A howl on the wind…

A performance comparison of the speed of various ways to read an entire file into an std::string in C++.

Idea from BD-Calvin in #C++ on QuakeNet.

Sources

• Ticks counted via cycle.h (local mirror)
• Source: speed-read-whole-file.cpp
• File used was generated with dd if=/dev/urandom of=random100 bs=1M count=100

Things Tested

• writing to a stringstream, then pulling data out as string
• constructing a string via streambuf_iterator
• getting file size via seeking, then preallocating a string to read into
• getting file size via stat(), then ditto…

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BioShock for PC from Steam.

In a word: Underwhelming.

I expected so much more from this game, and it failed in every way. Weapons are boring, plasmids are bland and don’t feel very powerful, enemies are annoying and get really old really fast, scripted events are predictable, story totally failed to capture me, and the environment is almost exactly opposite of what I want.

I got all that from the 1.5 hours I spent playing it. And then I watched the Spoiler Warning play-through of it which confirmed my assumptions; it is simply not a game I would ever enjoy. Maybe if they juiced up the plasmids a lot and let the “mana” regenerate on its own…

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for PC from Steam, played with keyboard and mouse.

Looks great, but the controls are awful. Hitting your target with a force thrown object is basically random chance. And switching to 2D mode for boss battles makes them stupidly difficult…suddenly, all that you learned playing in the 3D mode is taken away and you’re put in a platformer, only with even more broken controls; you think you’re about to Force Lightning the boss, and it just fizzles right next to them. And to top it all off, there are quick time events…

This could have been an awesome game if they fixed the controls and removed the QTEs, but as it is the controls ruin the experience.

For a longer review, this guy tells it like it is.