Far Cry Primal

Ubisoft goes prehistoric with its back-to-basics adventure…

We’re used to games stacking the odds against you. An army against one rebel. A city that needs liberating by one hero. A single soldier taking on a universe full of nasty aliens. But in all of these you’ve got the edge; a big-ass gun, a unique piece of technology, or a team at your back. Far Cry never bothered with that; you get dropped into a shitstorm and it’s up to you to survive. And in Far Cry Primal, that’s going to be harder than ever, because this time around there isn’t a bullet in sight.

Into the heart of darkness

We sent Josh West into the Belly of the Beast to go hands-on with Dark Souls III’s fresh hell

I would like to tell you that I had just died in battle facing overwhelming odds, brawling with the scourge of warped figures lining The Wall of Lodoleth. But the reality is far less heroic. After 132 minutes with Dark Souls III, I found myself looking upon a daunting dungeon door, concealing an inevitably soul-crushing boss within. As I prepared for conflict, imbuing my sword with Gold Pine Resin, a super-charged Knight ran me through off-camera, his glowing red eyes a haunting reminder that you are never safe in Dark Souls. The familiar ‘You Have Died” scrawl of shame faded from the screen as I sighed deeply. That was death number nine.

The Pro’s Guide to UI design

Johan Ronsse describes what it’s like to be a user interface designer, and gives some tips for how to become better at your craft

When I started my career, I was a web designer. I worked in web design for four years, starting with small business sites and eventually moving on to bigger clients. I found out that it wasn’t graphic design that interested me, nor working for bigger brand names. I was more interested in pagination patterns, the way people interacted with forms, and things like perceived performance, than the visual design of a web page.

Blame your tools

Interfaces are evolving, and our tools are struggling to keep up. Alasdair Monk explores what our design toolkits should look like

Looking back to 20 years ago, our workflow for web design relied heavily on creating a hi-fidelity, fixed canvas in Photoshop that would then be mimicked in HTML and FTPd out into the world. Since then, the increasing ubiquity of the internet has changed everything. We now boast a multitude of devices from which to consume, publish and share via apps. From watches to televisions, we’re now never more than a glance away from our beloved black mirrors.

BlackBerry Priv

BlackBerry finally makes its first Android phone, but the keyboard it’s famous for remains intact

Yes, BlackBerry has made an Android phone. The Finnish manufacturer used to jostle with the likes of Apple, Samsung and Nokia at the very top of the mobile phone tree, but it utterly failed to keep pace with the smartphone revolution, lurching from crisis to crisis refusing to shift from the boxy, physical keyboard designs and its own operating system.

ZUK Z1

Lenovo-backed ZUK attempt to emulate the success of OnePlus with a low-cost, high-value, Cyanogen OS device

It seems as though ‘low cost, high value’ is the new battleground. This unconventional approach to the market was pioneered by OnePlus with the One, a phone that packed great specifications at a knockdown price. It was inevitable that others would try and emulate this success and now they are: the ZUK Z1 ticks many of the same boxes and even includes Cyanogen OS, just like the OnePlus One.

Wileyfox Storm

The mobile that hopes to take the Android world by storm

When the Wileyfox Storm was announced, alongside its little brother Swift, the Android community was instantly intrigued. The British startup has partnered with Qualcomm and CyanogenMod, one of the world’s most popular Android forks, to create an Android phone that has that much needed unique element.

Cyanogen’s big selling points are its customisation and security. To get the Storm’s range of themes and security features you’d usually have to root your phone and flash a custom ROM yourself or download a ton of apps. However, by making Cyanogen the stock OS, Wileyfox has brought that level of customisation to the masses and given its users the chance to create a truly original phone.

HTC A9

HTC finally throws off the shackles of the M8

Back in the noughties, HTC was constantly fighting with Samsung for supremacy over the Android market. However, a series of mistakes and failed products has eaten into HTC’s profits and the company has been in a nosedive ever since. Although both the South Korean company’s HTC One (M8) and M9 were excellent phones, they failed to sell; the latter suffering due to a perceived lack of innovation from its previous iteration. HTC has decided to throw itself fully into the premium end of the mid-range market with the A9 at £419/$499.99 with reasonably high-end specs.

Nexus 5X

Will the Nexus brand remain the cream of the crop for Android heading into 2016?

For many an Android user, the launch of a new Nexus device is the pinnacle of the yearly cycle of smartphones. Notorious for being high-end devices at a competitive price point, this year has seen two very distinct devices enter the fray. While Huawei’s 6P is tailored to a more premium audience, the 5X developed by LG has a look and feel of a more mid-range affair.