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Gaming God of War III Review

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Claave, 18 Mar 2010.

  1. mastorofpuppetz

    mastorofpuppetz What's a Dremel?

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    Sadly i agree, with maybe Crysis as the exception, but after playing GOW 3 on my 46" sammy in HD, wow, amazing what the PS3 can do when devs know how to squeeze the most our of the hardware.

    It is more if an indictment of devs not caring or utlizing the PC then the hardware itself, sadly, Pc is second fiddle to consoles, and we usually get straight ports, . But wow, GOW 3 is amazing,especially considering the scale and epicness of the chaos and scenery going on. All without any FPS drops.
     
  2. MacWalka

    MacWalka What's a Dremel?

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    I just wish I had a spare few hundred quid to get a PS3. The games that are coming out on that recently have me wishing I hadn't got my 360.

    MGS4
    Uncharted 1 & 2
    Heavy Rain
    Mag
    GOW III

    And considering four of those are all either brand new or very recent. I think it's clear to say that the PS3 has the best exclusive games just now.
     
  3. Deadpool46

    Deadpool46 What's a Dremel?

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    To a certain extent I agree, but those inspired combination of graphics, animation and scale come from the $40+ million dollar budgets of the likes of GoW 3. Say what you will about the game, but Metro 2033 does a decent job of conveying atmosphere and setting with the far smaller development budget they've been granted.

    Yes, it sucks there aren't these poster child PC games, demonstrating the benefits and advantages of the platform but I think you're doing a dis-service to say that no PC games come close.
     
  4. mastorofpuppetz

    mastorofpuppetz What's a Dremel?

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    The PS3 has had the best exclusives going on 2 years now, IGN has compiled a good list of the review scores from 2008 on, the PS3 IMO is a much better console then the 360, i have a gaming rig, 360 and PS3. I find the quality exclusives on PS3 as well as more varity on PS3 to be outstanding. Demosn Souls is another epic game. Add in blu-ray, built in wireless which works surprisingly well, and stellar hardware, its a grat deal.
     
  5. NuTech

    NuTech Minimodder

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    I would love to know the names of the games that come close...

    I know I'm being harsh and slightly belligerent (I apologise) but, to paraphrase Joe, where has the sceptical in PC gaming gone?

    The last time my jaw actually dropped while playing a PC game was the zero gravity level on Crysis. In the corner of my screen I caught a glimpse of the flying alien creature and I had never ever seen such amazing nuanced animation like that in a game before. That was in 2007!

    I'm all for these crazy new technologies like tessellation, improved lighting and shading methods etc but until a game actually ties it together with sound, gameplay, animation and presentation, I may as well watch a tech demo.

    And lets not even mention the cost of a gaming computer to run it all or publishers trying to charge console prices for PC games, that's a whole other subject altogether.
     
  6. Deadpool46

    Deadpool46 What's a Dremel?

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    Yeah, good point.

    But there's been this weird dis-connect that I've been thinking about lately; you guys on the podcast (and many others) have talked about the ever increasing gap in performance between gaming PC's and consoles but a lot of the plaudits for 'best visuals' are going to the latest PS3 exclusives.

    I can kind of understand the reasons for this; large development support/funding and a lower bar to entry (console games are normally designed for 720p @ 30fps). I don't wish to sound immature or like a fanboy but I would like to think that having big advantage in performance would result in better looking games compared to the consoles.

    Adding 6-monitor support and performance sapping swirly physx support is all well and good but I would rather see gaming worlds and visuals that aren't possible on the consoles.
     
  7. Deadpool46

    Deadpool46 What's a Dremel?

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    I don't wish to descend into petty arguments and these are largely subjective points of view anyway but there still isn't a game for me that can render the huge levels of Crysis and still maintain the high visual quality. Don't get me wrong, UC 2 looks superb but you still can't pick a spot 2 miles up the coast and go there.

    [/QUOTE]
    I'm all for these crazy new technologies like tessellation, improved lighting and shading methods etc but until a game actually ties it together with sound, gameplay, animation and presentation, I may as well watch a tech demo.[/QUOTE]
    Yep, totally agree.
     
  8. mastorofpuppetz

    mastorofpuppetz What's a Dremel?

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    well disagree, Crysis looks nice, but it does not have near the presentation, artistry, style, and scale of games like GOW 3. Crysis looks nice and shiny, but it lacks a lot in the art, level design area, especially after seeing GOw 3 on the PS3. Crysis did not come close to wowing me like the epic scale and overall polish, animation of GOw 3.
     
  9. NuTech

    NuTech Minimodder

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    No petty arguments here, but I will say that it's worrying the only example is a single 3 year old game.
     
  10. Blademrk

    Blademrk Why so serious?

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    This, I think, is the biggest problem with PC games - they're developed with the lowest common denominator in mind in order to get the highest userbase (and therefore highest return of investment).

    And unfortunately, developers don't see increasing the quality for those with higher/top spec systems as worth the extra cost (fewer systems + higher development cost = lower profits).

    PS3 and Xbox have static hardware which is probably more powerful than the lower end PC's developers have targeted
     
    Last edited: 18 Mar 2010
  11. Hovis

    Hovis What's a Dremel?

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    It's worth bearing in mind that it is far, far easier to make something look good if you are heavily scripting it. What made Crysis so amazing to look at was not that it just had pretty graphics, but the fact the world had texture and feeling to it. I grab a truck and drive it into a house, it would smash through the wall and the roof would collapse. I get into a shoot out with some troops in the woods and the intervening foliage would get shot to ribbons. These effects are ones that other games have managed too, but not on maps with that kind of scale. It's much less effort to paint the Mona Lisa rather than the Sistine Chapel, and if you're make graphics for a very cinematic, scripted game which in effect has very small areas you can limit what is visible and make it look amazing, rather than having to spread resources out. What Crysis managed was visuals that eclipsed most corridor shooters in an expansive environment.

    That's not to take anything away from GoW3 though, the GoW games have always made amazing use of the hardware, even back with the earliest ones that were easily the best looking games of their generation. It's smart design and really getting the absolute most out of what's there without impacting frame rates. Kudos to them for that.

    What the GoW devs have is a sense for creating a visual spectacle that very few other developers have, they throw away moments almost casually that are more jaw dropping than some games ever manage. That's not a hardware thing, that's just really good design. That sort of thing has to be scripted out the wazzoo though. The objective that a lot of PC devs seem to be shooting for is having that sort of epic event happen organically, and that's a lot tougher but it's a good goal to aim for.
     
  12. Deadpool46

    Deadpool46 What's a Dremel?

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    Yeah, can't argue with your sage logic. Just bums me out that I have to think back to Crysis as a PC game that really wowed me and pushed the visual boundries.
     
  13. Skill3d

    Skill3d Minimodder

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    yup GOW series and MGS series tempt me to buy a PS3
     
  14. Warrior24_7

    Warrior24_7 What's a Dremel?

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    I have to disagree here, what is seen in GOW III is jaw dropping and awe inspiring! It deserves all of the hype thats been heaped upon it. It's more than pretty graphics, Kratos's world and the creatures in it, have been brought to life! I have yet to see a PC game that rivals this. The sheer scale of the enviroments, the visceral action, cinematics, graphics, puzzles all come together at the right moments to tie everything together. That makes a game! My wife asked what I was watching, not what was I playing! In all honesty, Crysis can't hold Kratos's loin cloth!

    It's a hardware thing. As much as you hate to, believe your eyes, they're not lying to you. This is the PS3, this is a console, and this will probably be the best looking action game you'll see this year on ANY platform! This is DX9, console hardware, besting anything seen on the PC to date! No need for uber hardware to run the game either, every PS3 owner will have the same experience. You can try and downplay it by saying it's all scripted, but EVERY game is, Crysis included. Kill the minions whlie working your way to the boss showdown, rinse and repeat. You can say what ever you want, but there are times to just give credit where credit is due...and this is one of them!
     
  15. Fizzban

    Fizzban Man of Many Typos

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    We're sort of in the odd position of having gpu's that can handle more than todays games can actually throw at them. Direct X 10 was a flop..theres been like 20 games to date. Direct X 11 has yet to get off the ground. I think its a shame really, as pushing what is possible on a platform like the PC - which is constantly being updated, will push the console manufactures to make the next big thing.

    Back on topic though, game does look good. Makes me want a PS3.
     
  16. mastorofpuppetz

    mastorofpuppetz What's a Dremel?

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    well said warrior, my thoughts exactly, game simply looks amazing in motion, epic, no other word describes this game other then EPIC. The scale is impressive, and animation is top notch.
     
  17. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    been playing it last few hrs

    It or mass effect 2 (pc version , Never played console version never will) for game of the year, Im not a big console gamer and i picked this up for like £30 today and wow been impressed alot.

    Crysis is the last pc game i went wow with in terms of graphics but i turned that off after about 1hr as it has a poor poor story.

    Think what your seeing is optimisation in pc gaming is quiet poor. Even in 720p 30fps thats still 1280×720 in pc land for crysis still requires something like a 5850 minimum to get it to max settings with AA. a 3 year old game requires a modern top end graphics card. It just sticks of poor itemisation.
     
  18. Hovis

    Hovis What's a Dremel?

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  19. Warrior24_7

    Warrior24_7 What's a Dremel?

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    Every single game out there forces things to happen through coding. There is none of this "I think, therfore I am" going on here. You can actually carjack somebody, run him over with his own car, and the cops won't come! The pedestrians won't even react, c'mon! In "real life", if you run sombody over the cops come immediately, in GTA 4 if you run "lots" of people over, THEN the cops come. The games "AI" is the same, the cops don't get smart and try to figure you out. The scripts are triggered to make certain things happen at certain sequencesand times in the game, as in any other game. The game doesn't say "oh $h!t", "he just stole a car, I need to generate and send cops"!

    As I said before, the game is much more than a big boss battle. This was the game that Sony wanted to show what the PS3 could do. And they have! The game almost has a cinematic feel to it. The attention to detail throughout the game is awesome, the scale, special effects (rushing water, actually looks like rushing water) , the graphics of Kratos, the PlayStation 3 model is made up of 20,000 polygons itself and that is slightly less than Uncharted's Nathan Drake! But it still more than one of the most impressive characters, Old Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4. There can be over 50 enemies on screen at once, and the way each enemy looks is distinct, even if they are of the same type, not like in GTA4 where the police all use the same animation and do the same thing...everytime! There is more, but I'm not going there because the game literally speaks for itself. All this with no slowdown even with VERY large complex enemies on the screen! This is DX9 hardware, no DX10, DX11 needed, no uber expensive graphics card, and all in 720P!!! This is a "hardware" thing, this is what the PS3 is capable of this is what the consoles are capable of! There is NO PC equivilent. So don't believe you mind, it's playing tricks on you. But do believe your eyes...they're not lying to you. It's real.
     
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