[Grall]

A preview look available here, just so you get an idea what the game will be like: http://kotaku.com/5915726/star-wars-...lutely-amazing

It's being developed on PC as lead platform, apparantly, or so they claim. On a technical level anyway. The preview is entirely realtime, on a high-end PC with undisclosed Nvidia hardware (prolly a 680 or two, they didn't say.) Lighting looks fantastic, there's atmospheric effects too. It's hard to really judge visuals from youtube's uber-compressed video stream, but like I said, it does look really good. Animations aren't quite on the same level, but what the hell. It's still in development, let's not be nitpicks here.

Lighting looks REALLY good. Gameplay...not so much I'd say. Looks very very consoley in the way it plays however (BOO hiss!), I seem to spot God of War press X, triangle, circle buttons (etc) to not fall to your doom, Gears-like duck-and-cover shooting etc. Little or no straight-on PC shooting action, at least in this section. Maybe there is, and it just wasn't shown.

I'd say it's a promising-looking game at least. Unsure how it'll play; cover-based shooting works generally poorly with a mouse and keyboard, but willing to wait for more info before making any final judgement. Graphics-wise it looks pretty stonking, although hardware demands is still an open question. Star Wars usually tend to be at its best when it's worn and gritty, and this game is setting out to be just that.

[pjbliverpool]

Yes the hardware requirements for this should be pretty interesting. Not least for what they'll say about the capabilites of the nexy gen consoles which will no doubt be getting this as well.

[Albuquerque]

Wow. I'm completely and utterly underwhelmed, but that feeling was at least partly fostered by that idiot commentator / talk show host. OMG A GRITTY M-RATED STARWARS GAME THAT YOU'RE GOING TO SEE IN-ENGINE REAL-TIME! followed by a CGi scene. Oh, but wait, OMG GET READY TO BE COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY BECAUSE HERE"S THE 100% AUTHENTIC GAMEPLAY followed by a scripted scene where you jump around what looks like predetermined points on a ship going through a scripted explosion -- complete with perfectly timed explody-bits as you move from point to point.

Given the data presented, I cannot agree that this looks anything remotely "promising."

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Yeah, looks nice, but was spoiled by the console gameplay. As the guy was climbing around the burning ship, I was thinking "I bet that's a bitch without a controller, or else it's just pushing a button and the character does all the work".

As for the presenter jizzing in his pants, he's obviously not seen Alan Wake or Max Payne 3 on the PC, or even other stuff shown at E3 like Watch_Dogs. It's not the most amazing thing ever seen.

[pjbliverpool]

I must admit the shooting didn't jump out at me as looking overly well done. I'm actually a big fan of that style of gameplay as Gears was amazing. Bu the lasers looked a little weak to me. It's only a very minor nitpick though based on a tiny glimpse of the game so I still hold out plenty of hope. The platforming bit looked fine to me, much better it its fully controllable but even if it it "press X now" type thing then I'm still onboard for the graphics alone!

Regarding how the game controls. It's almost certainly going to be designed with a pas in mind so I don't see the point in trying to play it with Keyboard/Mouse. Some games work better with the K/M but some simply work better with a pad. One of the advantages of PC gaming is that you can use the best input method for each type of game. Limiting yourself to only K/M is no better than console gamers being limited to gamepads for playing FPS's and strategy games.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by pjbliverpool

Regarding how the game controls. It's almost certainly going to be designed with a pas in mind so I don't see the point in trying to play it with Keyboard/Mouse. Some games work better with the K/M but some simply work better with a pad. One of the advantages of PC gaming is that you can use the best input method for each type of game. Limiting yourself to only K/M is no better than console gamers being limited to gamepads for playing FPS's and strategy games.

Problem is that if you design the movement for a controller, then the aiming for the shooting sections suffers because a mouse/KB is always much better for that (see Alan Wake after the direct aiming patch). So we'll have a game where moving is better with a gamepad, but shooting is better with a KB/M.

Some console ports like Prince of Persia really suffered with this, and they were not even shooters. If you're going to make a PC game, you've ideally got to properly support the standard controllers (KB/M) as well as the optional ones that are by far in the minority (such as gamepads).

[swaaye]

I'm not sure what kind of Star Wars game would get me excited at this point. Maybe a new KOTOR made by a company with decent writers that can do grey areas instead of Star Wars-standard B&W.

[pjbliverpool]

I just used the controller exclusively in Alan Wake. I think games like that which have been designed to use with a controller don't work well with the mouse because it's too good. The game becomes too easy and in some cases the you actually lose an important mechanic of the gameplay. Gears was a great example of that, half the fun of that game was the element of aiming with the pad. RAGE on the other hand works terrible on a pad so for that the mouse is a much better option.

[swaaye]

Alan Wake plays essentially like Max Payne. It worked ok with KB/mouse for me.

On the other hand, SWFU sucks via KB/mouse because the action combos are a bitch even with a gamepad. Also, I remember getting stuck in Overlord because of a puzzle designed for dual thumbsticks AFAIR.

[ToTTenTranz]

I own both a wired X360 controller (best wired gamepad in ages?) and a DualShock3 (best bluetooth gamepad in ages?), and I don't own either a X360 or a PS3.

Arkham Asylum/City, Force Unleashed I/II, Prototype, Devil May Cry 3/4, Tomb Raider Underworld.. I finished all those in a PC/HTPC using a gamepad, and I can't even fathom playing them with mouse+kb.
There's been platform games for decades in the PC, all of them being better played with a gamepad. Why should this game be any different?

[Richard]

Guys let's not get carried away, make a new thread about that (please do) but let's keep this thread centred on SW1313.

...which I found underwhelming visually to be brutally honest. I'm willing to blame it all on youtube compression though and will look forward to a 1080p trailer. Having said that, compression artefacts can't hide the fact @ 3:30 the character takes cover behind a crate that isn't casting any shadows while he is.

Also Knightley needs to play some PC games, and lose the suit.

[swaaye]

Well at least it's not yet another Jedi Force Power extravaganza. I have really liked the games that go another route, like Dark Forces and Republic Commando. I'll probably buy this simply because of that, assuming it doesn't completely suck or play like a SNES game (as SWFU reminded me of).

[Richard]

Originally Posted by swaaye

Well at least it's not yet another Jedi Force Power extravaganza. I have really liked the games that go another route, like Dark Forces and Republic Commando.

I agree with you completely. I don't have Republic Commando but I remember enjoying the demo quite a bit.... Hmm.. maybe I can find it cheap on Steam. Meh, 9 euros... will wait for December sales.

I'll probably buy this simply because of that, assuming it doesn't completely suck or play like a SNES game (as SWFU reminded me of).

heh, bad example, the Star Wars SNES games were excellent.

[swaaye]

Originally Posted by Richard

heh, bad example, the Star Wars SNES games were excellent.

I liked the SNES SW games. SWFU reminded me of them. But I am just not so much into that sort of button mashing anymore. Of course I do like to go back to it occasionally, but in my modern gaming I prefer a less arcadey experience. I do hope this new game isn't SWFU reskinned.

[pjbliverpool]

Originally Posted by swaaye

I liked the SNES SW games. SWFU reminded me of them. But I am just not so much into that sort of button mashing anymore. Of course I do like to go back to it occasionally, but in my modern gaming I prefer a less arcadey experience. I do hope this new game isn't SWFU reskinned.

I hope it is! Loved SWFU and the sequel. That said I'd live gears of war in space even more.

[swaaye]

I'm hoping it's a vastly improved and expanded Star Wars: Bounty Hunter / Star Wars: Lethal Alliance.

I do wish it would be first person because third person tends to mean certain things about how it'll play. First person would make it reminiscent of Dark Forces, when Katarn was just a force-free soldier of fortune. That would really be exciting.

[warcrow]

I saw this at E3. It's still very very early, I mean we're talking pre-alpha here. Also actual gameplay demo portion lasted only a few minutes.

Anyway, everything they showed was in real time and I've never seen anything like it in regards to graphics and physics. There was no UI to speak of except for a little framerate counter in the bottom right-hand corner (ran in a modern PC--declared top of the line hardware--and ran mostly at a solid 30FPS with a few pauses here and there). There was no dialog trees/options when conversation took place, so it's tough to know what was scripted and what would be optional for the player. They did state this was the first mature LucasArts game game ever made, and that there would be no Jedi and no force powers--I like it!! My personal opinion is this is a next-gen console title and suspect we probably won't see it until 2014.


Other notes:

-I was able to confirm this was not Clint Hockings games.

-The environments were grimy, chunky and dirty with rubber tubes and piping lining the walls, crawling behind paneling. Much like the aesthetic we saw with the original trilogy (Episodes 4, 5 and 6), and not the ultra-clean sharpen ones from the new movies (episodes 1, 2 and 3).

-There was a point in the demo where an explosion blew a door open and watching the way objects reacted to it was stunning because it was remarkably realistic, and almost eerie.It just seemed so much more advanced than Havok.

-The demo I used a "test character" and not the real protagonist.

-All of Lucas Inc is somehow involved in the development of this game including Lucasfilm, ILM, Lucasfilm Animation, Skywalker Sound, etc.

-Voice acting was top notch and appeared to be

-All animations, including facial, are done via mocap> I'd say the quality was perhaps slightly better than what we see in the Uncharted series. It was remarkable.


Can't wait to see more!

[swaaye]

It sounds promising to say the least. I'm very happy that they are finally again approaching the franchise from a different perspective.

The involvement of the other Lucas Empire companies isn't new though. This has been going on for a decade or so.