Best PS3 Gaming Headsets

Whether you're looking to hear those sneaking footsteps or simply need to keep your gaming quiet, gaming headsets can be extremely divisive. Some are really good, others are terrible. Here are some of the best headsets to enhance your PS3 gaming experience.

Pulse Elite Wireless Stereo Headset

If you’re looking for something a little more basic to wrap around your head, then Sony’s Pulse Elite Wireless Stereo Headset is likely right up your alley. It doesn’t anything too fancy, but if you’re looking for something that does stereo audio well, then it definitely fits that bill. It does have digital 7.1 surround sound though, so simulated surround sound is definitely a possibility. Since it is manufactured by Sony, you’ll get updates about your headset directly on the screen when using it with a PlayStation 3, making it easy to check battery life and other functions without having to take the headset off your head. The built-in microphone is hidden so that you can easily use the headset for movies or music without the added bulk of the microphone hanging out. Best of all, it’s extremely inexpensive compared to other high-end headsets.

Specs:

• Connections: Bluetooth
• Audio:Stereo, 7.1 Digital Surround Sound
• Compatible Devices: PlayStation 3

 Turtle Beach PX 51

Need a top of the line wireless gaming headset? The Turtle Beach PX 51 headset is your best bet. Not only does it operate on a Dual-Band Wi-Fi wireless system that’s more reliable and clear than RF systems, but it has built-in bluetooth that allows for you to listen to music or take phone calls right from the headset. That might sound like a hellish scenario for battery life, but Turtle Beach claims 15 hours of continuous battery life from a single charge of the rechargeable battery. On top of that, you’re getting a full Dolby Digital Surround Sound experience to make sure of the dual-band system. Most importantly, the top band and ear cups are heavily padded, making for extreme comfort under long play sessions.

Specs:

• Connections: Dual-Band WiFi; Bluetooth
• Audio: Stereo
• Compatible systems: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC/Mac, Bluetooth-enabled phones and tablets.

 

Astro A40 Audio System

 
Astro has cemented themselves as a staple of the gaming community by constantly producing high-quality, durable headsets and mixamps. The Astro A40 audio system is a shining example of this, featuring a sturdy over-ear headset that ties directly into a mixamp that allows for direct control over voice and chat volume. More than that, the mixamp allows for Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound without the need for a large bulky box. The mixamp's compact design works with all Astro products and matches that of the A40. It also puts the player in charge of what they want to hear by enabling custom volumes for both chat and game audio. Most importantly, they’re extremely comfortable and work with whatever system you can plug them into. The main system is wired, but there’s a wireless version available if that’s a deciding factor in your purchase.
Specs:

• Connections: Wired 3.5mm cable
• Audio: 7.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
• Compatible Systems: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, anything with a 3.5mm jack

 

Turtle Beach X-RAY Wireless Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Surround Headset

The Turtle Beach X-RAY Wireless Dolby Surround Headset might not be your first choice at headsets if you aren’t a Call of Duty gamer, but a little decoration doesn’t stop it from being a powerhouse of a headset, especially at nearly half the cost of its competitors. Utilizing both 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz frequency bands means that you won’t have to worry about any frequency congestion or static. On top of that, it connects to the PlayStation 3 via Bluetooth for chat capabilities, meaning you won’t need that pesky chat cable.The Bluetooth can even be used to take phone calls or listen to music in game, just like the more expensive Turtle Beach counterpart, the PX 51. If you aren’t finding the surround sound to sound just right, you can adjust the speaker angles in the headset until you find it comfortable. Despite all this tech running at once, it still manages to get nearly 15 hours of use from a single charge.

Specs:

• Connections: Bluetooth, Dual-Band WiFi
• Audio: Stereo; Digital Surround Sound
• Compatible Devices: PlayStation 3

 

Plantronics RIG Stereo Headset + Mixer

Perhaps the newest and most unexpected entry on our list is the Plantronics RIG Stereo Headset and Mixer. It isn’t what you would traditionally think of when looking for gaming headsets, but this newcomer brings with it all the features of established favorites but at a fraction of the price. It comes equipped with Bluetooth allowing for gamechat and phone calls within the helmet and even has swappable mics (both boom and inline), making it easy for you to customize the RIG to your current needs. Its futuristic mixamp only adds to the professional look and manages to do so without becoming overbearing, which is something that a good amount of gaming headset manufacturers fail to remember when taking on legacy headsets. Connect your phone and pump in some music while you game all over wireless Bluetooth.

Specs:

• Connections: Bluetooth, Mixamp
• Audio: Stereo
• Compatible Devices: PC/Mac, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, smartphones, and tablets.

 

PS Vita Slim Review

 

The PS Vita hasn't been a tremendous success. Despite its exceptional library of games and well-designed hardware, stiff competition from Nintendo, the rise of smartphone and tablet gaming, and the high cost of entry have stunted its growth. But Sony isn't giving up. This year, it launched a redesigned model in Japan that makes the PS Vita slimmer, lighter, more colorful, and less expensive at the sacrifice of the original's gorgeous OLED display and more premium build. But was it a worthy tradeoff?

The new PS Vita trims the overall thickness of the launch model by 20%, going from 0.73" to 0.59", and the weight by 15% at just under half a pound. It's a considerable reduction that makes the system more comfortable to use and easier to carry around. The overall footprint is still large, but it's more manageable. It's not quite pocketable, but it feels more like a portable than the hefty, bulky design of the original.

 The buttons and controls remain largely unchanged, save for a few small tweaks to the shape and size of the start, select, and PlayStation home button, which are now circular instead of narrow and oval. Otherwise, the thumbsticks, action buttons, and D-pad are all the same. On the rear, however, Sony has scaled down the touchpad in order to make the grips larger, thus limiting erroneous commands caused by fingers spilling over onto the touch panel. The smaller surface area makes landing taps and gestures in specific corners of the touchpad easier, which is especially helpful during remote play with the PS4.

On the top, Sony has removed the mysterious data port and security screw holes found on the previous model, leaving only the game card port. There are also a pair of new indicator LEDs — one that designates the power state and another to note new system notifications. In Japan, there's an array of new color options, including white, pink, blue, and green, which provide a much appreciated burst of color and capacity for personalization. There's no 3G variant at present, but given the added monthly cost and slow connection speeds, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

 

The build feels cheaper than the previous generation, but it's not a significant step back. In spite of the thinner, lightweight plastic, the new PS Vita is still well constructed and durable. The biggest change, of course, is the new display. Sony has traded the launch model's stunning OLED display in favor of a comparatively cost-efficient traditional LCD. Though the resolution remains the same, the LCD loses some of the brightness and vibrant color representation of the OLED. It's slightly less effective in daytime lighting, but to be fair, the OLED was barely useable outdoors to begin with.

 But transitioning to an LCD-based panel comes with some benefits, most notably battery life. During my testing, I was able to get up to 7 hours of battery life out of the new PS Vita — a two hour increase over the original's 5 hour average. What's more, the LCD's more muted color palette actually makes content look more natural than the OLED's oversaturated presentation. And speaking of power management, Sony has ditched the PS Vita's proprietary data and charging port and adopted a micro-USB connector — the same type used by the DualShock 4 and most smartphones and tablets.

The new PS Vita also adds internal storage — a feature critically absent from the first-generation version. Each unit ships with 1GB of built-in storage, which can be used for system updates and other game data, though in truth, buying a separate memory card is still a must, especially if you plan on downloading content from the PSN.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Review

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a smart, sprawling sequel that wisely places an emphasis on freedom and fun while trimming most of the fat that bogged down Assassin’s Creed III’s ambitious but uneven adventure. Ubisoft’s take on the Golden Age of Piracy begins in 1715, and is presented with a much-appreciated lighter tone that isn’t afraid to make fun of itself in the name of an entertaining journey.

 Sailing across the massive expanse of The Caribbean, exploring gorgeous and unique islands, and getting yourself into all sorts of swashbuckling trouble provide some of the most rewarding and memorable stretches of gameplay I’ve experienced all year. Even after putting in well over 50 hours with the Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, PC, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 versions, I’m still discovering new islands to explore and tombs to raid.

 upon the already-gorgeous AC 3 by showcasing well-lit, tropical locales and the amazing water effects on the open seas. And on next gen, the experience is even more impressive thanks to minimal loading and maximum draw distances that seem to go on for miles. The way the camera zooms out when your ship reaches its maximum speed, the speakers bombard you with the sounds of the wind, and the sunset turns blood-orange, is simply amazing. The PS4 and Xbox One versions are nearly identical, and both deliver the same gorgeous adventure.

All versions of the game come with some form of off-screen support. The Wii U GamePad acts as a map that comes in handy when you're searching for a particularly hidden piece of treasure, or you can play Black Flag directly off of the screen on your controller. The other versions support Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed IV Companion App, a free download that lets you turn any tablet into a home for maps, an Animus database, and much more. There's a lot of information to digest in Black Flag, and being able to utilize a second screen instead of constantly bouncing in and out of menus helps keep you in the experience.

 Black Flag learns from AC 3’s initial 10 hours of banal hand-holding by immediately throwing you into the action. After a lean and exhilarating opening mission that places you in the blood-soaked boots of Connor’s much livelier and more likeable grandfather Edward Kenway, the world blossoms and allows you to explore its vast uncharted waters.

When you ignore the main mission prompt and simply set out in search of your own fun, Black Flag is at its best. It treats you like an adult, and allows you to explore its gorgeous and activity-filled world to your heart’s content. Want to discover every nook and cranny of Kingston’s sprawling expanse in search of Templar secrets? Or would you rather buy a small fishing boat and hunt for all manner of deadly sea creatures, using your spoils to upgrade your character? Maybe you just want to sail to a remote island, climb to the top of a mountain, and gaze in awe at the world around you. Black Flag is all about embracing freedom and carving your own path through the world.

The freedom to tell your own stories also exists in the multiplayer mode, which, once again, refines the unique cat-and-mouse gameplay originally introduced in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Having to blend into your surroundings and try to trick other players into thinking you're an A.I.-controlled NPC provides ample moments of tense and entertaining mayhem. Just like previous versions, it’s a welcome alternative to the standard deathmatch that's become the norm in most multiplayer games, but it’s not substantial enough to be the main reason to keep coming back to Black Flag.

 Also back and better than ever is the series' signature feeling of momentum. It does a great job of marrying the vertical city-based traversal of Assassin’s Creed II with the energetic frontier movement of AC 3. That being said, Edward still occasionally disobeyed my commands by errantly jumping off rooftops and climbing up walls that I never wanted to scale in the first place, but those are minor nuisances. Also, the world’s vast scope invites a handful of hiccups. For instance, the body of a guard who’s holding a necessary key might disappear if you leave the area, meaning that you have to restart a mission. Black Flag is peppered with these sorts of annoyances, and though they certainly aren't deal-breakers, they had a tendency to pull me out of the experience a bit too often.

 Ubisoft wisely avoids the morose spaghetti bowl that Assassin’s Creed’s plot lines have become in favor of a much lighter tale that embraces the adventuresome spirit of classic pirate stories. I loved the fact that Edward is so unlike his Assassin relatives, and much more interested in the pursuit of money than the opaque goals of some secret cabal. It's a refreshing change of pace from a series that had started to take itself a bit too seriously.

 This lighter tone is also evident in the way that Black Flag feels less violent than its predecessors. Death animations are relatively short and sweet, with a surprising lack of blood for a game centered around stabbing people. The restraint is admirable, and it makes combat more fun and less serious business slaughter than in recent years. Then again, Black Flag also tends to repeat some of the Assassin's Creed series’ favorite mistakes, like forcing you to tail a prospective victim at a safe distance for minutes on end while you’re given an exposition dump. It’s mighty annoying that I had to spend 10 minutes listening to rarely memorable dialogue before I could make the kill.

 While the main story is a bit of letdown, I was honestly shocked at how much I enjoyed my time spent outside of the Animus. These first-person missions are mostly optional, but surprisingly great. As a new Abstergo employee working to develop an entertainment product based on Edward’s life, you’ll quickly find yourself embroiled in a bit of corporate espionage that ultimately leads to you to discover all sorts of secrets that gleefully hint at the future of the series.

Call of Duty Strike Team

Call of Duty: Strike Team for iOS is a slave to its own name. At its best, it brings fresh ideas to the series, including squad combat and a top-down perspective that’s well suited for touch devices. But, alas, Activision wasn’t content to make a Call of Duty game without some first-person shooting, even though that part of Strike Team is its weakest aspect. As always, shooting feels slow and imprecise on a touchscreen. Instead of being wholly designed around the device it’s played on, Strike Team is a middling, wishy-washy game with a crippling identity problem.

If you start tossing out random words and phrases from a Tom Clancy novel, you’ve got a pretty good chance of accidentally spoiling Strike Team’s plot. Normally there are terrorists, operatives, and arms dealers. It’s a typical, contemporary war story, but without the excitement of seeing a nuclear explosion or getting shot between the eyes in the first five minutes.

The gameplay hook is that, at any time, you can switch from a first-person view to an overhead drone’s perspective. From the sky, you can direct your squad to cover, Call of Duty: Strike Team delivers a first-person and third-person Call of Duty experience built from the ground up for mobile and tablet devices.

From the sky, you can direct your squad to cover, order them to fire, toss grenades, secure objectives, and more. This mode enhances the tactics of positioning and map awareness while negating the need for sharp, precise aiming. Because you’re almost always controlling multiple soldiers, it’s often possible to boost over fences, set up your own covering fire, or distract enemies for silent takedowns. Playing Strike Team this way is fun, challenging, and brimming with tactical options.

Unfortunately, the aerial mode has its share of problems too, mostly in the areas of AI and fine-level control. Soldiers sometimes misuse cover, refusing to duck, for example, when an automatic turret is turning them into Swiss cheese. You can’t tell units to crouch unless you’re controlling them specifically, so you’ll have to switch back to first-person mode, swap into the soldier you want to control, and then crouch, then swap back – which is tedious and sloppy. There are also times when it looks like your man is in position to take out an enemy, though when you double tap the foe nothing happens. Is the enemy out of range? Is there some obstacle blocking your firing path? Strike Team doesn’t tell you, so you’re forced to retreat back into first-person mode again and again to line up your shots the old-fashioned way.

There’s plenty of it, at least, with plentiful bite-sized missions that are well designed for mobile play. Most have one straightforward objective, so you won’t forget what you were doing if you need to put your phone away for a few minutes. Leveling up is a quick and frequent process. You’re constantly unlocking new perks, weapons, and currency for the surprisingly fair in-game store and the speed at which your arsenal expands is one of the best reasons to keep playing. Those unlocks can also be used in the wave-based survival challenges, though that mode isn’t immune to the bigger control issues.

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Freedom Cry DLC Review

 

One of people's biggest complaints with Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was that I rarely actually cared about Edward's story as I sailed across the Caribbean. Well, some people are happy to say that the Freedom Cry DLC tells the emotional story of Adewale, Edward Kenway's one-time first mate, as it dives into some heavy, powerful themes of slavery and the true price of freedom. Adewale's life is very different from that of any other AC protagonist, which makes his journey quite refreshing.

But ironically, the thing people liked most about Black Flag – the sheer freedom of exploration – is nowhere to be found in Adewale's journey. Instead, Freedom Cry disappointingly uses the series' mission tropes as a crutch, and even goes as far as to roll back on some of the improvements that Black Flag proper made. Adewale's mission to liberate the slaves of Port-au-Prince while attempting to spark a revolution is as engrossing a tale as the series has seen since Ezio's trilogy.

The first DLC expansion for Ubisoft's pirate adventure, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag -- Freedom Cry is a four-plus hour adventure featuring a new assassin character, Edward Kenway's first mate, Adewale. Experiencing the new sights and sounds of Port-au-Prince was great, as the city has a unique feel compared to the main hubs of Black Flag. Sure, the villain is a two-dimensionally evil governor who revels in the misery of his subjects, but that made me want to throw a wrench in his plans all the more.

Freedom Cry wisely integrates its story themes with the actual gameplay. Most of the sidequests and diversions you'll stumble across involve saving the life of another human being. As people watched their resistance movement slowly grow, they kept expecting the number to eventually come into play in some sort of massive revolution mission where they overthrow the island's corrupt leaders. Sadly, the men and women you save only seem to exist to help you unlock character upgrades at predetermined intervals. I quickly realized that I wasn't saving them for the upgrades -- the players were saving them for themselves.

Despite Freedom Cry's much-improved story and dense setting, it still stumbles over the problems that have plagued the series since its beginning, and even some that seemed to have fixed. Black Flag managed to combat the fatigue of Assassin’s Creed’s repetitive tail-and-stab missions by allowing us to freely explore a massive world and create our own adventures. But Freedom Cry's relatively compact map confines us to the main story. There are few distractions in the world, and it only took me an extra hour to see most of what the West Indies has to offer.

Some people really did enjoy their time in this Assassin's Creed short. Adewale's weapon of choice, a massive machete, lends itself to the heavy, violent tones of the story. And the score is particularly impressive, as it effectively hops between epic battle themes and Haitian folk music that really help make Port-au-Prince feel like a lived-in world.

Warframe PS4 Edition Review

Make your own fun. This was once the mantra of the creative kid in the boring backyard; now it’s a pitch well-suited for Warframe. There’s nothing openly exciting about where its repetitive mission designs take you, but the huge variety of weapons, powers, and combat suits lets your creativity open up the battlefield to fun experimentation — that is, if you’re willing to pay.

Warframe is a free-to-play, third-person, co-op shooter in the vein of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, but with approximately 250 percent more ninjas wearing sci-fi suits. The starter suits offer plenty of variety right from the get-go: one, Excalibur, is a well-balanced set that’s a good starting point for beginners. Another, the Loki set, lets you trick enemies with decoys and turn invisible in an instant. It feels especially sneaky and manipulative in a rewarding way. Each of these suits function as entirely different characters, and each are fun and challenging to play with.

But of course, that doesn’t really reduce the effectiveness of Warframe’s action-heavy gameplay, or the pleasure that comes from slicing and shooting its variety of faceless and disposable enemies, including riflemen, shield carriers, and napalm launchers. The most glaring issue I faced as a new player is that Warframe doesn’t explain things well enough. Suits need to be modded with abilities, but the menus are unintuitive. Sometimes slotting a new power works fine, but other times the screen flashes red but doesn’t tell you what’s wrong. The interstellar mission-select screen is also unhelpful, as it doesn’t show you at a glance which planets have missions that are unlocked and ready for you to begin, forcing you to click on each one to track them down.

It also doesn’t put much care into making missions feel distinct. They include the following: killing things and then blow up a reactor, killing things and then rescuing a person, killing things and then killing a boss, etc. Point is, though they’re different in name, most of Warframe’s dozens of levels feel exactly the same. Follow the dot on the minimap, shoot or stab the things that reside there, and then keep going. However, because the combat is so much fun I didn’t mind replaying levels multiple times to conquer them in different ways.

With a party of four players, it’s wise to think about team composition – especially in more difficult stages. Like in most MMORPGs, a healer and a front-line tank prove essential for most hectic fights. Cutting through hordes of enemies with a well-rounded team is fast, fun and satisfying. Playing a level alone, meanwhile, is a big change of pace. Because you take a massive cut in firepower, it’s more important to earn stealth kills and avoid alarms. You have complete control over the pacing of combat, which feels welcome and invigorating in a shooter.

The biggest draw of Warframe lies in using the variety of suits, weapons, and other gear. This introduces a huge caveat – Warframe is a free-to-play game, and its in-game purchases can get very, very expensive. There are over a dozen warframes for sale, as well as dozens of other weapons, drones, and modifications. If you want a small selection of characters and only a few weapons to swap between them, you’ll end up dropping a full $60 on Warframe in no time.  Rewards earned from playing normally feel purposely stunted, and it’s very disappointing for a game that could’ve kept me hooked long enough to fall in love with it (and throw money at it) with a little enticement.

The store itself could also be more transparent. For example, people bought a sniper rifle with real money. When people used it in a game, the reticle was so full of lines, dots, and other stuff that they could hardly see what they was supposed to shoot. A preview option would've been handy, especially when things are so expensive.

The Wolverine Review

With his return to the title role of The Wolverine for the sixth time (with a seventh film now shooting), Hugh Jackman has proven that there's plenty of life left in the most famous X-Man. Unburdened by the type of reservations or fears that some other filmmakers and actors seem to have about the comic-book characters they're adapting, Jackman once again goes full in, embracing the Logan that fans first fell in love with in the pages of the X-Men. The result is, finally, the Wolverine movie we've always wanted.

Director James Mangold and his screenwriters smartly avoid the clutter of mutants and other pitfalls of the character's first solo film, creating a tale that is equal parts inspired by a classic storyline from the comics, a continuation of the X-Men film series, and a separate adventure all its own. Much like the character himself, The Wolverine is lean, mean, and fun.

Interestingly enough, the film serves as a quasi-sequel to the last of the "original" X-Men films, The Last Stand, which came out all the way back in 2006. When we first meet him here, Logan is living like a hermit in the Canadian wild, with the closest thing he has to a friend apparently being the grizzly with whom he uneasily shares the area. Wolverine is mourning the loss of Jean Grey, the X-Men teammate who he loved -- and was forced to kill in that earlier film -- and he has cut himself off from the world rather than have to face more loss.

But the film is a journey of healing for the character, as well as a meditation on the nature of life, death, and the notion of immortality. Soon, the ageless Logan encounters Yukio, the emissary of a dying old man whose life he saved decades earlier during World War II. The old man, Yashida , brings Logan back to Japan, where he offers to take the mutant's immortality away from him as a final gesture of thanks. It's a compelling situation to put Wolverine in, cursed as the character is to forever see those around him grow old and die.

In this age when superhero movies are increasingly concerned with universe-building, it's refreshing to get a film like The Wolverine that mostly stands alone. It's nice not having to worry about the bigger X-Men story or some kind of origin tale during the film (which isn't to say there's nothing here that points to the future of the Wolverine and X-Men franchises). For the most part, this is just a single adventure in Wolverine's long, long life. And really, it makes you feel that the Wolverine movie series could go on forever.

While the picture pulls liberally from the classic Chris Claremont/Frank Miller Japan storyline from the comics, it really plays more like a Bond movie than anything else, putting Logan in an exotic locale with entirely new characters to deal with, friend, foe, and love interest.

There's also a small but great beat in this script that I think is instructive for those who are looking to work in this genre. It involves the undying Wolverine starting to become a thing of legend -- via bedtime story! This is not only a cool concept but it also ties in perfectly to the film's bigger themes and the very notion of what makes Wolverine what he is. Note to all studios: This is the type of flourish that makes a good superhero movie -- not Gambit cameos that go nowhere.

As far as the action goes, a high-speed fight aboard a bullet train is a showstopper, but there are lots of ninjas and sword fights to also keep Wolvie in motion. And fanboys will find the deeper mythology of the character is intact as well. Still, The Wolverine does run into some problems as it nears its climax. The Viper is sexy and kick-ass, but kind of one-note. And a perhaps too cartoonish villain emerges during the finale, as does some CGI action that is more over the top than the rest of the film that precedes it.

But this story paints a deep and compelling portrait of Logan, a haunted character that Jackman still finds new ways to play all these years later. It turns out The Wolverine is the superhero movie surprise of the summer. He's still the best there is at what he does

Battlefield 4 China Rising Expansion Pack Review

The new Battlefield 4 expansion pack known as "China Rising" pack has arrived. On top of the four new maps, you get five new weapons, ten new assignments, two new vehicles, two new gadgets and a new game mode; a substantially larger DLC on the whole than Second Assault and mostly everyone says its better.

Dragon Pass is a spiritual successor to Dragon Valley from Battlefield 2 and is the first map to evoke the feeling of Vietnam. This map is huge, yet still only the second largest offered in this DLC. With tones of air and ground vehicles available, this map feels alive from the second you spawn. Never does there appear to be a let up in the action, specifically when you’re working in tandem with your squad - leading to a whole plethora of moments that you can only have in the Battlefield series. Planes fall from the sky; tanks roll over buildings like they’re nothing and helicopters taxi squads from point to point.

 The jungle aesthetic is just wonderful. Following this is a slight haze of rain. This manages to change the entire feel of the map, showing off in the greatest possible way DICE’s complete control over map and aesthetic design. This genuinely threw this map to the top of my favorites to play, just for the feelings it evokes so effortlessly. The fact this is a multiplayer map in one of the most popular FPS franchises on the planet - a genre hardly known for its emotive design - makes this all the more wonderful to experience, while also showcasing a huge leap forward in what can be accomplished with map design.

In juxtaposition to that, Silk Road is an oddly balanced desert map. The middle point is very much infantry focused, yet the rest of the map is designed mainly for vehicles. I found myself being constantly killed by vehicles and feeling like the game was telling me to like it or lump it. No matter where you are on this map, if you’re not in a vehicle it’s a bit of a chore. Vehicle based maps are fine and can be great but what the Armored Kill DLC for Battlefield 3 showed off, is that unless balanced just right this can get very boring, extremely fast. This map seems to mimic that design choice, causing vehicular combat to be just a little too much of a struggle.

The Armored Kill design mentality doesn’t end there. With Altai Range we have a map that could be the brother of Alborz Mountains from BF3. This is far from a good thing. This map plays out on such a large scale it’s actually slightly ridiculous. You never feel near the action as all the players appear so spread out. The flow of this map is all off and with such a wide landscape, can feel slow and boring. I feel that this map’s aesthetic was stolen straight from the aforementioned map and there are no new ideas here. Boring design equals boring gameplay; it’s as simple as that.

Lastly we come to last in the whole DLC; Guilin Peaks. The aesthetic design is reminiscent of BF: Vietnam and the map plays with an emphasis on team cohesion. The mix of very light vehicle and infantry combat might be a downer to some players but with only transport vehicles available to both teams, there is no rush for the jets, attack helicopter, AA or tanks, instead there is just a rush to play the objectives.

Even after all of the ridiculous adverts EA have been pushing that shows, apparently, real life players doing increasingly stupid things - now coined as ‘Battlefield Moments’ - these are the real game changing moments. When you see years of refinement to the formula pay off in this way, it’s hugely rewarding and fulfilling to play.

Unfortunately, DICE continues its apparent want to add boring and pointless game modes into a game which already has two of the best available in current FPS: Conquest and Rush. Air Superiority is bland. The idea that anyone wants to play Conquest in jets, is one that people still wonder how it got off the drawing board. Unless you are a really up for learning the jets, or are already amazing, avoid this like the plague. I don’t know how to get this across to DICE. No one cares. I really wish they would stop adding these bland, boring game modes and then having the cheek the ask you to play them in order to unlock gadgets.

 Unlike Second Assault, the weapons in China Rising are somewhat usable and bring something new to the table. The MTAR-21 manages to be one of the best new guns alongside the L85A2. Both guns sit at the top end of their category, giving more interesting options to explore with close and medium range combat, respectively. The two new gadgets added on the other hand happen to make it look like DICE has learnt absolutely nothing from its mistakes in the series’ previous release.

 The UCAV and the SUAV are both drones that fly around the map and either blow up or spot vehicles. No. The UCAV has an airburst variation - unlockable with extended use - which can one-hit most vehicles. As if this isn’t bad enough, the SUAV is flat broken; flying through enemies and killing them in a single hit, reminiscent of the MAV bug in BF3. This failure to understand prior mistakes does leave a sour taste in the mouth to anyone who played through the original issues, and frankly, is damaging to a reputation.

The new bomber is another pointless addition. Get used to hit markers, because that’s all you’ll get with this new on-rails vehicle. Considering the ability to implement new vehicles is all but non-existent at DICE right now, I wonder why they even bother anymore. This is once again a reminder of the failure of the AC-130 from BF3.

This DLC, as a whole, comes across as a far better slice of gameplay than Second Assault’s iterative maps and attempt to use nostalgia before any nostalgia had a chance to form. With two of the best maps in the game and a few weapons worth playing with, it adds enough to justify itself.

47 Ronin Review

The tale of the vengeance of the 47 Ronin is perhaps Japan’s most well-known and beloved legend extolling the virtues of the Bushido honor code. Based on real events in 18th century Japan, the story follows 47 loyal samurai who become ronin (masterless) when their leader Lord Asano is forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) after he is accused of assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka. The men waited, planned for over a year, and then avenged their lord by killing Kira.

The anniversary of their campaign is celebrated on the 14th of December each year via fictionalized depictions of the event known as Chushingura. Multiple embellished and otherwise reimagined versions of the tale have emerged over the years. Everything ranging from the 1962 film Chushingura to an all Hello Kitty adaptation is available; which is likely the reason that director Carl Rinsch and Universal Pictures felt at liberty to add their own Westernized/fantastical twist.

This latest rendition of the 47 Ronin opened in Japan on December 6 and, to put it mildly, has failed to capture an audience. Set to roll out globally beginning on Christmas day, the U.S./European ad campaign, unsurprisingly, stresses two things: Keanu Reeves and fantasy.  It is notable that the poster features Reeves, Rinko Kikuchi (a witch in the film, and perhaps the most internationally recognizable of the Japanese cast), and two fantastical creatures who enjoy minimal screen time in the actual film. In point of fact, Kikuchi and Reeves are really more supporting than lead characters. If anyone, Hiroyuki Sanada is the fulcrum of the story.

The marketing is mentioned because the approach is indicative of the inauthentic feel of the film, which on the whole reads like a hodgepodge of manufactured elements designed to ensnare. In Rinsch’s universe, Kira (Tadanobu Asano) is a ruthlessly ambitious, mustache twirling villain who, with the aid of a shapeshifting witch (Kikuchi), tricks Lord Asano (Min Tanaka) into attacking him, forcing the Shogun to call for Asano’s death. Kira is then granted control of Ako, Asano’s home, and betrothed to Asano’s daughter Mika. Mika’s character is a convention of this film and is ultimately designed to appeal to a Western value system.

Essentially she serves three purposes: First, she is the princess in the tower. The ronin are not just struggling for an amorphous idea of balance here, they are also fighting to save Mika from Kira and the witch. She represents the hope of Ako, and her potential return to power affords the film the possibility of a “happy” ending of sorts; whereas in the lion's share of the Japanese iterations the restoration of honor and justice, along with the demonstration of loyalty, are their own rewards. If feels as if the heart of the original tale is about the value of a life well lived, even if it ends in death, while the Americanized twist demands that life must continue in some capacity. Someone must “win” and survive.

Mika also acts as an emotional anchor for Reeves’ Kai via their forbidden love-story. A “half-breed” born of a Japanese mother and British father, Kai stands in as the “other” who can act as an entry point into a potentially unknown world. In other words, Kai is shoehorned in for the Western audience, a “hook” for the viewer to connect to, and a plot device to introduce or explain certain aspects of the Bushido honor code. Unfortunately, he never truly comes to life. Ultimately, Kai is an artificial addition while Sanada’s Oishi is the true protagonist. Yet the film never fully commits to either. The result is a muddled through-line.

With little to work with, the performances are often shallow and occasionally stiff. Sanada delivers the most nuanced and moving portrayal as Oishi, Lord Asano’s trusted second-in-command. Sanada has been in at least two other versions of the 47 Ronin and it is only through him that we feel the legitimate weight and import of their task, the love he felt for his leader, and his utter willingness to die rather than forsake his honor.

The group is “brought into the cave to be tested,” but the challenge is fairly simplistic, easy to overcome, and ultimately anti-climactic. Kikuchi’s shapeshifter is a particularly egregious missed opportunity. We know nothing about her or her motives, and as such, the character has little meaning other than as a plot device. Japanese folklore is rich and, in the right hands, the addition of ghosts, demons, and spirits may have infused this story with brilliant new life and meaning. Here, we’re just left wanting for a film that does these otherworldly creatures justice.

The effects, particularly the dragon which is featured so prominently in the trailer, translate better on the big screen than they do in the online marketing materials. However, for a film that boasts a budget of upwards of $175 million, several of the creatures are rather Clash of the Titans-esque in their final execution. Having said that, this 47 Ronin is beautiful to behold: the costumes and practical sets feature gorgeously intricate detail and the frame is often alive with vibrant color. Unfortunately, the 3D does dampen the experience by adding a dark haze to what should be, at least in moments, a vivid experience. Even the darker, more Gothic palette in the latter portions of the film are diluted by the shaded glasses. You’re better off electing for 2D on this one.

The film’s central draw ought to be its spectacle, and indeed, the landscapes frequently verge on dazzling. Additionally, the fight sequences are well-crafted and impressive. The final attack on Kira’s stronghold is particularly striking and imaginative. However, it’s only the final moments between Oishi and Kira that pack an emotional punch. Though finely choreographed, in general the fights are not as breathtaking or evocative as some of the fantastical hand-to-hand and swordplay available in the films that Rinsch is likely inspired by, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon among others. Nor do they deliver the primal impact of a grittier, more grounded sword fight.

Rinsch, who was best known for his commercial work, has a powerful visual aesthetic, but seems unable to maintain a firm grasp on either tone or character. Weaving between goofy, melancholy, overwrought, hammy (particularly when it comes to the witch) and morose, 47 Ronin simply doesn’t know what kind of film it wants to be. More often than not, it’s trying to be all things, to all people, and as a result will likely mean very little to anyone – other than those holding the bill.