It’s only been a couple of months since Battlefield 6 launched, following an early access period. We said in our first impressions that there was a lot of fun to be had, and since the proper launch, there’s even more of it.

There are still issues affecting many aspects of the game. They might still be addressed if the update schedule since launch is anything to go by. But until then, if you’re hankering for some large-scale, destruction-heavy action, they aren’t too difficult to overlook.

Celebrating the strengths

Battlefield 6’s greatest strengths come from its multiplayer mode and the inclusion of what hardcore fans have been yearning for – the return of classic class-based setups, the ‘grounded in reality’ character models, and the chaotic experience you can only get from a 64-player round of Conquest.

Whether you’re climbing into a chopper or tank in the heat of battle, proning through smoke and enemy fire to revive fallen squadmates, or providing crucial covering fire for your squad as you nail distant headshots, the Battlefield series is second to none in offering an experience that feels at once exhilarating, overwhelming, and frustrating.

Part of the exhilaration comes from the excellent sound design. There are a few options to pick from, but if you aren’t picking Wartapes V.A.L. (Very Aggressive Listening), then you’re missing out.

No other game can match the immersion of trundling along in a tank while being peppered with panicky small arms fire, hearing frantic radio calls (and slightly-too-realistic screams) in your headset, explosions both near and distant, and the subtle tinkle of spent bullet cases dancing around the cabin as your gunner returns fire.

A lesson in perseverance

In the same breath, it can feel frustrating to be on the receiving end of someone who’s clearly spent too much time in a jet, doing multi-kill strafing runs, only to disappear beyond the horizon before you can get a lock. But that’s the beauty of Battlefield. There’s a hierarchy that demands respect if your team is to have any hope of emerging victorious.

That’s why, as with earlier entries, having a squad you can rely on is key. 2042 blurred the lines of the squad-based gameplay, and BF6 does a good job of undoing that. There’s even a dedicated gamemode that limits classes to their respective specialist weapons.

There are also gamemodes, with smaller maps and no vehicle spawns, that try to mimic what other games offer. As a result, Battlefield 6 can feel like it’s trying to wear too many different hats at once. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. You can completely ignore them, or you can relish the variety on offer. Although we will admit, both would be easier to do if we had a proper server browser to better navigate between the types of games you’re looking to play.

Fancy some battle royal-type action? The Redsec update provides that to a mostly satisfying degree. If you’ve played Warzone, you’ll know what to expect. Bundled with the free Redsec update, we weren’t expecting to like Guantlet as much as we did. It’s a fast-paced, round-based elimination mode that pits eight squads of four against each other in objective-based missions. At the end of each round, the squads that underperform are eliminated until only two remain, left to fight for all the glory.

Shooty shooty bang bang

You can’t really have a good first-person shooter without detailed, well-defined gunplay. Thankfully, with BF6, it feels polished and satisfying. A renewed emphasis on fast-paced close-quarters firefights can make BF6 feel a little too close to Call of Duty at times, where every assault rifle feels kinda samey (and there isn’t a huge selection to begin with). But for the most part, once you’ve learnt how a weapon handles in the firing range, you’re in for a satisfying time.

We can’t say the same for the gun attachment system. It, like the firing range, has been ‘borrowed’ from COD and, save for a few specific attachments, like the 4x ACOG scope for your sniper rifle, for when you want to do some combat sniping, never really made themselves feel necessary and worth the grind.

We had similar complaints with the game’s progression – it can feel intolerably slow, especially in the early levels. The devs have addressed this, to some degree, making some of the more mind-numbing challenges for certain unlocks a little easier to obtain. But then, as you progress and unlock more gear, you learn that some gadgets and utilities are locked to specific classes without the restrictions making sense (is it really that hard to imagine an engineer wanting to carry smoke grenades?!). Battlefield gives, and Battlefield taketh away.

Smooth framerates FTW

Where Battlefield 6 gives more than it takes is in its optimisation. This is thanks to the hard stance the devs have taken regarding the balance of optimisation and graphical spectacle. Our review period was spent playing at 1440p on an AMD PC from 2019 running a Ryzen 5 5600X with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and an RX 5700 XT. With this setup and a mixture of medium settings, we were able to enjoy stable, smooth 60+ framerates without the picture quality turning into an incomprehensible mess.

Battlefield 6 is less demanding than its quality suggests, and that means more people should be able to enjoy the chaos without needing a loan just to afford an upgrade to play the game. However, the current economic climate might dampen that somewhat. Thanks, AI! /s

Campaign? What campaign?

2042 didn’t feature a single-player campaign at all, so we were a little surprised to see one show up with BF6. That said, there isn’t much to it. You’re looking at roughly ten hours of largely forgettable, linear, stand-alone missions that do little for your immersion in the world that the rest of the game was created around. It feels tacked on as an afterthought. If you were hoping for a Bad Company-esque storyline with compelling characters, better luck next time.

Battlefield 6 verdict

While it’s true that Battlefield 6 has something to offer for everyone, it’s with a few caveats. If you’re after a similar multiplayer experience to Battlefield 3 or 4, you’re in for a treat. There’s a similar, more refined experience on offer, and while it can’t quite reach the heights of the golden oldies, it doesn’t dip as low as some of the other games in the franchise (we’re looking at you, Hardline).

Optimisation has been treated with the respect it deserves, instead of chasing a graphical fidelity that only a few can enjoy, and the sound design remains a highlight, as it has been in previous entries.

Depending on how you want to slice it, Battlefield 6 is tactical enough, accessible enough, and replayable enough – especially if you have three squadies close at hand. While the price of admission has increased, it’s worth it for the amount of fun that’s made available.

The post Battlefield 6 review – An imperfect success  appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

Such is the mark of a truly exceptional game that not only values your time and hard-earned money, but rewards that little voice in the back of your head saying: “What’s over there?” It’s a quality we typically associate with something from Nintendo’s catalogue, and in Stuff Towers, there can be no higher honour. Hollow Knight: Silksong truly feels like a AAA triple title in indie clothing, and is well worth the R185 we spent to get it.

Minor early-game spoilers ahead.

Stung by a Hornet

A lot of that is down to Hornet, once-NPC boss turned friend, and now the hero of Silksong. Where Hollow Knight took a more subtle approach to storytelling by putting the ridiculously large world of Hallownest to good use and allowing players to take on the role of the silent Knight, Silksong does it all again, but better.

There’s no denying that Silksong follows a more structured story in comparison to the original Hollow Knight. It’s a bold step away from a formula that worked wonders before, but the right one, considering just how many newcomers to the franchise and the genre as a whole Silksong attracted in its nearly seven years of development. That’s not to say Silksong foregoes the environmental storytelling.

There isn’t much to go on at first. Players are reintroduced to Hornet, who is captured and dragged off to a vast and distant land — Pharloom. After escaping and finding herself right at the bottom of this strange new world, Hornet must ascend to the peak of the realm to seek a quarrel with those who brought her there. We wish we could say more, but we’re more worried about preserving that mystery for everyone else.

Part of what makes Silksong and the metroidvania genre as a whole so exciting is that feeling of not knowing what’s around the next corner, and also what makes describing the story and reviewing it a tough one. What we can say is that not everything is as simple as it seems, with players quickly finding a place for Hornet in their hearts — not just because she’s the playable character — but because Team Cherry gives you a reason to care.

At first, nothing but revenge drives Hornet on this long climb to the top. She’ll certainly talk to the pilgrims who call this land home along the way, but only as a way to earn money and find her path forward. But as Pharloom continues to grow in scope, so does Hornet’s affection for those around her until eventually, it isn’t revenge driving her to the peak — but rather her drive to ‘fix’ a world that is tremendously cruel to its subjects.

We, the audience, are right there with her. Not only because we can physically see the sort of destruction and cruelty that we toil to save this kingdom from, but rather because of how Hornet’s personality grows as time wears on, all of which is made abundantly clear through her increased dialogue. It was a masterstroke to swap out the cute-but-silent type for a strong-willed and deadly killer that’s mighty talkative.

Enter Pharloom

How could you not fall in love with the sprawling labyrinth that is Pharloom? Not only do you quickly fall in love with the intricate pathways that all intersect with one another somewhere, but Silksong is a work of art that we just like to look at. Each area of the map is a hand-crafted wonder teeming with life. Even those bits devoid of any interaction offer up a quiet beauty that serves the larger story at hand.

Pharloom is meticulous, and all the more rewarding for it. Areas flow from one to another in a satisfying manner, and their platforming requirements vary. You might come across a too-high ledge in the early game that requires some special skill to access. Throw down a marker, and move on. You’ll quickly stumble across an area you are meant to go — likely finding even more hidden rooms and secrets along the way.

It’s this aspect that makes Silksong so compelling. Sure, the boss fights offer their own sense of accomplishment (and literally push the story forward), but there’s something about losing yourself in an unfamiliar land before fighting your way out of it that can’t be matched. Enjoy it. It won’t last forever.

Part of what makes Pharloom feel so alive isn’t just the number of enemies or bosses to find — although there are hundreds of different types to bash your head against repeatedly — but the NPCs as well. Silksong takes advantage of the larger map and increased horsepower to fill every nook and cranny with someone to talk to, all of whom not only progress the story, but help Hornet evolve in some small way.

Out of the frying pan (and into the fire)

Hollow Knight: Silksong demands mastery in the purest sense of the word. It won’t tolerate players who can’t grasp the tightly-knit controls, the more aggressive play style of Hornet, the oftentimes downright demoralising bosses, or even the basic platforming. You will die. A lot. But this makes overcoming those difficult platforming sections with only one mask left, or conquering a boss on the 14th try, special.

While a sequel to Hollow Knight, Team Cherry has certainly upped its game here. The first thirty-or-so minutes of gameplay might have you convinced this is nothing more than a Hollow Knight clone with an infuriating 45-degree downward attack to balance out the Knight’s usual commands. Give the game room to breathe, however, and those ideas will be ruthlessly beaten out of your head as you become familiar with the landscape.

Get back into the swing of things, and before long, the game will hand out some major new abilities. We won’t spoil all of those here, but the most useful in the early game is easily the ‘Swift Step’, which gives Hornet the ability to dash, spring, and dash-sprint her way into previously inaccessible areas. It’s not an understatement to call these abilities a game-changer, as they very quickly help the player realise they are out of their depth.

One of our favourite additions to Hollow Knight: Silksong was a proper quest system, which helps both the old hands and newcomers alike to better come to grips with the world at large, and what it’s asking of you, the player. Most of these are pretty basic — ranging from generic fetch quests to proper side quests to save an NPC you love — but some bring a ‘Defeat Ganon’ vibe to the whole game that helps keep you on track.

It’s obvious the devs went out of their way to shake out the cobwebs of Hollow Knight, and in doing so, they took some big risks. One of those is currency. Gone are the days when every enemy would give up some money for your troubles. Instead, you’ll get ‘shards’ from every enemy, while only a select few drop rosaries — this game’s currency. Both are vital to overcoming challenges. Too bad they’re so rare, huh?

Rosaries, like every ‘Souls’ game out there, are lost upon death. Everything — blip. They can be retrieved, but that involves retracing those treacherous steps that got you into this mess in the first place. It’s an entirely unforgiving system that teaches players to be cautious with their money and also makes death feel… real?

You’ll be glad, at first, to learn that shards do not disappear. Not like that, anyway. Seemingly pointless in the beginning, players quickly see their value after being handed their first ‘tool’ — a series of additional weapons that help Hornet fight from a distance. It starts basic — like a simple throwing knife — before quickly expanding into the realm of silly. Each death will use those shards to replenish your tools, quickly depleting them.

We’ve already said our piece regarding most of the enemies, bosses, and even the environment dealing 2-mask damage throughout Silksong in our first impressions, and a whole week later, our opinion remains changed. It’s a complaint by many that is already dying down online, owing to those folks literally improving at the game.

Sound as a bell

Now that Christopher Larkin’s entire Silksong OST is lodged firmly in our brains, we can confidently say that it rivals even the giants in the space — with a haunting melody throughout that would make Ludwig Göransson proud. It alone tells a story of revenge and later, growth, which is best heard on a first playthrough.

As for performance, we had no troubles when booting this up on the Nintendo Switch 2 — hitting a clean 120fps in both handheld and docked (at 1080p). While this was definitely the move when putting movement and enemies first, it’s well worth checking the game out at 2160p/60fps if you have the hardware to handle it.

Hollow Knight: Silksong verdict

Now that we’ve finally played it, it’s easy to see just how Team Cherry managed to sink nearly seven years of development into Hollow Knight: Silksong. It’s a charming work of art that truly has no ceiling for how high you can go. Whether that’s discovering every single item or stomping out every enemy, the varied moveset and vibrant halls of Pharloom make it an incredible journey that everyone should try — just to see it with their own eyes. And at R185, that’s not only possible, but relatively easy.

The post Hollow Knight: Silksong (Switch 2) review – Brutally beautiful appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

After Nintendo’s eShop finally took our bucks, we can gladly say that the twenty-minute (plus seven-year) wait was all worth it. Here are our first impressions of Hollow Knight: Silksong, a stunning metroidvania, which can be had for a measly R185 on Steam and the Nintendo eShop (it’s a different story for Xbox and PlayStation gamers). It’s impossible to avoid spoilers entirely, but we’ll do our best (nothing past the first area) here.

Even more Hollow Knight

If you were expecting anything other than an expanded action-adventure metroidvania that’s got all the DNA of the original Hollow Knight, you’re bound to be disappointed here. Silksong throws players into the red dress of Hornet, an NPC from the previous game that’s bigger, faster, and more dangerous than the Knight.

We think we’re in love. We’ll keep even the basic story under wraps, at least for now, and let you uncover its mysteries yourself. What we can say is that Hornet is a perfect addition to the world of Hollow Knight — dropping the silent-type we saw last time for an expressive MC that only serves to accentuate the lore on offer here.

Easily the biggest change to the Hollow Knight DNA is the addition of a quest system that immediately makes Silksong a more approachable option, even if you aren’t technically getting the full story here. It’s basic, but it gives players a Zelda-like goal right from the get-go that’ll keep even the newbies on track.

We’ll just get this out of the way quickly – performance. On our Nintendo Switch 2, we had absolutely no trouble running the game at a smooth 120fps (at 1080p) docked. Still, it’s worth giving the 4K/60fps mode a try — especially if you’re rocking an OLED display of your own — just to see those vibrant visuals really pop.

Full of bugs

You might be worried that Silksong does the typical sequel thing by re-skinning all the enemies of the last, and in the first thirty minutes of gameplay, we had those worries too. With the base movements, Silksong keeps the enemies basic — right up until you unlock new movement abilities — when the game decides to ramp up the variety to better suit Hornet’s unique style and, more importantly, difficulty.

Silksong is a difficult game, no doubt about it. We’ve seen a couple of complaints that the game is too hard, and to say that, we say: skill issue. Sure, the game is unforgiving, with almost every boss dealing double damage and even the environments occasionally catching you by surprise with 3-mask damage, but it’s all the more engaging for it. It’s easy to forget the game has only been out for less than 24 hours. Give it time, folks.

Part of the reason for the bump in difficulty is the massive changes to the charm and healing system. Rather than depleting your Soul meter to regenerate masks (lives) one at a time, Hornet requires a full spool of silk (gained by bashing enemies, repeatedly) to heal three or fewer masks in a single go. It’s a unique blend of give and take, with health restoring quicker, but requiring more precise hits to stay alive in those heart-wrenching boss fights.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is a game that demands mastery — more so than the famously unforgiving Hollow Knight. Every input counts, whether you’re running through what you think is an area void of bugs or facing down the final boss. We can’t wait to see how the game expands on our currently limited moveset.

Now that’s how you platform

Silksong is bigger than Hollow Knight could ever be, and we don’t just mean in scale, but the levels themselves are massive. That makes sense — what started as a simple DLC for the base game that would have added Hornet as a playable character was quickly scrapped due to her varied moveset, prompting the developers to just… build her something entirely new. That world is Pharloom, and the vibes here are simply unmatched.

Part of that is due to Silksong’s highly detailed worlds that don’t just serve as a medium for some terrific platform, but because the world all serves a much larger narrative, an element we simply loved to see make a return here. Silksong doesn’t need dialogue to keep you engaged (although it has it in spades). Instead, it’ll let this intricate world do it all for you, and boy, we couldn’t be happier about it.

It’s easy to see where those seven years went after you get a glimpse of even one of Silksong’s intricate labyrinthine areas. Not only is the forefront brimming with vibrant bugs and things to see, but it’s the backgrounds that really shine through. A lot of that is down to Pharloom itself, which is a more vibrant and varied world — different to the damp and utterly blue underground players traverse in Hollow Knight.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention one of the most important aspects when it comes to nailing Hollow Knight: Christopher Larkin’s exemplary soundtrack, which encapsulates this kingdom of Pharloom perfectly without ever missing a beat. Whether it’s bringing you to tears as you disturb a group of butterflies in passing, or making your heart thump before you’ve even seen what’s around that corner (spoiler, it’s a boss), Larkin has done it again.

Hollow Knight: Silksong first impression

Weave all those elements together and you’ve got what is possibly the greatest metroidvania to date, brimming with content, a refined moveset that feels wholly new, insanely difficult bosses, and a mystery that’s just begging to be uncovered. All that for R185? Even after our roughly six hours of gameplay and counting, we still feel like we’re on the run for having stolen something, and we’d gladly fork over a couple more bucks for the experience.

The post Hollow Knight: Silksong (Switch 2) first impressions – Silk issue appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

We get it; first-world problems and all that, but after you’ve sunk into the couch for what feels like the hundredth time, only to get right back up in a huff, that Switch 2 Pro controller starts to look a little more appetising, even at the absurd R2,300 asking price. Nintendo’s gone to, uh, some lengths to make it worthy of the price bump. We’re talking customisable back buttons, an audio jack, new sticks, and a new “C” button.

Whether it’s actually worth that ridiculous price is another matter entirely.

Sweeping dust under the matte

Nintendo hasn’t gone for a dramatic design shift, even if the controller does feel a little smaller in our overlarge hands. That’s not to the Switch 2 Pro Controller’s detriment. In fact, the new design comfortably slots into our hands better than the old one ever could, with our fingers resting easily on the ZL and ZR triggers — with just enough reach for our thumbs to hit the A, B, X, Y, and D-Pad comfortably.

Still, it can’t quite beat the old look. Nintendo’s gone for a matte black coating this time around, ditching the see-through plastic of the old model that we truly loved. It’s technically more comfortable in-hand (even if it is a bit of a dust magnet), but we can’t forgive Nintendo for ridding itself of this one bit of 90s nostalgia.

It’s still got all the buttons you’d find on any Nintendo Switch controller (Pro or third-party), but with two new ones added into the mix. Those are the customisable ‘GL’ and ‘GR’ buttons on the rear and the new “C” button we’ve successfully avoided thus far. It’s more difficult to avoid those rear buttons, although that’s kinda the point. Unfortunately, despite their satisfying clickiness, these got in the way more often than not.

It might not look it, but Nintendo has upped the size of all those face buttons, and the difference really shows in use, particularly when dealing with the little ‘+’, ‘-‘, home, and capture buttons huddled around the controller’s middle. Where they were once sunk a little too deep in the original Pro Controller, their size and pronouncement make a difference in gameplay, even if they aren’t often used.

Nintendo’s moved the connection LEDs to the top of the controller right in front of the returning USB-C port — all to make room for a new 3.5mm audio jack. This is arguably the most important inclusion — at least for us — but really is a feature that should’ve been standard even on the original Pro Controller. Still, hooking this up to Beyerdynamic’s dedicated MMX 330 Pro gaming headset inside of Tears of the Kingdom was a special treat.

Stick(s) the landing

It was, in fact, the Switch 2 Pro Controller’s sticks that eventually got us to pick one of these up for ourselves. Having put it (briefly) to the test at the Switch 2 launch event, we wanted to see if these were just as slick on other games as on Mario Kart World. We’re glad to report that they are everything we hoped for.

Don’t get us wrong. Whatever the original Pro Controller packs in the stick department is still great, and we’ve yet to experience any sort of drift after nearly five years of use — but there’s something about the Switch 2 Pro Controller’s almost weightless sticks that just makes you feel like they (and you) are floating. They feel incredibly similar to the new Joy-Con 2 sticks, but with a whole lot more room for your fingers to play.

These offer such a significant improvement over the last iteration (and pretty much every other controller we’ve tested, including the DualSense Edge) that they’re almost worth the bonkers price. We wish we could say the same for the triggers, which feel largely unchanged, if a little deeper. More impressive were the new shoulder buttons, which provided an incredibly responsive and satisfying clickety-clack.

What should have been the star of the show and the main reason you’d want to drop R2,000+ on a controller are the new customisable GL and GR buttons on the rear. Mapping them is as easy as holding down the home button while the controller is connected and tapping the button you’d like each to mimic. That’s the good bit.

But in use… these didn’t quite live up to our expectations. Not only do they feel slightly out of place and prone to accidental touches (especially for a new player who didn’t know they were there), but they feel largely unnecessary for a console like the Nintendo Switch 2. We’re typically lining up to play more chilled games that don’t rely on any extra inputs to stay alive. Call us when Call of Duty finally turns up on the new hardware.

More impressive were the upgrades to HD Rumble. It’s not up to the standard of the haptics on even the regular DualSense, but it’s worthy of your hands, whatever the game. It’s definitely most noticeable in games like Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World — Nintendo’s first first-party games for the Switch 2. Go figure!

Nintendo reckons you’ll get roughly 40 hours of use from the Switch 2 Pro Controller — around the same as the last one — but our tests put this closer to the 45-hour mark. That’s more than worth the three-or-so hours it takes to fill up the tank all the way from zero. Oh, and it’ll wake the Switch 2 up from across the lounge.

Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller verdict

That said, while the Switch 2 Pro controller surpasses its sibling in every way, it does still fall short of that R2,300 price tag. Easily some of the best sticks we’ve ever used, and a too-late addition of an audio jack really is nice, but when the original Pro Controller and countless other third-party efforts can be had for fewer bucks at the expense of a little more effort, the choice is clear. Got cash to blow, though? Nintendo’s latest is a delightful treat.

The post Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller review – If it ain’t broke appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

With the original Super Mario Odyssey team at its back and a more palatable R1,330 price, it was almost impossible for Bananza to fail. We’re pleased to report that Nintendo’s latest not only met our already high expectations, but blew them out of the water. It’s perhaps not as mechanically technical as Odyssey, but Bananza innovates nearly everywhere else, solidifying itself as one of the best 3D platformers ever. 

It really is that good.

Cooler bananas will prevail

Donkey Kong Bananza adopts an “if it’s broke, don’t fix it” mindset in its core gameplay loop, even if it doesn’t follow in the exact footsteps of Nintendo’s iconic red plumber. You play as the titular Donkey Kong, plonked into vast and picturesque worlds that show off what the Switch 2 can do, with a singular goal in mind: find bananas. Of course, you’ll encounter some bosses along the way before you can indulge.

Almost from the get-go, you’ll be paired up with a thirteen-year-old Pauline atop your shoulder, whom you’ll remember as the mayor of New Donk City in Odyssey, essentially making Bananza a prequel in the MGU (Mario Gaming Universe). This unlikely duo’s motivations are fairly simple – find a way home, and eat every banana imaginable – and it’s this that sets the pair on a grand journey to the centre of the… planet.

It’s no The Last of Us, but the relationship kindled between the two characters over the roughly 30-40 hours it took before the credits rolled (sooner if you aren’t easily distracted or worried about finding every banana there is) is a compelling one, if a little cutesy. It’s not nearly as straightforward as it seems, either. Chasing down the pack of apes who serve as this game’s villains will reveal a couple of interesting twists.

Levelling levels

Where Super Mario Odyssey relied on a new red hat to deliver the game’s biggest gimmick, Donkey Kong’s fists are all that’s necessary to get around in Bananza. Every single detail of these elegantly-crafted worlds can be beaten to a pulp — usually to push the game forward — but usually just because you can. It’s not often Nintendo hinders this with arbitrary red tape, but when it does, it’s more than a little disheartening.

You’ve only got a handful of actions that’ll see you through the game — jump, punch, grab, ground pound, and punch up — which might seem a little lacklustre compared to the wizardry you can pull off in Odyssey, but it works wonders here in tandem with the destructible environment. Nearly everything is climbable, save for the few icy or glassy environments, forcing you to think outside the box to reach your destination.

Easily the best bit of Donkey Kong’s fairly limited repertoire was the ability to grab, well, anything. Standing on a bit of mud? Pick it up and hurl it at something nearby and watch it stick. Or, toss it beneath your feet and slide across the ground ala Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom. It adds a level of slick movement that was hard to shake, and had us digging holes just about everywhere we went in search of a new surfboard.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention our pick for last year’s Game of the Year — Astro Bot — in regards to proper worldbuilding. We can’t definitively say that Bananza beats the glorious worlds Team Asobi managed to cook up, but it does come close. Where Bananza takes the cake is by making the explorable worlds larger and more densely packed with things to find — from regular gold to full-on T-Rex remains.

We wouldn’t call Bananza’s skill tree (it has a skill tree, by the way) overly complex, but it’s certainly brimming with abilities that’ll keep the game feeling fresh even as you near the end of the game. You’ll unlock a skill point every five bananas, meaning you’ll want to explore to keep levelling up. Beating a big-bad-boss will hand you five bananas, but if you’re serious about levelling up, it won’t be enough to satiate that appetite.

Bananza is a 3D platformer at heart, and with it come the gripes we’ve experienced everywhere in the genre: boss fights. Nintendo’s gone all-out on the design, creating memorable villains that unfortunately don’t get enough time on stage, owing to them being blasted off the map in minutes. It’s not a Nintendo thing — platformers struggle to create challenging bosses worth your time, and Bananza is no different.

It’s BANANZA time!

At the heart of Donkey Kong Bananza lies the Bananza transformations, timed power-ups that’ll have DK turning into various ape-looking animals to help him through an area. You’ll need gold to unlock these short bursts of extraordinary power — something that slowed us down in the game’s earlier stages. Once we learned to let go (there’s plenty of gold to go around), it helped Bananza live up to its name.

Almost from the get-go, you’ll have your first Bananza power — Kong Bananza — which essentially turns you into a bigger, far more capable ape that can tear through the terrain with fewer punches than your regular self. Next up is the Zebra Bananza, allowing you to sprint over patches that would usually crumble under your weight.

These aren’t the be-all and end-all they’re made out to be, and won’t help you plough through Bananza’s levels. They’re fairly limited, at least in the early stages, and can be honed via the skill tree. Do it right, and these transformations will become almost unrecognisable by the game’s end. Still, we always felt more engaged with DK’s more simplistic moves as he pounds his way around and through the intricate levels, but we admit that Donkey Kong Demolition doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like Bananza does.

Went off without a hitch

We spent roughly half our time with Bananza in handheld mode, and the rest docked. Both offer stellar experiences, let down only by the console’s battery chops, which unsurprisingly take a hit. Bananza’s vibrant and entirely destructible worlds, running at 1080p 60fps (in HDR), take it out on the Switch 2. It’ll see you through a flight from Joburg to Cape Town, but anything longer… pack an extra power bank.

Like Astro Bot, Donkey Kong has so many particles and physics bouncing all over the screen that it’s a miracle it runs as well as it does. Only rarely did we experience performance dips. Those moments where a little too much is happening on screen can cause the occasional frame dip. We had more issues with Bananza’s landscapes constantly popping in, something that hardly affected our enjoyment — and likely goes unnoticed by a casual fan.

More annoying than anything else was DK’s camerawork, which becomes muddled when you have nothing to latch on to. Digging too deeply into the world generates some unpleasant camera angles that didn’t quite follow DK the way they should.

For the most part, though, Donkey Kong Bananza kept up with our demands and then some. There wasn’t a single moment that we felt hindered by the technology tucked under the Switch 2’s hood — something we can’t say for all of Nintendo’s first-party titles on the original Switch (lookin’ at you, Korok Forest).

Donkey Kong Bananza verdict

Donkey Kong Bananza can be had for R1,330, on top of the R12,500 you’ll fork over for a new Switch 2. It may just be the Nintendo fanboy in us speaking, but Bananza is easily worth the pricetag, assuming you’ve already had your fill of Mario Kart World and are tired of replaying your favourites on the brand-new console. Bananza is packed with more than enough to keep you coming back even after the credits have rolled, and has just enough versatility to make a second playthrough look vastly different to the first. And we haven’t even mentioned that soul-cleansing soundtrack that’ll outdo all your favourite Ninty games.

The post Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2) review – Now that’s more like it appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

Early access to the game began on Thursday last week (7 August) for players who had previously signed up for Battlefield Labs, EA Play Pro subscribers, and players who watched at least 30 minutes of one of the partnered streamers during the multiplayer reveal.

Following that, the game went into its first open beta phase, allowing all and sundry to jump into the action, which lasted until 10h00 this morning. Three guesses as to what we were doing all weekend.

Fortunately, if you didn’t get the chance to play this weekend, you won’t have to wait too long before the next early access period starts. But is it worth your time?

The TL;DR of it all is yes, absolutely. Whether you’re a die-hard Battlefield fan or experiencing the franchise for the first time, there’s a lot of fun to be had from this action-packed, destruction-heavy first-person shooter.

Making Battlefield great again

The biggest difference between Battlefield 6 and the previous title in the series, Battlefield 2042, is the renewed focus on what made BF games stand out: a focus on squad-based gameplay with well-defined class-based roles, and the ability to absolutely demolish just about everything on the map.

BF2042 had elements of those things, but it tried to be something new by initially removing classes altogether in favour of a hero-based system where each character, or ‘specialist’, had a set of unique skills and gadgets. This move alienated a lot of fans, and while the game ended up adding classes back before long, the damage was done. If you ever played Battlefield 3 or 4, BF6 will feel cosy and familiar.

The new ‘Kinesthetic Combat System’ introduced in BF6 adds fluidity to movement while still making your character feel grounded. Landing on solid ground after jumping out of a third-floor window might make you wince if you don’t hit ‘c’ in time to roll and mitigate some damage.

Then there’s sprint-diving, crouch-sprinting, and sprint-sliding for trying to get out of the way in a hurry. See a downed friendly? Now you can drag them to cover before reviving, so you don’t end up feeding the enemy sniper two free tickets.

The available guns, maps, and game modes were limited during this early access period, something worth keeping in mind. But there’s still enough on offer for you to make an informed purchasing decision when the full game releases on 10 October.

The first open beta weekend included the franchise staple Conquest game mode, along with Breakthrough, Domination, and King of the Hill. The second weekend will add Rush, Squad deathmatch, “and more” to the mix.

There are four playable maps: Iberian Offensive, Liberation Peak, and Siege of Cairo were initially available, and Empire State will be added come Thursday. While the map pool is small, each map is made up of ‘combat zones’, “hand-crafted configurations within the maps that maximize quality under a variety of modes”. So a large map like Iberian Offensive won’t feel that big if you’re playing a game mode with a tighter focus.

The weapon customisation system has been overhauled. You’ve got 100 points to spend on attachments, with different things given different weightings based on how much they add to a weapon. This will encourage the creation of personalised loadouts based on the game mode or map you’re playing, or even what the rest of your squad is packing.

System and server stability

We’re happy to report that we had a mostly bug-free experience during our limited playtime. There was only one instance where we started a game without the UI elements, like the map, compass, and ammo count loading. But that was remedied as soon as we spawned back in after dying.

We’ve heard of others experiencing bugs, the worst of which was the game failing to run at all. This is an open beta after all, so some bugs are to be expected. If you run into any of them, it’s probably worth checking out this list of known issues to see if your problem has a solution yet. Hopefully, those issues can be resolved before the launch in October.

While Battlefield 6‘s system requirements should keep it within reach of a lot of players, even if they haven’t upgraded their PCs in a few years, it’s worth checking the recommended specs if you’re playing on PC. Our test rig is made up of an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSD, and the AMD RX 5700 XT 8GB GPU.

When we loaded up the game for the first time, we didn’t touch the recommended settings, and it turns out we didn’t even need to. At 1440p and with FSR enabled, we managed a stable 60-70fps regardless of the map or game mode, just like the recommended specs said. That doesn’t happen with every game launch these days (we’re looking at you, Black Myth: Wukong).

As for server performance and stability, we had even fewer issues. Loading in for the first time showed us a splash screen that said we were only 240,068 in the queue. Just as we were about to get up to do something else, that number dropped to 88,000. The longest we ever waited in the queue was a little under ten minutes on Saturday evening. Considering that was when the game reached its peak concurrent Steam player count of 521,079, that’s not too bad.

There’s a chance that it’ll worsen when the second open beta weekend rolls around, with more people able to join from the get-go. But it’s not a problem we foresee carrying over after the official launch.

Battlefield 6 open beta initial verdict

We were pleasantly surprised with how much fun we had during the first open beta weekend for Battlefield 6. A lot of the elements we loved in earlier titles have returned with a bit of modern polish.

Like with the older games, much of your enjoyment comes from how you choose to use the game’s systems and mechanics. There’s a heavy focus on squad-based gameplay, but if you’re more of a lone wolf, that’s still a viable playstyle.

Even as an open beta release, the game runs relatively well on a modest five-year-old PC, and bugs of any variety were few and far between (at least for us).

If you didn’t get the chance to try it out during the first open beta weekend, we highly recommend you jump in for the second. It starts at 10h00 this Thursday, 14 August and runs until 10h00 on Monday, 18 August. If you were burned by the hype of BF2042, this is a great chance to test the waters before dropping R1,200 on the full game.

The post Battlefield 6 early access first impressions – A return to form appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

Fortunately, Nintendo hasn’t disappointed. It’s just a pity about that R1,530 price (R2,000 if you want the new and ugly box design) because Mario Kart World — for all its bright colours and massive scope — is one expensive videogame. Unless you’re willing to stick with rejuvenated but still old software on your new console, Nintendo has made World the de facto Switch 2 game, and damn the fanbase.

Takin’ a Sunday drive (at Silverstone)

Mario Kart World is arguably the most mechanical entry to date. It’s also one of the most fun, competing with Double Dash from the GameCube era. The jury’s still out on whether it can topple 8 Deluxe from its throne, which is the quintessential Mario Kart experience for many, if not most, people. For us, it manages the task and then some, with new modes and a massive open world to dive into.

Still, it’s all a bit pointless if World couldn’t nail the driving, which we’re glad to say wasn’t an issue. You might think World’s biggest gimmick is the sprawling open world, but you’d be wrong. Instead, it’s the ability to grind a sick rail just like your role model Doomguy would in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” True in the case of Mario Kart World. Many of the tracks and surrounding areas have been built with proper wall-riding and grinding in mind, allowing players to leave the, well, we wouldn’t call it “safety”, but certainly the familiarity of the roads below.

It quite literally adds another whole dimension to Mario Kart’s already extensive mechanics and is the breath of fresh air the series needed. There’s just one problem. We’re still unsure about the viability of choosing a ‘sick’ rail grind over simply… driving the course. We don’t have the mental fortitude to conduct extensive speed tests, but others have been quick to point out that the path less travelled is less travelled for a reason – it’s often slower.

That’s not the case everywhere. We regularly saw armies of Baby Luigi’s appearing over our heads– seemingly out of nowhere — for the overtake on the final lap, proving that wall-riding isn’t all bad, and can be the “right” path. We’re not even a month in World’s likely considerable lifespan, meaning it’ll shortly become common knowledge when you should and shouldn’t hop on the walls.

Like most entries, World is exceptionally easy to get the hang of. Even without extensive knowledge of the shortcuts and how to consistently get yourself up on the walls, it’s easy to feel like a pro in no time. It’s this, coupled with the stylish, polished driving mechanics and rather speedy 150cc (though we’re still pining for a proper 200cc down the line), that makes Mario Kart World feel incredibly slick.

One big straight line?

You’ll be glad to hear that track variety isn’t an issue in Mario Kart World, and that’s just at launch. We have zero doubt that Nintendo already has a ‘booster course pack’ in the works, ready for the moment these 30 tracks feel even the slightest bit stale. Don’t expect that soon, though. While you’ll mostly recognise these from returning games, there are a couple of new ones mixed in with an open world we couldn’t get enough of.

That’s just the traditional tracks, though. Mario Kart World puts its title to use and turns the very space in between two tracks on the map into its own little race. This is both a blessing and a curse. When it comes to racing against others online, World foregoes the regular Grand Prix structure for a series of continuous races, regularly making players drive to their next track, with only one “real” lap on the track itself near the end.

This, unfortunately, results in far too many ‘intermission’ courses that are one big straight line, with the real challenge and spectacle saved for right at the end. That’s not to say every intermission is without challenge or proper thought and design applied to it, but we’d be lying if we said they didn’t lack a certain charm Mario Kart is regularly championed for.

Fortunately, there was a way around this. When players would vote on their next track, picking ‘random’ would automatically teleport you and your 23 rivals to the beginning of a track, settling down for a proper 3-lap structure. As of the latest update, however, Nintendo has changed this, meaning you’ll more often be stuck driving to your next course instead of perfecting it over three laps like your ancestors did back in ’92.

Putting the Switch 2’s new powers to good use comes with 24-player races and… we still can’t quite make up our minds on this one. On the one hand, a bigger lobby equals more chaos, and that’s Mario Kart’s whole schtick, thriving on chaos to keep you coming back for more. That’s all well and good until you’re sent from 1st to 23rd in about two seconds. It’s disheartening to say the least. We’d like to see you try it sometime.

Seriously, though, World is desperately missing the ability to choose between a traditional 12-player or 24-player race. Hell, throw in a 16-player race while you’re at it, Nintendo. We’re likely barking up a particularly despondent tree here, but we can dream, can’t we?

Mario Kart World: Fortnite edition

Easily one of the best additions to Mario Kart is the new Knockout Tour mode, immediately justifying the 24-player chaos that we weren’t initially too sure of (and still aren’t). It’s a battle royale that sees 24 racers take one another out in a long, continuous race, with each checkpoint eliminating the last four racers until only one remains.

There is nothing like putting a win in the Knockout Tour column. You’ve just battled it out over a gruelling, often ten-minute-long race that requires your full and constant attention. It’s not as competitive as the regular series of races, and the items aren’t as devastating as their racing counterparts, perfectly balancing the mode’s extended length to make something overwhelmingly fun.

So that’s why it’s called Mario Kart World!

If you’re ever hankerin’for a break from the breakneck pace of World to see what lies beyond, that’s an option. It’s an excellent addition to Mario Kart, but it’s also its most shallow. We’ll admit there’s a fun element to driving around this huge open world, if only to warm those fingers up before a stressful bout of races.

Had World taken the Burnout Paradise to its open world, we’d probably be singing a different tune. As it is, World’s world doesn’t quite scratch that itch. It’s brimming with hundreds of little ‘P’ missions that’ll unlock a sticker of some sort upon completion, often there to test your prowess in 30-second bursts.

Where the open world shines brightest is in those crucial few minutes while you’re waiting for your match’s lobby to populate, giving you enough time to properly warm up without ever entering the open world properly. We should mention that those ‘P’ missions won’t be found here. Sticker-hunters can explore elsewhere.

Silky smooth raceways

We’ll keep this bit short. We briefly mentioned this in our Switch 2 review, but as the first (and currently only) Switch 2 game out there, we can confidently say that Mario Kart World puts that power to use. Of course, you’ve got to hand most of the credit to Nintendo’s developers, who built this gorgeous game that we bet would still look nearly as gorgeous on a regular old Switch.

It would, of course, lose out on the 1440p resolution that we get here, coupled with the slightly disappointing 60fps we seemed to hit, regardless of playing in handheld or docked mode. Even so, World is easily the smoothest Mario Kart to date. We’ve noticed no dips in our three weeks with the game, and loading times never stood out as anything unworthy of the Switch 2’s hardware.

If you are more interested in a more technical performance-guided review of Mario Kart World, we highly recommend checking out Digital Foundry’s take on Nintendo’s motoring opal magnum opus.

Mario Kart World verdict

Mario Kart World does many things we’ve never seen in the franchise’s history before. A massive open world brimming with things to do, new mechanics that require some serious dedication to perfect, and a flurry of tracks that we only wish we could spend more time inside of. Even so, unless you were a die-hard Kart fan before the game’s release, we doubt World’s new modes and 24-player action will be enough to change your mind.

If you, however, managed to snag World for R1,000 as part of a Switch 2 bundle, it’s well worth the money. If you’re looking to grow your physical collection after the fact, R2,000 is a bit of a reach. This is normally the bit we’d tell you to wait for a generous sale, but this is Nintendo we’re talking about. We wouldn’t be surprised if the company put prices up next year. In which case… convince your rich friend to get it and come over. You’ve got the drinks, right?

The post Mario Kart World (Switch 2) review – It’s about the journey appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

Like a devious parent, we’re gonna rip the loose tooth out quickly. Two more weeks with the Switch 2 weren’t enough to change our minds that it is not an essential purchase, at least not yet. Nintendo bravely only put out one new-gen title, leaving most of the grunt work to old, refreshed games, some of which you have to pay for to experience any change. Give Nintendo time to cook on the software front, though…

Still a big slab of glass and plastic (and we love it)

What immediately struck us was just how large the Switch 2 is. It’s one thing to read about the 7.9in display, and another thing entirely to see and feel it in your grasp. Despite the generous upgrade, the Switch 2 manages to be even more portable than most of its siblings (barring the Switch Lite), with the biggest changes including the new metallic kickstand and mightily satisfying magnetic Joy-Cons that snap into place.

These replace the old method, which involved sliding the Joy-Cons onto a rail that was similarly revolutionary back in 2017. Don’t be surprised if every Tom, Dick, and Harry begins implementing magnets into their gaming PC handhelds, even if it does come at a cost of no Hall effect sticks. The lack of Hall effect adoption was disappointing, but less so once we saw that Ninty will replace Joy-Cons should they start drifting (for free).

The same goes for whipping out Mario Kart World in handheld mode. Nintendo’s decision to make the Switch 2 a bigger slab of glass and plastic will surely upset some, but we had no issues gaming in handheld mode for hours at a time. Would we like some grip on the back? Sure. But, as is Nintendo’s usual schtick, it’s left that job up to third-party providers, and companies like dbrand have got you more than covered in that department.

Surprisingly, the Switch 2 never felt more cumbersome than the rest of the Switch family, despite the substantial weight gain. The 520g weight in handheld mode (compared to the OLED’s 320g) actually felt more evenly distributed and generally more comfortable, allowing for a more solid grip on those Joy-Cons.

We were slightly disheartened by the lack of colour on the Switch 2 (we’re sure that’ll be remedied sooner rather than later), but Nintendo more than makes up for it by chucking us another USB-C port on the device’s top to enable simultaneous handheld gameplay and charging. It joins the rather scarce line-up we saw on the last console: power and volume buttons, a 3.5mm audio jack, and the old USB-C.

Docked in

Nintendo’s made some changes to the dock, too, though it’s still a plastic USB-C affair like the first. It’s more rounded than its predecessor, and ditches the folding cover like its OLED brethren, making it easier to access the rear ports – a single Ethernet, USB-C, and HDMI. Notice the vents? That’s to give the Switch 2’s new cooling system room to breathe.

The Switch 2 retains the slim form factor of the original (though it’s closer to the OLED), which makes us wonder why Nintendo felt it was right to make the Switch 2’s seat in the dock that little bit wider. While not a train smash, even the slightest touch while docked is enough to see the console squirm around. We doubt it’s causing damage, but we can’t deny it didn’t hurt us seeing the wobble.

Get a grip, Nintendo

A larger screen means larger Joy-Cons, even if you aren’t thrilled about Nintendo sticking with the same basic shape here. For us, the larger size makes up for what is essentially a redo on the hardware front. It somewhat overshadows the other, smaller improvements Nintendo has made — other than their magnetism.

Up against the most recent Switch OLED, the Joy-Con 2’s front-facing buttons and R&L triggers feel identical to their older siblings’. That may be more to do with general wear and tear on our end than anything Nintendo has done, but we can’t say the same for the Switch 2’s ZR, ZL, and analogue sticks, which feel vastly superior to the OLED’s, with smoother movements and a more tactile response from the triggers.

Nintendo has never been afraid of gimmicks, and the proof is in the mouse-control pudding. Not once did the idea of turning our Joy-Cons into a mouse appeal to us, and we liked it even less after trying it. It’ll do the job well enough — with the help of some extra attachments for each Joy-Con out of the box. No, our problem lies with its generally uncomfortable feeling. A regular wired mouse, however, works just fine.

Though the Joy-Con 2s are just a copy-paste job of the first, Nintendo has added a new “C” button that’ll immediately call up ‘GameChat’ — Nintendo’s new Discord-like chatroom feature. While not overly egregious, it’s a button that will effectively stop working in March 2026, when Nintendo starts charging to use GameChat. We can’t say we’re thrilled about paywalling a physical button, but hey, this is Nintendo we’re talking about.

We should note that your old Switch 1 hardware is more than compatible with the Switch 2, and we had plenty of fun putting our trusty Pro Controller to good use. Anything to avoid that R2,300 price for a new one, anyway.

Only Nintendo could make backwards-compatible hardware an issue for the user. Re-using old controllers with the Switch 2 is a big win, though it comes at the cost of not being able to wake the console without a physical button press. We’re hoping this will be “fixed” in a future update, though we’re worried this is meant to be more of a feature than an actual bug.

OLED who?

Fortunately, Nintendo didn’t just stop at making the screen larger. It’s no OLED, but the Switch 2 rocks a 7.9in 1,920 x 1,080 LCD that proved plenty bright for us indoors, thanks to the HDR10 support. VRR is also here, pairing wonderfully with the 120Hz refresh rate. Games like Tears of the Kingdom quickly became a handheld favourite, something we couldn’t ever say for the last Switch, even with that gorgeous OLED display.

We had no issues with the Switch 2 hitting the promised frame rate across games like Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, though Mario Kart World, with its colourful tracks, shines particularly bright and really pops in handheld mode. Gameplay is crisp, and the bezels, while noticeable, quickly fade into the background.

But can it run the Lost Woods?

The Switch 2’s performance is nearly everything we wanted it to be. Its internals deliver smooth gameplay across next-gen titles (assuming you can cut them a bit of slack). Nintendo has never been one to push the pack forward with pure performance, preferring to let the software speak for itself. All we need now is… the software.

Most folks will opt to stick their Switch 2 into the dock and hook it up to a big screen, and we can confirm this is definitely the way to go if you’re playing with home court advantage. You’ll get an upscaled 4K resolution (from a native 1440p), solid 60fps gameplay, and 120Hz refresh rate if you don’t mind dropping the resolution. It manages the feat with a custom Nvidia chipset tucked inside, though Nintendo’s playing coy about any specifics.

Easily the most frustrating quirk when playing games docked is the lack of any VRR support. The native display handles it well, but we’d have loved to see it make the jump through the USB-C dock. It’s not entirely clear why VRR was left out in the cold, but we’re hopeful it’s something Nintendo can overcome in a future update, even if the fix is reserved for a future version of the console.

It’s bolstered by 12GB of LPDDR5X physical memory, though Nintendo cordons off 3GB for general use, according to the folks at Digital Foundry, tripling that of the original Switch. 256GB of storage is also a boon, though with games tending to be much larger this generation, a microSD Express card is almost a necessity. So far, doubling the storage to 512GB has proved effective, but it won’t remain that way forever.

It can’t square up against the PS5 Pro (or even the base PS5, for that matter), coming closer to a PlayStation 4 Pro in terms of raw performance, with the added benefit of DLSS. Its true power, of course, is its ability to run even the most hectic games on the go. We’ve yet to try out anything too taxing like Cyberpunk 2077 for ourselves, but we can confidently say that Hogwarts Legacy, which was laughably sub-par on Nintendo’s last console, performs admirably, with the biggest change being seamless load times and a steady FPS.

Not that Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of the Wild were ever much of an issue for the first Switch with Nintendo’s rigorous optimisations in place, aside from a choppy and occasionally inconsistent fps that we can thankfully say the Switch 2 puts to bed. We immediately headed for the infamous Korok Forest to put those 60fps dreams to the real test, and walked away from the experience impressed.

Both titles’ cartoony cel-shading art style doesn’t benefit much from the internal upgrade, though things like sharper blades of grass (seriously) and the surrounding world feel more crisp and genuinely alive. It wasn’t perfect, however. During our time with Tears, we noticed the very occasional bouts of blurriness — usually when transitioning back to gameplay — before something kicked in internally and brought back the sharp, clean look.

It’s certainly not a dealbreaker, and was something we had to look for after we first spotted it, and will likely go unnoticed by many. We’re hoping it’s something Nintendo can patch out with time. But it begs the question: is it worth the R180 upgrade price? Yes – it’s easily the definitive way to play some of the all-time Zelda greats. But is it worth picking up an all-new console for a game you’ve already played? Certainly not.

Big juice freak

This was a bit we skipped over entirely in our first impressions, simply because we hadn’t spent enough time with the console yet. Now that we’ve got many, many hours under our belt, we can confidently say that the 5,220mAh battery is easily the Switch 2’s biggest flaw. That’s not to say it’s bad. Others have cited the roughly two-hour battery life when playing Mario Kart World as a major blemish, while we see it as a crowning achievement.

When you get a proper look at MKW, you’ll get an idea why. We seldom played Mario Kart without the max brightness and a Bluetooth controller, which, in our eyes, makes the 120-minute runtime all the more impressive. When we slowed things down with the ol’ GameCube Classics, we stretched that up to five hours plus before the console started sending us warnings.

Could we do with some extra juice? Sure, and we expect we will by the time Nintendo is ready with an OLED refresh in the next two or three years. But what we’ve got now for a handheld console sporting decent internals is more than okay by us. Less impressive was the long charge time, requiring at least three to four hours to charge to full, though we limited this to around 90% to preserve battery longevity.

More of the same

Where the Switch 2 suffers most from being a ‘Proper Switch Pro’ is a lack of any innovation in the basic OS. Aside from some simple icon changes and a couple of new noises here and there, everything looks and feels like a regular old Switch, with the only exception being the new and improved eShop. It’s blisteringly quick now that it’s a native app, and not a web browser, essentially calling up the store’s web page for every use.

It’s just too bad that the eShop is fairly barren at the time of writing. This isn’t a new complaint. Surprisingly, only a couple of weeks later, our minds still haven’t changed. Mario Kart World is a whole lot of fun, and the backwards compatibility improvements shed some bright light on the Switch’s best, but underperforming titles. Still, we’re simply astounded Nintendo didn’t have anything more than a cartoon racer ready to go at launch.

Nintendo Switch 2 verdict

The Nintendo Switch 2 is nearly everything we’d hoped it would be. It retains the lovable charm of the first, refining the internals with some functionally robust hardware, a larger and brighter display, and it’s as portable as ever. Nintendo’s got something special on its hands, just like we (and everybody else) knew it would. It’s not without faults, like the middling battery and missing VRR in docked mode, but its biggest sin is one we’ve not mentioned yet.

That would be the R12,500 price, firmly placing it above the PlayStation 5. You could argue that this is a good deal considering the PS5’s five-year age gap, but we wouldn’t. The Switch 2, while bearing excellent hardware for Nintendo, still loses out to Sony’s efforts. While we reckon it’s a reasonable price to pay as a die-hard Mario Kart fan, anyone looking for a more casual Nintendo experience should do so if it ever goes on special or when Nintendo puts out software that might interest them. A new Legend of Zelda, perhaps?

The post Nintendo Switch 2 review – Proper Switch Pro appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

There’s no big surprises here. Not that we expected any. Nintendo has been staggeringly upfront about the Switch 2 in the build-up,  promising nothing short of an upgraded Switch. There’s a bigger display to gawp at, a newer, faster chipset at play, and those once pesky Joy-Cons connect magnetically now. It’s still everything you loved about the Nintendo Switch, just refined and enhanced.

Ergonomically speaking

The moment we first saw the Switch 2, it struck us just how big this thing was. Real effing big. It’s one thing to read about the 7.9 display, and another to feel Tears of the Kingdom’s rays warming your face. A bigger display meant those Joy-Cons were due for a similar upgrade, and again, Nintendo delivered.

The result? The Nintendo Switch 2 feels incredibly comfortable in-hand and offers massive improvements over all three iterations of the original Switch (Lite, OLED). There’s no extra grip tacked onto the Joy-Cons like you might have seen with copycat handheld PCs, but that’s less of an issue than expected. It’s a massive improvement, but if you weren’t a fan of the original Switch’s grip, that won’t change this time around.

Rather than sliding up and down a rail, the Joy-Con 2 controllers simply slot into the side of the console magnetically, and it’s just as slick as it sounds. A release mechanism is placed right behind the triggers (and out of easy reach). Just hold this and yoink, you’ve got two detached Joy-Cons. Pop them in the included grip in the same manner, and you’ll have a far more pleasant experience on your hands.

Yeah, well, I’m gonna get my own OLED! With VRR and Balatro!

A big screen isn’t much use without decent tech to its name. The 7.9in 1920 x 1080 LCD (we reckon an ‘OLED’ model is only a year or two away) does well for itself, with HDR10 and VRR support, with up to 120Hz depending on the game. It’s no OLED, but the HDR and VRR support almost make you forget about that. It’s plenty bright enough in a bright room, though how it’d fare outside…

As such, we’ve quickly become fond of playing games like The Legend of Zelda in handheld mode, something we typically reserved for the smaller, less graphically demanding games. It kept up with our demands, too, providing a stable framerate wherever our wandering attention span took us.

Stick it in the dock, and the console will immediately start paying dividends. It’ll push out an upscaled 4K res and holds that 120Hz promise (assuming you drop the resolution down to 2560 x 1440 or lower) but still delivers an excellent 60fps for those prettier games. HDR10 still pulls through as well, which pairs well with an OLED TV if you can get your hands on one. It’s missing VRR here, but we never found ourselves missing it.

I’m gonna rock your Mario Kart World

As with the Nintendo Switch 2, we’re working on a full review for Mario Kart World. But seeing as how this is the Nintendo Switch 2 game (not looking at you, Welcome Tour), we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least tell you if it was worth picking up as part of a bundle and saving yourself R1,000.

Mario Kart World, like the Switch 2 it’s running on, is more of the same. It’s grander, larger, and there’s an open-world mode. For fans of the Kart, the bundle is an easy purchase as the game has plenty of content to keep you busy until the next big thing drops. But for someone who’s not particularly interested in the franchise beyond the first few games at their mate’s house, World probably isn’t going to change your mind.

For a Mario Kart game, however, it’s pretty impressive. There are about 30 different tracks, all of which are interconnected and part of a larger ‘open-world’ that we just couldn’t see the value in. Until we hit the waiting room for an online match, which allowed us to warm up while the servers found 24 different players. It was all going smoothly until disaster struck: “A communication error has occurred.”

That was our experience for a good couple of hours, giving us plenty of time to polish our skillset against the bots and get a proper look at the maps on offer. While we’ve yet to visit them all, we do have a few Grand Prix wins under our belt, and it’s clear that Nintendo is cooking. Obstacles are smarter, and the maps are lively. A 3D map in the shape of the original DK game was probably the highlight for us.

Tears, Breath, Odyssey – in that order

The Switch 2’s tech specs, while impressive, aren’t the highlight here. That’s never been Nintendo’s thing, even if it did bow to the pressures to develop a console that feels definitively next-gen. The larger focus has always been on its first-party titles, and it’s these that benefit most from some new hardware. Mario Kart World might technically be the only ‘Switch 2 game’; Nintendo has updated several other games to get the same treatment.

We’ve spent most of our time (time not spent schooling the bots in Mario Kart, that is) inside of Nintendo’s crowning achievement: Tears of the Kingdom. This, and its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, require an R180 purchase (plus a copy of the game) before you can experience any sort of graphical or technical benefit. A Switch Online + Expansion Pack will also suffice, but the upgrades are only available while you have an active subscription.

That’s the route we went, and it was fairly simple enough to achieve. With an active subscription, visit the eShop – which is now blisteringly quick – hit the upgrade pack for whichever Zelda you’re saving, and voila. You’ve now got Tears of the Kingdom running at 60fps with significantly improved textures, lighting, and load times.

It’s honestly impressive. When Tears first landed in 2023, we were blown away by Nintendo’s ability to get something this epic running relatively smoothly on the original Switch hardware. Yes, it was 30fps, but for a world as complex and large as Zelda’s, it was an achievement. The Switch 2 upgrade feels like the natural progression, and makes us question how we ever got by without it in the first place.

Super Mario Odyssey was another to receive a similar update, except this one was free. That goes for a bunch of other titles – Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Link’s Awakening, to name a few – but we haven’t had those thoroughly tested yet. We have spent some time inside Odyssey and walked away equally impressed. It still targets 60fps in both docked and handheld mode, but does so with an upscaled 4K res (up from 1440p natively).

Both Tears of the Kingdom and Odyssey stick to their intended 60fps framerates impressively while delivering on the upgraded resolution. We experienced no stuttering across several hours of playtime, though Tears did occasionally go a little blurry after a hard cut during an in-engine cutscene. It’s nothing hectic, lasting less than a second at a time, but it’s certainly worth noting and holding fingers for in a future patch.

Nintendo Switch 2 initial verdict

All that boils down to whether you should forego food this weekend to pick yourself up a Nintendo Switch 2 for R12,500 (R13,500 with Mario Kart included). Unless you’re a massive Nintendo fan with a backlog of games from the first Switch (preferably those with free Switch 2 upgrades) and a hankering to teach some kids how to play Mario Kart, the Switch 2 is just not an essential purchase right now.

As decent as that 7.9in display and the upgraded internals are, Nintendo’s strong suit is its huge library of amazing games, and the Switch 2 is surprisingly lacking in that department. Sure, there’s Mario Kart World, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly when we’re looking for the next Breath of the Wild or Odyssey title. Give Nintendo a few months and we’ll be singing a different tune.

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That’s because Oblivion Remastered didn’t make the mistake of “fixing” everything “wrong” with the original. Any Scrolls veteran will tell you all those bugs (okay, maybe not the game-breaking ones) are simply a part of the experience, and Bethesda seems to agree. While the core team busies itself with The Elder Scrolls VI, it’s handed the reins over to Virtuos to resurrect Oblivion just as you remember it, but with a definite flair to the proceedings.

Hey, you. You’re finally awake.

It’s frankly astounding what Virtuos has pulled off here. “To produce a quality remake, we aim at recreating the ‘feeling of the memory’, not the actual memory. Our design approach at Virtuos is: Keep, Improve, Create,” said Virtuos’ Nicolas Roginski of Oblivion Remastered. It’s certainly worked. Oblivion Remastered isn’t a 1:1 copy of the original with a fresh coat of paint, but it’s damn close. We like that.

Throw in the shadowdrop marketing, the Elder Scrolls name recognition, and a ‘reduced’ R1,050 price tag, and you’ve got a recipe for overwhelming success. Virtuos has redesigned Oblivion’s various textures inside of Unreal Engine 5 to give it that gorgeous lighting and next-gen look, effectively making this a ‘remake’ rather than a remaster. That hasn’t changed Bethesda’s marketing, but it’s worth noting if you’re still on the fence.

Holding onto all the jank found in the original was a bold decision that appears to have paid off. As Roginski said, it’s about “the feeling of the memory, not the actual memory.” But by allowing a mix of old and new Oblivion players to experience the game almost as it was twenty years ago, it’s easier to appreciate.

You’re the chosen one. Again.

As an Elder Scrolls newbie who missed out on Oblivion the first time around, playing Remastered feels wholly new. Not once did we believe it when fans told us that 2011’s Skyrim was a downgrade from what came before, but we’re beginning to believe it. Oblivion outperforms its younger sibling in so many ways, it’s a wonder that it was Skyrim that went on to become the face of Bethesda for as long as it has.

We expect to share those sentiments with an entirely new generation of gamers, some of whom will have missed out on the glorious RPG experience that was Skyrim (or Skyrim Anniversary and Skyrim Special Edition – not to be confused with Skyrim Legendary Edition). It’s an old game, but it’s technically new to many.

Oblivion kicks off in the vast province of Cyrodiil, currently overrun by what the townsfolk call ‘Oblivion gates’ – portals to the fiery world of the damned. The townsfolk are still reeling from the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim VII, patiently awaiting a hero to save them from the eternal damnation pouring from the gates. You can probably guess where you come in, right?

What follows is a sprawling questline we’ll admit took some convincing to get to. That isn’t an indictment on the writing – on the contrary, Oblivion’s world and narrative titillates the senses far more than Skyrim ever could – but because of Bethesda’s sublime work designing other interesting side quests that still hold up today.

If we’re holding it to today’s standards, however, there are nearly just as many mind-numbing side missions that boil down to little more than a generic fetch quest and can’t hold a candle to some of the more story-driven quests you’ll embark upon. It’s both a blessing and a curse in the case of Oblivion Remastered. Nearly everything that made Oblivion, well, Oblivion, is still there to gnash your teeth at.

Drop and give me 60fps

The biggest sin under Oblivion Remastered‘s belt is performance. You’d think the modern consoles its available on (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC) could handle a stable 60fps framerate, but you’d be wrong. It’s not exactly a choppy mess, and handles the busier areas like cities and farms surprisingly well on our base PS5, hitting that target 60fps with no stutters.

Head out into the wilderness, though, and it’s a completely different story. We’re not alone in pointing out these issues, which seem to be universal across platforms. Unless you’re rocking a pretty beefy PC, expect some big dips. Playing on ‘Quality’ offers up a more consistent experience at 30fps, but missing out on the improved lighting and textures just isn’t worth it in our opinion.

Another common Bethesda shortfall is the bugs, both little and game-breaking, which were kept to a surprising minimum during our roughly 40 hours of gameplay thus far. In that same period, we only experienced a singular crash when attempting to quicksave, which appears to be a problem that has plagued the original for years, and will hopefully be fixed in a future update.

Oblivion, take two

While Virtuos toiled to make this the Oblivion you think you remember playing from 2006, it has brought about some minor gameplay changes that are essential to keep hold of today’s fast-paced gamer. It hasn’t sought to leave its mark on the Oblivion story as a whole, but rather clean up the little things, making for a smoother experience. That means flubbed voice lines, weird dialogue options, and misspelt store names.

Easily the biggest benefactor of the Remastered name is the combat. It’s still got that clunky charm, but with an added weight to every swing and bow nock that goes a long way in selling the ‘realism’ the original was going for. Longtime veterans might hate us for saying it, but one of Virtuos’ best additions is the third-person camera and even more impressively, making players want to use it, default Unreal Engine 5 running animation aside.

Other smaller changes all add up to make this the definitive Oblivion experience, one we’d argue should’ve always been there. We’re talking improved sneak detection, filtering locations on the map, and the ability to move while over-encumbered. It may not seem like much, but the many small changes quickly add up.

It’s not all for the better, unfortunately. Our biggest irk is the introduction of five difficulty presets, replacing the difficulty slider found in the original. This wouldn’t be such an issue if the presets weren’t so wildly different from one another. Newbies will find themselves struggling not only on the hardest difficulty, but the ‘Expert’ mode too, while those who choose the standard ‘Adept’ difficulty will breeze through the story.

Oblivion Remastered verdict

At R1,050, Oblivion Remastered is an easy purchase for anyone who has even vaguely fond memories of the action RPG, while newcomers have what is essentially a brand-new Elder Scrolls title to sink their teeth (and 60 hours plus) into. Bethesda’s best moments still shine through the Remastered coating, while Virtuos’s exceptional work makes this the definitive Oblivion experience. Until Oblivion Remastered Legendary Edition rolls around.

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