The black London taxi is an iconic vehicle, but as the name suggests, seeing one in Dublin could cause you to double take. Yet, a few months ago that’s exactly the taxi that brought me and my other half home from a night out. I was baffled by it. But it turns out there’s not much of a mystery to solve. The manufacturer, London EV Company, or LEVC, simply sells these cars to everyone and anyone with some Irish-based taxi drivers seeing the benefits of this purpose built vehicle in Ireland.
The London Taxi in Ireland
SIMI Motorstats confirms that there are indeed a number of LEVC London-style taxis on Irish roads. Since 2021, 10 have been registered in Ireland, in counties Dublin, Kildare and Laois.
Given our ever so complicated history with England, it’s understandable that many would be uncomfortable with seeing an English icon on Irish roads. It doesn’t absolutely sit well with me. But that night when an LEVC pulled up to pick me up, I got to see why it’s a popular choice of taxi for drivers.
Modern London taxis built by LEVC are now electric and in 2017, parent company Geely opened the UK’s first car plant in dedicated to manufacturing electric vehicles, including these taxis. The taxis are really spacious with room for 6 passengers. This makes the cab ideal for people on a night out in Dublin. There is also a partition between the back and the front adding security for the driver and passengers.
Some models of the LEVC London cabs are arguably the most accessible cars on the road, with various features making them extremely wheelchair friendly with added ease of access features like pivoting seats. More of these would be welcome in my eyes given that just 1 in 4 of taxi drivers are driving a wheelchair accessible vehicle in Ireland today.
Looking at these cabs makes you fully understand why a dedicated purpose built taxi makes so much more sense over converting a regular road car for taxi usage. And there’s no room for range anxiety to creep in either. The average taxi driver in Ireland covers 44,000km per year and works 5 days a week. Back of a napkin maths suggests that on a daily basis, taxi drivers in Ireland cover about 169km per day. A single charge of a LEVC cab would cover well over 3 days worth of driving.
Will We See More London Cabs in Ireland?
For the taxi driver, these LEVC cars are incredible “places to work”, offering comfort to passengers but from a business point of view, security and excellent range. They are, however, a costly initial purchase. It’s difficult to work out how much getting one into Ireland would fully cost, but the base model itself would cost around €80,000. This would need some import charges added to it and some grants subtracted, adding to how difficult importing one might be.
And that’s the main reason taxi drivers likely don’t look into this option. Which is a shame, because from my experience these taxis are excellent. Maybe there’s a case to be made for their importation to be encouraged by the government and an effort made to “Irish” them up a bit with a classy green colour or similar?
Like many people, my first introduction to Astro Bot was in his second outing, Astro’s Playroom, the pre-installed tech demo on the PS5. His first game didn’t set the community alight in 2018 since it was a PSVR exclusive. It reviewed well but with a potential market of only 5 million people it barely made a ripple in PS4 discourse. However, Astro Bot is back for his third crack at becoming Playstation’s character mascot and I have to say, he might have just done it!
Tale as old as time
There’s not much story to write home about for Astro Bot. There are 300 small bots, many of which are dressed up as characters from Sony exclusive titles, that have been scattered throughout space by an evil alien and your job is to rescue them. That’s literally all there is to it.
There are familiar faces hidden everywhere in this game.
You have to repair your spaceship (which funnily enough looks like a PS5) to do this, collecting parts like the SSD and Graphics Card as you go. This is a game that really tries to put the gameplay front and centre, and I absolutely applaud it for that. If your gameplay is compelling enough, you don’t need the story to be in depth, or even noticeable, in my opinion.
Astro’s Play-World
Like its predecessor, Astro Bot is a linear 3D platformer. If I had to compare it to anything I’d say it’s world and level design are a near carbon-copy of the original Super Mario Galaxy. A central hub that reveals more and more of itself to you as you progress, and that lets you explore a number of galaxies that each house a number of planets that serve as the game’s levels. Each galaxy offers several “mainline” planets with a variety of special or challenge planets to try as well, with the obligatory boss stage once you’ve found enough bots on your journey.
Lush, vibrant environments are Astro Bot’s stock and trade!
As for the gameplay, well that’s exactly the same as last time. Super Mario Galaxy Adjacent as well but, for me, it’s more reminiscent of Super Mario Sunshine, your hover ability acting in a similar way to Mario’s FLUDD. The controls are super tight here. Every movement is deliberate and precise, the combat feels super responsive, and the jumping is absolutely spot on as well. Every time you die to an enemy or fall off a cliff you feel like it was because of a mistake you made, not the game being unfair or the controller not responding properly.
As you play through the different galaxies you’ll come across a variety of level-specific powerups that give you special abilities. Whether it’s a pair of froggy boxing gloves that let you punch a little harder, or a pug jetpack that gives you a huge vertical boost (not too dissimilar to the rocket FLUDD attachment in SMS). Every power up is designed in a way so as to be immediately obvious what it can or can’t do. Just one more piece of wonderfully well thought out design.
You’d have to work very hard to convince me that Astro Bot didn’t just copy Pikmin’s homework.
A new addition to the formula this time around is the ability to essentially cosplay as certain characters from throughout Sony’s history, right down to their signature moves and abilities. For example, when you clear the first galaxy, you’re treated to an updated version of the PS1 classic Ape Escape, taking on Spike’s classic look of a shock of red hair and a matching jacket. You get to play with his signature Monkey Radar and Time Net. You also get to play as Nathan Drake, Aloy and a LocoRoco, each representing the PS3, PS4 and PSP respectively. You also get to play as Kratos, ostensibly to represent the PS2 but you play as him in his current, soft reboot form. It’s a fun level, but I think the lack of any real PS2 God of War representation here is a small aspect of a much larger problem this game has. But more about that later.
Just Look at it!
There’s no denying that this game looks amazing. I’d expect nothing less, to be honest but I found myself being constantly blown away by how gorgeous it is. While, yes, there are particle effects galore, and the game will take any opportunity to show off a shiny surface it’s all the little details that make the difference for me. The way some of the glass textures will have the same little indents in the shape of the PlayStation face buttons as the Dualsense controller does is a particular highlight for me.
I’m a sucker for tiny details!
Despite a high level of graphical fidelity, Team Asobi have managed to lock Astro Bot to a buttery smooth 60FPS. I can say from my experience that when I say locked, I mean locked. I didn’t experience any dips or lag at all in my full playthrough. Again, this is despite an abundance of particle effects as well as physics objects everywhere and more fluid dynamics than you can shake a stick at.
In fact, I think Astro Bot’s performance and optimisation may be a problem for Sony. You see, Astro Bot launched about a week before the announcement of the PS5 Pro, the most powerful home console to date. As you’d expect it promises to play pretty much all your favourite games in a higher resolution and at higher framerates. The key drawback is that it costs €800!
I think this is an issue because I don’t see how you can justify that cost when a well optimised game looks and runs this good on 4 year old hardware. I don’t think this will make any kind of dent in the sales of the PS5 Pro but it’s certainly enough for me to be confident in my decision not to buy one.
The Elephant in the Room
Ok, there’s no way I can talk about how much I love this game (and I do genuinely love it) without talking about its most glaring issue. It’s teasing us. Let me explain.
Of the 300 bots you need to rescue, 169 of them are dressed up to resemble characters from over 100 games from Playstation’s 30 year history. Finding each of these bots is a joyous trip down memory lane. None of them are called their actual name (I’d assume this is a one-out, all-out approach to rights issues) but that only adds to the fun of figuring out who they are and where you know them from. Finding obscure characters like Vibri from Vib Ribbon or Dart from Legend of Dragoon (one of my favourite JRPGs) is an absolute treat.
So, what’s the problem? Well, a couple of days before Astro Bot launched, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki expressed concern over Sony’s lack of IP. For me, that’s a bit of an awkward statement to make when you’re just about to launch a game to celebrate 30 years of PlayStation that has over 100 unique IPs in it. Granted some of those may be unavailable due to rights and licensing (like Tomb Raider or Final Metal Gear) but there are many that are just sitting idle, ripe for a sequel or reboot. Hell, whenever a PlayStation State of Play presentation is announced Bloodborne trends on Twitter!
You can even cosplay (or some say Kosm-play) as a Yarnham hunter!
I know that nearly all of the featured games are either available to buy new or have been added to the Classics Catalogue section of PS+ but the vast majority haven’t been given a sequel or update in years. Who among us hasn’t wished for a new Jak and Daxter game? Or maybe a new Sly Cooper? Hell, I’d love a new batch of Katamari challenges! It feels a little disingenuous to me to show off all of these relics from the past 30 years and then complain that there’s no IP worth making games about.
In Conclusion
Overall, I think Astro Bot is a wonderful game. It’s rare that I get to review two absolute bangers back to back but between this and Space Marine 2 I’ve had a very good autumn so far! This is the kind of game I’ve been crying out for since I finished Crash Bandicoot 4. Just some straightforward, honest to goodness platforming with a great nod to Playstation’s legacy. It’s certainly better than what they did for the 20th anniversary, that’s for sure.
Astro Bot is only available on PS5 but you would honestly be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t give it a go today!
The Amazon Ireland website is coming, but it’s not here yet. But I know lots of people are asking about whether or not they should shop on Amazon UK in Euro or Sterling. The short answer is, never shop on Amazon UK using Euro because the exchange rate is awful, but it comes with a big “but”. Here’s what you should do instead.
Update: Amazon.ie is now live, giving shoppers in Ireland access to 200 million products from the Irish distribution centre with faster deliveries and easier returns
Shopping on Amazon UK in Sterling or Euro
When you shop on Amazon UK from Ireland, you’ll be give the choice to choose which currency you pick from. This is common with UK online retailers servicing Ireland. ASOS was the classic example, but it has since started only offering Euro shopping, something Amazon will likely move to soon too.
For now, however, you can shop on Amazon UK from Ireland and checkout while paying Sterling, which is what I recommend you do too, but only if you’re paying with Revolut.
The reason for this is because Revolut with automatically do all the exchange rates for you without charging a fee. Traditional Irish banks will charge you for the service.
You should always try to avoid checking out on Amazon UK from Ireland when paying with Euro. This is because Amazon has a really poor exchange rate that covers their risk more than yours. on a €20 transaction, you could pay nearly €5 over the odds purely based on how they calculate the exchange rate. So don’t let them.
That means in order to get the very best prices on Amazon UK when shopping from Ireland, you should only shop in Sterling and use Revolut for all transactions.
Amazon UK Alternatives in Ireland
Of course, it’s even more important that you generally shop around. Amazon UK won’t always have the best price. Sometimes Amazon Germany has the best prices and on that site you’ll transact in Euro with no additional exchange rates.
Beyond Amazon, there are often better deals to be had in general with other retailers too. Shop around and shop smart.
I couple of years ago I wrote about how QR codes were making their final stand to be adopted during Covid. Sure enough, here we are years later and QR codes are part of daily life. So much so that the latest scam consumers in Ireland need to be aware of involves them. A woman in Greystones has reportedly been scammed out of €1,000 after scanning a QR code on a Payzone parking machine.
Payzone Parking Scam
In what is an annoyingly clever piece of scamming, bad artists replace the QR code on Payzone parking machines with their own which directs people to a replica of the Payzone website. This came to light when posted on X yesterday.
Motorists, who are likely in a hurry to an appointment and need to quickly pay for parking, scan the code and “pay online”, but really are providing all the details a scammer needs to take money from them.
To add insult to injury, the driver heads to their appointment with the potential of getting a parking fine too as they’ve not paid for parking.
These QR codes have been reported in multiple areas with drivers being reminded to remain vigilant when paying for their parking.
QR Code Safety
QR codes are a great piece of technology that helps with day to day interactions with websites and apps. But it’s essential that you remain vigilant when it comes to scanning them. Treat them with the same healthy skepticism you would a link in a text.
Taking a second to examine the QR code in this scenario would lead to you seeing it’s off colour with the surrounding print on the machine.
For me, I’d try and download the app from your phone’s app store manually instead of scanning a code. You can never be too careful.
Finally, I strongly recommend using Revolut with a disposable card for transactions like this so you can freeze them immediately after use and limit and potential losses.
My imagination gets away from me sometimes. I’m an avid Flight Simulator fan and have often wondered if I could land a plane with the experience I have. In reality, it’s likely the Dunning-Krueger effect in full swing. However, as we head towards Flight Simulator 2024 launching in November, a female passenger in the United States has proven it can be done.
Yesterday, over the skies of Bakersfield, California. An incredible passenger took the controls of a privately owned Beech C90-B King Air as the pilot was incapacitated.
This isn’t a small plane either. The Beech C90-B King Air is a turbo-prop capable of carrying 2 crew and 5 passengers while reaching a maximum operating height of 30,000ft.
The passenger took the controls of the aircraft and contacted air traffic control to inform them of what was going on. A crew was quickly gathered on the ground to coach the passenger through what was about to become one of the most incredible moments in aviation history.
The flight was originally scheduled to fly from Las Vegas to Monterey, but was diverted to Bakersfield, despite already being closer to Monterey. This made sense when we look at the data.
Flight Radar data shows the path of the flight going into several holding patterns about a 1.5 hours after take off. The team on the ground were able to help the passenger stabilise the aircraft and get onto a heading towards Bakersfield.
Bakersfield was picked owing to a longer runway and better emergency services, which thankfully were not needed in the end. The woman who had taken control of the plane landed under visual flight rules with the support of experts on the ground. But let’s face it. No amount of coaching can sum up how incredible this woman is for landing a plane with no prior experience.
If anyone is looking for me, I’ll be plugging this route into Flight Simulator and popping on my VR headset to see just how incredible a job this new honorary pilot has done.
Viele Gadgets für die Hausautomation werden als lebensverändernd angepriesen. Was mich am meisten stört, ist, wie oft intelligente Glühbirnen zusätzliche Schritte zu Ihren Abläufen im Haushalt hinzufügen, anstatt sie zu vereinfachen. Hausautomation muss etwas durchdachter sein. Genau deshalb liebe ich Aqaras intelligenten Vorhangregler. Mit ein wenig Planung ist dies zu einem wichtigen Bestandteil meiner täglichen Routine geworden.
Wie man Vorhänge intelligent macht
Die Umrüstung Ihrer Vorhänge in intelligente Vorhänge ist nicht schwierig. Es ist aber auch nicht gerade billig, also versuchen Sie, die großen Verkaufstage von Amazon zu nutzen, wenn Sie Aqara-Produkte kaufen.
Der Aqara Curtain Driver E1 ist ein einfaches Gerät, das in Ihre Gardinenschiene oder -stange eingesetzt wird (verschiedene Produkte für jede Variante) und Ihre Vorhänge basierend auf Befehlen, Zeitplänen oder Automatisierungen öffnet und schließt. Sie befestigen Ihre Vorhänge einfach mit den Clips an beiden Seiten des Vorhangantriebs. Dieser rollt dann hin und her und zieht den Vorhang mit.
Ein wichtiger Hinweis ist, dass Sie dafür den Controller von Aqara benötigen, falls Sie noch keinen haben.
Ein kniffliger Punkt ist, dass die meisten Fensteraufbauten zwei Vorhänge haben, einen, der von der Mitte nach links öffnet, und einen, der von der Mitte nach rechts geht. Das bedeutet, dass Sie zwei, nicht nur einen, der Aqara-Antriebe kaufen müssen. Das macht eine ohnehin schon überlegte Anschaffung noch etwas überlegter.
Meine persönliche Erfahrung mit dem Aqara Curtain Driver E1
Meine Situation war einfach. Mein Schlafzimmer befindet sich im Obergeschoss in einem offenen Galerie-Stil. Es gibt nicht unglaublich viel Licht oder Einblick von außen. Aber trotzdem war es etwas mühsam, nach oben zu gehen und die Vorhänge zu öffnen.
Mit Aqaras Curtain Driver E1 kann ich das Öffnen und Schließen meiner Vorhänge im Schlafzimmer automatisieren. Das hatte für mich zwei entscheidende Vorteile.
Erstens bedeutete es, dass ich jetzt die Vorhänge oben schließen konnte, ohne hochgehen zu müssen. Das ist faul, ich weiß. Aber trotzdem ist es schön zu wissen, dass der helle Raum von außen nicht einsehbar ist. Ich wäre beinahe ein paar Mal unter der Dusche erwischt worden!
Der viel größere Vorteil ist die morgendliche Automatisierung. Ich habe mit zwei verschiedenen Einstellungen für die Jalousien herumgespielt. Mein Favorit ist das automatische Öffnen um 9 Uhr morgens. Das bedeutet, wenn ich versucht bin, auszuschlafen und meinen Wecker zu ignorieren, habe ich eine letzte Barriere gegen das Ausschlafen. Das helle Licht, das automatisch hereinkommt.
Die andere Möglichkeit ist, das Öffnen der Vorhänge an das natürliche Tageslicht anzupassen, um meine zirkadiane Rhythmus-Exposition zu verbessern. Das hat mir nicht so gut gefallen, da die Motoren nicht gerade leise sind. Es ist effektiver, sie als “Weck”-Moment zu nutzen als als diskrete Aktion.
Was mich an den Aqara-Vorhangantrieben vielleicht am meisten beeindruckt hat, ist die Akkulaufzeit. Ich habe sie jetzt seit einem Jahr installiert und sie öffnen oder schließen sich mindestens zweimal am Tag. Ich musste sie einmal aufladen. Was für mich unglaublich ist.
Das Urteil: Aqara Curtain Driver E1
Ausgezeichnet. Ich liebe es absolut. Etwas laut. Ein bisschen teuer, derzeit kostet es 100 € pro Einheit. Aber eines dieser technischen Geräte, bei denen sogar meine bessere Hälfte sagt: “Ich würde es vermissen, das nicht automatisiert zu haben”. Ehrlich gesagt, ist das das stärkste Argument, das Sie zum Kauf bewegen sollte.
Leider ist es nicht die billigste Lösung, was ein bisschen ärgerlich ist, wenn Sie viele Fenster mit Vorhängen haben. Aber Sie könnten sie einfach für den Raum kaufen, den Sie am häufigsten öffnen und schließen. Aber wenn Sie wie ich sind, werden Sie die Idee lieben, einfach alle Vorhänge nach einem Zeitplan zu öffnen und zu schließen.
Aqaras Hauptabsatzkanal ist entweder direkt über sie oder über Amazon. Der Vorteil ist also, dass Sie diese oft mit einem Rabatt bekommen. Zum Beispiel können Sie diese in den kommenden Prime Big Deal Days bei Amazon UK und Amazon Deutschland mit 30 % Rabatt erhalten.
Lots of home automation gadgets can be oversold as life changing. My biggest bug bearer is how often smart bulbs add steps to your home processes instead of taking them away. Home automation needs to be a bit more considered. Which is exactly why I love Aqara’s smart curtain controller. With a little bit of scheduling, this has become an important part of my daily routine.
How to Make Curtains Smart
Converting your curtains into smart curtains isn’t difficult. It’s also not overly cheap, so try to take advantage of Amazon’s big sale days when buying Aqara products.
The Aqara Curtain Driver E1 is a simple device that sits into your curtain rail or rod (different products for each) and opens and closes your curtains based on commands, schedules or automations. You simply pin your curtains up with the clips either side of the curtain driver. This then rolls back and forth dragging the curtain with it.
One important note is that you will need Aqara’s controller for this if you don’t already have one.
One tricky part here is that most window setups have two curtains, one opening center out to left and one going center out to right. This means you need to buy two, not one, of Aqara’s drivers. This makes an already considered purchase, a little more considered.
My Personal Experience with the Aqara Curtain Driver E1
My situation was simple. My bedroom is upstairs in a mezzanine style layout. There’s not incredible light coming in or visibility from the outside in. But still, to head upstairs and open the curtains was a bit of a chore.
Aqara’s Curtain Driver E1 lets me automate the opening and closing of my track curtains in the bedroom. This has had two distinct advantages for me.
First it meant I could now close the curtains upstairs without going up there. It’s lazy, I know. But still, it’s nice to know the bright room isn’t visible from the outside. I nearly got caught a few times out of the shower!
The much bigger benefit is the morning automation. I have played around with the blinds being setup in two different ways. My favorite is the automatic opening at 9am. It means if I’m tempted to have a lie in and snooze my alarm, I have one final barrier to a sleep in. The bright light coming in automatically.
The other is aligning the opening of the curtains to natural daylight to improve my circadian rhythm exposure. I didn’t like this as much given the motors aren’t exactly quiet. It’s more effective to use them as a “wake up” moment than discreet action.
Perhaps what impressed me most with the Aqara curtain drivers is the battery life. I’ve had these installed for a year now, opening or closing at least twice a day. I’ve had to charge them once. Which is wild to me.
The Verdict: Aqara Curtain Driver E1
Excellent. Absolutely love it. Little loud. A little pricey, retailing for €100 per unit right now. But one of those pieces of tech where even my other half says “I’d miss not having that automated”. Honestly, that’s the biggest verdict that should sway you towards buying this.
Unfortunately, it’s not the cheapest solution which is a bit of a nuisance if you have lots of curtained windows. But you could just buy these for the room you open and close the most. But then if you’re like me, you’ll love the idea of just opening and closing all curtains on a schedule.
Aqara’s main outlet is either direct from them or on Amazon. So the flip side here is that you’ll often pick these up on a discount. For example, in the upcoming Prime Big Deals Days you can get these on Amazon UK and Amazon Germany with a 30% discount.
“In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.”
Every work set in the universe of Warhammer 40,000 begins with a standard preamble about how hopeless and brutal life in the Milky Way galaxy has become, and Space Marine 2 is no different. Life in this setting is bleak and hopeless. Games in this setting, however? Well, they’re some of the best!
Talking to a Mechanicus Adept is the closes Titus comes to playing video games
I’ll get right to the point; Space Marine 2 is, hands down, the most fun I’ve had with a game all year, and I would urge everyone to pick up a copy. I’d happily leave the review there, but you probably want more detail so here we go!
Only in Death Does Duty End
First off, there is a lot of background to the 40K universe, possibly best summarised in this wonderful video here. What you really need to know, though is that this game (as you could probably work out) is a direct sequel to 2011’s Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine. We pick back up with Demetrian Titus, former captain of the Ultramarines 2nd Company (the Ultramarines are a Chapter of 1,000 genetically and cybernetically enhanced Space Marines or “Astartes”). He was sentenced to over 100 years of penance for suspected corruption by the forces of Chaos at the end of his debut but has now been reinstated as Lieutenant by his former Chapter Master (like a General), Marneus Calgar. Serving under Acheran, his new Captain, he takes command of several squads of his brothers in order to repel an incursion of Xenos and Heretics upon the worlds of Kadaku and Avarax.
For the Emperor!
The Xenos in question are the Tyranids. A chittering hive-mind of insectoid horrors who only exist to feed on biomass. They form the bulk of the enemy forces you encounter in the first half of the game and there really was no better foe for the folks at Focus Interactive to choose. Saber interactive had previously developed the World War Z engine in order to render more enemies onscreen at once and it’s used to great effect here. There are literally hundreds of enemies for you to kill at any given time. By the time I had finished the campaign I had racked up over 5,000 kills.
There aren’t painkillers strong enough for this big a headache/
The Tyranids come in literally all shapes and sizes from the tiny skittering Rippers, and the deadly Warrior bioforms to the enormous Carnifexes, and the Hive Tyrant mastermind. The variety of foes to cut down provides ample opportunity to show off everything this game has to offer by way of combat. Whether you prefer raining firepower down on your enemies with mass-reactive Bolter rounds or getting stuck-in with a chainsword or thunder hammer, you really can play however you like in the early missions.
Who says size matters?
The game cleverly implements several gameplay systems to keep you going even when the fighting gets fierce. Performing brutal executions on enemies will let you recover some of your armour, while the Bloodborne-esque rally system lets you recover some of your lost health by quickly going on the counterattack when you take damage. Of course, you can pick up medicae combat stims to restore your health or special relics that will revive you upon death as well. As you might expect, when playing with your friends they can also pick you up if you fall.
As the game progresses you are truly tasked with putting everything you’ve learned into practice when the Thousand Sons, the sons of Magnus the Red and slaves to the will of Tzeench show up. Since they are also Astartes (accompanied by hundreds of Tzaangor daemons) they take a lot of punishment. A challenge befitting only the finest of the Emperor’s warriors.
Rubric Marines; best fought with a hoover.
This is very much a love letter to the Warhammer 40K franchise with many epic moments for long-time fans. However, it’s accessible to any and all players (though maybe try play/watch a recap of the first game beforehand at least). There were several moments during the campaign that left me stunned, mouth agape in awe. I was a hair’s breadth from screaming “For the Emperor!” while sitting on my couch.
The scale in this game really must be seen to be believed.
All things being equal though, since this is a narrative-focussed game I would have like if the main story was a little longer. There are only about 9 or 10 missions, each taking in or around an hour to complete. While this is certainly better than many other shooters out there, and the narrative wasn’t really missing anything in particular, a bit more meat to the story would have been nice.
With Me, Brothers!
The campaign mode, while good, is really just the starter course. The real long-term playability here comes in the form of the multiplayer. There’s a variety of different game modes that are sure to please everyone. The campaign itself is open to three-player co-op so you and two squad members can bring judgement to the enemies of the Imperium together.
Chapters who slay together stay together.
Alongside the campaign there are also (for the moment) six Operations missions which allow you to specialise in one of six classes each suited to a different playstyle (Tactical, Assault, Vanguard, Bulwark, Sniper, and Heavy). As you progress through this side-campaign you’ll earn the usual XP that you can use to level up your chosen class and your weapons. While weapon upgrades are permanent in Operations, you can’t carry XP across classes so if you’ve levelled up your defence-focussed Bulwark marine you’ll have to start all over again if you want to play as the more aggressive Vanguard class.
The competitive multiplayer, very much in keeping with the Mechanicus’ “innovation is heresy” viewpoint, isn’t anything to write home about. For now are three game modes (though we have confirmation that more are coming soon). Single point capture, multi-point capture, and Team Deathmatch. In each of these you’ll have access to the same six classes, but you’re limited to only having two of any given class on your team. I like this limitation. For one, it means you’ll never have to face down six heavies with Plasma Canons in single point capture. It also encourages players to experiment with different classes, abilities and weapons that they may otherwise not be so keen to use.
Finding a party is easy too. You can either queue up with randoms online, or you can send your friends a unique invite code that will bring them into your squad. This is the same across all three game modes. Unfortunately, while the Eternal War mode is 6v6 matches, the maximum squad size is only three marines. This means that if you want to play with more than two of your friends you might be out of luck. My friends and I have had to try and “game the system” by setting up two squads of three and then each squad leader queueing into a specific game mode. We then pray to the Omnissiah that we end up in the same lobby. This can take up to five minutes which is quite frustrating at times. When you want to chill out and play a few games with your buddies the last thing you need is guesswork and the need to rely on random chance. Personally, I think this is the way the game is run because Space Marine 2 exceeded expectations. By close of launch day on the 9th of September more than 2 million copies had been sold. This is far and away the fastest selling Warhammer game ever and they may be artificially limiting party sizes to give the servers a break while they can be upgraded.
Another frustration is the lack of any crossplay between PC players and console players in PvP. We can play together no problem in the PvE operations, but if you want to purge heretics you’ll have to stick to one ecosystem. I don’t really see much of a reason for this. If the likes of Halo and Call of Duty are happy enough to allow full crossplay (albeit via an opt-in option in the settings) then I don’t see why Space Marine 2 should be any different.
Bask in the Emperor’s Glory
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how this game looks. By the Throne it’s stunning. Not only is it one of the best games I’ve ever laid my eyes on, but it captures the scale and grandeur of the 40K setting expertly. As I was playing, I would routinely spend far longer in particular areas than I was supposed to, purely because I wanted to drink in the atmosphere. There are so many beautiful details to notice as well as stunning, bombastic set pieces that 40K is known for. It’s abundantly clear that a huge amount of love and care went into crafting each and every one of the levels and characters.
As long as one Cadian draws breath, Cadia stands!
Speaking of, there are a range of customisation options for your own Astartes in the PvE and PvP modes. Like a lot of options. There are dozens of paint schemes to choose from, at least five different options for each individual armour piece, and every weapon has a plethora of skins to choose from as well! Half the fun of the Tabletop Warhammer hobby is homebrewing your own Space Marine chapter or Tyranid Hive Fleet and they basically adopted that aspect wholesale for this game. Unfortunately, you can’t really customise your Heretic Astartes too much. You can change the livery colour as you like but as far as armour types are concerned, you’re locked in for now. You’re forced to play as one particular warband depending on your class; Black Legion for Tactical, Night Lords for Assault etc.. These all make sense thematically, like, of course the World Eaters are the battle-hungry Vanguard, but it would be nice to be able to customise your marine a little or even play as an Assault Black Legionnaire.
No Heresy Detected
So, is Space Marine 2 a candidate for Game of the Year this December? Unfortunately, I don’t think so. While it’s a lot of fun and objectively very well made, I think the dearth of multiplayer content at launch and the few server issues that we’ve been experiencing hold it back a bit. I’m happy to wear my bias on my sleeve here. I’ve been a fan of the 40K universe for 20 odd years and I’m writing this article not 10 feet away from my own growing army of Tyranids. I’m more than happy to overlook this games bigger flaws because it means so much to me that something I love is now being enjoyed by so many more people. I don’t think the server issues, or the limited mission variety are a dealbreaker for anyone. This is a live service game, after all, so we can expect constant maintenance and improvements. Focus Entertainment have even published a roadmap for when we can expect more operations and game modes (as well as new cosmetic packs!). Hopefully when they fix these bigger issues, they can work on the real problems. You shouldn’t be able to put a Crux Terminatus on Titus’s armour despite it being standard Mark X (and on the right pauldron, too!). Or they could allow us to change the skin tone and eye colour of our Salamanders marines so they more accurately match those of the people of Nocturne.
Space Marine 2 isn’t perfect but I absolutely adore it, and I think it shows a huge amount of promise for the future. I know it also means a lot to the Warhammer Community at large that Saber and Focus paid tribute to the late John TotalBiscuit Bain, a titan of the online gaming industry and whose First Impresions video of the first Space Marine game I would recommend anyone watch. It’s an exciting time for the franchise and I’m delighted that more and more people are coming along for the ride. I, for one, can’t wait for even more of Titus’s story or maybe a story that follows another Chapter altogether!
It’s been coming for quite some time, but today marks the official launch of Sky Mobile in Ireland. You will be able to buy both phones and SIM-only plans from Sky. Here’s all the info you need to know about Ireland’s newest network along with the questions you’re all asking.
Sky Mobile Launches in Ireland
Right now, you can buy Sky Mobile plans and phones directly from Sky online or from their retail booths nationwide. To celebrate the launch, Sky Mobile is offering a “Price for Life” offer of €15 per month for Unlimited calls, texts and 5G data. Sky has confirmed to me this will be a limited-time offer for launch only, so get it if you’re interested.
This introductory price point doesn’t make Sky Mobile Ireland’s best SIM-only deal. 48 still holds that title. However, the fact that Sky Mobile runs on Vodafone might be interesting if you have poor Three/48 coverage in your area. So if you’re wondering what Sky Mobile’s coverage is like, well it’s like Vodafone.
Why Network Does Sky Mobile Use?
Sky does not have its own network infrastructure here in Ireland. This meant it needs to piggyback on another network as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). Ireland has several MVNOs operating on existing networks already and it’s very common. Sky Mobile will leverage Vodafone’s network here in Ireland.
Network
Infrastructure
Eir
Eir
Three
Three
Vodafone
Vodafone
48
Three
An Post Mobile
Vodafone
Clearmobile
Vodafone
Gomo
Eir
Lycamobile
Three
Sky
Vodafone
Tesco Mobile
Three
Irish mobile networks and MVNOs along with the infrastructure they are based on
Overall, this is good news for customers as Vodafone boasts one of Ireland’s strongest networks with 99% nationwide 4G coverage and 5G across the country. Call quality should be excellent too given 4G calling is included as standard for all Sky Mobile customers.
Does Sky Mobile Sell Phones?
Yes. Nearly all of them. Sky Mobile is launching with nearly all the brands you’d expect from Samsung to Xiaomi and Nokia lookalike HMD. Given we’re in the season of iPhone launches, you might notice one glaring omission which doesn’t leave me overly surprised.
Sky Mobile is launching in Ireland without selling Apple iPhone themselves. Apple is notoriously difficult for new networks to deal with and need copious amounts of sign off. Unfortunately, this means Sky Mobile will not be selling iPhone at launch. However, the network has confirmed to me that a network unlocked iPhone will work without issue on Sky Mobile.
Buying a phone with any network over buying direct from manufacturer is usually a bad deal. Just check our bill pay versus prepay calculator before you buy anything. I do have to give kudos to Sky Mobile here for being a little different.
If you do want to buy a phone from Sky Mobile you have two transparent options. You can either buy the phone outright from day one, or enter into a 24 or 36 month agreement with 0% APR. This could become one of the most transparent and cost effective ways to buy phones in Ireland; but give me time to look at everything more closely!
Director of Sky Mobile, Aideen Chambers says, “transparency and fairness are at Sky Mobile’s core and splitting customer’s bills between their airtime plan and handset costs was hugely important to us in launching our mobile offering”.
At the launch, Sky commented that research shows many Irish networks gladly leave customers on higher plans even after the phone has been paid off, with Sky Mobile’s new model side stepping this. Chambers continues, “once your handset has been paid for, your bill will automatically reduce, and you will only pay for your airtime. Everything within the Sky Mobile offering is designed with a customer-first approach. We all use our handsets differently and Sky Mobile has the flexibility to meet everyone’s needs”.
Additional Sky Mobile Benefits
Sky Mobile customers will be able to reduce their spend in certain months by dropping the amount of data in their plans. This will be managed in the My Sky app.
Customers are keeping phones longer than ever. I’m guessing that’s why Sky’s purchase plans are either 24 or 36 months. But, if you do like keeping the latest phone on the market in your pocket, Sky will help. You can swap your phone for the latest model a year before your contract ends at no extra cost. But it’s not as good as it sounds. You have to pay off the remaining balance on your device. Sky Mobile is still a business, not a charity!
Finally, a feature called Piggybank promises to reward loyalty. You’ll be able to share data with family and friends, get discounts on new handsets, along with various other rewards including return European flights, cinema tickets and more.
Are Sky Mobile Phones Unlocked?
Sky Mobile phones are almost certainly unlocked so you’ll be able to use any network with them. I can’t absolutely confirm this just yet, but this is how Sky Mobile UK operates. Once confirmed, I’ll say for sure but it’s unusual for Sky Mobile UK and Ireland to have different policies like this. However…
Is Sky Mobile UK and Sky Mobile Ireland the Same?
No. They are technically different entities. Naturally they are separate entities with the same parent company. Sky Mobile Ireland has hired staff for the Irish business, but I would wager that they do lean on the UK business for some things, including possibly, supply chain.
Can You Use Sky Mobile Abroad?
Yes. Sky mobile will work the same as any other Irish network abroad. Handy for when you go traveling. Sky has said that “customers will also have access to worldwide roaming services, available in over 150 countries and Sky Mobile’s Roam Like Home service will be available in 44 countries including the UK and EU”.
I do recommend you give Sky’s customer care a shout before you go. Just to make sure all your settings are in order.
Is Sky Mobile Any Good?
This remains to be seen. The €15 per month offer would have been really aggressive a few years ago, but now it’s nearly a standard price in this space. It’s a clever move from Sky Mobile to hoover up customers now in the hope they’ll want phones in the next year or two. The way Sky sells phones is exactly what the Irish mobile market needs.
This is the same model iD Mobile launched with a few years ago, but poor communications and general confusion led to that, and eventually Carphone Warehouse in general, failing. Keeping the cost of the phone separate and spread out over a long period of time with 0% APR should be a great route to new phones, assuming Sky Mobile gets the pricing right. And that they hopefully get iPhone before too long too.
Most importantly, competition is good for consumers and Sky Mobile should be a real cat amongst the pigeons, doing for phone and plan packages together, what Gomo did for SIM-only.
If you have any questions you’d like answered about Sky Mobile, find us on social, drop a comment and we’ll get back to you.
If you were to ask me what my favourite video game of all time is, I’d have a hard time coming to a definitive answer. If you were to ask me for a top 10 list, there’s no doubt that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door would be counted among them. I can remember, clear as day, the moment I booted it up in my Gamecube some 20 years ago. Until that point, the only turn-based RPGs I’d played were Pokémon and a little bit of Dragon Quest 1 and 2. After setting up my save file and getting through the intro screens, I knew this game was going to be like nothing I’d played before. It was funny, it was challenging, it had the most engaging art-style I’d ever seen. I instantly thought that this game was a future classic.
Well, here we are in 2024, and Nintendo has finally listened to the fans and given us a remake of one of the defining works of the Gamecube era. If you had told me two decades ago that the game I loved so much could be even better I would never have believed you. I’m so delighted to tell you that 2004 Alex needed to open his mind. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on Nintendo Switch is everything the original was, and so much more.
The Look
The most immediately striking thing about the game is, obviously, its aesthetic. Those of you with a keen eye for detail will have picked up on the fact that everything (and I mean everything) in this game looks as if it’s made out of paper. Some of it is printed, some of it is painted. Some of it is pristine and new, some of it is raggedy and torn. It is all paper, nonetheless.
How much glue do you think they needed to stick this all together?
Now obviously the look of this world was established in the original Paper Mario way back in the good old N64 days but, as is often the case with Nintendo, this second iteration in the series really perfected the idea. When changing direction, the characters pivot about an axis, briefly disappearing save for a (paper) thin sliver of themselves. When using one partner character’s ability to blow scenery away it wobbles and waves before peeling off the screen. Even the scene transitions scrunch the screen up into a ball before unfolding out into the next tableau. Imagine a 3D paper diorama of a Mario game and that’s literally how the game looks. It was utterly unique at the time, and I don’t think any series comes close to replicating the visual style it set down.
It helps that this new version is in shiny 900p widescreen as opposed to 480p 4:3. The crisp edges of the characters and buildings are much more clearly defined, and they pop more than ever. It’s a shame that Nintendo couldn’t get the game to run at a smooth 60fps like the original version did but since this is a story-driven RPG with a focus on the visuals, I’m not too upset about it!
The Feel
On the surface this is a very standard turn-based RPG. You navigate your way through the overworld with a rotating cast of partners in tow, each of whom has unique combat skills or ways of helping you navigate the world. Mario himself can gain powerups as your quest progresses too. From folding himself into a paper aeroplane to simply turning himself sideways to fit into narrow gaps, anything paper can do, he can do too!
Taking a cue from Super Mario 3, the battles in this game take place on a stage with an audience of all the various races from the Mushroom Kingdom watching. While this might seem like literal set dressing, the audience plays an important role in ensuring you have enough star power to unleash your devastating special moves in combat. If you pull off your attacks with enough panache (you can do backflips and bow before or after some attacks) the crowd will cheer you on and build your Star power meter.
All the world’s a stage…
Every attack you launch against an enemy can be powered up with a well-timed button press so there’s no sitting back and watching the battle play out while doomscrolling here! You can also access a wide variety of attacks provided to you by special badges that you find on your adventure. Though you’ll have to level up in order to equip more than one or two.
Speaking of, as with the rest of the core design the progression system here is pretty middle of the road. You gain one level for every 100 exp points you earn and that gives you the choice between an additional 5 HP, 5 Flower Points (essentially this game’s mana resource), or 3 BP (Badge Points). As you can imagine these allow you to take more hits, perform more powerful attacks, or wear more badges to open up more combat possibilities.
Even as a teenager I rarely struggled in combat, it must be said so there’s not a huge amount of challenge in the main path of the game. However, there’s always the foreboding “Pit of 100 Trials” which offers an ever-increasing level of difficulty as you descend towards the toughest boss in the game. This is where the true meat of the combat lies, and you’ll have to come up with truly unique strategies to clear the whole thing.
The Vibe
While they’re the most immediately obvious parts of this game, the stunning visuals and tried and true gameplay are really just preamble to the real star of the show. Where Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door really shines in the fantastic writing and character interactions. This game makes me laugh out loud at certain points and makes you feel a genuine connection to a robot similar to but legally distinct from HAL 9000.
Any game where you get to play as Bowser is an instant classic
Bowser even takes a step back from being the big bad in this game to let an entirely new character take the limelight. In fact, there are a few entirely new races in this game from the Punis to the evil X-Nauts. New characters are something that, sadly, Nintendo has shied away from in recent years but it’s nice to be reminded of a better time when the writers had a bit more leeway.
You can even chat to Luigi who is on his own adventure similar to yours! However, Mario clearly isn’t impressed with his brother’s exploits as he constantly falls asleep as soon as Luigi starts to speak!
In Conclusion
All told, I still adore this game. It never failed to keep me enthralled and none of the charm or character of the original has been lost in the 20 years since it first hit our screens. It’s one of those rare titles that I decided almost immediately that I’d be going for 100% completion (every badge, every sidekick, complete the Pit of 100 Trials) from the moment I set off.
Regardless of if you played the original, if you own a Nintendo Switch, you owe it to yourself to pick up this absolute treasure of a game.
