Wireless headphones are a dime a dozen, but an audiophile-grade option remains elusive. Sennheiser, long known for its superior audio quality, seeks to transform this vision into reality with the HDB 630 headset, and it has made further strides than most, if not all, of the competition.

Inheriting the same chassis from its Momentum 4 lineup, it lacks the sophisticated polish expected of a S$749 price tag, preferring instead to let its acoustics and comfort speak for themselves. The all-new Japanese protein leatherette, paired with breathable ear cushions, offers an ergonomic fit, and there’s hardly any clamping force or fatigue even after two or three hours of extended use.

Active noise cancellation has never been Sennheiser’s strong suit, so don’t expect groundbreaking performance here. While the HDB 630 blocks out everyday noise, such as speaking voices and commuting sounds, fairly well, higher-decibel audio is often able to creep its way in, making it more ideal for indoor environments.

Where the headset excels is in music delivery, especially after some manual fine-tuning. Boasting a near-neutral profile, tight bass, and fine detail, it gives the mids more room to shine, with the introduction of Parametric EQ allowing users to adjust various settings.

Check out our full review in the video above.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Sennheiser HDB 630 Hi-Res Headphones — Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

So you’ve just picked up the latest Apple iPhone 17 Pro, but as much as you want, you just don’t have any more funds to get the accompanying AirPods. But as luck would have it, those aren’t the only performance noise-cancelling earphones that can help immerse yourself in your favourite true crime podcast on your daily commute home.

All of a sudden, you hear a dial tone and see your mom calling, “Are you coming back for dinner? Are you on the train? I can’t hear you at all!” The folks over at Nothing, the UK-based and China-produced brand responsible for single-handedly bringing the 90s back with its transparent casing aesthetic, must’ve received one too many calls from their parents for them to try something new with the latest Nothing Ear (3) — what if we made them a walkie-talkie too? Nothing introduced this walkie-talkie through their new Super Mic, which transforms its case into a push-to-talk microphone, but more on that later.

Coming in with a reasonable S$259 price tag, it’s a clear signal that this iteration is meant to go toe-to-toe with popular premium options like the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 and Apple AirPods Pro 3. In fact, there are many features here that are quite similar to those offered by Apple. And when you pull it out of the box, which comes with a nice transparent lid for the top half of the square charging case (more handy than you think), it tells you that the pods are in the case. Compared to earlier models from Nothing, the bottom half is now replaced with recycled aluminium instead of plastic, allowing the case to be fully charged via both USB-C in slightly over an hour or about two via Qi wireless charging. 

Putting money where their mouth is, Nothing has also paid attention to the minutiae, by providing two inconspicuous holes for you to tie a lanyard loop (not that we’ve met anyone who has actually attached a lanyard to the casing of their earphones, but it’s still a nice detail). Nothing sent us a white set to review, but you can also opt to have them in black for all our dark mode aficionados.

So what’s different here? How about a big shiny “Talk” button on the rim of the charging case. Holding it down will bring forth the Ear (3)’s headline act — the activation of two MEMS microphones that use beamforming to isolate your voice from background noise of up to 95 dB. You can hold the button down to take down some quick voice notes, or double-press it to lock it on for calls. It’ll take some getting used to — it isn’t the most intuitive to be holding up and speaking to your charging case out in public, especially when your earbuds or phone could arguably act as greater natural hands-free options. You’ll forget that the Ear (3)’s case even had that function — only reminded when the “Talk” button gets toggled accidentally while you’re digging for something in your pockets.

When you actually attempt to use the Super Mic as advertised, it works really well across most major apps, including Google Meet and WhatsApp, though compatibility can feel like a hassle. It won’t work with your Android or Apple camera app, only those that allow manual microphone selection. Even after finding an app that works, there’s noticeable audio lag, which can be quite jarring and off-putting for all the aspiring vloggers. Despite its innovation, its most compelling use case (recording voice notes for creatives with fleeting thoughts that need to be captured in the moment) differs significantly from Nothing’s marketing focus, and it’s rendered all the more futile for users outside of the Nothing ecosystem who don’t have access to its added functionality.

But not all is lost, as the Ear (3)’s are extremely plug-and-play. Using Bluetooth 5.4, the earbuds support the AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs as well as LDAC, allowing them to deliver higher-quality streaming on supported devices. On top of that is a low-latency mode that can be enabled via the Nothing app (more on that later) that brings the end-to-end delay down to below 120 milliseconds for gaming and videos, and an option to allow pairing to two devices simultaneously.

Once you put them on, you’ll notice that the shape of the earbuds has been tweaked ever so slightly to accommodate extended listening sessions. They feel light, but most importantly, they fit securely and create a pretty good seal for most ears, and even with extended use, they passed the ‘mid-afternoon post-work jog in hot and humid Singapore’ test. Like many in the market, its stalks have tactile squeeze controls for playback, noise cancelling, volume, or to bring up your voice assistant, and they can even be customised to your liking. A strange thing to note is that despite a custom antenna which has been touted to improve power and signal sensitivity, you’ll still encounter interference at crowded street intersections, leading to brief connectivity glitches and uncomfortable fax-machine-esque noises.

The Ear (3)’s sound energetic, and work best for listening to pop hits with high-frequency vocals and isolated/synthy bass thumps — basically anything from Sabrina Carpenter’s latest album. They offer great value for money when it comes to the listening department, providing plenty of detail and solid separation of tones. Turning on the spatial audio option creates an even bigger soundscape overall, but you might have to tinker with the EQs, as its default bass and treble emphasis may come off as too boomy, resulting in some vocals sounding a tad bit distant.

All of this can be mitigated thanks to the excellent customisation available in the Nothing X app. You can immediately notice essentials like battery life (of both the case and the earbuds), and switch between noise-cancelling and transparency modes with ease on its front page. Beyond that, you can tweak other options such as Bass Enhancement, and even dive deeper into an Advanced Mode for the equaliser, enabling manual adjustments over eight frequency bands together with Q factors. But if you’re like us and you have no idea what sounds the best for your ears, Nothing has got you covered with an ear test, like Apple has, within the app itself (under the Personal Sound Profile), that’ll run some frequencies through your buds while you have them on, calibrating them to the frequencies your eardrums respond to best.

Nothing claims a 45-decibel reduction when you have your Ear (3)’s on noise-cancelling, with low, medium, high and adaptive options to adjust the level of noise-cancellation. All do a decent job of dampening general background noise and low rumbles from a morning train commute, managing higher tones such as cafe chatter better than its predecessors. It’s nothing to shout about, but they get the job done. The transparency mode is also pretty decent, albeit sounding slightly artificial. Wind appears to be a weakness in both, with gusts of wind still being audible regardless of which mode you have your Ear (3)’s on.

There’s also the battery, which is pretty run-of-the-mill. With noise cancellation off, Nothing boasts 11 hours of use per charge without a case, and 43 hours with one. From our experience, it’ll last you anywhere from a few days to a week of regular usage.

All things considered, Nothing has tried swinging for the fences with this set of earbuds, making the unique selling point of their Nothing Ear (3)’s, nothing to do with the Ear (3) but with a case that doubles as a walkie-talkie. Despite being priced higher than previous iterations of the Ear, they maintain the Nothing DNA: good sounds, reasonable noise cancellation, solid battery life, and a ridiculous amount of customisation. While the Super Mic’s adaptability and functionality leave much to be desired, it lays the foundation of a novel idea that could potentially be revolutionary.

Yong Le

Everything changed when his parents bought him a PlayStation 2 for Christmas. Since then, he’s been hooked on all things esports, video games, and music. If he’s not livestreaming his shenanigans, he’s probably out taking mirror-selfies with his friends, vigorously debating over the Internet’s Meme of the Year.

The post Nothing Ear (3) — Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

The tech scene is no stranger to the numbers race. Even as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to gain steam, it’s still back to the basics with hardware, with more powerful cameras, faster processors, and sturdier builds, all mapped out in math figures that, in general, translate to “the bigger, the better.” 

OPPO’s latest flagship smartphone, the Find X9 Pro, adopts the approach, touting a whopping 200-megapixel (MP) telephoto shooter that builds on its existing Hasselblad-branded imaging prowess. It’s not just for show, though, cementing the device as one of the best mobile cameras on the current market that, alongside an upgraded chip, covers all bases for day-to-day use. Parts of its design identity are lost due to a certain fruity inspiration, and gaming performance can be inconsistent in more demanding titles, but there’s little else to grouse about and plenty to love. 

Coming from its predecessor, the most prominent change is the look. Gone is the distinctive circular cutout on the rear, and in its place a pill-shaped module and two round ones, housed within a squarish block. It also comes in two colours: Silk White and Titanium Charcoal, with the former adding an elegant shimmer to the body, and the satin-like surface proving effective at keeping fingerprints at bay. The aesthetic tweak is a bit of a mixed bag, as while the previous back design may not be everyone’s cup of tea, switching it up entirely chips away at the Find X personality, resulting in a more generic finish. 

On the sides are two new buttons that would be familiar to Apple users. The Snap Key, replacing the old ringer switch, sits on the left edge and can be programmed to quick-launch apps or perform certain actions, accompanied by a dedicated, right-aligned Quick Button that offers a shortcut to the Camera app. Double-tapping brings it up, after which the button turns into a shutter and zoom dial. The influence of its Western counterpart is hardly subtle, but the additional usefulness has its place, especially since the Quick Button feels more intuitive and responsive to control. 

All of that, including a USB-C port, a volume rocker, and the power button, is packed into a similar chassis to before. Measuring 161.26 x 76.46 x 8.25mm (versus 162.27 x 76.67 x 8.24mm), the OPPO Find X9 Pro is slightly heavier at 224 grams, with the lack of flex under applied force serving as a testament to its solid physical build. Water and dust resistance is also a step up from the IP68 industry standard, now rated IP69 for improved protection against submersion and high-pressure water jets from any angle. 

Likewise, there are minimal changes to the 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display (2,772 x 1,272 pixels), which retains support for a 120Hz refresh rate and a pixel density of 450 PPI. Peak brightness has dropped from 4,500 nits to 3,600 nits – still bright enough for outdoor use, even in sunny Singapore – on the latest Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, designed for toughened durability. 

The screen works no differently from what users would expect, delivering deep blacks and natural, lively colours across all sorts of viewing content, as well as sharp detail and fluid visuals in high-motion scenes. Parked underneath is a 3D ultrasonic fingerprint scanner that proves snappy and reliable at unlocking, wet and oily fingers notwithstanding. 

Unlike most of its Android brethren and following family tradition, the OPPO Find X9 Pro swaps out the more widely used Snapdragon 8 Series chipset for the MediaTek Dimensity 9500, pairing it with a Mali Drage MC12 GPU. In theory, it boasts beefy power rivalling other top dogs, excelling particularly in the single-core segment (that’s to say, strong single-app performance), demonstrated through seamless user interface (UI) and app navigation. 

Gaming capabilities are equally impressive, if slightly more inconsistent. The device runs various titles smoothly, showing little to no signs of stutter or lag for the most part, but particle-heavy set pieces, such as when certain characters trigger their animated Ultimate ability sequences in Honkai: Star Rail, reveal some evident frame rate drops. It bounces back quickly enough, though, with above-average graphical fidelity at standard settings, softening the hit. Due to the heavier weight, fatigue may set in earlier than expected during extended gaming sessions. 

In terms of the operating system, the OPPO Find X9 Pro comes outfitted with the company’s ColorOS 16.0 on top of Android 16, and it’s nothing new for existing Android users. There are a couple of touch-ups to aesthetic elements like the pop-up animation and fonts, while the persistent issue of bloated pre-installed apps, as well as their cluttered default layout, remains. 

Mobile photography is where the fun (and its expertise) lies. Alongside two 50MP cameras (main and ultrawide) on the rear, a 200MP 3X telephoto shooter – established earlier as the headliner – turns the OPPO Find X9 Pro into an imaging powerhouse for the regular Joe, especially in the zoom department. Armed with a 1/1.56-inch sensor, the main camera produces crisp, punchy images and balanced exposure in natural lighting, without the oversaturated tint that some of the competition offer. 

As with most smartphone cameras, there are instances of over-sharpening or excessive digital processing, most prominently seen in high dynamic range (HDR) shots – framing a Mulan performer during the character parade at Disneyland Shanghai against the bright sky, for instance, brought the contrast up to unnatural levels. Otherwise, the main snapper is a beast, retaining detail and a good balance of shadows and highlights in low light. Noise and flare aren’t a concern, either. 

Switching over to the ultrawide camera, performance is nearly identical and nothing short of competent, although the slight loss of detail and the occasional excessive digital processing knock it down a peg. Naturally, the upgraded 200MP telephoto snapper steals the show with welcome versatility, allowing for a seamless transition between wide snaps and close-ups without sacrificing quality, thanks to support for native 50MP capture at 6X and lossless zoom at up to 13.2X.

What this translates to are beautiful, detailed portraits with soft, natural bokeh and natural-looking colours, even when shot from a fair distance away. Keeping the subject within 10X zoom is ideal, as the AI-powered image recovery and upscaling capabilities beyond that eliminate a fair amount of detail from the original. For those seeking stronger camera chops, an optional Hasselblad-engineered teleconverter lens offers up to 40X zoom, proving handy for street, wildlife, and sports photography at the cost of being less pocket-friendly. 

The front camera is decent, and existing photography features, such as XPAN mode, which captures ultra-wide panoramic photos with a 65:24 aspect ratio to recreate the experience of the classic Hasselblad XPan camera, and light painting, allow for creative experimentation and shooting.

Battery life also sees a bump, and a significant one to boot. The OPPO Find X9 Pro packs a substantial 7,500mAh battery, up from 5,910mAh previously, that can last for two days on a single charge. It’s a ballpark, on-paper figure, but real-world testing indicated fairly accurate results, with intensive mixed use – watching videos, browsing social media, gaming, and replying to chats on the highest brightness, and with always-on display enabled – clocking a 10 to 12 percent drop after an hour. Of course, mileage will vary across individuals, but a full day of use can easily be achieved (and more for lighter workloads). 

Should the device run out of juice, support for 80-watt fast charging gets it up to speed in under an hour, with 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging for power sharing, serving as alternatives. 

Other notable capabilities come from ColorOS 16.0, including a new Dynamic Island-adjacent feature and existing ones like file sharing and remote control via the O+ Connect app for both PC and Mac, Mind Space, which saves screenshots and voice notes throughout the day for reference at a later date, and AI Studio. Standard tools, such as translation, a voice recorder with transcribing support, and Google’s Gemini and Circle to Search, are also available. 

The OPPO Find X series is no stranger to commanding attention, and it hasn’t changed here. At S$1,599 for the fixed configuration of 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, the Find X9 Pro leans towards the pricier side, but knocks it out of the park with stellar, well-rounded performance. It scores praise in all key aspects, and users will be hard-pressed to find genuine criticism beyond nitpicking. 

Now, if only it could retain some elements of its signature look…

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post OPPO Find X9 Pro – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Adapting a beloved stage musical is never a quiet affair, especially when the source material is the hugely popular Wicked. With roots tangled in L. Frank Baum’s seminal 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Gregory Maguire’s revisionist novel series, the adaptation has long held a strong grip on Broadway fans, many of whom hold passionate allegiances to the original cast’s vocal runs and iconic monologues. 

So when director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) took on the challenge of turning it into a two-part cinematic event, expectations were always going to be outsized. The first instalment, Wicked (2024), sparkled with the wide-eyed wonder of discovering a magical new world and delivered maximalist spectacle – lavish sets, talking goats, dancing mobs of munchkins – and introduced a new audience to the political underbelly of Oz. 

But the second chapter, subtitled Wicked: For Good, walks into more complicated territory. With Act 2 of the stage musical as its source, it trades poppy punchlines for political fallout, personal betrayal, and fractured ideals. Long-time fans know this act well as it’s the one that’s often been labelled as the messier half – rushed, emotionally dense, and occasionally incoherent. 

Set after the events of Wicked’s first act, the film picks up in a radically changed Oz. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo, Harriet), now branded the Wicked Witch of the West, lives in exile. Glinda (Ariana Grande, Victorious), by contrast, has risen to become Oz’s golden figurehead – a symbol of order and carefully constructed truths. As the Wizard doubles down on authoritarian control, targeting animals and silencing dissent, Glinda and Elphaba find themselves on opposite sides. Their split is underscored by Jeff Goldblum’s (Jurassic Park, The Fly) eerily charming Wizard and Michelle Yeoh’s (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) Madame Morrible, who tightens the screws with unnerving grace.

Re-entering Oz feels jarring at first, partly because the opening lacks the punch of ‘No One Mourns the Wicked’ and partly because so much has changed since the schoolgirl whimsy of Part 1. Gone is the sense of curiosity and mischief and in its place is an Oz hollowed out by propaganda, fear, and political theatre. As the story edges closer to the canonical events of the classic Judy Garland adaptation, The Wizard of Oz (1939), which Maguire also based his book on, recognisable threads begin to surface. 

But instead of simply connecting the dots, the film recalibrates familiar moments, reframing spectacle through the lens of character. Elphaba’s supposed descent into villainy is revealed to be less a fall and more a carefully orchestrated push, one delivered by the very institutions she once tried to work with. There are also pockets of power in the darker arcs involving supporting characters like Ethan Slater’s (Gen V) Boq, whose descent adds depth to the film’s moral grey zones. Wicked: For Good wants to be a more grown-up story, casting each character under a more melancholic light as they reckon with the weight of earlier choices.

It’s a compelling shift in focus, but the film inherits Act 2’s biggest problem: a pile of unanswered questions. Prince Fiyero’s (Jonathan Bailey, Jurassic World Rebirth) sudden ascent to Captain of the Guard and engagement to Glinda is barely unpacked in the stage musical, especially considering his pro-Elphaba leanings. Elphaba has been exiled for years, but what has she been up to? And Glinda’s eventual rise to power feels oddly convenient because if she was capable of outmanoeuvring Madame Morrible all along, what exactly held her back? These are threads that Chu seems eager to tie up in the film, but in doing so, he stretches Act 2 (already a shorter portion of the original stage musical) into a 2-hour 17-minute sequel that occasionally struggles to justify its own runtime. Perhaps that’s also why the team recruited veteran Wicked (musical) composer Stephen Schwartz (The Prince of Egypt, Enchanted) to pen two new songs for this adaptation – ‘No Place Like Home’ and ‘The Girl in the Bubble’, one for each of the film’s leads.

Yet for all its political drama and shadowy turns, the heart of the story never strays too far from the bond between Elphaba and Glinda. Whenever the two share the frame, whether in a hilarious cat fight or a swelling duet, the film remembers exactly what it’s meant to be about. ‘For Good’, the titular number, becomes the emotional centrepiece – a culmination of everything that’s passed between them. The performances are vocally pristine, of course (this is Erivo and Grande, after all), but what resonates is how clearly each note maps out everything unsaid between two women pulled in opposite paths, but tethered by love. 

Grande, who once promised to “take such good care of Glinda,” makes good on her word. Wicked: For Good shifts the focus toward the Good Witch’s evolution, and Grande leans into the role with striking clarity. Gone is the popular persona and in its place stands a Glinda who’s poised, precise, and poignantly human. Her new solo number, ‘The Girl in the Bubble’, charts a striking emotional self-discovery arc as she finally decides to try to be Glinda the Good and make a change in Oz. It’s a balancing act between performance and vulnerability, one that Grande executes with finesse.

Erivo, on the other hand, continues to blaze forward as Elphaba with a renewed, fiery edge. Her Elphaba has no more patience for Emerald City’s smoke and mirrors. Whether battling injustice or navigating heartbreak, Erivo makes each moment crackle. ‘No Good Deed’ transforms from a solo into a raw exorcism, brimming with frustration and fury. There’s no doubt that she owns the green girl now.

And then there’s Fiyero. People’s Sexiest Man Alive, Jonathan Bailey, reprises his role with effortless magnetism, injecting heart and unexpected sincerity into a character that could’ve easily remained a shallow love interest. His duet with Erivo in ‘As Long As You’re Mine’ hums with heated sexual tension and tenderness, and he lets the cracks show, revealing a man giving into the pull of something far more real.

Visuals have always been a strength for director Chu, and they’re taken several notches higher. Think of Glinda’s wedding to Fiyero – a scene so meticulously orchestrated, it calls to mind the lavish aesthetics of Crazy Rich Asians (2018), only dialled to operatic proportions. Every flourish, from Glinda’s regal dress and lengthy veil to butterflies, flowers, and the shining aisle, feels deliberate without being excessive, reminding us that the production and costume design teams have already swept awards season for a reason.

What truly sets the film apart, though, is how it handles its final act. The musical’s abrupt conclusion has long left fans yearning for more closure, and Chu provides it. Characters who once stood on opposite ends are given room to confront, reflect, and reckon with the choices that brought them there. There’s a stillness in these final scenes that dares to defy blockbuster pacing, letting sorrow and hope sit side by side for just a moment longer.

By the end, it’s the aching recognition between two people who saw each other fully and said, ‘Even when we part, I’ll carry you with me’. Because Wicked has always been about that kind of alchemy. Not transformation through spells, but through friendship. Through fierce, inconvenient love. You don’t leave the theatre with sparkles in your eyes, but with something heavier, quieter, and far more enduring. You leave knowing you’ve been changed. For once. For always. For good.

Natalie

Natalie is a big fan of anything related to movies, TV shows, and anime — you name it. When she’s not reading or being a dedicated cinephile, she’s probably playing gacha and tabletop games, or daydreaming of Caleb from Love and Deepspace.

The post Wicked: For Good – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

There’s a word often used in Singapore, ‘rojak’, which is Malay for “mixture” and can refer to either a salad dish comprising mixed fruits and vegetables or similarly, the process of lumping things together willy-nilly and calling it a day. Where Winds Meet, a free-to-play, online-only wuxia RPG (role-playing game) from NetEase and developer Everstone Studios, perfectly encapsulates this phrase, as the game is a mish-mash of genres, ideas, and inspirations thrown together haphazardly, except unlike in rojak, where each ingredient complements the other, here it’s the complete opposite, resulting in a whole that’s worse than the sum of its parts.

On first glance, Where Winds Meet offers an enticing prospect, especially for those daunted by other genre staples’ emphasis on online or social aspects. Despite being an online-focused RPG, the title isn’t positioned as an MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game), and instead offers a sprawling story campaign that can either be tackled in co-op with up to four players or done entirely solo, and this is in addition to the usual MMORPG mainstays like raids too.

Set against the Wuxia or Chinese martial arts theme, Where Winds Meet should ring familiar for those experienced in the genre. Players will take on the role of a nameless warrior wandering the lands in a fictional version of tenth-century China, venturing into the lands not just in search of riches tucked away in the multitude of dungeons or caves spread throughout, but also to seek out eight martial arts experts that litter the world to learn their secret fighting skills, all while navigating the chaotic era of political fragmentation, war, and shifting allegiances.

While this certainly sounds interesting on paper, in reality, what could be an epic tale of self-discovery turns into a mess of utter confusion and missed plot points due to the game’s atrocious use of AI machine translation for its English localisation. This is a China-made game after all, and under the guise of AI translation, those without an innate understanding of Mandarin will have to deal with awfully translated subtitles instead, which can range anywhere from head-tilting sentence structures, to complete nonsense. 

Take the wuxia, or 武俠 phrase. The first word, 武, means martial or military and in this context, martial arts, while the second word, 俠, refers to chivalry, but more of a code, which means there is no easy translation for this phrase, and the AI used here fumbles, a lot. Let’s take some simple phrases used in perhaps every other game, for example. While most, if not all, other titles use “Interact” or “Use” to describe performing actions like opening chests or collecting items, here, it’s “Enable”. Similarly, while describing points of interest that are above or below a player is simply presented in other titles with, well, “Above” and “Below”, for some reason here it’s “High Ground” or “Low Ground”.

This might seem like nitpicks, but bear in mind that these are the most basic of examples, something that Where Winds Meet already struggles with, so it’s not hard to imagine how poorly it handles an entire fictional country’s worth of in-game lore. To make things worse, the game is plagued with technical issues in this regard, from subtitles not matching to spoken words, character voices overlapping each other, or, in worst cases, voice lines not playing entirely. If you thought the plot in Kingdom Hearts was hard to follow, you’re in for a treat, as here, it’s literally a struggle.

That said, those who understand Mandarin and the concept of wuxia might find something interesting about this game, but that’s also a cultural thing as even with Star Wars or Star Trek, some things will get lost in translation when adapting either for an Asian audience. The developers clearly want the game for a global audience, but using AI to do the groundwork isn’t helping its cause.

Where Winds Meet’s complex, if not complicated, nature extends to its gameplay too, although here it’s fortunately not as negative. As a wuxia game, combat is unsurprisingly built around being flashy and high-intensity, with players equipping two of seven total weapon types, including blades, spears, fans or even umbrellas as they engage in both human and beastly threats throughout the lands.

At its core, combat draws inspiration from Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima or FromSoftware’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with a heavy emphasis on patience, studying enemy attack patterns, and parrying or dodging accordingly. Getting hit or performing most actions in battle, except for well-timed parries, chips away at a player’s stamina gauge, leaving them vulnerable upon being fully depleted, making deflecting hits the most viable playstyle, especially when faced with powerful foes.

Unlike its inspirations, however, pulling off parries in Where Winds Meet is a significantly more frustrating affair, with the window for parrying or i-frames (invincibility frames) while dodging enemy attacks never feeling quite right, leading to many instances where damage is received even though it seemed like the timing was right. To make up for it, the game does offer “Assist Deflection” – another example of poor translation, as grammatically it should be “Deflection Assist” – which slows down time just as a player is about to get hit with a powerful blow, allowing them to deflect easily at the expense of depleting the stamina bar by a slight amount, but admittedly this does dampen the flow of battle.

In true MMO fashion, combat is also supplemented by a plethora of additional skills split into two categories. Weapon martial arts, which like its name suggests, are tied to specific weapons, and for some baffling reason, must be unlocked before a player is able to wield said weapon (which means that fancy great sword you just picked up won’t be usable unless you actively hunt for an associated skill), and mystic arts, powerful abilities earned by exploring the world and completing side activities, letting players perform feats like leaping to distant areas or breathing fire.

If this sounds complicated, that’s because it really is, as Where Winds Meet tries to cram in as much content as it can, regardless of quality. This is perhaps best seen in the game’s world and progression, and the lands are absolutely filled to the brim with activities to partake in and side missions to discover, alongside its main quest. Alas, it’s quantity over quality, as every major “open-world bloat” seen in similar titles is seen here, such as no shortage of fetch quests, escort missions or your standard “go to area and kill X amount of enemies” type objectives. Once in a while, players might stumble on a questline that’s actually interesting, such as controlling a Mahjong-playing dog or learning Tai Chi from a bear.

At least, while exploring the lands, players will have no shortage of sights to behold, as just like it has done with everything else, the world in Where Winds Meet is designed to overwhelm your senses, a sprawling playground of places to go and things to discover. There’s a good amount of environmental variety, too, with its many different regions mostly feeling unique, from the calm of a countryside filled with blossoming trees and tranquil lakes to snowy mountain peaks or massive walled-in cities like Kaifeng.

With so much content on offer, interesting or otherwise, praise must still be given to Where Winds Meet for its fair handling of monetisation despite being a free-to-play title, especially in such a crowded genre filled with titles that operate on egregious systems to squeeze out as much real-world currency as possible. Players are given access to the entirety of the game, which can easily span 30 to 40 hours for a single playthrough, without spending a single cent, with monetisation limited to only fancy cosmetics for those who want to make their characters stand out. Here, it’s pay to look good, not pay to win, and that alone is deserving of respect.

Overall, it’s Where Winds Meet’s most ambitious goal, its sense of scale and the desire to throw as many different gameplay systems as possible at the player, that are ultimately its undoing. Yes, players can lose dozens, if not hundreds, of hours in its world doing anything from exploring, questing, fishing and the like, but the main issue is that none of these systems are actually particularly fleshed out, making the game just a massive bunch of bloat just with an incredibly enticing price of admission.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.

The post Where Winds Meet – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Certain brands have become synonymous with the product category they compete in – Microsoft for computer operating systems, Nintendo for game consoles, Samsung for Android phones, Apple for tablets, Porsche for sports cars, Maggi for instant noodles, Cadbury for chocolate, Coca-Cola for soda – the list goes on. What is rare to see is one of these brands getting displaced, but we’re close, as several vacuum cleaning brands are looking to be the new Hoover. And while some might be quick to name Dyson as the leader, it’s not the only player when it comes to cordless vacuums.

Make no mistake – Dyson clearly leads the charge with sleek, quiet models that balance performance and design, but if your home is looking for more, the Shark EvoPower System NEO+ is here with a clear goal to rival Dyson’s cleaning power, while adding a self-cleaning dock into the mix.

Out of the box, the Shark EvoPower System NEO+ comes in 5 main components: the cordless vacuum unit, the Auto-Empty Dock, a Duster Crevice Tool, an Upholstery Tool, and a Motorised Pet Tool. The main cleaning unit measures approximately 1.06m in height when assembled, with the upper handle housing the dust container and motor. On the controls, there are three buttons. A power button, an Eco mode button, and a Boost mode button allow users to toggle between different cleaning intensities. The entire unit weighs 1.7 kg, with the top handheld section weighing around 1.3 kg, and the motorised cleaning head contributing the remaining 0.4 kg. Its Flexology swivel function allows the wand to bend up to 90 degrees, making it convenient for reaching under furniture and low spaces.

The Auto-Empty Dock is one of the Shark EvoPower System NEO+’s best features, which serves as both a charging and self-cleaning base. Once docked, the vacuum automatically clears its bin through a strong, dry suction process in under 10 seconds that, while noisy, is highly effective. The vacuum slides and locks neatly into the dock, with the base of the dock measuring approximately 40 cm by 27 cm, including the accessory holder.

The dock houses two collection chambers, with the right side collecting larger debris, while the left side handles finer dust particles via the pre-motor foam filter. The right chamber can be completely removed and washed, while the left chamber allows only the pre-motor foam filter to be detached for cleaning. This separation system works efficiently and makes disposal cleaner. In addition, a cable management handle keeps the wires neatly tucked away at the back.

The dust compartment, however, is on the smaller side. After cleaning an entire apartment, it was about half full, which means users will likely depend on the Auto-Empty Dock to clear it regularly, to move the dirt from the handheld to the docking station. The suction pressure of the unit seems to help compact the debris more efficiently, which may help reduce how often it needs to be emptied, but this is something you’ll need to clear at least weekly, depending on your frequency of use. Do note that you can manually clean the dust compartment with your fingers, but it can get messy, so using the dock, simply by inserting the handheld, is a far more convenient and cleaner option.

The vacuum includes three primary attachments. A duster crevice tool for tight corners and edges, an upholstery tool designed for smaller surfaces such as sofas and chairs, and a motorised hand tool ideal for beds and sofas. Each tool performs well in its intended role, allowing users to tailor their cleaning approach throughout the home. The charging base includes designated holders for each attachment, enabling the unit to be stored, charged, and organised in one compact footprint. This all-in-one storage and cleaning system enhances convenience, providing users with not just powerful suction but a fully integrated cleaning station. The only caveat is that the holders do not fasten securely, so moving the dock can cause tools to become loose.

Suction performance is where the Shark EvoPower System NEO+ stands out. It handled pet hair and long strands exceptionally well, outperforming the Dyson PencilVac in some cases. Hair that usually requires multiple passes with the Dyson was picked up in one go by the EvoPower System NEO+, with the Anti Hair Wrap technology effectively preventing tangles around the roller. This is a new-fangled feature found in China brands such as Dreame and Ecovacs that effectively either snips the strands of hair or shoves it to one side of the cleaning head, preventing the hair from getting tangled up in the moving cleaning head and causing issues.

The vacuum also comes with three selectable power modes. Eco, Normal, and Boost, making it easy to match cleaning intensity with the task at hand. The Smart IQ Pro Floor Detect feature automatically optimises suction strength depending on the load of debris picked up.

In Normal mode, a single charge lasted 45 minutes, while the unit drained itself on Boost mode in under 20 minutes. Eco mode delivers the longest runtime of up to 60 minutes with reduced suction power for lighter cleaning, while boost provides maximum suction for intensive tasks but drains the battery faster, lasting around 20 minutes.

The vacuum’s battery indicator consists of three light bars, and we tested the unit in a 1,033 square-foot five-room HDB flat that was filled with a fair amount of dog hair, long hair, and daily dust. After vacuuming the apartment for about 15 minutes, one light bar was depleted, suggesting a total runtime of roughly 45 minutes on a full charge, and a full charge takes around 3.5 hours from a completely drained battery. Although not without a few quirks.

The trade-off, however, is noise. The vacuum is noticeably louder than the Dyson, both during operating the vacuum and when the dock’s cleaning function is activated. Due to its lightweight, the EvoPower System NEO+ offers smooth manoeuvrability, thanks to the swivelling head, though the rear fabric strip on the main head tends to trap dust and pet hair. The rollers can also squeak slightly during movement, adding to the overall noise level. 

While the vacuum includes LED indicators that change from green, yellow, to red depending on the amount of debris detected, the head lighting does not add much value. Unlike Dyson’s laser illumination that lights up the area directly in front of the cleaning head for users to notice any dirt, the Shark’s front light fails to make debris more visible, serving little to no purpose in darker areas or even under the furniture.

The Shark EvoPower System NEO+ Cordless Vacuum delivers strong suction performance and an excellent auto-cleaning dock system that adds genuine convenience. It is especially effective for homes with pets and long hair, where its Anti Hair Wrap technology keeps the brush free from tangles. However, its high noise level, underwhelming headlighting, and small dust compartment prevent it from reaching perfection. Despite these shortcomings, the EvoPower System NEO+ offers reliable power and smart cleaning features that make it a strong contender in the cordless vacuum category.

At S$699, the Shark EvoPower System NEO+ is an impressive addition to the home cleaning lineup for users who prioritise suction strength and automated convenience over noise.

Debbi Koh

Living multiple lives, Debbi is a singer-songwriter and music coach by day, FPS gamer and variety streamer by night. Let’s not forget being a full-time dog mom to her Cavapoo, Buddy. With life like this, who needs a multiverse?

www.twitch.tv/debbidooo/

The post Shark EvoPower System NEO+ Cordless Vacuum – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Think of the city-building video game genre like the ancient supercontinent Pangaea, and what began as a single giant landmass on Earth millions of years ago was subsequently broken up into smaller continents, which gave rise to the continents and civilisations we know today. The city-builder genre is no different as for over three decades, giants of the genre, such as SimCity and Civilisation, have spawned numerous variations, with nuances in approach, such as focusing on combat, religious mechanics, and diplomacy, as players strive to build their own metropolis.

With such a mix of options,  it would seem like every corner of this world-building has been explored, but with Ubisoft’s Anno 117: Pax Romana, there may still be new grounds to break. While the game mechanics focus similarly to its predecessors in being stewards of both city and people, the game’s inclusion of narrative choices in scenarios for both campaign and free-play does not just shape the way players play, but also gives them a sense of weight and meaning as to what it means to rule as the governor of their cities.

Fans of the long-running real-time strategy and economic simulation video game franchise Anno will be no strangers to the core gameplay mechanics of Anno 117: Pax Romana, which, in this incarnation, takes place during the Roman Empire. You play as a governor, tasked to build prosperous cities for the Roman Empire on either the Roman islands of Latium or on the Celtic territory of Albion. Regardless of where players choose to start their journey, they begin by providing their people with everyday necessities like food, shelter, and clothing, before moving on to build institutions, defences, and bolster their place among political giants through trade and regional relationships. 

Resource and people management are still the name of the game here but more than just gathering wood, manufacturing tiles, and building houses, you must also ensure their homes – naturally placed in uniform districts – do not catch fire, are not susceptible to disease, and that there are amenities nearby, including markets, taverns, city watches, sanctuaries, and wells to keep your inhabitants safe and happy, lest they riot, which is the first of many dominos to fall for any city to implode in on itself. 

With so much at stake, one would expect the game to include a feature that illustrates what their city lacks on a more visual scale. Instead, players are only able to see the problems their city faces through a list of resources they manage. This list only shows buildings that generate or reduce resources like denarii (The game’s currency), happiness, or fire safety. If a city is in danger of frequent fires, as parts of it are exposed to facilities that are prone to cause fires, you would expect to know various hotspots around your city so that you can react by building more wells or fire watches strategically. Instead, the information given to you is only a list of fire-causing amenities, and that fires can happen around your city arbitrarily, which breaks the realism of the city-building experience. It would help if the developers could include a switchable feature in their user interface that highlights potential hotspots where disasters may occur more frequently. This would prevent players from spamming to build all safety amenities around the city.

Once your people are fed and happy enough – and if you play in the lands of Latium – your residents, once Libertus (Freed slaves), are ready to be upgraded to house Plebeians, a separate group of people with entirely different sets of needs that require you to build new facilities to meet. The process rinses and repeats itself as you unlock more residents and buildings, and as your empire grows to become an economic powerhouse, you gain favour with the Roman emperor. That is not to say that all of your city’s denizens should be Plebeians or any upgraded resident altogether. Any healthy city will realistically need people from all social strata to function, and although we need Plebeians to manufacture pottery and garum, which are more valuable for trade, a lack of a Libertus population would mean a drop in productivity for porridge and tunics. There is, therefore, a need to balance your population and strategically place your infrastructure to meet the common cumulative good of your city.

Sometimes building the necessary facilities is not an easy task. The land that players start on may be vast, but that does not mean it’s capable of providing adequate fertility for all resources. Some residents require olives to upgrade to their successive strata, but the island may not be fertile for olives, forcing players to turn to the sea in search of new lands ripe for olive agriculture, find new governors to open trade routes and barter for olives, or even turn to conquest because olives can make or break a city.

Meanwhile, playing in the lands of Albion brings additional depth to the city management experience of Anno 117: Pax Romana. You begin first by populating your city with Waders (The common Celtic man), yet, this time, you get to choose upgrade paths for your residents, which are essentially ways of living for your people: Do you decide to retain your Roman roots in a Celtic land with a hybrid Romano-Celtic way of life, or do you choose to embrace an unadulterated Celtic culture? Choosing either unlocks different residences which further dictate the needs of your city and, ultimately, the way you play. Deciding on transforming your people to Romano-Celts unlocks Mercators and Nobles, who focus on economy, research, rapid expansion, and the ability to transform their environment by draining marshes and building aqueducts. On the other hand, a Celtic lifestyle demands that you live alongside and utilise the wetlands and forests around you to their full extent, boosting religion and producing goods like cheese.

Regardless of the path you take, you will spend hours figuring out how to build your empire and keep your people happy optimally. Each culture is like a puzzle, forcing you to figure out how to best meet the needs of your people in the land you’re in while trying to stave off external threats. This sandbox, however, will eventually feel smaller, as each chosen culture also forces the player to meet these needs linearly. Smiths will always need trousers and beer to be upgraded to become Aldermen. Mercators will always need mirrors to be produced so that they can become Nobles. To meet these needs, it is always a matter of whether your island has the fertility to produce these goods, and whenever you settle on a different island, you will always build Wader facilities first, and then Smith or Mercator facilities second, and so forth.

Religion and research also enhance the city-building experience of Anno 117: Pax Romana, and the game offers a choice of specific deities and pantheons – mainly Roman or Celtic – that your people will worship in each city. Each deity chosen not only grants boons and boosts in producing specific resources, but it also opens options in vast research trees. Choosing to worship Roman gods allows you to research cults like the Cult of Mercury-Lugus, which will boost crafting and trade. On the other hand, choosing to worship Celtic gods opens up research on cults like the Cult of Cernunnos, which is associated with increased production and health.

Like other Anno games, seafaring plays a vital role in your cities’ survival, and it is through travelling across oceans that you get to meet new governors and find fresh soil to cultivate or settle on. Meeting new governors not only opens the opportunity for trade routes, which provide steady, consistent exchanges of goods, but also opens you to contracts, where, when fulfilled – like successfully transporting specific items – rewards you with denarii. You are also able to purchase ships or key specialists from these governors, who, when placed in your city’s villa, provide boosts to different statistics like happiness or health. A vast majority of the game’s combat also takes place in the seas, but for most of the beginning hours of Anno 117: Pax Romana, combat takes a back seat as much of the focus falls on managing resources and city building.

The campaign is the most exciting aspect of Anno 117: Pax Romana and for the first time in Anno’s history, players will get the liberty to choose between two characters – Marcus Naukratius or Marcia Tertia, both of whom individually tell different tales of the separate roles they play in the events of the game. Despite the title of the game hailing the golden age of “Pax Romana”, or “Roman Peace”, the narrative begins in the storm of the death of Emperor Lucius and although Lucius decreed that his wife, Julia Augusta, would succeed him as ancient Rome’s first empress, her succession was stolen from the Roman senate by General Gnaeus Firmius Calidus, who claimed the throne for himself.

Players are then given a choice – will you pander to the current patriarchal powers that be, or rebel and aid the woman who would become Rome’s first empress? The first hours of the campaign were an apt litmus test for what’s to come and as you build your city, you are presented with scenarios that allow you to choose appropriate narrative choices, and these choices not only state the resources that you reap or lose, but also the consequences of your actions, and therefore, dynamically shape the subsequent ways you play the game. 

One such scenario in the campaign gives you the choice to determine if Empress Julia’s daughter, Diana, would attend her birthday. By choosing to submit to the whims of the current authority and beg Diana to attend, the game questions your capabilities on whether you can survive the “cutthroat world of provincial governance”. Another scenario presents you with encountering a Libertus struggling with a load of timber, and whether you should seize his goods, wish him well and move on, or buy his supply. These narrative junctions are where the game allows you to exercise your authority, and they feel significant, giving you a sense that you are shaping the narrative through your actions. As the narrative around you changes, the way you adapt to these consequences affects how you manage resources and people in your city.  

This sense of power of choice extends to free play as well. Once, a governor named Tarragon requested that his family be retrieved from captivity. Along the way, you encounter shady individuals acting in the Emperor’s name, claiming that Tarragon’s family be handed over and that “everything will be over” if it is done. Sensing that something is amiss, you refuse and prepare to fight. In your failure to keep your ship from sinking, you announce to Tarragon that your actions caused the death of his son. In retaliation, he declares war on you, but yet, the Emperor expresses his gratitude and appreciation for what you have done. 

This event, in turn, stifles the growth of your city, making it harder for you to settle on another island as Tarragon’s ships are now prowling around the map, seeking to destroy your ports. You are not just left with unwanted hostility from the man you strived to help, but also with guilt as you find yourself unwillingly on the wrong side of morality. Consequently, you can be busy building the prosperity of your city with civil means in one moment, but in the next, you are thrust into a story of intrigue and must prepare military forces for defence.

With such an interesting and deep premise, where the motivations of the characters around you can be ambiguous, it is so much easier now for you to get lost for hours in not just building cities and managing people, but also embracing the consequences of the narrative choices you make and seeing how different things would play out if you chose your actions differently.

Players looking to thoroughly explore Anno 117: Pax Romana can do so on 13 November 2025, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

Joey Leong

Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.

The post Anno 117: Pax Romana – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

There’s always some truth to a cliché, however much it may induce an eyeroll on every mention. In the case of Final Fantasy Tactics, the 1997 title has long been synonymous with weighty descriptors, from a ‘timeless classic’ to a ‘seminal masterpiece’, but the repeated use doesn’t make them less accurate. In fact, it left an indelible mark on Square Enix’s larger fantasy world and in the turn-based strategy space, as the main setting of Ivalice now enjoys a recurring presence across the franchise, and its job system was an evolutionary leap from tradition, while some of the core mechanics have grown into genre hallmarks. 

Returning with spruced-up aesthetics, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles represents a dream come true for fans of the original in more ways than one. Instead of tweaking a beloved formula, this remaster wisely opts to honour its roots and refine the rougher edges, weaving together a brilliant, deeply nuanced narrative that remains relevant to the current political reality and intricate, versatile gameplay. Throw voice acting and quality-of-life updates into the mix, and there’s even more to love about the near-perfect remaster – although its redesign and the omission of content from the PlayStation Portable (PSP) version War of the Lions may not sit well with some.

Setting the stage for a roller-coaster ride of despair, betrayal, and hope, the romp opens with the introduction of Ramza Beoulve, a forgotten hero during a civil war between the ruling forces of Prince Goltana (Black Lion) and Duke Larg (White Lion) in Ivalice, known as the War of the Lions. There’s more to this game of thrones than it seems, however, and the narrator makes no secret of the unreliable annals of history and lays it out for the players – with the country’s leadership in limbo after the 50-Year War against the nation of Ordalia, both Prince Orinas and Princess Ovelia are candidates, but backed by different factions. 

The White Lion is on the side of the former, while the Black Lion supports the latter, thrusting Ramza, who now fights against corruption as a mercenary, and his adopted-brother-turned-Black-Lion-ally Delita Heiral, into opposing sides of the conflict. What unfolds along the way is a political thriller that explores the extent of manipulation by figures in power and religion, reminding players that the perceived “truth” is often a construct, and topped off with a generous helping of personal drama and tragedy. Sounds familiar? Welcome to the current state of the world.

The messaging is hardly the only element that has weathered the passage of time. Like before, the job-based mechanics in Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles involve assigning characters to a class, with Chemist and Squire as the starters to unlock more advanced options, learning and managing new abilities, and levelling them in combat to meet the prerequisites for the next level of specialisation. Each of the 20 jobs boasts its own set of action, reaction, support and movement skills, and players are free to change a unit’s job to another and mix-and-match their loadouts once learned, such that the competencies are no longer job-specific. 

The versatility allows for a great deal of experimentation across different play styles, and it ensures that the effort is rewarded. Apart from cultivating the ideal build for every job, there’s also a need to consider the synergy between party members, and it feels satisfying when the two come together neatly: Monks, for instance, may only attack with a fist in the beginning, but cross-equipping the dual-wield ability (after unlocking Ninja) turns them into a twice-attacking brawler who makes quick work of the enemy. It sounds easier than it actually is, as certain genre basics, including the act of using items, don’t work the same here, with only the Chemist and characters who have inherited the skill having access to them. Even so, not all consumables can be used right off the bat – whether it’s a potion or Phoenix Down, players will first need to spend Job Points (JP) and unlock the action.

The “simple to grasp, but difficult to master” rhetoric carries over to the battlefield, which retains the isometric camera from its past. Where the original suffered from obscured vision or awkward angles due to the 3D environment, however, the overhead perspective of the new Tactical View makes it easier to strategise character movement and actions by eliminating visibility issues. Fundamentally, the flow of combat remains unchanged: players assign their deployed units to a position on the grid-based field during the planning phase, taking into account variables such as elevation and terrain type. 

When it’s time to engage, the left side of the screen displays the turn order of all allies and enemies, with their travel distance dictated by a fixed number of squares. The party can comprise both generic units, recruited through the Tavern, and special named characters like Mustadio and Agrias, who all gain experience points and JP – prerequisites for levelling up – after completing an action. Topographical and weather conditions will trigger different effects, from stronger Thunder magic in the rain and the Invincibility status when submerged in water, to being poisoned in swampy lands. 

By extension, the older, more antiquated quirks of yesteryear would be familiar to longtime fans, but may take newcomers by surprise (and not necessarily in a good way). Resurrecting a fallen ally, for instance, has a chance of failing, which means wasting a turn, while strikes with a high success rate can miss at the most crucial of moments, resulting in defeat. The luck-based mechanics, alongside the chain reaction sparked by one wrong move, no matter how small, contributed to the game’s notorious difficulty, and that hasn’t changed much for Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. 

What’s different is how it now eases players into the experience through various quality-of-life improvements, allowing for a gentler learning curve and smoother gameplay. Instead of fixing a standard mode, three difficulty modes have been designed for players of different skill levels: Squire (Easy), Knight (Normal), and Tactician (Hard). The updated action prediction system shows all vital information at a glance, including hit chance, damage taken or dealt, whether an attack would be countered, and the current JP of a unit, accompanied by the ability to reset movement, so long as no action was performed.

If a battle proves too unfavourable, there are quick options to restart from the beginning or change out the party loadout, load a previous save, or return to the world map and pick things back up at a later time. Scrolling through each character on the turn order list while holding down on the left trigger reveals more specifics, such as the type of spell being cast, the striking range, and when it will come into effect – a game-changer when managing glass cannons like ninjas or mages. While most of this information could be found previously, it was buried under layers of menus and tabs, making it a tedious, unintuitive affair. Fast-forwarding, a common addition to retro RPGs with a modernised sheen, is also available here, granting players control over the speed of their battles. 

Outside of combat, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles continues its quest for improved accessibility. The lore of Ivalice is dense, and the array of characters can complicate the player’s understanding of their dynamics and roles in the overarching story, so a lot of care went into crafting an interactive timeline called State of the Realm. Taking a page out of Final Fantasy XVI’s Active Time Lore mechanic (a natural progression, considering Creative Business Unit 3 worked on both titles), it offers a comprehensive overview of major past and present events, complete with cutscenes that can be rewatched anytime, a glossary of in-game jargon, a clear, detailed breakdown of the zodiac compatibility chart, and useful tips.

Where strategic skirmishes between points on the map couldn’t be avoided in the original RPG, the remaster allows players to flee from them, or trigger a random encounter at will for grinding purposes. Side quests are now easier to follow, with indicators pointing in the right direction, while a job tree and one-pagers for the classes display unlock requirements and the full list of skills, respectively. These refinements are hardly flashy, but they go a long way in making the experience less overwhelming without sacrificing its essence.

It’s a pity, then, that Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles doesn’t feature content from War of the Lions, as the additional Dark Knight and Onion Knight jobs and recruitable allies from other Final Fantasy titles, including FFXII’s Balthier, would have taken well to the shine. Even so, the remaster is nothing short of stellar, accentuated by handcrafted visuals and full voice acting. 

Marking a departure from Square Enix’s affinity for its signature HD-2D aesthetic, the fantasy world boasts an updated graphical style that may not align with initial expectations. However, the slightly bevelled edges, canvas-like look, and soft focus lighting carry a distinctive charm that’s quick to burrow its way into the heart, complementing the watercolour hues of the beautifully animated opening scene. For purists and hardcore enthusiasts, the bundled-in Classic Edition brings back the old-school look, although it’d be welcome if there were an option to switch between the two on the fly. 

Breathing more life into the adventure is the impressive voice work in both the English and Japanese versions, adding emotional weight to important cutscenes. Whether it’s Joe Pitts or Shinnosuke Tachibana, Ramza’s cries of anguish and anger prove effective at dealing blows to the gut, with most of the roster, including minor figures like Rapha, enjoying fleshed-out characterisation. The occasional interaction between party members during combat also lends personality to their depictions, and it certainly helps that Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles delivers better translation pulled from War of the Lions, eliminating the issue of poor localisation in the original. 

It’s never easy honouring a beloved legacy, yet the remaster does so with ease. A faithful, thoughtful homage to its roots, it serves as a reminder of its well-earned reputation as a seminal work in the tactical RPG genre, and spruces up all the best parts of the experience through a visual overhaul. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles may have omitted content from War of the Lions, but it’s no less memorable, promising an intricate, relevant narrative, deep gameplay, strong voice acting, and updated interface elements that will continue to stand the test of time.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

History will likely remember Predator: Badlands as a small handful of live-action Hollywood films with no human characters in it, and fans will not have it any other way.

After six feature length films in which the alien Yautja – technologically superior extraterrestrial species – visit Earth to hunt human prey for the thrill of the chase, director Dan Trachtenberg, who directed the last two outings, 2022’s Prey and 2025’s animated Predator: Killer of Killers, turns the narrative to focus on a young Predator attempting to earn his honour, by hunting and killing the one thing that even his father fears – the unkillable Kalisk.

In doing so, he pops open the lore of the franchise by introducing elements that fans have long speculated upon, some which were touched on via the wider Predator expanded universe that covers comic books, novels, and video games, though some fans might find issues with what he’s exposing.

But if you’re a fan of the Yautja, and have grown tired of humans, young, old or female taking on and defeating these alien alpha hunters, then this movie is for you. In an effort to track down the Kalisk to restore his honour and seek revenge for his older brother, young Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Red, White & Brass) finds himself stranded on the treacherous planet Genna, where just about anyone, or anything, can kill you. Considered to be the runt of his family, his skills, which weren’t even enough to defeat his brother in combat, are tested as flora and fauna, each deadlier than the one before, attempt to have him as their next meal.

Marooned without his shoulder cannon, helmet and other familiar weapons, Dek only has his formidable plasma sword and one other tool at his disposable – the badly damaged synthetic or synth life form, Thia (Elle Fanning, Maleficent, Mary Shelley), herself a victim of the deadly Kalisk.

And therein lies the first surprise – just as Prey occurred in the distant past, circa 1719, Predator; Badlands takes places in the far flung future because Thia is not just any android – she’s an advanced Weyland-Yutani creation. Yes, that’s the same unscrupulous megacorporation from the other popular Alien franchise, both of which are now properties of Disney. Built with a capacity for emotions and empathy, to better understand the deadly creatures of Genna, she wants the same thing as Dex, except that her instructions are to bring a Kalisk back to Earth, because as established in the Alien series, the 24th century Weyland-Yutani corporation is constantly on the hunt to study and exploit deadly alien creatures.

Except this is not intended to be a crossover film. It’s a little bit of fan service to fans of both mega franchises, but is in no way a recognition of both earlier Alien vs. Predator films, which are considered by fans to be separate entries from both main franchises. Here however, Weyland-Yutani’s inclusion is rather natural and while androids that behave and react more efficiently and effectively than humans are nothing new in popular sci-fi, those who love the Alien series already know what the synths are capable of. The nature of the film also somewhat links to Predator: Killer of Killers, setting up future sequels that could tie things back to the earlier films, and both franchises.

And in giving the Yautja a full language, designed especially for this film, the film gives us slightly more than what we should know about the species – honorable creatures who hunt and kill with pride, and who won’t blink and eyelid with honour killings when faced with the stench of shame. Aside from a group of regular synths, who speak with an artificial approximation of human behaviour, as well as Thia’s ‘sister’, Tessa, also played by Fanning, the film features no humans in supporting or background roles at all.

But we also don’t need humans because this is Trachtenberg’s chance to let loose, and not present humans with loopholes and weaknesses to exploit, to show how a man can possibly defeat a Predator. In fact, the first alien on Genna that tries to kill Dek can probably take down Dutch (from the original 1987 film, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) before he takes his first step towards running for his chopper.

To his credit, Trachtenberg does away with most of Dek’s advanced weapons, leaving the young Yautja and his survival instincts to take over as he attempts to survive. Where the film slightly gets too clumsy is that every foe or danger that Dek encounters and defeats becomes his weapon against the synths. How can a planet so fraught with dangerous elements survive its very own existence?

The other thing that fits this film, but not the franchise, is the use of humour, mainly by Thia. Yes, she’s not human and might be programmed to liven the moment with her emotions, but there are plenty of jokes in this film, spilling more guts with laughter than with mindless maiming. Most of the one liners and jokes land, even if they do seem somewhat indulgent, to the point where even Dek makes one. Damn it Dutch, see what you did with your catchy one liners that set such expectations all those years ago? The Predator is supposed to be one ugly motherf***ker, not a funny one.

Given that there are no humans in this film, it could have used a bit more decapitations, ripping of (artificial) skull and spine from a synth’s body, and some alien creature’s chest bursting wide open, all while synthetic fluid and guts spill all over the place. Instead, we have a film about  a reject from a hunter species on an alien planet with an android, protecting an alien child – that certainly reminds us of another Disney property, The Mandalorian.

Even as the Alien franchise seems to have gone through a successful revival in recent years, it’s great to see Predator do the same, under the guidance of Trachtenberg. While the lore isn’t as deep when compared, he’s clearly taking things in a new direction that honours the past, and opens up the future and in this third outing, he’s definitely killing it.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?

The post Predator: Badlands – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Productivity mice are generally overlooked over their flashier gaming cousins, though their popularity has risen in recent years – and for good reason, especially in the case of Logitech. Known for their customisable functions and ergonomic comfort for maximum productivity, there’s plenty to love about the Logitech MX Master series, and the latest MX Master 4 only reinforces its position as the leader of the pack, with some sweet haptic upgrades creatives never knew they needed. 

A follow-up to the office favourite Logitech MX Master 3S, it returns with the same level of comfort and functionality that makes onboarding easy for newcomers and a smooth homecoming for existing users. The mouse comes with a USB-C Bolt receiver and eight buttons: left/right click, middle click, back/forward, App-Switch, Wheel mode-shift, side buttons, MagSpeed scroll, and the new Actions Ring, housed in a textured thumb rest alongside a motor that triggers haptic feedback.

There has also been an improvement to the mouse’s stain-resistant silicon surface, a departure from the soft rubber used previously, which has come in handy when a drip of coffee somehow ends up on it. Three colourways are available: Graphite, Black, and Pale Grey, but it works well enough that users don’t have to worry much about the lighter-coloured option – just don’t leave stains unattended for too long, of course. 

The base is identical to its predecessor, with a USB-C port that doubles as a receiver for a bolt receiver, an Easy Switch button that, well, switches between three paired devices and a power button that locks the haptic thumb rest in place when turned off. The starting DPI is set to 1,000 and can be adjusted in the Logi Options+ application in increments of 50. Besides the mouse sensitivity, you can also change the speed of its Magspeed wheel and the required force to activate the Actions Ring button, which is useful for preventing users with stronger grips from accidentally pressing against it.

The biggest change that sets this apart from the rest of the MX Master line is the introduction of haptic feedback, indicated by a pulse-like effect when the mouse is turned on. This feature has raised a great many eyebrows over its practical usage, but don’t be quick to judge – it gives more reassurance to users than you would think. 

With support for Adobe applications such as Premiere Pro and Photoshop, users will be able to feel the click of joining two clips together or aligning images to the guiding lines, which proves a lot more satisfying than it should, and inspires confidence in users that their elements are exactly where they need them to be. With the Adobe plug-ins available for the Actions Ring, Logitech claims you can save up to 33 percent of your time with the shortcuts, and there seems to be some truth to it once you get used to the process. 

The plug-ins serve as a great template for commonly used functions on the different Adobe apps, such as reducing a video clip’s speed to 50 per cent for slow motion, or navigating to the exposure slider to adjust the brightness of an image – all of which are helpful to get you started and are customisable in the Logi Options+ app. Out of the box, the base shortcuts found in the Actions Ring include opening up File Explorer or Finder, or clicking into Logi Options+ and accessing an AI bot, to name a few. It should be noted that while the Actions Ring is easy to set up, users should adapt it to their workflow and familiarise themselves with the ins and outs to get the most out of it, with the eventual goal to use available plug-ins or create their own profiles for an optimised day-to-day productivity experience. 

More notably, most creatives pack smaller form factor keyboards for their mobility, and having a mouse like the Logitech MX Master 4 makes up for the lack of macro keys and additional buttons, especially if they are working on the go. Given the versatility of its 8K DPI tracking, the device can be used on any kind of surface, from ultra-smooth glass mousepads to wood tables in hotel rooms, while consistently maintaining its accuracy throughout. 

Switching between an Apple Mac Studio M2 Ultra and ROG gaming PC daily for work on our end means frequently hitting the Easy-Switch button, located on the base of the mouse, to toggle between the two machines. Logitech’s workaround lets the cursor spill over to the other platform, albeit with a slight wait, since it uses the local network for communication between them, making it easy to send files by simply dragging them across the screen. 

When it comes to gaming, however, it’s best to set up a whole new profile that removes everything from the Actions Ring, as it will minimise the app window and cause disruptions to gameplay. Playing shooters like Battlefield 6 at default mouse settings wasn’t the best experience, interspersed with interruptions after accidentally setting off the Actions Ring, even though performance was decent with the right profile. While the MX Master 4 is far from gaming-focused, its ergonomics ensure comfort rarely offered by gaming mice, and can even shape up to be a formidable gaming mouse through some practice and patience with creating separate profiles for different games. 

The only caveat with the MX Master 4 is the lack of onboard memory, so you can’t plug it into a new device and dive right into the swing of things, which is a pity because the setup will take even more time – unless the Logi Options+ app is installed to load up profiles. It’s a missed opportunity, as longtime users have consistently requested that the feature be included in the MX Master series, particularly in light of the onboard memory support available in the classic Logitech G502 gaming mouse range. 

Besides that, its ergonomics, comfort and battery life are in its own league, promising up to 70 days on a full charge, similar to the MX Master 3S that has been tried and tested over the course of five working days and registered a 10 to 12 per cent drop each week while being used primarily for video and photo editing. The mouse can also be directly connected to your PC or Mac with a USB-C – there’s no cable included right out of the box, so you’ll have to use a spare one lying around. 

While the Logitech MX Master 4 is a step in the right direction, the $199 price tag is a bit steep, though the generous spread of features makes it easy to justify the price tag, even if MX Master enthusiasts have to hold onto the dream of onboard memory. Between the addition of game-changing haptic feedback and the Actions Ring, and the retention of the best bits from its predecessor, it signifies the start of next-gen productivity mice, and the experience itself is worth the price of admission. It is still the best wireless productivity mouse on the market, and it deserves your attention. 

Zinho De Costa

Abandon Reason Know Only War! Zinho is a shooter fanatic still waiting for direct sequels to Black (2006) and Star Wars: Republic Commandos. He also truly believes that the Warhammer 40K universe can take on any franchise and destroy them. To think any different is heresy and punishable by Exterminatus.

The post Logitech MX Master 4 Ergonomic Mouse – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Almost two years after its release, the Apple Vision Pro continues to turn heads in the house. The children lean in, trying to listen in on what I’m watching or listening to via the Audio Pods mini speakers, be it the latest chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Disney+, or if the third track from Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” continues to be on repeat on Apple Music. Meanwhile, my wife would stare into my digital eyes via the external display of the mixed reality headset, and tell me that my eyes now look more like me than before, but still not exactly me. 

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, the children are trying to stay caught up with the latest season of Netflix’s Stranger Things on the living room TV, as I’m navigating the latest Word document on my MacBook Pro 16 connected to the new Apple Vision Pro (via Mac Virtual Display) running on the latest M5 processor, perched at the dining room table. On my virtual left, James Gunn’s Superman plays in another window through the headset via HBO Max, and, with the virtual background turned off, I notice Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) talking to her brother’s grave stone at the cemetery from the corner of my eye.

“Vecna is coming,” I warn the children and they turn towards me, noticing that while I am facing the general direction of the TV, my head is tilting left and right, as I shift my eyes back and forth between David Corenswet and the open Word document on the virtual screen, undecided on which would be a less frustrating task to focus on.

As Max floats in the air, the kids scream and hide behind the couch cushions as the grotesque Vecna shows up, and I smile and type the next sentence in my draft proposal. Just when you thought that the Apple Vision Pro couldn’t get any more impressive, the tech giant has done what it does best – refining an already remarkable device into something even more capable. 

Updated from the M2 chip on the original, Apple’s spatial computer, now powered by its latest M5 processor, is a better-performing device, even as the external design remains virtually untouched. After skipping the M3 and M4 chip, the Vision Pro represents the company’s confidence in its silicon roadmap, even as it struggles to convince the general public why they need to pick up a S$4,999 device.

It’s an entertainment device, yet it still lacks a dedicated Netflix or YouTube app, two of the most frequently used content platforms globally. You can play games, but you need a separate game controller, and while you can type with an external keyboard, it’s hardly a laptop replacement since certain key apps, such as Telegram or WhatsApp, are not supported, and for a generation sold on connectivity, the Vision Pro continues to offer a use proposition, but takes some away as well.

The first major difference out of the box is the new Dual Knit Band that replaces the original Solo Knit Band that loops around the back of your neck. Think of the Dual Knit Band as a mashup of the Solo Knit Band, which has a single, thicker strap, and the Dual Loop Band, which comes with two thinner straps, as you now get a second strap that wraps around the top of your head. This better distributes the weight of the Vision Pro across your head, and you won’t feel the weight of the unit apply pressure on the bridge of your nose and face with extended use.

While the new headband looks like the Solo Knit Band, it’s made with a slightly different material and design, making it more breathable. There is a knob on the right side that can be rotated to tighten the strap that goes around the back of your head, and when you extend this knob, you can now rotate it to tighten or loosen the strap across the top of your head. 

Make no mistake – while the new band securely places the unit on your face, you’re still wearing a 750g computer on your face, just that it doesn’t slide down as much, and long sessions of viewing things through the headset, or long FaceTime calls, no longer feel like a strained chore.

But to address the elephant in the room: Does the improvement in the chip change the headset by much, since it remains almost identical in design and functions as the original? Using my existing face cushion and optical inserts from the first-generation unit, the setup experience remains the same, except that facial or retina recognition is now considerably faster and more precise, and provides an almost instantaneous response. There is also less movement of the unit on my face, thereby reducing the number of pop-ups that tell me to look up, or lift the unit on my face. But the M5 chip isn’t about making Safari load faster or streaming apps to run smoother, but about unlocking capabilities. 

It’s the software’s ability to record a more detailed Persona, with greater details of the skin and hair texture. In a four-way FaceTime call, where each caller is represented by their Persona, you can see head turns and mouth movements with so much clarity, it’s as if the conference call is taking place with everyone in the same room. Anyone can share their screen, and even a 3D model that can be manipulated with gesture control, and this definitely beats dialling into a conference call where you’re simply staring at someone’s flat presentation and wondering if everyone can hear you. These Apple Vision Pro FaceTime calls are so trailblazing that you can actually notice when someone naturally lifts their hand, looks at you or shifts their head, to recognise that they want to say something. 

Much of this is on the M5 chip, which actually makes the display better, but not because of any physical hardware changes to the micro-OLED panels in the unit. Instead, the chip can render pixels by 10 per cent more, and its computational prowess is immediate, offering crispier textures and visuals. That said, the change, like faster retina recognition, is subtle and akin to looking out of your home through clean, not dusty windows.

On paper, the M5 chip delivers a 15 per cent increase in multithreaded CPU performance over the M4, and when combined with the 10-core GPU, which has a dedicated Neural Accelerator in each core, it means a far superior performance over the original Vision Pro.

Aiding this visual enhancement is the new 120Hz refresh rate, up from the previous 100Hz. If you are viewing your surroundings through passthrough mode, the text on your iPhone 17 Pro Max looks sharper, and there is reduced motion blur as you turn your head, especially in the evenings with your LED light illuminating the bedroom.

For those who primarily use Mac Virtual Display on the unit, the larger display on the Vision Pro runs smoother and without the occasional shudder that follows when you move the window or run your cursor across the screen to trigger actions. Now, if only Apple could find a way to open more than one Virtual Display screen for any connected Mac, instead of making users open multiple windows within that single Virtual Display, even if they actually have multiple monitors connected to their Macs.

What gets a slight improvement is battery life, as the new model clocks up to two and a half hours of general use, and up to three hours for watching videos, an increase of roughly 30 minutes from the original. In reality, it’s not that much of an upgrade, as the portable battery means you can wear it around the home, offering temporary convenience when used on the move, but don’t count on it for extended use. 

Ultimately, the latest Vision Pro is a taskmaster that comes with convenience but at a price. Even the best use for the device, for consuming entertainment, comes with limits, as it’s a single-user machine. The immersive nature is growing, though, with more content now designed for that all-around view as third-party developers are slowly embracing the platform’s potential – from the Audi F1 Project providing exclusive behind-the-scenes access to Formula 1 racing and the Red Bull app that throws in front row seats, to extreme sporting activities. From being able to increase the size of the display to seeing yourself ‘float’ above buildings in an immersive video, this is your personal IMAX at your fingertips. 

For sports enthusiasts, there’s the NBA app that offers game highlights for general users, or you can catch the full game as a subscriber, and also get game statistics while watching. Amazon Prime Video recently introduced live NBA games, and the Vision Pro offers the best viewing experience with virtual courtside seats. Sadly, you won’t be able to catch live WWE matches, since Netflix still isn’t supporting the Vision Pro at this time.

If you already own the original Vision Pro with M2, this upgrade is unnecessary. But if you’ve felt the desire to power your workflow with mixed reality hardware, the M5 model is your best bet. You will need to accept that this hardware is slightly ahead of its time, and the single-user perspective means it’s a solo experience that can rarely be shared, and is still in need of more killer applications before it becomes indispensable.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?

The post Apple Vision Pro (M5, 2025) – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

After 11 generations, there’s only so far Apple’s smartwatch upgrades can go. ECG measurements? Check. Fall detection? Been there, done that. Last year’s lineup added sleep apnea detection to the list, expanding an already holistic set of health tracking and fitness features, and the latest Apple Watch Series 11 continues the quest for better health monitoring with Hypertension Notifications. 

For the most part, though, much of the Apple Watch DNA remains unchanged. The device shares the same hardware specifications and aesthetics as its predecessor, coming in as the least outstanding when stacked against its 2025 Watch SE 3 and Watch Ultra 3 brethren – the former represents a major step-up from the previous generation, while the latter delivers everything the Series 11 has to offer, on top of satellite connectivity. It’s representative of the “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” rhetoric, but it also begs the question: Are there enough differences and upgrades to support three different versions of one thing?

Where there are improvements, though, the Cupertino giant ensures they count, cementing the main Apple Watch as a forerunner in the wearable tech race. New to the 2025 range, and marking a shift in focus from health tracking to wellness, is Sleep Score, which turns slumber-related data into an easily digestible affair. While the ability to measure how well a night’s rest can be is hardly new to the market, Apple now offers intuitive, actionable insights beyond a flat score, with general findings in the form of three colour-coded rings that represent a core metric – duration, interruptions, and bedtime consistency. So getting 10 hours of sleep is hardly the solution, as you have to consider the number of times you woke up, and whether you went to bed at the same time during the week or month.

Each of these metrics is tied to a max score of 50, 20, and 30, respectively, adding to a tally out of 100 and sorted into different tiers, starting with Very Low (0 to 29) and Low (30 to 49), followed by OK (50 to 69), High (70 to 89), and Excellent (90 to 100). For the most part, Sleep Score aligned with the extent of restfulness the next day, where decreased energy levels and a sluggish feeling, for instance, often followed lower-number readings. Meanwhile, a higher score indicating better-rested nights was reflected through a clearer mind and a livelier demeanour the following day. More impressively, the watch can accurately detect the first hints of dozing off and waking up, remaining consistent across the board. 

In terms of hardware performance, battery life is the main highlight, even if it may not be anything to write home about at first glance, especially since Apple Watch Series 11 still lags behind some of the competition that measure single-charge use in days and weeks. For longtime users, extended battery life takes on a different significance, as this marks the first time that a member in the family has exceeded the usual 18-hour mark, clocking in at an estimated 24 hours.

The ballpark figure proved conservative for both slow and busier days in real-world testing. Over a stay-at-home weekend, the watch lasted through sleep tracking after sporadic messaging and a two-hour workout session, dipping to 50 percent of its full charge the following morning (between 10.30 to 11am). From there, it ran out of juice in the early wee hours, putting the total runtime at around 32 hours with Always-On display enabled. 

Naturally, the mileage differed when put through its paces during gamescom asia X Thailand Game Show 2025, where other factors contributed to the faster battery drain, such as reading emails, navigating Apple Maps, texting on multiple communication apps, and tracking daily activity stats. The Series 11 could still hold its own, however, comfortably powering through the entire day, leaving little room for doubt that it can survive regular work hours. 

Also keeping battery anxiety at bay is the improved fast-charging. A mere 10 to 15 minutes is sufficient to eke out a night’s rest, and a full recharge took less than an hour (and faster via the official Apple-supplied power brick), making it more convenient to charge during less-than-ideal periods, with the first half of the bar filling quicker than the second. More than just a quality-of-life update, the extended battery life is a practical game-changer that’s been a long time coming.

What’s not as straightforward, however, is pulling up the data on the Watch, or rather, from the Health app. Only the current day’s results are shown, and none for previous days, which means users will have to access past readings through the Health app on the phone, requiring more work than just swiping across on the Watch screen. Some of the data recorded and displayed isn’t always easy to navigate to on the small display, either.

Case in point: Sleep Interruption data is nested within the dedicated Sleep graph, instead of being located in the category tab or the general overview directly, which would have eliminated the need for all that additional tapping. It’d be nice, too, if there were an option to add notes to the score cards for personal reference in specific use cases, such as during red-eye or long-haul flights, where sleep quality is typically affected. 

Hypertension Notifications differ in that no day-by-day readings will be recorded, since it’s designed for the long term. Similar to sleep apnea detection, the feature uses the optical sensor to identify and analyse pattern changes over the course of 30 days, alerting users if signs of chronic high blood pressure are detected. There wasn’t an opportunity to test it out, as its 8 October rollout in Singapore has yet to hit the 30-day mark, but expanding an already comprehensive selection of health-tracking offerings is always a good thing. 

Here’s the catch – as part of the watchOS suite, both Sleep Score and Hypertension Notifications aren’t exclusive to Apple’s latest-gen smartwatch, docking some points off the value department with the new hardware. Workout Buddy, a new feature that leverages Apple Intelligence to provide personalised, real-time motivation during workouts, is also a bit of a hit-or-miss, requiring an iPhone 15 Pro or later to work (not the best start for users of older iterations or for those who don’t bring their phones out on runs), and with little breathing room between heart rate notifications, which can be a little grating if the user’s heart rate often fluctuates between the upper and lower threshold when running. 

Still, it has its moments. For individuals looking to start working out or who are new to it, the audio cues, now with a more natural-sounding voice, are an encouraging start, and the Autoplay Media feature offers a refreshing alternative to the same old playlists. Some may point to the Ultra 2 for coaching guidance, but it’s a bit of an overkill for casual fitness enthusiasts, so access to some coaching basics would be welcome here. 

Elsewhere on the software front, the Series 11 ships with the redesigned Liquid Glass language that brings an almost-translucent look to widgets, pop-up windows, and other corresponding interface elements across its various operating systems. This calls for the introduction of the new Flow digital face, boasting a minimalist, bubble-glass design that responds to movement (and unfortunately, can be a little difficult to read), and its analogue counterpart, Exactograph, which displays time in hours, minutes, and seconds and includes customisation options. 

There’s also Wrist Flick, used to dismiss calls, notifications, and the like, or return to the home screen, and Double Tap for performing actions like widget scrolling and playing media by tapping the index finger to the thumb twice. Both prove nifty for one-handed use and work without a hitch, although the former was employed more frequently during the review period and comes in as the preferred gesture. 

Rounding out the Series 11 experience is the familiar sense of fluidity that comes with navigating on its 42mm or 46mm watch face. Powered by the same S10 chip as its predecessor, comprising a dual-core GPU, CPU, and a 4-core Neural Engine, the latest Apple Watch is responsive and runs both first- and third-party apps smoothly. The sleek design has been carried forward, measuring 9.7mm thin and weighing a negligible 0.3 grams more, making it a comfortable, lightweight fit on the wrist, even for someone who isn’t the biggest fan of wearing a smartwatch to bed. 

Likewise, the wide-angle OLED display retains a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and a resolution of 374 by 446 pixels for the smaller iteration and 416 by 496 pixels for the larger variant. The only difference is that the cover is now updated to Ion-X glass, touted to be twice as scratch-resistant as before, and users will be hard-pressed to tell the Series 10 and Series 11 apart. 

At S$599 for the base model, the device occupies an awkward spot as the middle child. The longer battery life is a welcome, if overdue, implementation, and the iterative upgrades are more meaningful than they seem. Compared to the SE3, however, refinement is in short supply, making it more difficult to recommend for owners of newer Apple Watches or everyday enthusiasts, who will get the same great value from the entry-level model. That said, the Series 11 is nothing short of competent and reliable, widening the lead Apple already enjoys in the pursuit of health and fitness excellence. 

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Apple Watch Series 11 – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

Handheld gaming consoles have always worked off a compromise – portability enables users to engage in triple-A quality gaming even while on the go, though it comes at the cost of suboptimal performance, poor battery life, or the combination of the two.

The Nintendo Switch and its recent successor, the Nintendo Switch 2 remains the current success story and others remain eager to take a slice of that pie, and Asus, Xbox and AMD have worked together to merge modern technological advancements to find that sweet spot with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, which takes the already rather impressive predecessor, the ROG Ally, up a few notches with not just hardware upgrades, but meaningful implementations of the Xbox branding. It’s not perfect, as battery issues and a steep price hold it back from greatness, but it comes really close.

Right off the bat, the ROG Xbox Ally X’s design differs from the usual form factor of other handhelds on the market due to its two grips jutting off either side of the device, meant to emulate those seen on an Xbox controller. Similar to the PlayStation Portal, the console looks like someone sawed a controller straight down the middle and slapped a screen in between.

This might seem odd and unwieldy compared to the slimmer or more streamlined competitors out there, but in practice, this design feature does wonders for comfort. This is made even more important considering the ROG Xbox Ally X is a rather bulky device, measuring 29 x 12.1 x 5.09cm at its thickest point, and weighing slightly more than its 2024 predecessor, at 715g. 

With actual controller grips this time around, the device’s ergonomics have been vastly improved, fitting naturally in a user’s hands and helping to support its increased weight even after extended hours of play, which is a level of comfort that devices with the more traditional rectangular design often fail to achieve.

Layout-wise, buttons are mostly what users of the ROG Ally X would expect, but with a few exceptions. The Amoury Crate app button, which used to be on the right side and above the ‘Menu’ button, is now replaced with a shortcut key that brings users to the library section of the Xbox app. On the left now lie two shortcut keys, one that brings up the Xbox app and another that opens the Game Bar for quick access to its Control Centre.

Thumbsticks and triggers feel extremely satisfying to use, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that the buttons on the device employ the same technologies as seen on first-party Xbox controllers, such as Impulse Triggers, which add immersive vibrations and feedback when pressing the key in supported titles. While a joy to use, these keys are unfortunately rather loud, meaning using the console in certain quiet environments might not be ideal.

In terms of connectivity options, the ROG Xbox Ally X features two USB-C ports on its top left side, one of which supports USB 4.0. On the right-hand side lies a MicroSD card ready and the device’s power button, which also doubles up as a fingerprint sensor, alongside a headphone jack.

The device’s enhancements don’t extend to its display, however, as it features the same seven-inch 1080p display as its predecessor. To be fair, the existing technology was already well-suited for mobile gaming purposes, with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of 500 nits, which aids screen readability even in bright outdoor environments.

All its improvements, in terms of performance, lie under the hood instead, with the ROG Xbox Ally X packing in an enhanced AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Processor and AMD Radeon GPU. Putting the chips through their paces via various benchmarking software such as 3DMark, Geek Bench 6, and Cinebench 2024 produced the following results:

• 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra: 2,744 
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 7,735
• Geek Bench 6: 39,725 (OpenCL GPU), 47,227 (Vulkan GPU), 2,794 (Single-Core CPU), 12,394 (Multi-Core CPU)
• Cinebench 2024: 111 (Single-Core CPU), 745 (Multi-Core CPU) 

Benchmarking aside, the console boasts respectable performance for a system of this size, as apart from breezing through more casual gaming titles like Hades II or Shinobi: Art of Vengeance without a hitch, while maintaining a constant 60fps at 1080p resolution, it was also able to run certain 3D triple-A titles like Cyberpunk 2077 smoothly too with a little tweaking of settings, specifically setting it to the game’s Steam Deck preset and making use of upscaling technologies like DLSS, to which the game was able to run between at 50 to 60fps depending on the scene, which is an impressive feat.

The ROG Xbox Ally X is still a handheld console at the end of the day, however, so users shouldn’t expect to run the latest and greatest titles without some compromise. Doom: The Dark Ages, for example, a game that has proven to be extremely scalable to different platforms and systems, is almost unplayable on the handheld, with the only way to achieve a decent performance being to reduce the resolution or to use upscalers, which results in a washed-out image instead.

While gaming, the device’s cooling systems function similarly to most other handhelds, with intake fans strategically placed at the back of the device and away from where a user’s fingers would sit, with hot air being dissipated through vents on the top. How fast the device heats up depends on which of the four operating modes it’s currently on – Windows, Silent, Performance and Turbo, with its default Performance setting automatically switching to Turbo upon plugging in. But even after extended play with graphically intensive titles on Turbo, the device never heated up to a state where it was uncomfortable or painful to play.

Despite its many improvements, the ROG Xbox Ally X still struggles with the bane of all handheld gaming consoles – battery life. It might boast a bigger 80WHr cell than its non-X counterpart, but with its beefier processor, it uses far more power, which sort of balances it out anyway. What this means is that even during casual gameplay, battery life drains fast, and playing a mere hour-and-a-half session of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, a game that doesn’t tax a system all that much, can easily drain half the device’s battery. 

This means that the device can only afford up to four hours of gameplay on a full charge, and that’s only if the title isn’t too taxing on the system, with more demanding 3D titles like Cyberpunk 2077, for example. draining half the system’s battery within an hour. As impressive as how such a tiny system – in comparison to traditional consoles – can last two hours playing demanding triple-A titles is, having a less-than-ideal battery life and needing to constantly charge the device is something that, even with all of today’s advancements, hasn’t been perfected yet.

And then there’s its price. At a staggering S$1,299, the ROG Xbox Ally X is more expensive than the likes of the Nintendo Switch 2, the PlayStation 5, or even the PS5 Pro, with the latter two being the far superior systems in terms of graphical prowess. Like most handhelds, users are essentially paying more for less, just for convenience and portability, but for those specifically looking for a handheld console, this oddly shaped but powerful Xbox-themed one presents the current cream of the crop.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.

The post Asus ROG Xbox Ally X – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

William Ross Wallace’s poem about the power of motherhood, “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World”, took on a sinister new meaning in 1992, when audiences flocked to see a vengeful widow infiltrate an unsuspecting family. The chilling domestic thriller, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, became a surprise box-office smash, holding the number one spot for four consecutive weeks and raking in US$140 million. 33 years later, that same cradle is being rocked once more, but can lightning strike twice?

The land of Hollywood certainly thinks so, as there has been no shortage of remakes, from Disney’s relentless live-action adaptations of animated favourites like Lilo & Stitch (2025), to the reboots of Miami Vice and Highlander currently in the works. 

But while reimagining old stories for fresh audiences has its merits, certain stories are best left undisturbed in their cribs, as this 2025 revival of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle shows. 

For those unfamiliar with the original, the 1992 film followed Claire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra, Fresh Kills), a Seattle housewife who reports her obstetrician for sexual assault. After other women come forward and the doctor commits suicide, his pregnant widow Mrs. Mott (Rebecca De Mornay, Jessica Jones) loses everything — her baby, her home, her future. Six months later, consumed by grief and rage, she infiltrates the Bartel family as their nanny, methodically (and psychotically) destroying Claire’s life from within with the goal of replacing her entirely.

Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera, whose debut feature Huesera earned critical acclaim and awards at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, this remake takes a markedly different approach. Where the original laid bare its revenge plot from the beginning, this version shrouds its intentions in mystery. The film opens with an enigmatic sequence, with hands striking a match, flames consuming a house, and a young girl watching from the yard as screams pierce the night. 

We then jump to the present day, where Polly Murphy (Maika Monroe, Longlegs) sits across from real estate attorney Caitlin Morales (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, 10 Cloverfield Lane), seeking help with mounting financial troubles after losing her nanny job when a family relocated. After Caitlin gives birth to her second child, she and her architect husband Miguel (Raúl Castillo, Smile 2) invite the struggling Polly into their upscale suburban home as their nanny. Polly quickly becomes indispensable, bonding with the two daughters and seamlessly integrating into their daily lives. But as time passes, Caitlin begins sensing that something about Polly doesn’t quite add up. 

Garza Cervera envisioned this project as a departure from the original, having been granted creative freedom to craft an entirely new narrative for a slower-burning psychological thriller. There’s no clear victim, no defined perpetrator — just two morally grey women connected by a traumatic childhood event. In that sense, calling this a remake feels almost misleading, considering how much it diverges from its predecessor. At the same time, it’s equally difficult to classify it as a psychological thriller when the scariest aspect is how low your heart rate might get as you watch it. 

Both leading ladies deliver committed performances, with Monroe convincingly embodying a nanny with obscured intentions, while Winstead credibly portrays a mother whose grip on reality grows increasingly tenuous. But the performances leave much to be desired, especially given Monroe’s established status as a scream queen thanks to her breakout roles in The Guest and It Follows (both 2014). 

To be fair, following in Rebecca De Mornay’s footsteps would challenge any actress — Monroe included. De Mornay’s iconic portrayal of the deranged nanny Peyton Flanders cemented the character as one of cinema’s most memorable villains, where one look from her icy blue eyes would send a chill down your spine. In contrast, Monroe’s gaze registers as vacant rather than menacing, her performance stiff apart from occasional outbursts. It certainly doesn’t help that De Mornay herself was reportedly disappointed upon learning of the remake, admitting that no one from the new cast or crew reached out to her about it, and that the project “felt like a betrayal.”

Pacing issues also betray what a thriller should be. Caitlin’s spiral from “something feels off” to full-blown paranoia happens in jarring leaps rather than organic beats, skipping the mounting dread that defines the genre. Throughout, the film peppers in moments clearly designed to generate unease, though none land with impact. A repetitive electronic drumbeat resembling cyberpunk video game combat music plays whenever the film wants to signal danger or tension, creating tonal clashes with the domestic setting and undermining whatever suspense might have developed naturally.

The script further clutters its revenge narrative with underdeveloped subplots and unnecessary diversions. Gratuitous sexual scenes add nothing meaningful, while supporting characters — particularly Caitlin’s friend Stewart, played by Martin Starr (Tulsa King), exist as little more than disposable plot devices. The husband remains frustratingly underwritten, making it difficult to invest in the family unit that’s being torn apart. When the characters feel this thinly sketched, the stakes evaporate.

To its credit, the remake does make deliberate attempts to update the source material for the modern day, some more successful than others. It notably dropped the character of Solomon, the handyman played by Ernie Hudson in the original, steering clear of the problematic portrayal of a mentally disabled black character serving a well-off white family. Other efforts feel more superficial though, especially the way it tries to introduce LGBTQ+ representation — both protagonists and even the pre-teen daughter express queer identity or curiosity — yet these elements feel more like ticking checkboxes rather than explorations of these themes in any meaningful way.

The final act compounds these issues by abandoning heart-pounding suspense for sudden, visceral chaos that evokes more bewilderment than terror. Instead of a cathartic climax, we get a rushed, unsatisfying resolution. The film wants you to side with neither woman, to feel sorry for both as equally sympathetic victims of circumstance. Unfortunately, this emotional payoff remains frustratingly out of reach, undermined by weak character development and questionable plot machinations throughout. 

While it could be said that the original was predictable, there’s beauty in simplicity and executing a straightforward plot well. In the end, the remake fails where the original succeeded, trading clarity, suspense, and compelling characters for overly complicated grey areas and muddled motives. And down will come baby, cradle and all.

Joyce Ong

Part-time barista, full-time nerd. Here we see Joyce in her natural habitat — hunched over her mechanical keyboard playing indie games, binge-watching TV shows, obsessing over Love and Deepspace, and crocheting peacefully to the melody of Twitch streams and true crime podcasts.

The post The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (2025) – Review appeared first on Geek Culture.

When Apple skipped releasing new iPad models in 2023, few consumers took notice, as the 2022 models were still performing well, and it seemed more like a strategic pause, to show there wasn’t always a need for iterative product launches just to fit an annual calendar. The return of the M4-powered iPad Pro in May 2024 was then heavily anticipated, because if there is something consumers dislike more than planned annual upgrades, it’s the denial of one. But here we are, a little over a year later, and Apple has done it again, this time with the M5 chip powering the iPad Pro, and the question is whether this is the upgrade that finally makes sense for existing iPad owners.

Since its debut in 2010, the tablet has long straddled a curious market position where it offers features far superior to a smartphone, but is also somewhat less productive than a laptop, even if it’s capable of outperforming it in terms of size, portability and performance. The debut of the premium Apple iPad Pro in 2015 positioned the high-end model as a statement piece, securing the category as one that could stand toe-to-toe with laptops as creative and productivity powerhouses. And with the M5 chip debut across this year’s 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models, that statement has grown considerably bolder.

Apple’s decision in placing the M5 chip in just three product categories this year, on the MacBook Pro 14, Apple Vision Pro and iPad Pro, without the need to launch an M5 Pro or M5 Max version of the new chip, which is an indicator of where it wants to position the iPad Pro, as being more powerful alternatives to the current MacBook Air and its laptop contemporaries. Along with the third-generation 3-nanometer technology the chip is built on, Apple is touting this as the next big leap in artificial intelligence (AI) performance and it’s not hard to see why – other companies are pushing AI on regular computers and desktops, but here is a tablet offering the same capabilities, and now backed by a hardware chip in a product category that no one else seems to be focusing much on. 

If you read the news on the new M5 and iPad Pro, one of the things you might have missed out on is that the iPad Pro models offer two versions of the M5, as it did with the M4. Models with 256GB and 512GB capacity, armed with 12GB of RAM, are also packaged with an M5 with a 9-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. Those with 1TB and 2TB of storage come with the same M5 chip found on the MBP 14 and Vision Pro, and 16GB of RAM. This differentiation allows the company to target different groups of consumers with performance and value, but what’s key here is that the GPU architecture remains the same, as the M5 features a Neural Accelerator in each of its 10 GPU cores. This translates into 4 times the peak computation performance for AI workloads compared to the M4, and 5.6 times that of the M1 iPad Pro from 2021.

AI use, while increasing, is still not prevalent, especially when it comes to native support that doesn’t require a service to a third-party AI model, but with the iPad Pro, Apple is sending a clear signal that its AI deployment is not hardware category specific, and if you’re accustomed to using a tablet, and want AI, don’t feel pressured to settle for a traditional computer or a phone – there are other options to suit your needs.

If you’re comfortable with video editing on the go with a tablet and not a workstation, then AI on an iPad Pro running apps such as DaVinci Resolve will feel no different. Musicians creating songs and making music on Logic Pro on the iPad can easily tap on AI as part of their workflow without moving to a laptop, as your existing iPad productivity doesn’t need to change. The faster 16-core Neural Engine, combined with the GPU Neural Accelerators, means AI and Apple Intelligence operate with greater fluidity, making the whole AI integration feel more like an essential tool you seamlessly weave in.

On top of that, the unified memory bandwidth has now jumped to 153GB/s, making it an almost 30 per cent improvement over the M4, and more than double that on the M1, which means you can do more across more apps like Procreate and DaVinci Resolve, without feeling a strain.

Running the new 13-inch iPad Pro review unit through GeekBench 6, the M5 generated a single-core score of 4,117 and a multi-core score of 16,369 on the 1TB model with its 10-core CPU configuration. For comparison, we clocked a single-core score of 3,420 and a multi-core score of 14,274 on last year’s M4 iPad Pro equivalent, which translates to an impressive 20 per cent single-core improvement, and a 14 per cent multi-core performance gain. 

With Geekbench AI, the M5 model produced a single-core result of 5,286 for CPU and a GPU result of 12,650, and a Neural Engine benchmark of 5,302, compared to 4,931, 10,031 and 4,935, respectively, on the M4 model. 

Otherwise, Apple, as always, chose not to mess with its design offering here, as the stunning Tandem OLED Ultra Retina XDR display from last year makes a return, offering the same 1600 nits of peak brightness with HDR content, and 1000 nits of full-screen brightness. The 13-inch model maintains its 2,752 x 2,064 pixel resolution at 264 ppi, while the 11-inch offers a 2,420 x 1,668 pixel resolution, also at 264 ppi.

For those using the device to watch videos, edit photos or produce video content, the display continues to be the gold standard, producing a level of detail and highlights that cannot be found on other devices. Whether you’re watching the new Superman film or the superior Man of Steel, you know that the differences in visual accuracy and style between both films have nothing to do with the impressive screen on this device. 

The inclusion of the N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7 support to the iPad Pro for the first time, though you’ll need the appropriate router to take advantage of it, and thanks to the Deco BE22000 mesh router, we could download Netflix videos for offline viewing or stream high-resolution content with ease. For those of you who use your iPad Pro for work calls, there is just something different about tapping on the device’s 12MP Ultra Wide front camera, which is ideal for Zoom, Teams or FaceTime calls. 

As part of Geek Culture’s battery of gaming tests, we also fired up the device running a series of demanding titles, such as Wuthering Waves, Zenless Zone Zero, Genshin Impact and Delta Force, and the M5 iPad Pro did not disappoint. Each game ran with no issues on maximum settings, with plenty of performance room to spare, so the combination of a powerful GPU and a stunning display makes this the best mobile gaming device available, assuming you can get past the fact that you’re gaming on a tablet.

But as always, the question is never if you should upgrade, but when. Owners of last year’s M4 iPad Pro shouldn’t be upgrading to the M5, unless you are deep into AI or productivity workflows that require that additional boost the chip provides. But if you’re holding on to an M1 or M2 iPad Pro, this should be the realisation that the performance gains here warrant a relook at how you can use the device. 

At S$1,499 and S$1,799 for the base 11-inch Wi-Fi and Cellular model, and S$1,999 and S$2,299 for the base 13-inch Wi-Fi and Cellular model, and up to S$3,649 for the 2TB 13-inch Wi-Fi model with nano-textured glass, this is a heavy investment that doesn’t come with accessories such as the Magic Keyboard (S$529) and Apple Pencil Pro (S$199), which means your total investment can easily climb to close to S$2,500, which is in the MacBook Pro. Funnily enough, the base MBP 14 is priced from S$2,199, though with the iPad Pro, you get a touchscreen, Apple Pencil and cellular connectivity, along with a form factor that fits unique use cases. 

The iPad Pro continues to exist in a category of one because there’s simply nothing else like it, and with the M5, Apple is ensuring that nothing else comes close. 

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?

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