pretty much strictly all about the hardware. It either works or it’s broken and needs to be replaced. This may not completely reflect real life, but it pretty much does and that’s the simplicity of the game.

You have your own PC in the shop and you can upgrade and customize it, but really there’s no need to as there’s no additional benefit. This PC is pretty much for email and accessing apps. Each day you’ll receive email from customers asking you to either repair their PC, upgrade it, or build them a new one. They’ll provide very basic detail, some times very little (kind of like real life am I right?). Sometimes they’re smart enough to suggest which part might be the problem, but (again just like IRL) they’re not always right. Sometimes you just have to figure it out.

You have three workbenches you can unlock, which will allow you to work on three PCs at once. You also have a storage closet that can hold a few PCs. The workbenches and closet can help serve as temporary storage, because they take PCs off of the floor. Each day you return to work, some PCs will arrive. They’ll be in a row by the door, but there are only so many PCs that will fit here. If you don’t have room for all that’s incoming, the postal person will email you letting you know they were unable to deliver and try again later. Once you unlock the two extra workbenches and storage closet, this becomes pretty much a non-issue.

Troubleshooting is mostly very easy. So, what do you do first? Boot the PC of course! If it doesn’t turn on it’s either the PSU or motherboard that you have to replace. In this case, check the PSU first, because motherboards are a pain, making you disconnect everything. If it boots, BIOS may tell you “missing CPU” or “missing RAM.” You’ll have to take the faulty part out and replace it. When you have parts in your inventory, you’ll be able to tell if something’s broken, because it will be labeled as such. Sometimes they'll also have labels on them showing that they belong to a customer and must be returned.

When you figure out what's wrong, you’ll want to go back to the customer’s email to see the budget they’ve set aside for this and whether or not they have preferences. For instance, some customers really want G. Skill or some other brand. They will rate your business and they really like it when you pay attention and give them what they want. You get paid for each job, of course. You can completely ignore their budget. Sure you'll get paid and fully reimbursed, but they won't be happy about it. So, for each job, you’ll have to order the parts first, then get reimbursed by the customers (with your own wage included). You basically just have to keep an eye on how much money you have and need.

Sometimes customers will provide a date of when they want it. Often they’ll give you at least a day, sometimes more or they don’t specify. When you order parts from the app, you can select from three different delivery options, each increasing in price. You can also order used parts and PCs from the app called “PCbay” (and it looks like Ebay) however these are usually used parts and most customers will let you know in their email that used parts are unacceptable. But, you can sell used parts on the app and you can put together PCs from your spare parts and sell them. This is really helpful to clean out your inventory of used parts.

Some customers want custom water cooling, which I think is real fun, even though I don’t want to do it IRL. There are AIO coolers, like the one I have for my CPU, but the custom cooling includes water blocks, water cooled specific GPUs, coolant and color, and pipes. It’s real easy to do and I really enjoyed doing it. I liked using the harder tubing and seeing direct lines and angles. You can easily put bends in the tubing, too. It’s much easier to do than IRL (from what I’ve seen on JayZTwoCents on YouTube).

Another part of the game I enjoyed that I also don’t want to do IRL is overclocking. Some customers want you to overclock their CPU and/or GPU. They also often want to target a specific 3DMark score. While it’s easiest to just buy the most expensive CPU and GPU to get the highest score possible, you still want to pay attention to the customer’s budget. I said customers will rate you and you can see these ratings on an app. It doesn’t seem to matter much, but apparently higher scores will get you more jobs to do (which means you make more $).

Overclocking is pretty easy, it’s really not that complicated IRL either. It is slightly confusing though, especially if your not all familiar with it. To overclock you need to adjust the clock speed, ratio, and voltage. Adjusting the clock speed increases the number in relatively small increments. Using the ratio, however, will increase the number in relatively bigger increments. Voltage is one of the most important of these, because in order to get the CPU or GPU to use the new clock speed, you have to increase the voltage. Voltage signifies how much power the part is receiving. Sometimes 3DMark will crash with a blue screen. Why it's crashed is vaguely explained in the blue screen message, but unless you're experienced with this, you may have to check online for what they mean. There are good guides out there for this game, so check them out if you run into anything you’re unsure of.

Just like IRL, you can go into BIOS and make some adjustments, like the XMP profile for RAM (which I find always disabled, I don’t know why). However, this is how you overclock the CPU. The BIOS screen will also tell you the CPU’s temp, but you have to reboot and get back into BIOS after you make changes to see the new or unchanged temp. What’s really cool about this is that the BIOS for many manufacturers is represented and they very much look like they do IRL. All of them are pretty much set up the same way.

One of the most important parts of overclocking is very much exactly like the real life risk of overclocking (and why I don’t want to do it) and that is thermal protection. Overclocked parts usually run hotter. This often happens when voltage is increased. So, you’ll want to look into your cooling options. An AIO or custom water cooling system is best in this scenario.

To overclock the GPU, you’ll need to use an app. There’s another app that will quickly let you know how the overclock (for both CPU and GPU) is performing and whether or not it’s experiencing thermal throttling. You most definitely want to avoid this (like IRL). So, if the app shows thermal throttling is taking place, you know you need to lower your adjustments or add better cooling. I think usually, if your in BIOS overclocking the CPU and notice it’s above 70c, then it’s probably going to throttle. I’m not sure that’s exactly the temp I refer to, but it’s very close (within a few degrees).

I keep mentioning how things are IRL, but this game is so very accurate. When overclocking, you’ll notice you can get parts to run close to or even at 90c and they’ll still not throttle (just like IRL what did I say?). In truth, it’s actually hard to “fry” a component. They will shut themselves down long before they can reach this point. You may have seen where your own CPU or GPU thermal limit might reach about 90c. As long as your hardware isn’t throttling, it’s all good. While I realize this, I still get nervous when my air-cooled GPU gets above 70c or too close to 80c. Don't forget to regularly dust your PC. This is relevant in the game, too, as you'll see some PCs are dusty and you'll need to use your canned air to clean it (sound familiar?).

You don’t have many tools in the game other than apps, but unlike real life, you don’t really need many. You have a flash drive which contains all the apps you own (you can purchase more for in-game currency). You may not always need your apps. Sometimes you’ll even get perhaps the easiest job to do, a virus scan. I’d like to also point out another real life thing and that is the OS will start up slowly or quickly depending on what kind of storage you have. NVME M.2 devices will boot up nearly instantly, while a HDD might take a few more seconds.

If you’re like me and a PC building enthusiast or if you’re interested in getting into PC building, this game is for you (or us I should say). There are some expansions for it, but I haven’t tried them out. I received this game some time ago (I don’t remember when) for free on EGS. I enjoyed the game, but eventually it got too monotonous, so I moved on. I might return to check out the IT expansion that was included. You can also buy (with real world $) other workbenches, especially themed ones, like the Razer one for instance. Speaking of Razer, you can change the hardware on your desk like your mouse, keyboard, and pad. I was glad to see my Razer keyboard and mouse there.

I'd also like to mention some really cool things you can unlock and purchase (for in-game $). There are "tools" that make it so that you don't have to click on each screw or cable to put them together. They're expensive, but you can buy "tools" that do all this automatically, which is very handy!

I mentioned getting this on EGS, but it's also on Steam. I also see it's on consoles. Also, as I was looking for a video to embed, I found one announcing PC Building Simulator 2. You can check it out at this link, but it's not really much to look at: https://youtu.be/GRtowcZtaos

What do you think about this? Have you played it? Does it sound like something you’re interested in? Let me know! If your an enthusiast like me and want to post the specs of a PC you built, feel free! Feel free to also let me know about your own PC building experience. I’ve been doing it for a very long time, although I bought my previous PC.

Ms. Marvel Gets Her First Official Trailer
Ms. Marvel arrives on Disney+ on June 8th. I was introduced to Kamala Khan while playing Marvel's Avengers. The story focused around her and maybe that's why she's one of my most favorite characters in the game. In fact, I barely used any other character.

Kamala is a teenage Pakistani. She's obsessed with the Avengers, especially Captain Marvel, and fantasizes about being a super hero (and a teenage guy). In the game and comics, she gets her powers from a Terrigen bomb that went off. "Super heroes" created this way are usually called "inhuman." You may recognize this term from the show of the same name (which I haven't watched yet) or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Her powers are pretty much (at least in the game) that she can "embiggen" her fists and feet. This is much like Mr. Fantastic, but quite different.

Erik Voss's breakdown mentioned that it looks like she gets her power from Kree technology, the wristband she wears. We can see her slip into what seems some other form of reality, which could be the Negative Zone, which is where the Fantastic Four gets their powers from. Seeing her go into this reminded me of when we watched Monica Rambeau go into Wanda's reality bubble over Westview after Wanda threw her out. Kamala, Monica, and Captain Marvel will appear together in a movie soon called "The Marvels."

The MCU has introduced us to numerous young characters, which are actually in the Young Avengers in the comics. It appears the MCU is setting them up and Kamala could very well become one of them, even though she isn't in the comics.

I haven't read many comics, so most of my knowledge about a lot of this comes from New Rockstars on YouTube. I'm familiar with other comic book related media, too. I'm glad Kamala's coming to live-action, although I'm going to miss seeing the one I'm used to in the game. I think the actor they chose seems like a good fit though. It reminds me of how I liked the Kate Bishop in the same game and missed her, but the live-action version of her was really good.

Oh and I like how in the trailer she corrects someone on how to pronounce her name. You might remember when that happened with someone else *wink*.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to this? What do you know about Ms. Marvel? Have you played Marvel's Avengers?

Check out my spoiler-free review of Marvel's Avengers: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4659/marvel-s-avengers-a-spoiler-free-review

Sonic Sequel Stars Playing on April 8th
The sequel to Sonic's first movie starts playing on April 8th and it looks jammed packed with action and references to the game series. Tails and Knuckles have become co-stars. Knuckles is working with Dr. Robotnic who's returned but has found out about the Chaos emerald. There are many bits that anyone who's played the Sonic games would be able to pretty much pick up right away. Sonic and Tails perform a CGI/live-action version of their biplane scene. Sonic sliding down a snowy mountain reminded me of the game as well.

I remember when Sonic's movie came out. There Internet lost it's mind when the first trailer came out. After much pressure from fans, Sonic was redesigned. I don't remember how that Sonic looked, but I didn't have much of a problem with it. I do like this Sonic, though. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a sequel to this introducing Shadow.

What do you think? Did you like the first movie? Are you going to go see this one?

Obi-Wan Kenobi Streams May 25 on Disney+
We now have a trailer for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series streaming on Disney+ starting on May 25. The biggest thing I took away from the trailer was the presences of Inquisitors, especially the Grand one. It's nice to see how they're bringing animated characters to live action. The Book of Boba Fett was so surprising and awesome that I'm sure this will be very similar. Haden Christensen is returning, I assume he's going to be in the Darth Vadar suit, perhaps it's just in flash backs.

Let me know what you think. Is this something you're looking forward to, too?

Monster Hunter Rise: PC Version Review
Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Monster Hunter Rise arrived on the Switch almost one year ago. I didn’t pay attention to it, being a Switch exclusive, since I don’t have a Switch. However, it arrived on PC last month and I decided to pick it up. This version comes with many graphical upgrades including high-res textures (up to 4K) and HDR among others. I recently dived into 1440p with a new monitor, but I found out I could actually play the game at my max (not native) resolution of 4Kx2K. I found a comparison video of the version from both systems. It actually doesn’t appear to look or perform badly on the Switch.

I played MH World, so the game play isn’t new to me. That was my first MH game and I really enjoyed it, until difficulty made me very angry and I stopped playing. I did make it far enough to where I was playing the Iceborne expansion, which added Master Rank to the game, which is the highest difficulty. This time, MHR didn’t make me angry much, but I reached a point where the difficulty increased and I decided to take a break from it. I played a lot of it and now I’m feeling a bit burned out on it. Still, it’s good.

If you’re not familiar with MH, basically it’s a game where you’re a hunter and you go about hunting monsters. It’s really that simple. You hunt them and get parts to make new weapons and armor to hunt new monsters and repeat. There are 14 different weapon classes to choose from like the Sword & Shield (my choice), Dual Blades, and Heavy Bowgun just to name a few. Combat mostly involves two-button combos. Basically, you go to the village, you check in with whoever is giving out quests, pick one, and then you’re transported to the area to hunt one or more monsters. Monsters are often very big and powerful. There are a lot of fantasy elements to them. Some look like dinosaurs! Elements and status effects are in this, too.

As you complete quests, your Hunter Rank will increase thus enabling you to take on tougher quests and more difficult monsters. The game has a big multiplayer focus, but it has a single player side, too. You can do pretty much everything solo, but there are quests in which you can join a few other players to do. You can even send out a help request, getting a random person from the Internet to join in your hunt. I’ve read that monster difficulty will scale with the number of players. I haven’t tried multiplayer, so I can’t speak on this feature.

The game play may be simple, but it can be fun and even very frustrating. Monsters aren’t easy to take down, even the weak ones can take a beating. Monsters are HP sponges, so a monster typically runs away eventually and you’ll have to catch up to it to continue fighting it. This will happen multiple times during a hunt. They get weak after a long battle and eventually tire, which is noticeable when they quit attacking and just stand there like they’re trying to rest a bit. In the end, you can hunt them to death, or you can capture them, which is supposed to give more rewards. Trapping them is often a good strategy for winning, because monsters will tire after a certain point and it will become obvious when you can trap them, which will finish the fight earlier than normal.

MHR has some new game play features, as does every evolving game series. I probably won’t cover them all here, but I’d like to point some out. One of my favorite features is that even though I’m playing solo, I’m not fighting alone. In MHW, you have a palico, which is pretty much a cat companion. It’s not like a IRL cat, it can walk, talk, fight, gather, and generally help. There are now different types which signifies it’s specialty. There are healers, warriors, and bombardiers just do name a few. MHR also gives us a palamute, which is a dog. You can ride palamutes, which makes map traversing much easier and more fun. It also helps perform actions which would make you stop in place and thus vulnerable. Now, instead of sharpening your weapon in this way, you can hop on your palamute and do it and run out of the way when a monster attacks. While not riding, your palamute will join you and your palico in battle. However, you can choose to have two palicos or two palamutes with you instead of one of each.

There’s also an owl, but you don’t usually see it and it doesn’t do much. It’s explained that we can see the map we’re on and where the monsters are, because of it. There is an icon for each monster on the map and undiscovered monsters are seen with a question mark. Each map is rather big and there are no loading transitions, which is something the game did long ago. Everything moves fluidly. In fact, load times in the game were just not really there. Loading the game up took the most time, but that was mostly through logos. The load between quests is extremely small, too. It’s so short that I don’t get enough time to read the text in those screens (it’s not important anyway). It's possibly due to running the game on a NVME SSD.

I remember in MHW, there was a tool we could use like a slingshot. There were different things we could do with it. It’s not in MHR, but is instead replaced by what’s called a “wirebug.” You get to shoot these wires out vertically and horizontally. You can also explore the environments much easier with it. You can also use it for an attack. You can use it to get into the air to attack a monster on your descent. It does a certain kind of damage that air attacks do. This damage can bee seen with a brief blue background to identify the type of damage. When a monster receives enough of this damage, it can be ridden.

“Wyvern riding” is a new feature where you can actually jump on to and control a monster with the wirebug. Often when other monsters start to fight each other, one will take enough damage and you’ll be able to ride it. From here you can have it use a strong or light attack, evade, or launch it into another monster or a wall for damage. You’re in control of it, but it won’t last very long and it doesn’t happen very often.

One game play addition happens to be Rampage Quests. In these quests, a horde of monsters will attack the stronghold and you have to keep it defended, making sure the final wall doesn’t come down. It’s a bit like a tower defense game. There are multiple platforms on which you can install various kinds of weapons. These are mostly turrets. You have a limited number of these you can install. Some are automatic and some require you to use manually. You’ll shoot the monsters with these installations mostly, but there will be a “counter signal,” which means your attack and defense are boosted and it’s time to fight monsters like you normally would. There are limited installations, too. These are usually a character from the village. They don’t last the whole rampage, so it’s better to save them.

There are a few types of monsters in a rampage quest. There are icons on each representing what they do. The worst, I think, are the big gate crashers. You want to get rid of these ASAP. There are flying monsters that will target you. If you get hit while using turret, you’ll get knocked off of it if you’re not pressing the defend button. There are a few waves and during this time your stronghold will level up, which will give you access to more and better installations. At the end is a kind of boss-like monster that needs to be defeated.

I wasn’t particularly fond of rampage quests and didn’t like them much. The one introducing you to the quest type is easy, but the ones after that are a bit more difficult. I failed the second one maybe twice, but I did some searching with Google and YouTube and managed to finally succeed. These are the quests done with multiplayer. However, I’d strongly advise making sure everyone’s chatting together so that the defense can be well coordinated.

I’ve enjoyed the game and I’m really glad it gave me the opportunity to test out my new monitor features. At first, I was afraid it was going to make me very angry again like MHW did, but it didn’t. It did get frustrating and I did get tired of it, so I am taking a break from it now. There’s an expansion that’s supposed to be out perhaps this spring, so I may jump back into it. If you like MH, even if MHW was your first, I think you’ll enjoy this. If this sounds interesting to you and you’d like to see it or try it out for yourself first, there’s a demo for it both for Steam and Switch I believe.

For the most comprehensive MH content see Arekkz Gaming on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArekkzGaming

Let me know what you think about this game. Have you played it? Have you played MHW or another MH game?

Dune: Spice Wars in Steam Early Access
I just found out about Dune: Spice wars and thought I'd share the video. It's in Early Access on Steam and expected to be released this year according to it's store page. It's described as a 4X RTS. It looks to me like a a cross between Civilization and Command & Conquer. The first C&C came out after Dune 2 and I loved both games. Dune 2 also got a remake with Dune 2000, though I haven't really played it much. Spice Wars looks interesting to me. I'm curious about how it all comes together.

Let me know what you think about this. Are you interested? Do you know the history of Dune and C&C games?

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Gets a New Trailer and Release Date of May 6
There's a hot new trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and it's awesome! The movie comes out on May 6th. There's a lot in it and I don't want to spoil it, but there is a significant cameo. You only get to hear is voice, but I can't wait to see him! It seems a certain Marvel group will be shown. There's another Marvel character, I can point her out later who she might be.

It looks like this movie is going to tie to WandaVision and What If. I'm not looking forward to one part of it (I can explain later again). The overall look seems to be from what I think is one of the most dramatic episodes. This one should be more obvious.

What are your thoughts? Let me know what you think so I can reveal what I think I saw.

News source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/did-the-doctor-strange-trailer-just-bring-patrick-stewarts-professor-x-to-the-mcu/1100-6500634/

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition Arrives April 7th
I just wanted to share a bit of news real quick. The sequel to Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross (from the PS1 days) is getting remastered as Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition. It's coming to consoles (all three current gen) and Steam on April 7th. Steam has it listed for $20, which I think is great.

I'm pretty much looking forward to this. I played Chrono Cross about two decades ago. It's a Square-Enix (or Squaresoft originally) JRPG with a lot of playable characters. I can't think of much else to say about it, but I did enjoy it.

Check out this link for more info: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/chrono-cross-remaster-the-radical-dreamers-edition-revealed-for-nintendo-switch/1100-6500522/

Star Wars Squadrons: Today’s X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter
Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
I remember seeing the box I had of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter long ago around ‘95-’96. That’s what I remember most. What I don’t remember is actually playing it. I think I did, but not for long. In those days I was more into Star Trek and Star Wars wasn’t something I had gotten into yet. However, it’s my understanding that the game is very popular, which is great news for those fans who want to play something just like it with modern graphics.

If you’re unfamiliar, both of these games are star ship shooters. Basically, you fly around in a ship and shoot down others. There are missions, of course, in which you take out certain targets, some easier than others.

Squadrons is interesting in that you get to play both sides of the war. Once you start the story, you start out as an Imperial pilot, but after some time, you (not your character) are a pilot for the New Republic. It goes back and forth like this after a few missions, until the end.

The game isn’t very long. I think the embedded YouTube video I watched said that the story missions take about 10 hours to complete. However, that’s there’s more to this game. Multiplayer is another component of the game. I don’t have much to say about this since there are very few games that I play multiplayer. Apparently you can earn in-game currency and get things for your ship such as paint jobs.

The game does feature HDR and turning it off requires an edit in it’s config file. I just got a new monitor and I’ve tested color/gradient banding and it passed. However, this game is slightly disappointing, because parts of it look terrible, particularly the loading screen. I noticed other players found this issue as well, even an EA ticket is unresolved. I noticed this banding and I tried to resolve the issue, but was unable to. I think the issues I saw were in pre-rendered videos and graphics, thus the banding could be due to compression and possibly the resolution I was playing with (2K I think). The rest of the game looked fine, but a 4K video I saw made it look very beautiful.

I don’t have much to say about this game, perhaps because I played through the relatively short story mode. I did enjoy it although even though it was frustrating at times. I did finally complete it, so I’m done with it (I’m planning to move on to another game in the next day or two).

If you like Star Wars, this is definitely something you’ll probably be interested in. Fans get to finally experience what it’s like to fly an X-Wing or TIE Fighter, but there are other ships, too. You can also fly an A-Wing and TIE Bomber among others. Each ship has it’s purpose. For example, U-Wings serve as support ships, which can fire a projectile at a friendly target to give it a temporary shield. There’s more to them than that, though. Personally, I like the X-Wing and TIE Fighter best, probably because they seem to have the best hull and defense is a priority to me.

One more thing to point out is energy allocation. You can specifically choose to prioritize energy to engine, weapons, and shields. The engine helps improve maneuverability, which is important in not only getting through tight spaces, but also helps give a speed boost. Focusing energy on one of these parts also allows it to recharge faster. However, you can also select a balance, which is the default setting. You can also direct shields to cover a certain side of the ship. So, if you’re running straight into enemy fire, you can focus shields on the front where you need them most.

There are a variety of weapons and weapon types and each ship has two or three components. Lasers are the main one and there are variations to choose from. This also applies to auxiliary weapons like a lock-on missile and also defense against missiles locked on to your ship. However, sharp turns are also effective at dodging missiles.

I'd also like to note there are a couple cameos and a name drop, so I hope you notice them. They aren't main Star Wars characters though.

I managed to get the game for free, I think it was a freebie for Origin at one time. Normally, the game costs $40, which is a bit of a relief since these days games normally cost $60. I’m glad I got it for free, but it might be worth the $40 price tag.

Well, let me know if you’ve played this or if it’s something you’re interested in. Feel free to add me as a friend on Origin. My user name is GregoPeck (big surprise, right? LOL). I’m embedding a good “Before You Buy” video, which gives it a good review. You can play this game in VR as well. The game is available on Origin, Steam, and consoles.