Posts by ReNo

  • Promises in Crysis

    Quote from D3ads

    See that thing in the top right hand corner? No?Here's what it says;

    Again just in case you missed it;

    PRE RELEASE DEMO

    kthxbai.

    You can quote yourself til your blue in the face, but when a demo hits a month before the game does, it's hardly going to be a million miles from the same standard. I really doubt the full game will look better than the demo by anything other than minor touch ups.

    Crysis looks stunning, and I've not played it on very high so can't really comment, but the difference between those shots is massive. Not really fair to judge on just two screenshots, but I certainly didn't feel the game was as impressive visually in the demo as it was in the promo vids they've shown.

  • THIS IS SICK! 3DRipperDX

    Quote from Rick_D

    crazy.. is there any info on the web about how they did it, or just an article/interview with the devs?

    Not that I've read, I'm afraid. Its quite interesting I agree, as it's an area of game development that not a lot seems to get written about. I guess there aren't all that many games using pre-rendered scenes intensively these days.

    I just had a look at some RE0 trailers to remind myself how it looks and I'm certain its pre-rendered. There's not a moving camera in sight (other than the occasional screen shake or pan - perfectly do-able with pre-rendered backgrounds), and the detail in the environment models was far too high for the Gamecube to handle in real time. It really does look stunning in places, particularly when on the outside of the train seeing the scenery fly past.

  • THIS IS SICK! 3DRipperDX

    The Resident Evil remake and Resident Evil Zero were both pre-rendered, IIRC. The devs could easily have made a fly through of course, but all the cameras were static. They were animated backgrounds though, which made it seem a lot less obvious. Lightning flashes, rain effects, curtains flapping around, the shake of the train carriages, etc...

  • The random model thread!

    The texture detail on the bench looks a little inconsistent to me. The "front" of the side supports seem to be significantly lower res than the sides, if you know what I mean. Not TERRIBLY noticeable, but noticeable enough for me to comment on it. Otherwise looks good

  • Crysis demo out

    It wouldn't let me choose my monitor's native 1680x1050 resolution for some reason - the highest in the list was something like 1440x968. Didn't look horrible in non-native resolution, but it didn't help things. Overall I wasn't as awed by the game as I expected, but running on mostly medium settings at a non-native resolution wasn't exactly showing the game in its best light

  • Clive Barker's Jericho

    I quite liked the demo, although it had moments of complete game design disaster. What the hell was the pitch black tunnels bit all about? Dear god that was horrific. The QTE moment as well seemed really harsh - took me about 5 attempts to get through despite the fact I'm normally pretty good at them in games like Shenmue or Tomb Raider.

    Still, despite those issues and some mixed reviews, I really rather fancy picking it up. I liked the squad mechanics of being able to jump between characters at will, and it was nice that they do it in a way that ties in with the storyline. Finding the finances and time to fit it in amongst all the other games hitting in the next while is gonna be tricky though

  • Street Fighter 4 confirmed!

    Yeah, there are certainly games that have done it, but with very limited success. If you played the likes of Tobal or Ehrgeiz you had free movement, but they puts limitations on the move sets because it made it harder to interpret what moves your directional input would result in. I'm sure there is potential to make a good beat-em-up with full 3D movement by default, but I can't think of any off the top of my head, and there is a lot of sense in using the currently standard "relative" movement model that most employ given the generally 1vs1 gameplay.

  • Street Fighter 4 confirmed!

    Quote from m8nkey

    I don't think it needs to be 3D to move on (which unfortunately, is what happens in remakes or new additions to old games).What about using beautifully animated, high resolution sprites along with partical effects and other post production effects typical of a 3d game? Another awesome effect would be slow motion on the final killing blow (like peggle)

    I can see what your getting at, and if, for ONCE, they actually did that, it would be cool. Truth is though, most 2D beat-em-ups are essentially using the same animation sets they always have. Maybe with some slightly nicer redraws, but they use the same number of frames and the same unimpressive resolution. They could make really impressive 2D fighters these days, but they just choose to do pointless re-releases with slightly tweaked game mechanics or character rosters instead. 3D fighters on the other hand actually make use of the technology. I'm not gonna make out they're perfect, but I'd far rather spend my time with Soul Calibur 2 than MvC and the like, simply because the former actually feels like it doesn't come from my childhood.

    I can see why there are comments about 3D fighters not using the third dimension effectively, as many do play like 2D fighters. That said, Soul Calibur does use it fairly effectively. Maybe not perfectly, or in a great deal of depth, but in the hands of a skiller player it becomes an essential part of the strategy. Many moves for example require movement in and out of the arena to trigger, and using those movements to avoid certain moves is more effective than blocking.

  • Street Fighter 4 confirmed!

    Have they definately said it will be 3D, or is it just assumed from the trailer? I mean that does make it look likely that it will be 3D, but you never know. I'd prefer it to be 3D personally. I quite like 2D fighters but prefer things to move on.

  • F.E.A.R. 2 - Project Origin : 18 minute gameplay video

    LACKING feedback? I thought FEAR was one of the best games around in that regard - enemies always died in awesome ways! Fly kicking an enemy in slow motion and sending them flying backwards over a meeting room table, letting off a few rounds of their gun into the ceiling before they skid into an enemy at the far end of it? Doesn't get much better than that IMO Cool effects like arms and heads flying off happened too, but unlike most games that feature them it was used only occasionally, which made it much cooler on the occasions that it did. FEAR wasn't perfect, mostly due to the ridiculous repetition in the environments, but the actual combat was easily some of the best I've come across in an FPS.

  • Halo 3 - No Spoilers Plz K Thnx

    Halo games are some of the few I actually go through twice - I always play through on heroic and then fight my way through legendary.

    I had some mates over the other day, including one with his 360, and we got a Halo 3 system link on the go. For those still wondering, 4 player coop is the most - don't really know why it allows 16 in the lobby (I guess because 16 is the most for multiplayer, and they use the same lobby system) but 4 is definately the most that can play. But oh what fun that is

    Before everyone arrived we also did a 2 player coop with a screen each, and that was arguably even better as the two of us are both pretty well versed with Halo. We played on Legendary with 3 of the unlockable difficulty modifiers on - enemies have double health, no radar, and (hardest of all!) shields only regenerate by doing melee attacks. Ooof. Hard work, but satisfying as hell. Forces you to play so differently, as we were head shotting brutes from a distance and leaving the weaker enemies alive so we could charge in and use them like a health pack

  • Now playing

    I'm really enjoying skate as well, although I wasn't so much at first. I played the demo to death, but the full game initially felt vast yet bland. Not to look at, mind you - its probably the most realistic in-game city I've ever come across - but bland to skate. At first I was a little "oh...miles of pavement and road, how exciting". Once you explore a bit and learn the good spots it gets better, but even then I was left feeling that the community centre is arguably the best spot going.

    Still awesome though, I'll definately be spending a lot more time with it.

  • totally random texture thread

    You'll probably be inundated with requests actually, if the earlier call for maps to review is anything to go by You looking for something with custom textures, if this is a texture blog? Or just any old level? I'll put forward the map that I made for the 1024 contest, but it is quite small and given it was made with a pretty large restriction placed on it, maybe it isn't an ideal candidate. If you want it, it's the top map, dm_weaver...

    http://www.reno-vation.net/