Cambridge CXN

New logo, new look and all-new CX series, James Parker discovers if the same old Cambridge magic still remains

New range, new name, new markets: that’s just about the story of the Cambridge CXN network audio player. Not only does the new model carry the company’s new, abbreviated corporate identity, shorn of the word ‘Audio’, it also leads off an all-new CX range of hi-fi and home cinema components with freshened-up styling, and takes its streaming products into the mid-market hi-fi arena.

CyberPower Fang Trinity 300

CyberPower’s latest machine is, technically, a desktop PC, but it doesn't look like any gaming system we've seen recently. It uses the DeepCool Gamer Storm Tristellar case - a chassis that divides the system's components into three discrete sections, described as 'blades'. The trio of blades are coated with thick surrounds of sandblasted metal and make this machine look like a spaceship. The cables that flow between the components and their separate sections are stored in a strut in the middle of the case, and the large power button is illuminated with red LEDs.

Just Cause 3

The explosions are big, the options are overwhelming, and the pace is often frightening, but it’s the setting and scenery that consumes you upon first dipping your toes into Just Cause 3’s waters. For whatever reason, the Mediterranean has been largely ignored by the world of videogames; skyscraper skylines, dusty plains and post-apocalyptic cities taking centre stage in its absence.

Sure, Assassin’s Creed has depicted Italy and Total War has often provided a wider panorama of the region, but there’s been barely a blip when it comes to intimately portraying island chains set in the midst of Europe’s major sea. Avalanche Studios is here to change that, intent on showing that the area can provide as much in terms of aesthetic beauty as it does in the potential for brash, Eighties action movie-style destruction. Juxtaposition, in games as anywhere else, tends to go down well.

London Calling

15 things you need to, know about Assassin's Creed Syndicate and how it could save the Creed series

It’s bigger and braver

Whatever you might want to say about Assassin’s Creed Unity, there can be no denying that its re-creation of revolutionary Paris was impressive. Behind the bugs, it was a gorgeously detailed and rich world. London is that and more in Syndicate. At the height of Britain’s imperial power and industrial might, London is the centre of the world and it shows. Buildings are larger, streets are busier and the politics of the era are more nuanced and complex than those of revolutionary France. The world is building towards a confrontation between rich and poor, old world and new world. And Syndicate is placing the assassins right at the heart of it.

ViewSonic VG2401mh

One of the major downsides of G-Sync and FreeSync technology is vendor lock-in, since AMD cards won’t work at 144Hz with G-Sync screens, and vice versa. ViewSonic has taken a different approach with the VG2401mh, though, which supports a fixed 144Hz refresh rate, regardless of whether your graphics card has an Nvidia or AMD GPU.

Philips 272G5DYEB

Like AOC's G-Sync panel, Philips' 272G5DYEB is a 144Hz 1080p TN model, but its diagonal measures 27in rather than 24in. It sits on a large circular base and has thick bezels, so it's comparatively chunky, but it does have the full suite of physical adjustment options, so you can easily minimise the impact of the average viewing angles you get from a TN panel.