Review

Review of Raw Data

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Raw Data

Rating: 👍

The most intense and engaging VR experience I’ve ever had.

Whether you’re dodging and diving behind cover while you fire your pistol or you’re getting up-close with the androids as you swing your laser sword, you’re always on the move in this immersive, high-energy VR shooter. The teleport mechanic minimises motion sickness even for those who suffer badly, the graphics are nothing short of beautiful, and there’s nothing quite so terrifying as the moment that you realise that THERE’S ONE OF THEM BEHIND YOU! MOVE!

Review of Oh…Sir! The Insult Simulator

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Oh...Sir! The Insult Simulator

Rating: 👍

Oh… Sir! The Insult Simulator is a light-hearted, (quite literally) Monty Python-silly timed-turns insult-spitting game for one or two players. It’s the perfect casual luck-heavy puzzler for anybody whose hovercraft is full of eels, whose parrot is pining for the fjords, or who would like to learn The Meaning of Life. There are fun unlockables to keep you playing for a couple of hours, and it’s worth every penny of the £1.43 I paid for it (I’d have loved it at £1.50, too, except that I wouldn’t have seen it in the first place were it not on sale).

So the next time somebody tells you that you have a silly walk or you decide that you’d like to have an argument, just remember to tell them: “Your mother secretly admires your liver, and will soon be dead.” That ought to put them in their place! But until that day, give Oh… Sir! The Insult Simulator a go.

Review of Pierre Calvini Luxury Stripe Cotton Rich Sock

This review originally appeared on Amazon. See more reviews by Dan.

6 Pk Mens Pierre Calvini Luxury Stripe Cotton Rich Sock 6-11 UK, 6-11 UK, Multicoloured

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Good value socks

Perfectly fine socks at a fair price. Because losing or wearing holes in socks is sort-of my superpower, I stocked up (or should that be “socked up”?) with these and they’ve served me well.

Review of Power Banks RAVPower 26800mAh Portable Charger

This review originally appeared on Amazon. See more reviews by Dan.

Power Banks RAVPower 26800mAh Portable Charger 3-Port 5.5A iSmart - Black

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Powerful, heavyweight battery: great, but wish the ports were labelled!

Big, powerful battery, but still (barely) small enough to fit in large jeans pockets alongside a phone, for charging-on-the-go. Never seen it run dry, despite charging two phones each night of a two-night camping trip. Only downside is the the ports aren’t labelled and some (by design) have their maximum output limited, so if you don’t know which ones those are by heart – or carry the manual around! – then you might find that some devices charge slower than they ought to. Still a great device, and even comes with a set of USB cables (A to B-micro, as used by most smartphones) for your convenience.

Review of Hacknet

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Hacknet

Rating: 👍

I’ve been a huge fan of the “hacker game” ever since I first played 1985’s Hacker on my Amstrad CPC: I’m pretty hardened to the genre, and I can confidently say that not since Uplink has anything broken through my firewall like Hacknet did. If you’re looking for an easy-to-pick up and compelling puzzle game in a cyberpunk theme, it’s a clear winner: I got 6 hours of thoroughly enjoyable playtime out of it, and I’m sure I’ll go back and get the same again when I find the chance to go and explore deeper.

Review of Wriggles Brook Gypsy Wagon B&B

This review originally appeared on TripAdvisor. See more reviews by Dan.

Wriggles Brook Gypsy Wagon B&B, 2 Brookside Cottages, Hoarwithy, HR2 6QJ, England.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Beautiful site, even in the rain, and amazing home-cooked food.

My partner, her toddler and I spent two midweek nights in August in the larger “Showman” caravan to celebrate our anniversary. In a long field that twists its way alongside a babbling brook, the owners have set up a trio of traditional horse-drawn caravans, each in a wooded clearing that isolates it from the others. Two of the caravans are smaller, designed just for couples (who are clearly the target market for this romantic getaway spot), but we took the third, larger, (centenarian!) one, which sported a separate living room and bedroom.

Wriggles Brook combined a beautiful setting, imaginative and ecologically-friendly accommodation, and about a billion activities on your doorstep. Even the almost-complete lack of phone signal into the valley was pretty delightful, although it did make consulting Google Maps difficult when we got lost about 20 minutes out from the place! But if there’s one thing that really does deserve extra-special mention, it’s the food:

Our hosts were able to put on a spectacular breakfast and evening meal for us each night, including a variety of freshly-grown produce from their own land. We generally ate in their mini dining room – itself a greenhouse for their grapevines – but it was equally-nice to have pancakes delivered to the picnic table right outside our caravan. And speaking as somebody who’s had their fair share of second-rate veggie breakfasts, it was a great relief to enjoy a quite-brilliant variety of vegetarian cuisine from a clearly-talented chef.

More photos and an extended review can be found on my blog: https://danq.me/2015/08/29/anniversary-at-wriggles-brook/

Date of stay: August 2015

Room tip: “Showman” caravan is larger and most-distant from the path, if you’re looking for privacy (although all of them are quite well-isolated).

Trip type: Travelled with family

Review of The Feathers Restaurant & Bar

This review originally appeared on TripAdvisor. See more reviews by Dan.

The Feathers Restaurant & Bar, Market Street, Woodstock OX20 1SX, England .

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Amazing gin selection!

Despite the fact that we’d mentioned being vegetarian (and expressing an interest in a special vegetarian menu they offered) when we booked, this message hadn’t been passed on. However, the staff were very apologetic about the mistake and the chef was able to put together an approximation of the special menu for us at short notice, including a dish new to the restaurant, and it was all delicious.

We paired each course with a different gin, expertly-selected by the incredibly knowledgable bartender at The Feathers’ special gin bar.

Review of Macdonald Bear Hotel

This review originally appeared on TripAdvisor. See more reviews by Dan.

Macdonald Bear Hotel, Park Street, Woodstock, OX20 1SZ, England.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spacious, professionally-run hotel, but very hot in the summer!

My partner and I spent a night here at the tail end of a mini-break to celebrate our anniversary. Our ground-floor room was clean and spacious and conveniently-placed for the car park and the bar served a delightful selection of cocktails. Unfortunately we were there on one of the hottest days of the year, and the rooms aren’t equipped with air conditioning: even with the windows wide open and a fan running, it made for an uncomfortably hot night!

Date of stay: August 2015

Room tip: In summer, ask for a North-facing room to minimise the temperature: there’s no air-con!

Trip type: Travelled as a couple

Review of Total Recall (2012)

This review originally appeared on Amazon. See more reviews by Dan.

Total Recall (2012)

Rating: ⭐⭐

Why are there remakes?

Sometimes I wonder why a film gets remade only to make it worse. The original Total Recall was a good film. Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but a clever, funny, action-packed (and only slightly campy) romp through space and the human mind. Not so this remake – if you can see past the overused lens flares, here’s what you’ll learn about our future:

Cars, elevators, emergency exits, surgical equipment, and life in general will become less safe, not more, as we invent increasingly smart automated systems.
All common sense will be lost along the wayside: when faced with the opportunity to kill their enemy, both good guys and bad guys alike will prefer to give them another chance to fight back. Again. And again.
Even though a nation is capable of building robots capable of working tirelessly and surviving in the inhospitable parts of the planet, they’re far more-likely to use those robots to kill other humans working for them in the hospitable parts of the planet.
At some point in time, people will stop caring how practical their mobile phones are, and instead start using ones that require that you find a nearby window before you can use the screen (which can then be seen by all the strangers near you).
Gravity turns out not to work like we think it does. Who knew!

If you can forgive the silly plot and unbelievable characters, the acting isn’t intolerable and the story’s “fun enough” that it’ll distract you for a while. Don’t expect miracles, though: this film should have gone straight to DVD.

Review of The Man in the High Castle – Season 1

This review originally appeared on Amazon. See more reviews by Dan.

The Man in the High Castle - Season 1

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Five Stars

Phillip K. Dick would be proud of what you’re doing, here. Bring us more!

Review of 4 Way 13A Switched Adaptor

This review originally appeared on Amazon. See more reviews by Dan.

4 Way 13A Switched Adaptor with Surge Protection - White

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall good, but not suitable for every space

Overall, a good way to get extra sockets especially above workspaces. However, the shape of the device means that it might not be suitable for every space: for example, if you plug it into one of a pair of sockets you might find that you’re unable to easily use the adjacent socket because the new sockets get in the way of the cable. And if you’re plugging and unplugging things into/out of this power strip often, you’ll discover that it can “wobble” in an alarming way. The power switches feel a little light and plasticky, too.

But still – overall a good idea and reasonable value.

Review of Samsung Charger Pad

This review originally appeared on Amazon. See more reviews by Dan.

Samsung Charger Pad for Samsung Galaxy S5 - Black

Rating: ⭐⭐

Works, but only with a little fiddling.

So on the upside: this works, and charging your phone “by magic” is exactly as cool as it sounds. It makes marginally longer to charge, but if you’ve got an S5 it’ll probably save you time in the long run because you don’t have to keep opening the waterproof seal at the bottom of your phone. Plus, this charger uses the Qi standard so it’ll be compatible with lots of other inductive-charging devices now and in the future.

Unfortunately I’ve found that it’s quite fussy about where exactly you have to place the phone in order to make contact. A centimetre or two out from the ideal spot and the phone keeps losing the connection and then regaining it, causing it to beep and the screen to flash (which isn’t much use if you’re trying to sleep!). The upper surface of the charging pad doesn’t have much grip and is convex in shape, so it’s very easy to knock your phone off the ideal spot, too. And while it’s reasonably price, it still feels a little cheap that it doesn’t come with a power supply of it’s own (you have to use the one that came with your phone).

All-in-all, I wouldn’t recommend this, even though it “works”: there are probably better devices out there.

Review of OxyBox

This review of OxyBox originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

OxyBox, 9 Oxford Rd, Kidlington OX5 2BP, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Contrary to others’ reviews, we’ve always found OxyBox to deliver reasonably-priced food at perfectly acceptable speeds. Sometimes we’ve had to wait as long as 40 minutes, but they’ve always told us when this would be the case, and usually we get our food within half an hour. Their bundle deals are good, and on the one ocassion that they weren’t able to fulfil everything in it (they’d run out of prawn crackers) they were happy to substitute in a different, mutually-agreed side in their place.

And they’re always friendly on the phone, too.

Review of The Kings Arms

This review of The Kings Arms originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

The Kings Arms, 4 The Moors, Kidlington OX5 2AJ, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A pub that’s like pubs should be. No television; no jukebox; just nice beers and friendly locals and hospitable staff and a dog. And a jar of pickled eggs behind the bar. If I’ve described your idea of pub hell, that’s fine: I didn’t want to see you there anyway. But for those of us who appreciate a pub that genuinely has a pair of older gentlemen playing dominoes in the corner at any given time, this is where you belong.

Review of Just Cause 2

This review originally appeared on Steam. See more reviews by Dan.

Just Cause 2

Rating: 👍

You know the way that everybody plays Grand Theft Auto (at least, 1 through 3) or Saints Row at least once? That is: they ignore the plot and just zip around blowing stuff up? Well: Just Cause 2 is a game that you’re supposed to play like that. Sure, there’s a plot (and it’s as stupid as it is zany, all the way from pulling statues over with tractors through to the climactic fistfight on the back of a cruise missile), but who cares: you’ll spend your time using a hookshot to pull soldiers out of aircraft, steal the aircraft, fly the aircraft into a radio tour while you jump away with your parachute, all the while shooting, hacking, and slashing anybody that gets in your way.

It’s completely silly, the voice acting is almost as appalling as the scriptwriting, and the plot makes no sense. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t one of the most-awesome games ever. Play an hour or play 5 minutes: this game’s great for “dropping into” when you need a few minutes of quick destruction as much as it’s great when you want to execute a thought-out mission. And nowadays, it’s cheap, too – no excuse not to give it a go.