Individual character stats rise as you level up, and stats and appearance can be further modified by equipping new gear. The meticulous detail put into the campaign stands out, but the most novel aspect of Injustice 2, the leveling and loot system, essentially turns the fighter into an RPG. ![]() Injustice 2 sets a new high-water mark for character rendering, but thankfully, it’s much more than a pretty face. You can read the cold determination on Brainiac’s face. If you mute the game while watching one of its many cutscenes, you can follow along just by reading Batman’s and Superman’s lips. There are moments in Injustice 2, the second DC Comics inspired fighting game from Moral Kombat developer NetherRealm Studios, that feel so innately lifelike that it’s hard not to think of the virtual characters as actors putting on a show. The near three hours worth of lovingly rendered scenes create one of the most engaging on screen DC storylines. In the end, Injustice 2’s story is NetherRealm’s best effort, and arguably the best we’ve ever seen in a fighter. ![]() The story takes place in just one dimension, and though its opening moments may be jarring, you can comfortably follow Injustice 2’s cinematic heavy narrative without previous knowledge of its predecessor. It also doesn’t hurt that the story put the convoluted multiverse narrative of Injustice: Gods Among Us behind it. The campaign offers one of the best DC stories in years. It’s just as grim as the original, but this time it actually uses its bleakness to pose a meaningful question: To what end is justice served? Batman and Superman may be working on the same side, but tension lingers, created by the inevitability that Brainiac won’t be a threat forever. While it’s standard comic-book fare, Injustice 2’s story balances it’s many layers of personal and fantastic drama. After destroying Krypton long ago, Brainiac has come for the Man of Steel, forcing the embattled factions of the former Justice League to try and put their grievances aside for the sake of the planet. That threat is Superman’s classic foe, Brainiac. In Injustice 2, Superman has been locked up and depleted of his powers, while Batman and his team help rebuild civilization and keep a watchful eye for the next colossal threat to Earth. The first Injustice, Gods Among Us, sees Superman becomes a totalitarian dictator, prompting a revolt from Batman and Justice League members from multiple versions of the DC Universe. The story of Injustice 2 picks up where the original leaves off. ![]() Injustice 2 does something unique by offering a deep, enriching experience for both casual players and seasoned pros. ![]() The emphasis on making the game inviting to all comes through in the loot system, which allows you to customize stats and appearance. The campaign offers one of the best DC stories in years, packed with meticulously designed cut scenes filled with a bevy of DC superheroes and villains. Injustice 2 builds on that concept, eclipsing the campaigns of its predecessors, while also adding new systems and modes that specifically target non-competitive play. These campaigns, which NetherRealm introduced, in the rebooted Mortal Kombat (often referred to as MK9), fill a gap left open in most fighting games: A compelling single-player component for players who don’t necessarily have the time to keep up with the devoted competitive players who dominate online. Injustice 2, the follow-up to Moral Kombat developer NetherRealm’s Justice-League-inspired fighting game, is the studio’s fourth game with a cinematic campaign, which strings together a series of one-on-one fights with extended cutscenes to create a de facto interactive movie. We claim, probably too frequently, that “you could mistake this for the real thing.” This kind of talk is often hyperbole, often used to impress and excite, rather than to accurately describe them. Potential balancing issues from loot in multiplayerĬritics and fans tend to overstate the cinematic qualities of video games. Environmental damage can still be frustrating
0 Comments
![]() In general, Macs don’t need the same level of system maintenance thanks to their Unix heritage. It’s important to understand that macOS and Windows are two different operating systems that work differently. Windows users are “taught” to run a registry cleaner program due to accumulated web browser caches and system junk files, leading to a belief that your PC is dirty. This is a general misconception among new Mac users who switch over from Windows PCs. Common Misconceptions about Mac Cleaningĭuring my research, I found a few hypes and myths about Mac cleaning because there isn’t convincing evidence to back them up. In total, I’ve tried 20+ such apps and you can find my detailed findings in this review. Out of curiosity, I decided to test those popular Mac cleaners and see how they’d perform. If you read their product pages, you’ll notice some marketing hypes and myths that are way off the line, you can read the “Common Misconceptions about Mac Cleaning” section below to learn more. Many merchants position their products to be a Mac “speed-up” tool instead of a cleaning tool which is supposed to be the true core feature of their products. After using a few of them, I found something interesting. One of the problems I had to deal with my MacBook is that sometimes the hard drive filled up quickly, and I had to transfer important files to an external drive, clean up unnecessary files, remove duplicate items, etc., I’m sure you can resonate with me on this if you’ve used your Mac for some time.ĭuring the process, I got to know some third-party Mac cleaning apps. I love exploring all kinds of software and apps and figuring out what they have to offer to improve my productivity. Previously I had a mid-2012 MacBook Pro and now I use a 15-inch MacBook Pro (2017 model). Why Trust Me for This Review?įirst off – I’ve been using Mac computers for 10 years. You can’t rely on a third-party app to boost the performance of your computer, it’s just unrealistic. It’s also common knowledge that whether a computer runs fast or slow largely depends on its hardware configuration and the software programs it’s processing. At least I don’t see such benchmark tests as of this writing. There is no convincing evidence that a Mac with more available storage will be faster than one with less available storage. Remember, a Mac cleaner app will (probably) not make your Mac faster. Plus, it’s much quieter thanks to the new SSD. After the upgrade, it only took ten seconds or so. Initially, my MacBook needed at least 30 seconds to fully start up. You’d be better off simply upgrading your Mac.Ĭase in point: I had a mid-2012 MacBook Pro and I managed to replace the internal HDD (a Hitachi hard disk drive) with a new solid-state drive from Crucial, and the performance boost absolutely blew my mind. On the other hand, you probably won’t benefit from a Mac cleaner app if you are using an old Mac that is running super slow, keeps freezing now and then, or has other performance issues. Or you are a power Mac user who knows how to clean your Mac manually, but it’s not worth your time. You are relatively new to Mac or are not so comfortable with navigating macOS to manually check and remove unneeded files.Your Mac machine is running out of disk space, especially when you get this “your disk is almost full” warning.Therefore, you can consider using a cleaning app in the following situations: In my opinion, the main value proposition of a Mac cleaning app is to help you reclaim more storage on your Mac while spending less time achieving it in the process. For those who are not into tech, Mac cleaner software can save you some time or hassles cleaning your Mac. If you are a power Mac user, you probably don’t need it. If your Mac is relatively new, you don’t need it. There are also a few apps that you should absolutely avoid because they either don’t work as they claim or are not compatible with macOS Monterey. ![]() If you are looking for a free Mac cleaner, try CCleaner Free. ![]() CleanMyMac X is the best paid Mac cleaner for most people.You don’t need a third-party cleaner app, macOS’ built-in cleaner is good enough to identify large files and by deleting them you can re-gain a decent amount of disk space.In fact, some apps can actually slow down your Mac while running. The main benefit of a Mac cleaner is to free up disk space, they will (probably) not make your Mac run faster.Best Mac Cleaning Software: The Winners.How We Picked and Tested These Mac Cleaners.Common Misconceptions about Mac Cleaning. ![]() You can use sliced fresh shiitakes or use dried shiitake mushrooms that have been soaked in warm water for about 30 minutes and then drained and sliced. Shiitake mushrooms: These add texture and umami.I like to use ground white pepper because it comes very finely ground, which is just what you want for this soup. You can buy white pepper in supermarkets or Asian markets, or online. The flavor of white pepper is distinct from that of black pepper-it has the same heat, but with a bit of funkiness from the fermentation. To make white pepper, however, the berries are picked when they’re fully ripe, soaked in water, and fermented to remove the outer layer. The berries are picked before their ripe and then dried to make black pepper. White pepper: White pepper starts with the same berries as black pepper.You can use Thai chiles or any type of hot dried red chile. ![]() I have a prolific serrano chile plant in my garden that has beautiful, very spicy chiles year round, so that’s what I use. Chiles: You can use fresh chiles or dried chiles.Peel it and mince it with a very sharp knife. Chicken stock: I like to use a homemade Chinese Chicken Stock, but you can substitute a storebought chicken broth or any basic homemade chicken broth.The important thing is to use salt without additives. You’ll also make a cornstarch slurry by mixing it with water to thicken the broth at the end of the cooking time. Cornstarch: Use this in the chicken marinade to tenderize the chicken.You can substitute chicken breasts if that’s what you have, or use pork. Chicken: I use boneless, skinless chicken thighs because they are flavorful and stay very tender.Here’s what you need to make this spicy soup: Most are easy to find in the supermarket. There are quite a few ingredients in this Hot and Sour Soup recipe, but each plays an important role. It also delivers textural variation via mushrooms, tofu, chicken, bamboo shoots, and ribbons of egg.It’s a hearty soup with lots of protein from chicken, tofu, and eggs.Mushrooms, soy sauce, and sesame oil add umami. Distilled white vinegar gives it a tangy punch. It’s loaded with flavor- white pepper, fresh ginger, and fresh chiles give it a kick.Starting with a base of Chinese Chicken Broth gives the soup a flavor foundation that instantly places it in Chinese cuisine, but even if you use a basic store-bought broth, the soup is delicious.This soup can be on the table in under 30 minutes, easily. I really love this soup! Why you’ll love this Chinese hot and sour chicken soup The “sour” comes from sharply acidic distilled white vinegar. It gets the “hot” from white pepper, fresh chiles, and fresh. The name promises big, contrasting tastes and I am here for it. I like big flavors, which is why I love the whole idea of Hot and Sour Soup. This soup usually contains pork, but after some experimentation, I found that I preferred Chicken Hot and Sour Soup-the chicken pieces (I use boneless chicken thighs) stay nice and tender, unlike pork that tends to get a bit dry. Eventually, I gave up and decided I needed to create my own perfect pot. It has been 15 years since I moved out of the city and, though I’ve tried, I haven’t found a really great restaurant version of Hot and Sour Soup in my neighborhood. When I lived in San Francisco, there was a place around the corner from my apartment (Eliza’s Chinese) that made a great Hot and Sour Soup that was spicy and tangy and totally curative. Some are very good, but many are disappointing. I’ve ordered Hot and Sour Soup at Chinese restaurants for decades. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The rich, tangy, spicy brothy, and thick soup filled with mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and tender chicken pieces is seriously nutritious and healing. Chicken Hot and Sour Soup is my go-to food when I’m feeling a cold coming on. This correlation remained strong after controlling for general object recognition performance. Results showed a correlation between performance recognizing whole faces and number of bubbles, such that those who required the fewest bubbles to maintain 75% accuracy were the best at recognizing whole faces in other tests. Better performance is indexed by fewer required bubbles. The number of bubbles in the test face was continually adjusted based on participants' performance to maintain 75% accuracy. Participants briefly viewed a study face, and then had to select which of two "bubblized" faces matched the identity of the study face. They used the Bubbles technique, in which faces are presented through a restricted number of randomly distributed, small apertures, effectively limiting the amount of available visual information. Royer and colleagues (2015, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance) (PDF, 88KB) examined the extent to which the ability to recognize faces depends on the availability of whole face information. Despite this, we are able to recognize individuals across a variety of superficial perceptual changes in lighting or viewpoint, or when some facial features are obscured by accessories like sunglasses. Moreover, because all faces contain the same features (eyes, nose, mouth) in the same general configuration (eyes above nose, nose above mouth), distinguishing between individuals is a visually demanding task. Faces convey a wealth of information that is critical to social interactions, such as identity and emotion. |