Get a retro touch

With both nextgen consoles already out in India there is a lot of buzz around gaming However if you are more into the retro scene and donrsquot have a lot of cash to burn you might appreciate Amkettersquos Evo Fox Game BoxIt is a combination of three devices from Amkette including a TVgaming box an air mouse remote and a wireless controller The build quality for each of these devices is good and the box comes with an HDMI cable and a power adapter The air remote also has a builtin microphone that lets you use Google Assistant Itrsquos powered by two AAA batteries The controller has builtin batteries and can be recharged using a microUSB cableThe Android 9based box is powered by a quadcore 64bit processor that is paired with an ARM Mali G31 graphics processor and 4GB DDR3 RAM This configuration lets you play a lot of Android games without any problem and even enables smooth 4K video playback via USB The device comes with 32GB of space which can be expanded by up to 128GB via MicroSDThe look of the device for me personally is a little too flashy but anyone into litup gaming computers will love this There also doesnrsquot seem to be an option to turn off the bright lights so if you are running this in a dark home theatre it could be a little distracting The device has a bunch of connection options including HDMI 21 an analogue AV port microSD a USB 20 a USB 30 dualband WiFi AC and Bluetooth 5 Both the controller and the remote use a USB port each which blocks it if you want to use a USB storage device You will have to disconnect one of them to connect anything else The USB also lets you connect a video camera which can turn your TV into a video chat deviceAmkette claims that you can be playing games on this in just 10 minutes This is true The box comes with a huge library of games with hundreds of retro titles including Super Mario Bros Contra and Asphalt 8 While some of the titles included are free to play others are actually paid games I hope that these are actual legal versions of the game though I am sceptical as some of the retro titles included in the emulator would never be part of such a bundle That aside I enjoyed the gaming experience The controller is very responsive and has a nice tactile feel Gaming on this is not at the level of even a lastgen console However nostalgia plays a huge role in the success of this deviceThe Evo Fox Game Box also comes with Kodi preinstalled and this for me is a huge plus Kodi lets you connect to your computer and a bunch of other services to stream content directly to your TV Not to mention the programme can be controlled by using a complementary app called Kore on your phone There are some piracy implications here but letrsquos assume everyone is being good Being an Android device means this box pretty much runs anything available in the Play Store Google Assistant is also easily accessible and very useful while searching for videos and apps as you donrsquot have to type anything The Evo Fox Game Box is a pretty awesome device it is built well and it performs admirably as a retro gaming machine I enjoyed the preloaded collection of games included in the system as well Their claim of being able to use the device to game from the getgo also holds up However as mentioned I am not sure if they have the right to bundle some if not all of the games included The remote with the builtin Google Assistant was very handy while the gamepad felt like it was built well Support for Kodi and other streaming services is a nice touch brings a lot of value to the Evo Fox Game Box That said I do feel let down by the price Rs 6000 to Rs 7000 is a more than a reasonable ask for the bundle rather than the Rs 8999 the device retails for If you are looking for something to casually game on and donrsquot want to invest in a real console the Evo Fox Game Box is a viable alternative