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Desktop Environment Review Budgie

Budgie is a new desktop environment created for Solus Operating System, emphasized to be user-friendly. Budgie is not a descendant from any previous desktop environment, so its not a fork of GNOME nor KDE. This review covers some aspects of Budgie at its latest version today (10.2.8). It is my first time to review Budgie Desktop Environment. For Mr. Ikey Doherty, thank you!

About This Article

I write this review based on Budgie desktop environment on Solus GNU/Linux 1.2.0.5. I installed Solus OS in Acer AspireOne 64 bit.

Version

I use Budgie 10.2.8 from the official repository of Solus OS. You may see two screenshots below I took today, showing that the latest version is 10.2.8 for now.


This version is confirmed by Budgie development page at GitHub  https://github.com/budgie-desktop/budgie-desktop/releases today:

How I get the latest version of Budgie? I just upgrade the currently installed with the newest version from the repository. Just by doing sudo eopkg upgrade budgie-desktop command line and spending around 17MB of download.

Memory Consumption

Budgie 10.2.8 in Solus eats about 530 MB of memory at idle time. It is considerably huge for desktop use, but its still good compared to Unity in Ubuntu 16.10 (~1 GB), or Pantheon in Loki (~700 MB).


While I examine the processes running, sort them by memory use, I find some components of Budgie eat my memory the most. For example, budgie-wm (~20 MB), applet.py (17 MB), budgie-panel (12 MB), and budgie-daemon (~5 MB). These data are taken from freshly restarted Solus at idle time.


While I filter processes by name "budgie", I can see the budgie-named processes like this.

The Desktop

This is my Budgie front desktop appearance. On the default settings, it has only top panel. While it has only top panel, the running applications stay at the top panel as icons without any text. The user may notice the horizontal blue line above every icon of running applications.

Menu

Surprise, Budgie menu can be opened by single Super key (Windows key). Default mode of Budgie menu comes top-down. It serves you in search mode and browse mode, to access any application installed.

Raven

Budgie right sidebar is called Raven. It is a new method to deliver desktop notifications, calendar, and settings to the user. Click the left-headed arrow at the most right of panel to show and hide Raven.

What you can do inside Raven?

1. See calendar and date information. 
2. Change sound volume output. 
3. See the list of notifications. 
4. Access System Settings. 
5. Access Lock Screen. 
6. Access Shutdown, Restart, or Logout. 
7. Configure Budgie Desktop. 
8. Add/remove panels, add/remove panels contents.

Panel

By default, Budgie gives us only top panel. It is an ordinary panel similar with XFCE top panel, but it has Raven button at the most right end.

You can add a bottom panel from Raven: open Raven > click Gear button  > open Panel tab > press plus button (Bottom Panel). Then you may add applets into this new-blank panel, such as Task List.

Notifications

As you can see, Budgie shows notification every time a command line execution finished, or an audio player paused, or a network connection established. Special for audio playing, with Rhythmbox here, its notification allow us to perform pause, play previous, and play next track.

Audio/Video Integration

While playing audio with Rhythmbox or video with VLC, Raven shows the controls (play, pause, next, previous) respectively. It shows also the album cover (if any).

But I dont know, Totem playing video is not showing any integration in Raven.

Customization

In Budgie, for example, panel customization is done via Raven. Suppose you have a bottom panel, the way to add/remove items to it is by showint Raven > click Gear button > open Panel tab > choose Manage Panels: Bottom Panel > press "+" button at Applets section > double click an item to add it into panel.

Dead Rising Review

Before the whole zombie craze really kicked off, Capcom went to work on a unique title exclusively for the Xbox 360. The game was titled "Dead Rising," and instead of being a horror survival game like their Resident Evil series, it put a lot more focus on messing around and just having fun. It was a game that threw players into an open world mall, and basically allowed them to run wild causing as much chaos as possible while they killed zombies with everything they could get their hands on. Quickly the game gained a reputation for itself, and before too long the sequels followed it up. But now, after all these years, how is the game? Is it still worth picking up if you missed it the first time around? Is it a game that can stand out above the sea of other zombie games now on the market? Well, you know what Im going to say... Youre going to have to read the review to find out! (Yes I said it anyway.)

The Story:

Dead Rising is the story of ace reporter Frank West (who has covered wars). After strange reports come in from one town, Frank decides to head into the action himself, and find out what is going on--of course nothing could have ever prepared him for what he was about to face. Not too long after arriving in town, Frank has his helicopter pilot set him down on the roof a mall, and asks him to come back for him in a few days. Strange looking people walk the streets around the mall, and Frank decides to head inside to find out just what is going on, this is when he learns that a zombie outbreak has occurred (which is pure fantasy for this world as it has never happened before), and that survivors have barricaded themselves inside the building. Well, that barricade doesnt hold for long.


After some crazy lady opens the front door to save her little dog (never mind the fact it is barking with evil looking eyes), the zombies get in, and just about everyone around Frank dies. Of course the game allows you, the player, to try to save them, but it is no use. Zombies bite and rip apart everything in their path, and Frank (along with a few other survivors whom just so happen to be homeland security and a janitor) head for the security room and weld the door shut. This is when everyones nightmare begins. As a reporter Frank decides to venture out into the mall to see if he can get to the bottom of things, but knowing that he only has a few days before his ride returns he has to work fast. Along the way Frank meets other survivors, whom he must save, crazy psychopaths (once normal people whos stresser was the zombie outbreak), and millions of zombies that are ready to eat his flesh and turn him into one of them. While the overall plot is to get to the bottom of the outbreak and escape, each psychopath adds their own story elements to the game, and a lot of the survivors have mini stories as well. While the game doesnt take itself too seriously in general, there are some pretty dark moments from time to time, along with some crazy over the top scenes you wont soon forget.

The Gameplay:

Although the story of Dead Rising is nice, it is not the focus of the game--the gameplay is. Unlike Capcoms Resident Evil series, this is not a survival horror, and is more focused on exploring a mall, and killing zombies in crazy ways. On the other hand, it isnt purely button mashing chaos, as there is actually a time limit, and a lot of missables. The game runs on a real time clock where roughly five minutes is equal to an in game hour, and youre only given three days to get everything done. Frank never sleeps so theres no time skips that you have to worry about, and time doesnt tick on during cutscenes, but the game is packed full of content so it does kind of rush you. There are different story events which happen at different times, and youre given a countdown to each one to let you know when youre about to miss it. Of course before these story events you can run around doing whatever you want, but again theres so much to do in the game that you wont want to waste time.


While story events are the most important part of progression, between them survivors and psychopaths will show up in the mall. These events too have their own time limit, and if you dont get to them on time you will completely miss them. Sure not doing these events wont cause you to fail the story and get a bad ending like missing a story event would, but missing them would mean youll be much weaker later on, and youll also be missing some of the most interesting cutscenes in the game. Survivors though, dont always show up on the event list (there are a handful you must find for yourself), and in general they can be quite tricky to save.


To save a survivor often its a simple matter of finding them, killing the zombies before they kill them, and then talking to them; however, that is only half of the process. Once a survivor is saved, they may either ask you to bring them something (such as a weapon), they may start following you right away without asking for something, or they may be hurt or have some other reason they cant carry on without you either actually picking them up, or pulling them along by the hand. Whatever the case is, to actually save a survivor you need to bring them back to the security room if you want to get your reward. Although, that is also easier said than done. When it comes down to it, the survivors are just flat out stupid. Theyll cry and complain, theyll sometimes leave your side to go punch a random zombie in the face (only to possibly get killed by them), and they wont always want to listen to your call. To make matters worse youll often have to save more than one survivor at a time if you want to save them all and still have enough time to get to the next story event, and that can become tough to manage. Its hard enough when you have one survivor following you, but when you have a conga line following you through a mall filled with zombies, it does get challenging. (Still the reward is very much worth it.)


Besides the survivors, psychos will pop up once in awhile, and they will offer you a challenge. These guys are crazy, disturbing, and very hard to kill. Each one begins with a cutscene where they will attack you, and it is up to you to decide if you want to stick around to fight, or come back later. Once you do kill them itll unlock a special weapon for you to pick up and use, and youll also be treated to some of the most disturbing cutscenes youll ever see in a video game. Some of them are pure nightmare fuel, and they are the only true "horror" element this game has to offer.

Now you may be saying to yourself "thats fine and all, but how does the game play?" Well, as I said before this one is a lot different. The mall is an open sandbox for you to explore, and within this sandbox there are MANY stores for you to visit. In these stores, or simply laying around the mall in general, youll be able to find a wide verity of objects that you can pick up and use as a weapon. Want to beat a zombie with a teddy bear, and then throw a bench through a window? Go for it, nothing is stopping you! Want to go into the hardware store to get a trusty chain saw? Yep, thats an option too. Are you low on health? Just go to the food bar and get you something to eat. The entire world around you is filled with objects that can be used as weapons, and using them is as simple as hitting X and Y for normal and heavy hits. Of course guns require aiming or else youll just pistol whip the zombies with it, but for the most part its a button masher that never gets old due to the wide verity of things for you to use. Early on you can only carry so many items with you at once, but as time goes on youll be able to hold more and more--although since items do break after so many uses, its not like youre going to be holding onto your stuff for long periods of time. On top of all of that, some stores have different types of clothing for you to put on, so you can customize how Frank looks in some crazy ways as well.


As you run around smashing zombies heads open, saving people, and killing psychos, experience points called PP are unlocked. At the very start of the game Frank is limited on how much health he has, how much inventory space he has, and he only has a few basic melee moves, but as he gains more PP and levels up his stats increase and new attacks are learned. This is what is key to surviving in Dead Rising, and its also something that actually carries over into all of your playthroughs of the game. If Dead Rising happens to be too much for you and you fail the story, or if you decide that you only want to focus on the story and ignore the side content because you feel like you dont have enough time, thats completely okay. The game is actually meant to be played more than once (I personally played through it three times just to see everything), and all of your levels carry over into each run making it easier than the last. When you may have had trouble fighting the psychos the first time around, on the second run they will be much easier for you, and that in return helps you complete more side content faster. Dead Rising really is one of them games that youll spend time playing over and over again, and with each run youll learn something new, and that in return will help you progress through it much easier, completing nearly everything along the way. While it is possible to do everything on the first run, the game is so short that you really shouldnt worry about it. Its a game where you take your time, progress through the main story, and then return once youve finished it to do everything you missed.

The final aspect of Dead Rising is the camera. While it really isnt that important, some side content requires the use of it to take pictures, and it can also be used to gain extra PP to level up. Better quality the picture, the more points it is worth, but also the more zombies that are in it the more you will gain as well. Score is decided by the type of picture it is, and can be a fast and easy way to gain some quick points if you dont want to mass kill everything, or save people and fight psychos. (Although the camera was removed from the Wii release, but thats just about a different game entirely.)

Since the game runs on a real time clock, the time of day does change throughout the course of the story, and that also has a huge impact on what is going on around you. At night the mall is very dark and hard to see, zombies become more violent, and the game just flat out becomes more challenging. Different types of enemies also soon join the mix (including a crazy cult), and the games difficulty just spikes in general. The night really is something to be feared in the game, but its something you must put up with time and time again. Because of this the night seems to last forever, but once day comes along things do go back to normal.

Extra Modes:

While Dead Rising is mainly a game you play for the story, there is one other mode to play once you complete the story (not counting the extended mode which unlocks when you reach the true ending of story mode). This mode is the Infinity Mode, and is the games hardest challenge as it is a survival mode. In this mode Franks health becomes a hunger bar which drops every 100 seconds, and all of enemy types are already out in the mall to kill you. The goal here is to search for food, avoid fighting as much as possible, avoid danger areas, and simply try to hold up somewhere. This mode never ends, but by lasting enough days you can actually unlock special rewards such as the Z-Saber from Mega Man X (Zeros sword). While this mode is very challenging, it can actually be broken by simply hiding in a store with glass doors (zombies cant open them), and throwing a heck of a lot of food inside to keep your health full. Some places spawn endless orange juice, so its pretty easy to do. Still for those who want to play it the normal way without exploiting it just to unlock the best weapons in the game, it can be a very fun mode.

(Unlimited Orange Juice!)

The Good and the Bad:

Dead Rising is a very fun game. While the world isnt the largest, it is packed full of content. There are a lot of survivors to save, challenging and crazy boss fights, a lot of weapons to use, and it is packed full of dark humor. Again, what other game would let you beat a zombie with a stuffed animal, and then put a servbot mask (from Mega Man Legends) on its head? Or what zombie game allows you to run around as a man in a dress as you proceed to bash enemys heads in with a trash can? The game can be quite funny, and it is simply just fun to see what you can and cannot do. Using the wide verity of weapons is the highlight of this one, but going through the story and watching it unfold is fun as well. Its a really good game, and has nothing wrong with it--at least, thats what I would like to say.


As good as Dead Rising is, it does have some flaws. For one, there is only one save spot. Yes thats right, you cannot make multiple saves just in case you mess up on your first run. Sure its not that big of a deal since you will most likely replay the game anyway, but it would have been nice to have the option. Second of all, the survivors are idiots, they dont always want to follow you, and it is never fun to leave an area, wait through a loading screen, and then realize some old guy got trapped behind a wall in the previous screen and is now being killed. These annoyances make saving survivors a pain sometimes, and if youre a completionist you may feel a bit stressed from the time limit. The third issue, which may or may not be seen as an issue, is the fact that theres really no mode to allow you to just have fun. If you want to mess around and not have to deal with a crazy hard mode like infinity mode, youll have to do it in the main story. Sure you can make a save at a point in the story where every section of the mall is open, but due to there only being one save slot youll never be able to play through the story again unless you want to delete that progress. Sure it isnt a huge deal, but for some it may be a bit disappointing.

All and all though, Dead Rising is great. It is fun, and well worth the time if youve never played it before. Some people may be turned off by the time limit at first, but Im telling you now--dont sweet it. The game is made to be played over and over again, and you do have plenty of time to complete it. It just comes down to you knowing the layout of the mall, and whats the best side event to do and at what times. So, with that being said, Im giving Dead Rising a 9/10. Great classic, but it has some flaws that hold it back from being perfect.

Story



The game takes place in distant future. A Russian terrorist, by the name of Victor Zaitsev, demanded that the United States to surrender unconditionally, or else he and his forces will destroy New York by using a powerful weapon from the space station that his forces captured. Unwilling to surrender, the President of the United States assembled a large group of Marines, U.S. Army, and others with Colonel Burns assistance to eliminate the terrorist threat. One of DARPAs researcher, Sam Gideon, is also tasked to help with them, along with his own classified mission to save a doctor that develops his ARS.

The games story is kind of moderately good. Not too bad, not too good. The story is just there, without confusing anyone or catching peoples interest. There arent much characters development in the game, and a lot of unexplained mysteries in the game are not unexplained at the end of the game. I think there will be a sequel, but I doubt that Platinum Games wants to do it.

Gameplay



The game is a third person shooter. You have access to 3 types of weapons, along with two types of grenades. Sam has access to assault rifle, rocket launcher, heavy machine gun, and other weapons. His weapons will be carried out throughout the whole game, but you can always change them during battle or outside of battle. Make changes necessary as some weapons are best in certain situations, and works poorly in some situations. They have their own pros and cons, so it is up to you choose which weapon is the best. He also has two types of grenades, a normal grenade that explodes after a few seconds, and an EMP grenade that can stuns nearby enemies. If you are low in ammo, simply pick up a different weapon to change your current weaponry or pick up the same weapon to refill your ammo to max. You can switch your current weapon instantly by pressing the D-Pad.​

All of his weapons can be upgraded further, such as increasing firepower, increasing ammo capacity, etc. There are two ways to upgrade your weapons. First, find an Upgrade power-up, which allows you to upgrade your weapons level. Secondly, pick a same weapon lying on the ground when your current weapon has its ammo fulled. This is important as the more you progress in the game, the harder it gets, so keep that in mind.​



Taking covers are important to preserve your health. The enemies are relentless, as they will keep attacking you while fighting your backups. It is to be noted that not all covers in the game are indestructible, so always keep moving to avoid yourself getting killed. You can also do dodge roll to avoid enemy attacks.​

During battles, if you see any allies that are injured, you can heal them so that they can aid you during the battle. By doing so, you can get extra weapons, that can help you to refill ammo, upgrade your weapons, or switch to a new weapon.​



Sam have access to AR mode, where you can slow down time and shoot at enemies more accurately. AR mode will be activated at two ways. You can activate manually by dodge rolling and shoot, or it is activated automatically if your health is in danger. However, AR mode has its own gauge, which is be depleted when doing either one of the actions. If your AR mode is depleted, you will enter in a cooldown mode where you wont be able to use any actions that require AR Gauge for a short period of time. Keep in mind that Sams movements will be slightly slower if the AR Gauge enters cooldown mode.​

You can also do Boosting, where it allows you to slide on the ground at fast speed while evading enemies attacks as well as attacking them. You can also attack your enemies while Boosting as well as activating AR mode. Keep in mind that your AR Gauge will be depleted as well. Sam also can do powerful melee attacks, which are devastating to enemies. While equipping a different weapon, he will execute a different melee attack. Give it a try and test each weapons unique melee attack.​


Boss fights in the game are intense, difficult and challenging. Most of the time, you are required to shoot bosses weak points, but it is not that easy. Large bosses can attack multiple times and a lot of targets, which requires you to constantly on the cover and dodge while shooting. Also, they have one hit KO attacks that can kill you instantly if not dodged. Some of the attacks can be countered by pressing the correct button. There are few QTEs in the game, but most of it requires you to mash buttons to successfully counter their attacks or finish them off.​

The objectives in each levels in the game are varied, such as protecting the vehicles, getting through an area without being detected, etc. However, when it comes to battle, the battle can be incredibly deadly and intense as you can be killed by a stray shot if you are not careful.​

In some levels, you can take control enemys turrets and others for your usage. Take it to your advantage as they can be extremely devastating.

The gameplay is simply great. I expect nothing less from Platinum Games to make an incredible third person shooter game. However, the game can be finished within 6-8 hours if you are a skilled player. But, the game has high difficulty, where you can die easily even in Normal mode, so it adds the playing time if you are stuck in certain levels due to constant dying under bosses attacks.​

Graphics



The graphics of the game are awesome, greatly detailed looking characters and incredible looking environments. They looked really realistic, especially the character models.

Sound



The soundtrack is awesome, composed by Erina Niwa (Bayonetta) as well as Masafumi Takada (No More Heroes). Each themes fitted perfectly in every situations of the game.

The voice acting however, is rather mediocre. Not too great, but not too bad. I am not really impressed with the games voice acting, and the game seems to have rather weak dialogue, which may or may not compromises voice actors performances.

Replay Value



The game has rather moderate replay value. The game has low playing time, estimating around 6-8 hours of playing. It will be longer if you play harder difficulty modes, which is not recommended unless you love challenges and experienced third person shooter player. After beating the game, you can play Tactical Challenges. Tactical Challenges are challenges that requires you to beat enemy waves consecutively without dying. If you died, then you have to start over again. There are 6 challenges. Some of it are moderately easy to complete, but others can be extremely frustrating and difficult to complete, especially the last challenge. Like I said before, this game has high difficulty, and Tactical Challenges are best completed when you have master the games mechanics and using good strategies when beating them.​

When you are playing each levels, there will be a Score calculated on the screen. Your Score is calculated highly if you complete the game fast enough, no deaths, etc. The Score will be calculated lowly if you do the opposite things. You can submit your Scoreboards online and rank yourselves with other players throughout the world.​

Conclusion​


This game has great gameplay mechanics, great graphics, and great soundtrack. Unfortunately, this game suffers from moderately low playing time, mediocre story, moderate voice acting and weak dialogue. Despite the shortcomings, the game is awesome, and highly recommended to gamers who like intense and highly challenging third person shooter games. This is one of my favourite games in 2010.​

Score​

Story - 7/10​
Gameplay - 10/10​
Graphics - 10/10​
Sound - 7/10​

Final Score: 34/40 or 8.5/10​

Pros​

- Awesome gameplay.​
- Intense battles.​
- A lot of weapon variety for players preferences.​
- Boosting and AR Mode are great features in the game.​
- Varied mission objectives.​
- Awesome graphics.​
- Great boss fights.​
- Highly challenging.​
- Great electronic soundtrack.​
- No bugs, glitches, or whatsoever.​

Cons​

- Low to moderate playing time to finish the game, averaging around 6-8 hours.​
- Moderate replay value.​
- Mediocre storyline.​
- Moderate voice acting.​
- Lack of extra features, such as gallery.​
- Difficult for average players.​