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Games

PES or FIFA? The Eternal Rivalry in the World of Football-Simulation Gaming

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

Some people prefer FIFA games; others go for the PES series. There’s no such thing as a definitive answer to which one of these two iconic series is better, but we’ll try to emphasize the most important aspects in this article.

For decades, football fans who are also into gaming have been engaged in a spirited debate over which franchise is better: FIFA or PES. Each of these series has its dedicated fanbase, pros, and cons.

The legacy of PES

The PES series, which stands for Pro Evolution Soccer, is a series developed by the Japanese firm Konami, and it has a long story in the world of football gaming. The series is known for fluid gameplay, realistic physics for the ball, as well as tactical depth. Those who are fans of PES games often praise the intuitive controls and animations for players and emphasize strategic gameplay. Many of those who are purists and prioritize gameplay over flashy graphics are great fans of the PES series of football games.

The dominance of FIFA

As for FIFA, the football game series that was developed by Electronic Arts (EA), it is known as the most popular title when it comes to the industry of football simulation video games. FIFA offers official licenses, impressive visuals, and somewhat comprehensive game modes. There’s even a brand new FIFA game every year that updates the team rosters, leagues, and players.

The Ultimate Team mode is one of the best modes of the FIFA series, as it grants players the chance to build their own dream squads.

Gameplay

One of the most important distinctions between PES and FIFA has to do with the gameplay dynamics of these two series. PES is often praised for its realistic player movements, dynamic control of the ball, as well as for nuanced tactical controls.

As for FIFA, the series created by EA prioritizes accessibility, offering a gameplay experience that caters to a broader audience. Therefore, there are plenty of gamers who criticize FIFA for prioritizing appearances over substance.

In other words, it seems safe to say that PES is better than FIFA when it comes to gameplay.

Licensing and authenticity

FIFA is known for boasting official licenses from top leagues, teams, and players, which means that authenticity will be at its peak. As for PES, it faces challenges when it comes to securing similar agreements. As a result, PES often relies on fictional names when it comes to players and teams. For some players, this approach can be seen as a major downside, as they wish to see the real names of the teams and players.

It’s also important to know that PES has made strides in recent years to improve the licensing for its games, securing partnerships with important clubs and leagues.

It’s obvious that regardless of how much we might like to analyze the dilemma, the choice between PES and FIFA ultimately comes down to the personal preference of each player. One thing’s for sure: the rivalry between these two titans of football gaming will continue to fuel the debates among gamers.

 

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Games

GTA VI: Top Things We Need to See in the Highly-Anticipated Game

Credit: Rockstar Games

Last year in December, the world finally got the chance to see the first official trailer of the long-awaited game GTA 6, and the internet went wild with reactions. People have been piling up on forums, social platforms, and YouTube to share their opinions about what we know so far about the game from its trailer, although a lot more information will be revealed soon enough.

Apart from GTA 6 having the first female protagonist in the series, a girl named Lucia, and the open-world environment looks incredibly diverse, there’s still a lot more to uncover. While we will all get to find out a lot more information about the highly-anticipated game soon enough, it’s time to speak about what we actually need to see in it as fans of the iconic Grand Theft Auto franchise.

More interiors for the buildings

GTA 5, the latest game of the Grand Theft Auto series, was an incredibly fun game to play, but still, it had its shortcomings. One of them is that it had quite a few interiors to explore. This came in contrast with a much older title in the series, GTA San Andreas, which had a lot more enterable buildings.

We surely hope for GTA VI to bring a lot more enterable buildings than its predecessor, and that is surely feasible considering that the map will be huge. We can expect an even larger map than GTA 5, and perhaps the game will demand more storage space than any other game. Either way, for GTA 6, we surely need to see an enterable airport and enterable hospitals where you get to shoot the doctors and patients (such as in GTA IV), the possibility to buy houses and mansions, and more.

More customization options

Let’s face it: although all three protagonist characters in GTA 5, Michael, Trevor, and Franklin, had their charm, we couldn’t really customize them as much as we would have liked to. More ways to dress them up or even add personality traits would have represented some good ideas. How about some sort of mode in which Trevor acts in accordance with a recent experience that he had? That would be fun to see in a future GTA game!

How about more ways of tuning up your cars than we had in GTA 5? That would certainly be nice indeed!

A more diversified map

The map in GTA 5 was huge and pretty diverse, as we could see countryside, mountains, lakes, islands, and more. But still, it was behind what GTA San Andreas, a game that came out almost a decade earlier, had to offer. GTA SA had three major cities, countryside, airports, military bases, and a lot more. We would definitely like to see the same level of diversity in the upcoming GTA 6 as well.

Improved gameplay

There’s no limit to what AI can do these days, so why not hope for even better gameplay than what previous GTA games had to offer? It would be nice to see even more intelligent AI patterns in GTA 6, more creative ways of taking down opponents, and more.

GTA VI will have two protagonist characters, Lucia and her boyfriend, whose name we don’t know yet. However, the rumors indicated the presence of three protagonist characters, but we will have only two.

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Tech

The NoxPlayer Android Emulator for PC: How Good Is the Software?

Photo by Onur Binay on Unsplash

Even though Windows 11 has made it a lot easier for users to run Android games and apps directly on their laptop or desktop PC, that’s not a strong enough argument for people to make the upgrade to Microsoft’s latest operating system. Windows 11 still has its flaws, and plenty of folks out there are concerned about their privacy if they use the operating system.

That’s why third-party apps might represent a better option when it comes to emulating your favorite Android games and apps on a Windows laptop/PC. Luckily, there are lots of options out there, and you are free to choose the one that suits your needs and desires the most. However, NoxPlayer managed to catch our attention, as it seems like a very good option for anybody who’s looking for a powerful and straightforward Android emulator. Let’s see why:

A friendly and intuitive user interface

NoxPlayer should be able to install smoothly and rapidly on any device. It has a very friendly and intuitive interface, although all those buttons on the right might pose a few challenges if you’re not used to the icons. But as soon as you hover over the mouse a bit and find out what each of the buttons can do, you should easily remember that info. For instance, there are buttons for making print screens and opening multiple instances at once.

All of the Android games and apps you install will appear on the front page of the emulator, similarly to how programs/apps appear as desktop icons in Windows. In other words, you won’t have trouble while trying to locate those apps in NoxPlayer, as the emulator was built in such a way that it showcases the apps easily.

If you don’t like to see the Android apps and games in the NoxPlayer emulator itself, you can easily add them to your desktop as well, in exactly the same way you keep your other programs from your computer. When you click on those apps/games on your desktop, the NoxPlayer app will automatically launch and open the software. This simple operation can be done by first opening the app/game you need in your NoxPlayer, and hitting the last button from the low right side of NoxPlayer that says Create an app desktop shortcut. 

How’s the emulation

The emulation that NoxPlayer is capable of is smooth and efficient. It runs very well, and transparent buttons will appear on the display, matching those from the Android version. Personally, I’ve tested the eBay app on NoxPlayer, as I prefer using it over the desktop version due to the possibility of filtering the search results by the location of the products. I was surprised at how well NoxPlayer does its job, and I’ve also put the emulator to the test on SnapSeed and World of Tanks Blitz. Some freezes occurred at some point with these apps, but I assume it was a problem with the apps themselves, not the emulator. I’ve also tested the EZVIZ app which allows me to see my room through my surveillance camera, and it works as it does on my Android device.

Probably the best part about the NoxPlayer emulator is that it’s free to use. It won’t cost you a dime to use it, and you will have the chance to emulate pretty much all your favorite Android apps and games.

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Games

What Counter-Strike 1.6 Did Better Than CS: Global Offensive

Image by Lucas Luquinhas from Pixabay

Counter-Strike 1.6 is almost a quarter of a century old. While most gamers nowadays, especially the young ones, might not be impressed by what the game has to offer because of its obsolete graphics, the internet cafes of the early ’00s were flooded with people playing CS 1.6. In fact, we could say that this game has influenced numerous other top-rated shooters from nowadays.

Later on, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive came along, a much more modern-looking version of the initial game, while new maps and weapons were also added. At its launch back in 2012, CS: GO looked like CS 1.6 on steroids, and it wasn’t long until the newer game became insanely popular. However, not few are those CS players who claim that the older CS 1.6 was better, at least in some areas, and let’s see what they mean by that:

The movement mechanics

Plenty of gamers prefer to have the movement mechanics from 1.6 instead of those available in CS: GO. That’s because, according to them, bunny hopping and other movement techniques felt smoother and more natural in the older game, allowing for more skillful and fluid movement around the map.

Weapon balancing

There are plenty of debates among the fans regarding weapon balancing between the two games. Some believe that the weapons available in CS 1.6 were balanced in a better way, as each of the guns had its own purpose. As for CS: GO, there are some complaints about certain weapons dominating the meta.

Customization and community

The Counter-Strike 1.6 community stands out for being pretty vibrant, while the game also has numerous mods, custom maps, as well as community servers. It’s also true that CS: GO has a strong community, but some players have the feeling that 1.6 had more diverse and creative custom content to offer, fostering a greater sense of involvement from the community.

The nostalgia factor

Here’s a fact: Without CS 1.6, there wouldn’t have been any CS: GO or CS 2. In other words, the nostalgia factor surrounding CS 1.6 is perfectly justified. Many players are more attached to CS 1.6 because of the nostalgia factor, as they’ve been playing it in internet cafes for over two decades ago when those venues were teeming with CS 1.6 players. At that time, there weren’t nearly as many shooter games around as they are today, and it was only reasonable that CS 1.6 would leave a much deeper mark in the hearts of the fans than CS: GO or CS 2 ever will.

According to some stats, during the peak popularity of Counter-Strike 1.6, there were more than 12 thousand daily players. While in 2024, the popularity of the game is nowhere near its peak times, people still join the servers to play against others online. In other words, CS 1.6 is still alive.

As for the latest Counter-Strike 2, the game that came out back in September 2023 as a free update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, it has already managed to piss some people off. The new game has been pretty buggy at launch, while it demands a lot more storage space than its predecessor. CS 2 demands 85GB, while CS: GO was able to run on just 15 GB.

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Games

Zombie Army 4: Dead War – Top Tips to Go On a Massive Zombie Killing Rampage

Credit: Rebellion

The guys from Rebellion did a fantastic job with the creation of Zombie Army 4: Dead War, a new spinoff of the Sniper Elite series that puts the player against endless hordes of zombies that he gets to kill in numerous ways. This game came out in early 2020, and if you’re at least a bit interested in games about killing zombies, surely you cannot remain unmoved by what Zombie Army 4 has to offer.

The Zombie Army series, in general, is notorious also due to games such as Nazi Zombie Army 2 or Zombie Army Trilogy. Similarly to the previous games, you can play as Karl Fairburne in Zombie Army 4, but you can also choose other characters if you want. You can choose Jun, an Asian hottie; Boris, a Russian chief; Shola, a black girl; and more. This game seems to be very politically correct, as it gives the player the opportunity to choose from a variety of possible protagonists who belong to different ethnical groups.

Since Zombie Army 4 is about killing zombies, you’ll have to use every dirty trick in the book to get the job done. Those undead folks won’t go easy on you at all, especially on the harder difficulty levels. They’ll simply come at you in hordes, and some of them even have weapons. Therefore, being stealthy is pretty much out of the question for this game, regardless of how much you may like to see Karl being a silent killer. You have to kill those zombies fast and take down as many of them as you can at the same time, so let’s see how you can do it:

Always grab the turret

Perks are very important in Zombie Army 4, and one of them allows you to unmount a turret and use it against those disgusting, blood-thirsty zombies. You will simply have the chance to take that turret with you, and you definitely should take advantage of that perk since the turret is a highly destructive weapon. It will easily break those zombies into pieces in the first seconds you start firing.

Each and every character you choose can grab the turret and take it along for a nice zombie-killing rampage. In other words, killing zombies with the turret is a “must” – it’s not only efficient, it’s also highly addictive!

Bring a friend along for a co-op

If the endless hordes of zombies are more than you can handle in this game, you can always consider bringing a friend along to give you some help. Two sniper elites are clearly better than one, and joining forces can result in a devastating combination for those undead bastards. All the characters that you and your friend can choose have various weapons at their disposal, as they can change from snipers to machine guns, pistols, grenades, and more. Furthermore, you can even get your hands on new weapons on the battlefield after you defeat certain zombies. For instance, defeating the flamer and picking up the flamethrower from him to burn those zombies and send them back to Hell is always a load of fun!

Take advantage of bait grenades

There are several types of grenades in Zombie Army 4, and the bait grenades are probably the most interesting ones. Throwing such type of grenade on the battlefield will release a gas that will gather all of the zombies into one single point. From that moment, you can easily throw another grenade at them to destroy them all at once or simply start cracking their skulls with a machine gun or sniper. Bait grenades are highly effective since they are able to gather numerous zombies into one single point while also making them completely unwilling to attack you anymore. But beware that you need to act fast, as the effect of the bait grenades won’t last forever!

Look for items in the environment that can help

As you point your sniper or machine gun around the environment, you need to be on the lookout for any object that shines red. Those items can easily be used to your advantage to kill multiple zombies at once. For instance, red barrels are everywhere in this game, and shooting one will cause an explosion that can take out multiple zombies at once if they are nearby. Shooting some red flags, on the other hand, can generate a wave of electricity that will also rapidly take out those zombies.

At some point in the game, you will be located inside a building, and if you bring out a weapon, you notice that a huge pendant on top of the ceiling starts shining red. Guess what? That means that if you shoot it, it will immediately fall on the zombies that come beneath and kill them easily, which means that you should definitely take advantage of that scheme!

Needless to say, such items can affect you as well if you’re not careful, so make sure to stay at a safe distance from them when you use them!

ALWAYS aim for the skull!

If you’re out of ideas to kill as many zombies as possible at once, you should definitely always aim for the skull when you shoot them one by one, regardless of what weapon you carry. Even the pistols are highly effective once you aim for the skulls of those terrifying zombies, which won’t be as terrifying anymore once you scatter their brains on the floor. Obliterating their skulls is one of the fastest ways to kill those zombies, so feel free to give it a try!

Zombie Army 4: Dead War is an amazing game, most probably the best of its series, and anyone who’s into shooters should play it at least once. It’s also a highly addictive game, and it’s available on both the PC and all modern consoles.

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