Mawdlin

I only bought my OLED today on the back of Rab's review on Gamesmaster. Honestly, I'm not blown away like a lot of people. The slightly larger screen is the biggest improvement for me (haven't had a chance to check out battery life). I've been comparing it to my original Switch for the last couple of hours and, yes, the colours pop more but not significantly enough for me to really notice in handheld mode. And... In some cases I feel the screen is even a very minor downgrade. For instance, when I compare the two loading screens from Snooker 19 the faces on the players look sharper and crisper on the original Switch. You can see stubble, whereas with the OLED their faces have marginally better colour tone but you can't quite make out the individual stubble. It's almost like there's a smear. (Yes, I didn't have a lot on today). Don't get me wrong, there's very little in it but it is not night and day like some people are saying. At least for me. This is also after changing brightness and vibrancy settings. I've also tried Mudrunner side by side and the colours are infitessimally more vibrant on OLED, but worth another £309? Not if you are on a budget. I've got more hours of experimentation ahead of me, these are just initial thoughts. I imagine some of the more vibrant games like Mario may sway the balance. I do love the bigger screen though, so I'm probably going to stick with it rather than sell on or take back.

Just finished episode 2. I think the reviews are great and would prefer this part to be expanded, at least two an episode. I'd happily lose one of the challenges. Weirdly I'd never even considered upgrading my standard Switch for an OLED but I'm going to have to get one for Xmas now. Rab should be working for Nintendo.

I've just started playing Resident Evil 4 and I'm loving it. I was worried going back to one of my favourite games of all time would tarnish the memories but I'm glad I took the plunge. The closest comparison I can make, from a VR perspective, is Saints & Sinners and this trumps that game in nearly every department. I'm surprised the visuals are so crisp and atmospheric. Although I'm still in the village area this is fabulous. I'll report a full review once finished.

Apparently it's the 7th month in a row the games have been leaked. The Lego game will be a lot of fun over Christmas. The other two are intriguing enough to download and try. Very decent month.

Far Cry 5 I bloody loved this I did. Let's get the crappy bits out of the way first. 1) The droning cultists bad guys became tedious pretty quickly. It didn't help that their proselytizing music offended the ears in every base and outpost. A clever idea on paper, no doubt, but it grated beyond belief after a few hours. 2) Whomever decided to integrate a key design feature that 'captured' the player and imprisoned them several times over in a free-roaming sandbox game needs to be put back into the QA dept and strapped into a chair. Despite these missteps this was marvellous fun. The Prepper stashes were terrific, the vehicles and gunplay excellent and the variety was better than in previous outings. While I loved the atmosphere and systems of Far Cry 2 I never actually got over the line with it (going back to it more recently it does suffer from control issues that we were willing to forgive back in the day). Similarly with 3 and 4 the first few outposts were terrific then the Ubislog set in. But I got to the end with this and had a blast. I've been saying for a long time that too many open-world games suffer from a lack of unique locales and hidden crannies that motivate exploration (I'm staring at you Just Cause series) but this nailed it. All those little caves, underground bunkers and eyries, each with loot, lore and stashes to raid made the world feel alive. Sure, the narrative was poor (I couldn't tell you the main character's name and didn't care) but with so much fun stuff to do it didn't spoil the enjoyment. I also preferred the way this was compartmentalised into 3 regions and any mission or attack on the enemy fed into the progression there. It curtailed a lot of the grind I'd felt in previous outings. I may even go back to get some of those final challenges. Never did quite get the hang of fishing or wingsuiting. Terrific stuff. 8/10

I laughed when I saw Big Boy Barry again. Nostalgia. And he's bigger. Didn't get a line though.

Rab is perfect for this and holds the whole thing together. His comment about Tomb Raider showed he's not afraid to call people out and underlined his gaming knowledge. I was surprised it was 45 mins long as it gobbled up the time nicely. I just hope the other 'co-hosts' bed in as they seemed a bit awkward.

Hmm, I fancy an RPG. But which is better, Kingdoms of Amalur (from last month) or Godfall? I doubt I will have the stamina to play through both

I've missed Mary Whitehouse.

Overrule. The footage was very tame, to take into account the target demographic is middle-aged men who watched the original and now have 9 year-old sons. (Having said that, my 13 year-old thought it was lame (but I reckon he secretly enjoyed it)).

Burnout Paradise: Remastered (Switch) I didn't play a minute of this online so probably missed out on its main appeal, but it was great fun anyway. I enjoyed smashing through the billboards as much as the racing but it did start to get a bit samey towards the 'end' - or when I'd unlocked most of the main features. Great for a quick blast on the Switch. 7/10 Super Arcade Football (Switch) Easy to gobble up 10 three minute games before bed, this makes up for its lack of depth with instant goal gratification. The narrative is quite a laugh too. 7/10 The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Quest 2) This was more tense and thoughtful than I was expecting and is better for it. I loved scrounging around cupboards for materials and weapon upgrades and the crafting is done very well, because it makes a massive difference to your survival chances. The satisfaction of glassing or shiving a zombie in the head never gets old. (Although top tip - keep a skull handy because they make for a brutal bludgeoning weapon and never break.) Probably my favourite VR narrative experience to date, and it takes a lot to impress me these days. Pity the humans make for poor enemies which sometimes lets the experience down. 8/10

Search for 'halo strap' on Aliexpress and you'll find a terrific alternative. They are about £25 including delivery. I got on fine with the standard strap but the halo gives me double comfort.

I loved the first Dune novel (which I read 30 years ago). Are the others worth the effort? I heard it was a case of diminishing returns, but maybe that's unfair..?

I was being facetious, but I take your point.

This sort of reminds me of when I joined PSplus about 5 years ago and you got a lucky dip of budget games and remasters. I like.