Jason, Author at Thumb Culture

23Aug

By JasonNo Comments

House of Golf 2 – PC Review

House of Golf 2 by developers Starlight Games (originally named Atomicom), is the second entry in the crazy golf series. Released on the 16th of August on PlayStation, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, the Liverpool-based studio affectionately touted the game as "a labour of love", as well as a collaboration with Razer. Couch-based Crazy Golf with Family Fun! Does House of Golf 2 make it to the green following the 2019 success of its predecessor? Or does it find itself out of bounds? Let's take a quick putt over on PC! Gameplay House of Golf 2 allows you to play across unlockable crazy golf courses via either single-player or up to 4-player couch co-op. There is also a practice mode and an online championship for you to take part in. Starting at Beginner, you play through a series of cou...

1Aug

By JasonNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

be quiet! Dark Power 13 PSU Review

Power supplies for PCs continue to evolve, as does their efficiency. Did you know be quiet! who are renowned for their fans and water coolers, also make PSUs? They kindly sent across one of their units from the Dark Power range for me to try out. be quiet! Got the Power! The Dark Power fully modular ATX 3.0 range, backed by a 10-year warranty and housing many onboard protective circuits, starts at 750W and climbs to 850W and 1000W before going Pro at 1300W and 1600W respectively. Whatever your power demand, either now, or in the future, one of these 5 PSUs will suit you. Unboxing be quiet! sent me the 1000W version, however, it is worth noting that all of the range has 80+ Titanium certification when it comes up to 95.8% power efficiency. In a nutshell, this means that the PSU is more ...

24Jul

By JasonNo Comments

Previews & Early Access

Whirlight: No Time To Trip – PC Preview

Point-and-click games are always welcome here at TC Towers. It was certainly awesome to be able to preview Whirlight: No Time To Trip, by Italian devs Imaginarylabs. There is something nostalgic about being part of a story that you need to progress through by solving logical puzzles. It is certainly good to have a break once in a while from all the fast-paced action shoot-em-ups, and instead give that grey matter a bit of a workout! An Adventure Awaits! If Imaginarylabs sound familiar to you then it maybe because they are also the entity behind the highly acclaimed point-and-click game Willy Morgan. A game that I also got to preview and review back in 2020. My review can be found here! How will Whirlight stand alongside Willy Morgan? Let's take a look. Gameplay Hector is your...

16Jul

By JasonNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Let’s School – Nintendo Switch Review

Let's School by devs Pathea takes players into the unique world of school management, offering a blend of simulation and strategy. The game invites players to build and run their own school, focusing on both the academic and extracurricular development of students. As a fan of simulation games such as Two Point Campus, I was eager to see how Let's School would stack up on the Nintendo Switch. School's Out For Summer! Will this be a summertime handheld game to put on your wishlist? Gameplay The core of Let's School revolves around managing various aspects of a school, from constructing classrooms and hiring teachers to organizing events and ensuring the well-being of students. There is a career mode and a sandbox mode, each with a choice of 3 maps. You can customize the game spee...

7Jul

By JasonNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

Zotac GeForce RTX 4080 Super GPU Review

When it comes to PC gaming, every component and peripheral brings something different to the party. Each ultimately affects your gaming experience. From the speed of the SSD. Clock of the RAM. To the processing power of the CPU. The ability to quickly load into a game and play smoothly on the best graphics settings aids your gameplay and immersion. I decided to take the plunge with building my own PC 4 years ago. It was great fun and very rewarding. I started with a Ryzen 5 3600, 16Gb of RAM and a Palit 1660 Super GPU. It was all I needed to start playing alongside my friends as well as sometimes using it for work. I upgraded to an Nvidia 3070 GPU after a couple of years. Then upgraded the RAM to 32GB as I was running a lot of applications at the same time. For me, winding down for the ...

APNX Creator C1 ChromaFlair Mid Tower Case Review

21May

By JasonNo Comments

Hardware & Tech

APNX Creator C1 ChromaFlair Mid Tower Case Review

Have you ever fancied a PC case that oozes style as well as bountiful space to play in? Then it is time to check out the APNX Creator C1! The mid-tower size enclosure is available in a choice of either black, white or an interesting bluey-purple pearlescent finish marketed as ChromaFlair. APNX stands for Aerocool Performance Nexus by the way! Pc Builders....Assemble! I have been lucky to review PC cases over the last few years and the thing that I really love to see is innovations in design. Every case always brings to the table something clever that either makes the process of building a PC easier or adds a layer of engineering that allows you to build in more imaginable ways. The APNX Creator C1 is seemingly no stranger to this world, having been awarded the prestigious iF Design Aw...

Edifier R1700BT Bluetooth Speakers Review

8May

By Jason1 Comment

Hardware & Tech

Edifier R1700BT Bluetooth Speakers Review

Recently through the doors of TC HQ, we received a pair of Edifier R1700BT Bluetooth Bookshelf Speakers. Adorned in retro brown wooden MDF cabinets, would these 66W RMS speakers produce a room-filling sound that would cope with playing games, listening to music and playing my guitar? Bass In The Place London It's time to open the box and see what fun Edifier has in store for us! Design In the box you receive; an active and passive speaker, a decent thick audio cable that has a plug at each end to connect the pair together, an RCA to RCA audio cable, a 3.5mm to RCA audio cable and a remote control. The speakers, which come in either walnut brown, black or silver, are of a decent weight, 6.6kg in total. They are approx. 155 x 250 x 212 mm and one of the design features is that the...

25Apr

By JasonNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Botany Manor – Switch Review

Botany Manor is a delightful single-player casual puzzle game set in 19th-century England. Developed by Devon-based Balloon Studios, it is out now on PC, Xbox (including game pass) and Nintendo Switch. I have had the pleasure of reviewing a copy for the Switch. Horticulture made fun! Playing as Arabella Greene, a retired botanist, the game is in first-person and set in the grounds of a beautiful stately home. Do you have what it takes to solve puzzles, grow plants, and reveal more about your life and career? Gameplay You begin the game in a typical old-fashioned English greenhouse, surrounded by windows, low brick walls, gardening paraphernalia and items to interact with. The controls are a simple twin-stick operation that you would expect to find with a first-person-style game....

11Apr

By JasonNo Comments

Switch Reviews

Nyaaaanvy – Switch Review

CustomiseSounding a bit like the sound you make when you stub your toe, Nyaaaanvy is a crazy arena-based fighting game that has now come to Nintendo Switch. The game is made by Japanese devs Team DigitalMind and published by Phoenixx and it is also available on PC via Steam. Incidentally, it was launched for Switch on Japanese Cat Day (22nd Feb for your calendars!). Cats, bottoms, sumo, berserk mode! If you fancy a party game where cat-like animals (called a Nyanvy) get to wrestle and spin attack to win then read on! Gameplay The premise of Nyaaaanvy is fairly simple. You are a long slinky cat and you must battle and jump your way through a series of sumo-like arenas and become the last cat standing. Can you become "Cat of cats!"? Customise You can customise your own cat's featur...

31Mar

By JasonNo Comments

Features

Our Favourite Video Game Easter Eggs

Well Easter is here and some of the team here at Thumb Culture are sharing their Easter Eggs. No not the chocolate kind... Our favourite Video Game Easter Eggs. Video Game Easter Eggs - The Plot Chickens How many of these were you already aware of? Let us know in the comments what your favourite Video Game Easter Egg is. The Last Of Us Tease - Tony Originally The Last of Us was to be revealed in July 2011. The development team on Uncharted 3 created a little link to the upcoming Naughty Dog game during development of Nathan Drakes 3rd adventure on PS3. With Uncharted 3 launching in Nov 2011, The Last Of Us would then be common knowledge. However when the reveal of The Last Of Us got pushed to December of that year, Uncharted 3 was already in players hands with the Easter Egg still i...