Jason, Author at Thumb Culture

5Oct

By JasonNo Comments

It’s Time To Accessorise With Anker

So, you have your lovely fast refreshing monitor standing proudly on your desk. Either side sits your punchy bassy speakers along with your headset. Spread out in front of you is your sizeable mouse pad adorned with your favourite gaming keyboard and matching mouse of choice. Life is good, your setup may be state of the art or it could be modest, but it is yours and it equally brings you joy. Without spending lots of money, what could you possibly need to accessorise your setup and heighten your gaming experience? Well, Anker have a few things that you may be interested in! I don't know about you, however, even with all of those USB ports on the back of my PC, I still find myself craving more. Ideally, a new motherboard could solve that issue but there again you may find that it...

5Oct

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Sims 4 Industrial Loft Kit DLC Review

Fancy some new furniture for Sims 4? Well the Industrial Loft Kit from Redwood Shores and EA is the latest in available DLC for the 7-year-old title. Industrialise Your Life! Lets take a look at what you get in this £4.99 DLC pack! If you enjoy my review check out my past articles here! Gameplay Inspired by the large converted warehouses of Brooklyn, New York, the Industrial Loft Kit allows you to transform parts of your house to replicate the industrial look. In total there are 26 metal and wooden architectural elements to choose from. These range from round metal ventilation pipes suspended from the ceiling, metal pendant bar lights to arched windows, fans, chairs and tables. With the right positioning of the new furniture, you can make the rooms feel more spacious thanks...

5Oct

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Balsa Model Flight Simulator Review

Balsa Model Flight Simulator by Canadian-based devs Floating Origin Interactive is exactly as it sounds. Simply put it is a flight simulator game that allows you to build and fly your very own balsa wood planes! Balsa Model Flight Simulator - Glory to Destruction in 10 Seconds Headed by Felipe Falanghe who created the acclaimed Kerbal Space Program, Balsa Model Flight Simulator keeps you in the air but this time on planet Earth. Ready to test your creative skills and take to the skies? Let's do this! If you enjoy my review please check out my past articles here! Gameplay It is worth pointing out that at the time of review, the game was in early access with a huge caveat that many things may not be functional or work quite correctly. Indeed there were many features that have no...

14Sep

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews

Deflection Review

Deflection, by one-man indie studio Coreffect Interactive, is a turn-based chess game with a rather neat strategic twist. Featuring laser turrets and pieces that can alter the way that the laser distributes across the board it is up to you to destroy your opponent's King. Deflection - Laser-Guided Turn-Based Fun With its roots in the abstract game of Khet, will Deflection be a nod to the classic or a portal to travesty? Read on! Gameplay When I was a lot younger than I am now I can fondly remember spending a lot of time playing Laser Chess on the Atari ST. Although the gameplay back then was a top-down 2d version, the concept was the same as Deflection. Against an AI, local or online user, you battle it out on the game board with the sole goal to defeat your opponent's King. Takin...

6Sep

By JasonNo Comments

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Mechajammer Preview

Mechajammer by Devs Whalenought Studios is a tactical cyberpunk turn-based RPG that allows you to take your turns simultaneously with those around you. Set in an off-world grindhouse of an urban and jungle colony it is down to you to recruit your crew and adventure through the gloomily lit city. Mechajammer - Urban Survival At Its Heart Are you ready to read on? Mechajammer is currently in demo form for PC over on Steam so you can join in as well. Let's do this then and don't forget to check out my other articles here on Thumb Culture! Gameplay I played the Mechajammer demo therefore elements of the gameplay are limited in some respects, however, it still allows you to get an overall feel for the game. In the beginning, you can either choose from a pre-made character or create y...

13Aug

By Jason1 Comment

VR Reviews

Blair Witch: PCVR Edition Review

On November 20th 2020 I foolishly decided to review Blair Witch: Oculus Quest Edition. I was sort of nominated for it. Having scared myself silly while playing the game, the people over at TC HQ thought it would be a great idea for me to take a look at the Oculus Rift version as well! Blair Witch PCVR Edition - All the scares with more clarity! How is the Rift version in comparison to the Quest? Let's see what Bloober team got up to! Gameplay Running games on VR via your PC has both upsides and downsides. Better graphics are to be had however at a penalty of requiring a semi-decent graphics card. While the Quest is clearly the easiest VR unit to work with as it is standalone, it does suffer from the restrictions that are lifted by having a high-powered gaming rig. Of course, the Q...

80s Classic Boulder Dash Makes A Come Back (Again)

13Aug

By JasonNo Comments

News & Updates, Retrogaming Corner

80s Classic Boulder Dash Makes A Come Back (Again)

It was acceptable in the 80s, and it's coming back for another jaunt! Yes, that's right folks, Boulder Dash Deluxe has been announced by BBG Entertainment GmBH with a scheduled release date of September 9th. Available already across Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC, the Boulder Dash 30th anniversary edition sees Rockford restored to his original puzzle-solving glory. The deluxe version brings an upgrade featuring 180 new and exciting levels. This is also across 9 new worlds while there are 15 new special opponents. In addition, there is character customisation along with access to the 1984 classic version. Should you want that nostalgic flashback to the original caves and graphics. Stephan Berendsen, President of BBG Entertainment GmbH, stated: “Boulder Dash was always one of m...

11Aug

By Jason1 Comment

VR Reviews

Stride Review

Stride, developed and published by Joy Way, is a single-player VR parkour game that features a combat element to it. Out now on Oculus Quest 2, PCVR and Vive with PSVR coming at a later date, it is touted as a "high-octane parkour adventure in virtual reality" Stride, One hell of a way to keep fit! I'm not the best at motion games however on the Oculus Quest 2, Stride is listed as "Comfortable". Let's take this for a test! If you are playing this version or any of the early access versions, let us know what you think of it in the comments below! Gameplay When I think of parkour games, Mirror's Edge immediately comes to mind. Running, jumping, sliding, grappling and firing a gun nicely sums up Stride however there are a few more mechanics at work thanks to the wonderful Oculus Q...

8Aug

By JasonNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

JBL Quantum One Headset Review

The awesome people over at JBL kindly sent down a pair of their recently launched Quantum One gaming headphones for me to have a play with. Before I have even got the product out of the box it already looks a very colourful ordeal with vibrant oranges painted across the packaging. JBL Quantum One - Dare To Listen With JBL being very well known for its speakers, I was interested to see how they would sound in a gaming headset. As, where precise sound is key if you want to survive in first-person shooters. First impressions Straight from the box there is a fair bit of substance to the Quantum One headset with a weight of 369g, bearing in mind that this is a wired headset. In comparison to some of the other headsets that I have had the pleasure to review, the wired Roccat Khan Aimo head...

3Aug

By Jason1 Comment

PC Reviews, Previews & Early Access

Lemnis Gate Preview

Lemnis Gate, by devs Ratloop Games Canada is a tactical first-person shooter at heart, but with one hell of a twist. I was lucky along with a few other of the TC staff to take part in the recent Beta and with the game being deployed across PC, Playstation, and Xbox on the 28th of September it was time to get this preview written! Lemnis Gate - COD Meets Time Travel, Can Your Reality Survive? If you enjoy strategic turn-based fps-styled games, read on but be warned, all is not as clear-cut as it seems! Gameplay Lemnis Gate comes with 4 game modes across 7 maps at launch featuring ditties such as seek and destroy, domination, retrieve XM (capture the flag), and deathmatch. With single-player, co-op, and PvP, every eventuality is covered. The team that you control currently consist...