AMD FX-8350

Loads of cores. For not a lot of money

For enthusiasts, and especially gamers, it's tempting to think AMD’s FX CPUs have become irrelevant. Knocking together an argument to that effect doesn’t exactly demand mental gymnastics of Olympic quality, either. The argument would start with the fact that the Bulldozer architecture underpinning AMD's FX processors has basically been a failure. Even AMD is now tacitly conceding that if you listen to what it's saying about its upcoming Zen processors, which are designed explicitly to address Bulldozer’s shortcomings.

Intel Core i7-4790K

Intel's devilish quad-core all-rounder

Normally, buying the most expensive version of any CPU is for chumps. It means having your wallet hammered in return for a spec bump that's more about scoring a PR win than actually improving your end-user experience. Should you therefore be doubly wary of the Intel Core i7-4790K? After all, it’s just the top chip for Intel's LGA1150 socket. It’s a stopgap replacement for what was once the range-topping quad-core Intel Haswell CPU, the 4770K.

Ether One

An indie odyssey through the inside of an ailing mind

About midway through Ether One, there’s a puzzle where you use a barograph to predict the weather. In a lesser title this would just be eye-catchingly arcane fluff, tossed in without much thought to the context. In this game, it’s a natural extension of the provincial tragedy you’re in the process of  reconstructing. Puzzlers as cohesively wrought as Ether One don’t appear that often – and nor, for that matter, do games that wrestle so intelligently with the question of mental illness.

Project Cars

PS4 simulation racers now have an axle to grind

What do you want Project CARS to be? Are you looking for a Need For Speed facsimile with slippery tyres, or to push yourself beyond Gran Turismo’s rather comfortable brand of simulation for a stiffer challenge? Slightly Mad’s crowd-funded racer does one of these things exceptionally well – but not both.

It’s great news for anyone who’s ever owned a force feedback steering wheel, who’s turned auto gear changes off in a controls menu, and who crashes a car into a wall over and over and over, just to observe the accuracy of its damage model. Because Project CARS is a vessel for absolutely fearsome, rigorously simulated motorsport, more exhilarating in its trackside action than anything Polyphony’s produced. A swathe of disciplines is represented here, from 125cc karts to Le Mans Prototypes and beyond.

Shovel Knight

This seasoned yet sprightly adventure has charm in spades

Retro gaming can be more of a trial by ordeal than an exercise in fun. We subject ourselves to the archaic, bloodstained machinery of the classics to prove that we’ve still ‘got it’ after years of gentler fare such as Assassin’s Creed. But that isn’t the case with Shovel Knight – a fabulous homage to the giddy highs and grating lows of single-screen 8-bit platforming.