Astro Gaming A40 with wireless MixAmp 3.8 Review

 

 

 

Brought to you by: Aatro Gaming

 

“If I can describe Astro Gaming Products as a Car Company that would be luxury ones like Ferrari.”

 

Before I start reviewing this monster of a device, I’ll give a brief introduction about the company that brought it. Astro Gaming is a company that designs top of the line gaming headsets for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 device. In short period of time, it gained popularity back the states and is now the official gaming headset company for Major League Gaming (MLG) that holds game tournaments back in the USA. Shortly after, they are now invading the world competing against other gaming accessory companies such as Razer and Turtle Beach. Among all those companies, Astro Gaming gets a lot of favorable reviews.

 

I first heard of this company a couple of months back somewhere in mid 2010, by that time I started doing some research about Astro Gaming products along with other companies such as turtle beach.

 

I’ve checked a few reviews here and there, till I decided which I’ll invest my money on to. Currently the only shop that sells this product is “Computer House” where I bought my A40 headset with the wireless MixAmp 5.8 as a bundle.

 

And so here I am and ready to give my review.

 

 

 

Appearance

 

 

 

A40 Headset

 

Technically, the first thing I noticed about the headset is its weight, its heavy for a headset, as I opened the black box, I found the headset protected in a hard travel case which in fact a very useful accessory whenever you take it out from the house. It’s a sturdy hard black case with an MLG zipper tag that gives you the feeling like you’re in the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MixAmp 5.8

 

This is my personal favorite; the box has a cover which is black just like the A40 black box but as a surface cover. However, as soon as I slid it off, I realized that the company has also invested their time on the design on the packaging. The box is folded into three separate sides and each sides has a protected plastic for every section which all of this are very impressive and will also allow the consumer to appreciate of the product in packaging. The TX and RX units are made of plastic and rubber at the most. However, the RX master volume control feels a little heavy which is good compare to a fast switch product, this way it will make you feel that the product wasn’t made easy or cheap.

 

 

 

What comes with package?

 

 

 

In the A40:

 

Travel Case

 

As I opened the case, there I found the headset well protected with built in foam in the case with extra care so that it won’t move a lot in the case, it also have a larger room for the Mixamp to fit in. Pretty neat for a headset case insuring that no harm will come to your A40 Headset.

 

The Headset

 

The headset is one of the main thing I pulled off from the case; it’s heavy with combination of metal and plastic parts at most, with 3 attached foams, the two are for the ears and one for the head, if you want to remove the headset, you can twist both earphones facing the back so what it can rest easy on your shoulders feeling the foams which I find pretty impressive provides a gamers’ fashion statement and comfort.

 

Microphone

 

The microphone is detachable, whereas you can put it to your left or right ear for total comfort to those who wishes/prefers the other ear.

 

Extra Foam (1 only)

 

This is an optional item if you want to decrease the sound outside of the headphone. Therefore, it will help you hearing the voice chat with no outside distraction.

 

Speaker Tag

 

Basically you’ll find these in three pieces outside the case. The tag is nothing more than pimping your headphone with style. It comes with a basic design of the company’s logo however you can also go to their site and order online if you want certain tags or a customized one (and yes you can also put any pictures you want or even put your silly face in there and they won’t mind). It’s another fashion statement that’s going to make your friends jealous and differ yourself from other A40 users by using a customized speaker Tags. (Neat? I’d say it’s awesome!)

 

Standard Quick Disconnect (QD) Cable

 

This will allow your headphone to connect to a stereo device or MP3 Players with a simple stereo sound.

 

PC QD Cable

 

This will allow you to connect it to your PC with a standard digital sound.

 

Tip: if you have a nice sound card, help yourself to set that up to 5.1/7.1 surround sound and you’ll get the full A40 headset experience.

 

3.5mm to ¼” adaptor

 

This allows you to connect to stereo devices that only has ¼” audio jack.

 

In the wireless MixAmp 5.8:

 

 

 

TX Unit

 

A bridge device that connects PC/Console with the headphone connected with the RX Unit. It also acts as an audio mixer and a headphone amplifier that provides Dolby 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound. The Front panel has the power/pairing button and Bass Expander. The Back panel will have the power socket where you plug the adaptor, Dual USB (for future accessories of the device), Optical in and out where you connect your TOSlink Optical cables (TV/Home Theater/PC/Console) and AUX in for the USB chat cable for PS3/PC (sold separately).

 

Tip: the TX unit can handle four RX units in range. (So the more the better and every four player s will have an epic sound blasting time)

 

 

 

RX Unit

 

A Device that connects with the TX unit wirelessly. The front panel includes a game voice balance where you balance chatting and game volume and the master volume. On the back panel will have the head phone slot where you plug in your headphone such as the A40, Xbox 360 Controller Cable where you plug in the 2.5mm-to-2.5mm Xbox live controller cable to use the voice chatting system and a mini USB slot for the USB-to-USB Mini power/charger cable. While opening the back panel, you will have three AAA battery slot where you either put three regular AAA batteries or rechargeable ones.

 

TX AC Power adaptor

 

This device is simply giving some “juice” on the TX unit.

 

TOSlink Optical Cable

 

This one will connect a sound source from PC/Console or TV or even a home theater to the TX unit.

 

2.5mm-to-2.5mm Xbox live controller cable

 

This will link your Xbox 360 controller to the RX Cable so that you can you use any Chatting Headphone rather than using the standard one ear head phone from Xbox 360.

 

USB-to-USB Mini ‘B’ Cable

 

This one will connect any USB source (PC or your Console) to the RX unit in order to provide power or charge the RX device if it has a rechargeable battery.

 

Y-Adapter

 

This will turn any 3rd party headset/earphones into one cable that will allow you to plug it on the MixAmp (so any headphones will work perfectly fine on the MixAmp).

 

Note: the A40 and A30 already has combine audio and microphone signals so no need to use this cable otherwise you’ll end up not hearing anything, trust me I already did that)

 

RX Belt clip

 

This is a very handy clip if you wish to go wireless with your RX unit. Just clip it with you and go play freely without worrying to step on any cables.

 

AAA Batteries

 

It comes in standard models that will allow you to use it in a couple of hours just to get the feeling wirelessly.

 

Note: Personally, MixAmp is the most important device of ASTRO GAMING; as long as you have MixAmp or MixAmp 5.8 it will give you the maximum audio experience and game chat advantage.

 

Note: The MixAmp devices can also operate any third party headsets so there’s no need to buy the Astro Gaming headsets. Tip: But if you want an epic sound experience, go buy their headsets.

 

The experience

 

I first tried only the headset; as I wore it, the foams were comfortable to the ears and so as the head, this helps me to have no troubles wearing it on long game sessions. First, I made it as a stereo headphone by trying it on my PSP and PC and I could say it delivers a loud sound within the headset without bothering the room and also improved the sound quality of a simple bitrates of 128 kbit/s MP3 songs. As soon as I tried it with the MixAmp on Dolby sound, I thought that I was in a totally different world whereas I thought that the room was so loud but in fact it wasn’t when I took off my headphone. Maybe it’s just me because I never had this experience before, but for a headphone, it’s an impressive experience by taking you in a different world using the A40 with MixAmp 5.8. Even though it runs as wireless, there are some plugs to put in but it’s nice to have great sound reception in a little further from my HD Monitor (where I used listen to a plugged headset) without disturbing the family in the house. So right now I wonder if I can play Dead Space 2 on this one but I’m sure it’ll scare my pants off.

 

Speaking of Dead Space 2, I used to play background music while playing the first one to lessen the element of surprise but as far as I currently know, I’m afraid I might not be able to do the same thing with this device as the feature was stripped off from the first MixAmp, so you can’t jack in your MP3 players while playing games (for now I hope). I’m not sure for now but I hope that in the future those two USB slots from the TX should do something useful. Another issue is, the chat cable from PC/PS3 to MixAmp is sold separately. So if you do multi tasking (like me, chatting while playing games) or a PC gamer, you should consider buying that product for about 10$ separately. However if those two issues will not stop your fun, I’m sure to guarantee the amount of fun you will get while using this baby.

 

The final verdict

 

Astro Gaming did a wonderful job making a top of the line gaming accessory. Despite of its imperfections and its hefty price tag, it gets the job done. The overall experience is a satisfactory in sound quality and gaming advantage that will take you for a ride to the edge of your seat.

 

 

Pros:

• Great sound reception. 
• Wireless delight. 
• Premium finishing in physical and sound quality. 
• Providing comfort for long gaming session.

Cons:

• Chat cable is sold separately.
• No MP3 jack. 
• Pricy for a headphone.
• Rechargeable batteries are sold separately.

Review: Prototype

Developer(s) ‎ Radical Entertainment ‎


Publisher(s) ‎ Activision ‎


‎‎Engine ‎ Titanium


Platform ‎ Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (reviewing on Xbox 360)‎

Release date ‎ PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 ‎


June 2009‎


‎‎Genre(s) ‎ Action-adventure, Third person, Open world


Mode(s) ‎ Single-player ‎


Rating(s) ‎ ESRB: M


               OFLC: MA 15+‎


               PEGI: 18+‎



Personally, I am not a big fan of open-world game. I do have standards of game ‎selection and this genre isn’t my cup of tea until I hear about this game and the ‎other one which I will make a review very soon once I tasted enough fleva for the ‎feva of “inFamous”. This gave me game me a different feel of open world game ‎since it’s gory, bloody and a mind-blowing moves of the character. Like from a ‎well known similar game (grand theft auto) missions scattered throughout the ‎area and at some point will give you choice weather you’ll be a hero or a badass ‎mother “beep!”. Excuse my French… but this little man’s abilities makes him an ‎upside down (not to mention crazy) protagonist. Who would think that you can ‎travel so fast, glide, crazy melee attacks and disguising other’s flesh and clothes ‎for some stealthy missions? Sound cool and made me think that this will be a ‎one bad ass game of the year (2009). Who am I kidding? Lets just review this ‎one and find out if it can live up to most of the gamer’s expectations.‎






Presentation:‎


It’s bloody, its gory, and engaging just to know what the heck is going on around ‎the guy and what made him into a biological killer. However, the presentation ‎was killed by another factor of the game that dramatically deprive from our high ‎expectations. Although storyline is ranged from nice-to-good but not grown ‎breaking as other good games that came at the same year so its safe on this ‎part.‎


Score:‎ ‎ ‎ ‎8.5/10‎






Graphics:‎


Surprisingly, it looked more like a high-end PS2 graphics, but I do salute the fast ‎phased actions it has although I really wish that they worked more on it than ‎releasing it on time. ‎


Score:‎ ‎ ‎ ‎8/10‎






Gameplay:‎


This hurts my nuts so bad, after I invested hours of gameplay I finally gave one ‎word description of the game. “Repetitive” as simple as that. Sure its cool running ‎around the place and strike a pose with your small-but-terrible maneuvers but ‎hey, it gets too boring and it warns me off so fast not to mention the feeling that ‎you’ll be doing something similar missions that makes me say like “urgh! Again? ‎Didn’t I just did something similar before?”. Leveling up is one good thing with so ‎many choices to make but it gave a crack to me when I discovered that you’ll just ‎repeat the same “1 2 3 combo” over and over to the enemies till they’re down or ‎even till you end the game. The least thing that keeps the game alive is the story. ‎Whenever you consume a certain person or an enemy, you’ll discover a short ‎clips of their memories that will lead you to solve the mysteries but really, you’ll ‎get that “repetitive” feeling sooner than later. ‎


Score:‎ ‎7.5/10‎






Audio:‎


At most times of the game, the voice acting was well delivered and effects were ‎okay. The voice acting and effect during animation was impressive enough to ‎capture your attention to know more about the plot. So the audio was good-to-‎great but not enough to cover up their gamepaly flops. ‎


Score:‎ ‎8.5/10‎






Overall:‎

Repetitive is the word of this game. It looks and feels badass but they failed to ‎keep your motivation at the high level by giving you same old missions and same ‎old killing combos over and over again. This game is for rent/borrowing and not ‎for keeps. Not enough power to dominate GTA for sure but I do hope that ‎whenever or if they ever make another one I would not mind to have it another ‎look. ‎


Score ‎ ‎8/10‎






Pro(s)‎


Badass killing moves, abilities and insane roaming ability


Interesting storyline


Bloody and gory


Nice stealth mission


‎ ‎


Con(s)‎


Repetitive will bore you


So many similar missions


~Mookie-Mookie~So many good abilities but the killing procedures are down to repetitive‎

Review: inFamous

Developer(s) ‎         Sucker Punch Productions ‎
 Publisher(s) ‎          Sony Computer Entertainment


‎ ‎Platform ‎               PlayStation 3‎


Release date ‎ ‎ ‎     End of May 1st week of June 2009‎


‎ ‎Genre(s) ‎               Action-adventure, Third person, Open world


Mode(s) ‎              Single-player ‎


Rating(s) ‎               ESRB: T


                             OFLC: M


                             PEGI: 16‎






When I got into open world super hero game like Prototype, I started to find a ‎different approach about the theme and got me interested to play it ( the open world game again). Both ‎games was released at the same month and year and there were hot issues of ‎which one is better than the other.‎


‎“Haha finally! One of my game picks!” I had a good vibe on this game for so long ‎and I can’t help expressing my joy because it has passed my expectations. ‎Comparing it to “Prototype”, it went a hundred miles further than its rival did. But ‎as much as possible and more importantly I will talk about inFamous and will try ‎not to derail its rival too much. Both are relatively similar but entirely different in ‎certain aspects. So here we go.‎


Presentation:‎


Its not that hype but it catches on overtime. The story felt more like a super-hero-‎mojo run in the mill. But importantly it catches up overtime and will hook you in ‎for another run/mission. Seriously the plot is well made and it won’t bore you ‎much combining the flow of the given missions and tasks in the game. Well ‎balanced and well scripted so kudos to that.‎


Score:‎ ‎ ‎ ‎9/10‎

Graphics:‎


The graphics were well crafted enough not to spot a dirt on the face. Although I ‎could not help but notice, slight pixelized shadows but generally it’s forgivable. ‎Environment wasn’t a disappointment at all even if its just a smaller than ‎Prototype but to add the sewers were a different breathe of element gushes your ‎eyes with a different stir of attraction. ‎


Score:‎ ‎ ‎ ‎8.5/10‎



Gameplay:‎


Now here’s where it got its charm the most. Open world games are crucial if the ‎gameplay will not deliver well. Some may look like repetitive, old fashioned, or ‎I’m-too-lazy-just-to-get-there theme from point A to point B. If these elements ‎occur, the game will surely bore me head on. Fortunately, inFamous ‎‎(surprisingly) did not let me fell into that trap and with the given flow of cut scenes ‎and game missions; I got impressed on every bit of the detail. If someone asked ‎me about Prototype side, the gameplay was good but the plot wasn’t strong ‎enough to cover up its boring repetitive missions and its little overrated skills ‎which in fact…come to think of it felt like a 1 2 3 combo “repeat just do this and ‎that and you’ll have it done till the game is over”. But I have got to hand it to ‎Prototype’s leveling up system where there’s more abilities than inFamous. ‎When I said about the “1 2 3 combo”, I mean in inFamous has a challenging ‎approach to it. AI are smart most of the times and you will feel like you have to ‎approach them in a different angle, with the help of climbing skills (which reminds ‎me of Assasin’s Creed by the way) it gave a humble approach that you can’t get ‎there as easy as you think but not as hard enough no to try. Roaming the island ‎wasn’t boring as I expected it and side missions wasn’t a hassle to do (I skipped ‎so many side missions on Prototype because of the hefty locations and ‎repetitiveness). Not to mention that the climbing looked so awesome like hanging ‎on a ledge while firing electric bolts at the enemies was so cool. Leveling system ‎though felt like a “meh” to me with limited skills. In order to get that skill you have ‎to measure your rank either good or evil (Karma system) that leads to play this ‎game 2 times. Hats off for this one, I’m having the time of my life here so Sucker ‎Punch Productions you have my respect and will look forward for future releases.‎


Score:‎ ‎9.5/10‎



Audio:‎


Honestly, I didn’t liked the protagonist’s voice and the gun fire sounded (again) ‎like a 32 bit game. However, the sounds and acting were pretty solid. In addition, ‎the OST music was engaging enough whenever you encounter enemies so ‎salute to that again.‎


Score:‎ ‎8.5/10‎




Overall:‎

An Open world game that has so many charms in almost every angle.‎

This game is solid to the end. A game such as this and an exclusive for PS3 sure ‎made Sony happy and more importantly to the consumers. The company who ‎made this game didn’t had much releases but when I saw this one. I felt sad that ‎I didn’t tried their previous games “Sly series on PS2”. Surely, this one of Sony’s ‎gem and a must buy. So go buy it guys! it’s cheaper now in the market even if ‎you try to get 2nd hands its still worth the money.‎ or even better... try the demo like i did before buying this gem baby.


Score ‎ ‎9.5/10‎




Pro(s)‎


Humble environment for a great gameplay


Engaging plot


Not boring (surprisingly)‎


Cool looking climbing and roaming skills


Grinding skills are awesome specially grinding on train tracks

Some missions can be surprising the least you expect it. ‎



Con(s)‎


There could have been more skills


There were only two types of minions in the city

Review: Mirror’s Edge

Developer(s) EA Digital Illusions CE

Publisher(s) Electronic Arts

Engine Unreal Engine 3

Platform Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (reviewing on Xbox 360)

Release date PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
November 2008

Genre(s) First Person, Action-adventure

Mode(s) Single-player

Rating(s)

ESRB: T
OFLC: M
PEGI: 16+
USK 16

Here’s a game that I never heard of from most of my friends. The funny thing here is whenever I listen 2 or 3 of its OST I started to say “I miss Faith”. There’s something special about this game that never fails to remind me. Maybe after I review this you guys will get what I’m trying to say. I’ll sum them all up at my conclusion so here we go:

Presentation:
The environments are full in rich colors that gave the city a relaxing feeling to it. Not to mention the music wasn’t too lousy or too boring but just at the right tempo to any given situations and segments. Although I don’t get much of the transition between in game mode and cut scenes which were 2-D, a lot of people complained on that category but I don’t have the definitive reason to complain about. In the end, it delivered a new fresh air and a different good feeling on the other side.
Score: 8.5/10

Graphics:
It wasn’t a top of the line graphics but has so many rich colors of the character’s surroundings. Those colorful obstacles really help to identify your tracks on what to do and where to go.
Score: 8/10

Gameplay:
Generally its an FPS, but for me it’s an FPS minus. Like any typical FPS, this one has its conditions. You play as a Runner and mostly you run and the game is design not to use guns too much. Well if you’d like to shoot minions its your choice but the downside is that it will only slow your phase down. Taking down enemies by disarming and hitting them is a go. You basically run (duh), jump from one buildings and obstacles to another but much faster than Lara Croft’s Tomb Raider. In addition, it’s a trail and error game, whenever you fail from your attempts you will restart to the last checkpoint and make it right. For those who has trouble playing FPS should better not play this one because you’ll definitely get motion sickness. Time trials are addicting just to beat your own or other online peoples'best time. They could have done more like multiplayer mode like passing documents to another friend or racing against each other to the finish line. But hopefully will open some possibilities in the future.
Score: 9/10

Audio:
Yeah the music as I said before is precise. The sound effects were not bad even though the gunfire sounded like a 32-bit game and the voice acting was okay but not as engaging.
Score: 7.0/10

Overall:
“A breath of fresh air, free your mind and fly as you run freely by living in the edge” haha I feel so light whenever I play this game and its where I got my motto “Edge of Faith, with love and respect”. No matter how long it has been for me with this game. It doesn’t fail to make me miss it from time to time. Many praised this game and I am one of them, I just hope that when the sequel comes down, online multiplayer will go extra mile if they include it.
Score 8/10

Pro(s)
A different feeling.
Original gameplay.
Calm environments at most.
Addicting time trial modes.

Con(s)
Trial and error.
Sometimes you get stuck on a puzzling place for a bit long.
No multiplayer features.

Happy Gaming!

~Mookie-Mookie~

Game Review: Brutal Legend

Game Review: Brutal Legend
Contributed & reviewed by Jerico Mariano
Sunday, November 08, 2009
10:37 PM

Release Date: October 13, 2009
Platforms: Sony PS3, Microsoft XBOX 360
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Double Fine
Genres: Action
ESRB: M


Overview


Alright it's show time folks! (voice of Jack Black) I finally got a chance to briefly grind the metal on Tim Schafer's Brutal Legend. An action/adventure game that follows the story of Eddie Riggs-who started out as a roadie for a 'heavy' metal band and fears that heavy metal is dying, not until he finds himself transported to an alternative world where heavy metal suffers under the rule of the evil Lord Doviculus.


Presentation


Yes it is AWESOME! A tribute package to all things that are metal. Jack Black's voice acting was really fun-bloody-tastic! The concept, music , art, and character animation simply adds up to the awesomeness of the voice acting. The heavy metal theme was carried on throughout and was given a cartoony effect which gives you an idea on how complexity meet simplicity.

Gameplay


In terms of gameplay, Brutal Legend is somehow hard to define, since it’s a mix of several different styles, from real time strategy, beat 'em up, shooting, to vehicular combat. It may give you an impression that the game can be pretty daunting but as you go along, you'll know that the match-up of styles pretty add up well. Though its great to have different styles here and there, the game would have been better if the game could have a more variety on the site quests or at least make the main character jump. I kindda' feels odd when your at a beat 'em up mode and the dude can't jump. Some quests can be a little bit of learning curve, since some of them don't really guide you or even give you hint on how to accomplish your objective. You learn from it the traditional way… BY DYING!
On that note, the flaws are actually minor to the overall game experience. With creative concepts, awesome music scoring, writing, gameplay styles all mashed upped to something more than what I've expected… A DIFFERENT WAY TO SPELL FUN!


Link:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=184285797216