Re: Far Cry Demo -
02-02-2004
Actually I find these pictures look more impressive than expressive... there's no real technological breakthrough here, but the very far view distance which is a good thing. If you notice all the palms are the same, the small rocks on the beach are all identical (they just face a different direction), and although a full external view of the island from the sea looks highly detailed in principle, when you get closer you realize that most of the details are repetitive. It's not a bad thing intrinsically, because without it the level designer's job would be a nightmare, however the realization of it lacks a bit of finishing. I have seen landscapes in The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind that were, although less detailed, more beautiful and consistent - truly credible, in short.
It's nevertheless interesting to see how easily the engine seems to handle the vegetation material.
And for the gameplay... yeah, it's a shame, but aren't we used to it ? The more beautiful the game, the less convincing the gameplay. I don't understand why the game designers who design such beautiful games don't PLAY these games, and on the other side I don't understand why those who make games and actually play them don't seem to care a lot about the quality of graphism. Frankly, is Counter-Strike eye-candy ? Mediocre animations, ugly player models (saw that green and yellow weirdo called "l33t krew" ?) and it's still the most played game in the world. On the other hand, take games like Morrowind, and try to find a player who hasn't banged its head on the stupidity of the AI in the game, which really spoils all the feeling. It's amazing how close they all can come to the perfect recipe and inevitably fail.
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