EA X360 Game Impression: Wows and Duds according to IGN

[Acert93]

NFS
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/616/616047p1.html

The level started out in a garage, with cinematic camera angles that panned around vehicle as the engine roared. The garage slowly opened and the beast of a car pulled out into the street. The phrase is becoming trite, but I must comment on the extreme level of detail in the outdoor environment. It's easy to overlook the little things while down-shifting into oncoming traffic but everything from the branches on trees to the power lines looked crisp and clean.

The course started out on a downhill path in an urban area. Indicators like "Good Shift" pop up on the screen when players drive like a pro, most of my indicators were not nearly as positive. As I tore down the hill a large semi pulled onto the road ahead of me, so I hit the NOS and slid under his trailer bed. The Feeling of speed was excellent and keeping an eye on my shifting, the traffic, and events like skidding under a truck really got my adrenaline pumping.

Sports
http://sports.ign.com/articles/615/615298p1.html

And it was a shot of Sonics guard Ray Allen that left the crowd stunned, as the sweat glistened from his body, and there was that moment, that flash of thought that what you were seeing couldn't be a game, that Ray 360 looked so much like the real thing it was unbelievable.

I never would've thought that the most impressive game in the demo would've been Live, but that's the one game I still can't get off my mind.

Unfortunately for EA and 2K Sports, nothing else even came close.

They liked the Madden footage, but same old stuff... hated Fifa and NBA 2K6 had nice cloth physics but seemed to be lacking in their estimate.

Looks like a typical new launch... lots of duds, a couple ok, and maybe 2 or 3 gems. I was hoping for better though

 

[Qroach]

The media is going to turn this console launch into another, "just wait until sony comes out and everything will be better". What they don't knwo is that there's nothign that can't be done graphically on xbox compared to PS3. The hardware supports the same feature-set essentially.

 

[Acert93]

The media is going to turn this console launch into another, "just wait until sony comes out and everything will be better". What they don't knwo is that there's nothign that can't be done graphically on xbox compared to PS3. The hardware supports the same feature-set essentially.

I think once the dust settles it will become clear the biggest issue this gen is having the time, money, man power, and skill to actually utilize the system features. Right now we are seeing a lot of ports and a huge disparity in quality on Xbox 360 (and even the PS3... :ahem: Knock Out Kings). It would have been nice if developers had some decently finalized dev kits Man I hate console launches... 2nd gen here I come! Until then BF2 will hold me over 8)

 

[DigitalSoul]

So much of early adopting, eh?

Maybe there will be those few titles that will stand out on each platform, who knows? I don't buy consoles at launch either.......

 

[Knoel]

The media is going to turn this console launch into another, "just wait until sony comes out and everything will be better". What they don't knwo is that there's nothign that can't be done graphically on xbox compared to PS3. The hardware supports the same feature-set essentially.

It appears Microsoft has captured the media's attention again with some killer hands on demos from NBA Live 06, PD0, and Gears of War to name a few. IGN gushed about these titles.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

The media is going to turn this console launch into another, "just wait until sony comes out and everything will be better". What they don't knwo is that there's nothign that can't be done graphically on xbox compared to PS3. The hardware supports the same feature-set essentially.

I think once the dust settles it will become clear the biggest issue this gen is having the time, money, man power, and skill to actually utilize the system features. Right now we are seeing a lot of ports and a huge disparity in quality on Xbox 360 (and even the PS3... :ahem: Knock Out Kings). It would have been nice if developers had some decently finalized dev kits Man I hate console launches... 2nd gen here I come! Until then BF2 will hold me over 8)

Hmm I can't quite figure out is that comment about Fight Knight (knockout kings in your text) positive or negative?. I sure hope you meant positive, because it looks really good.

 

[Acert93]

Hmm I can't quite figure out is that comment about Fight Knight (knockout kings in your text) positive or negative?. I sure hope you meant positive, because it looks really good.

Right Fight Night... and no, I was not impressed. The shorts looked bad imo, the color palette looked washed out. The animation was not what I expected (in a bad way).

Now there were some nice things: Higher resolution, the gloves depressed when it hit the face, and high detailed textures. But if you look at the PS3 videos and the Xbox 360 videos it really seems to be on the lower end--which I did not expect from a game with 2 people on the screen. DoA4 has the same problem... looks like a port. Yeah, higher res everything, but all the new graphical techniques and features that really bring an image to life seem to be lacking or misused. To compare, EA put out the Fight Night renders in like January and they blow this away. The lighting and texture detial specifically.

The Fight Night head is kind of what I was expecting. What I saw looked like a geeked up current gen product. It may play GREAT, and that is the important thing. But if they can make a Xbox/PS2 version that looks similar just minus the eye candy and lower resolution--but same gameplay--then no point for me to get the new one.

Same goes for the PC port of Madden they are showing as next gen on the 360.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Are we talking about the same fight Night footage which was shown in Sony press conference?, If you haven't already watched that in high res do it . To me that was one of the most impressive showings, just look at the facial expressions, nothing we have seen comes even close to that( in facial animation), and the models overall are looking amazing.

 

[Acert93]

I had forgotten about the awesome facial animations when hit in the face. That part is pretty sweet granted. (Better than anything I saw in DoA4). And the sweat that came off was a nice effect (although you can see similar this gen).

I guess if on final HW if the bodies have more "grit" to them it would make me happy I guess. After watching it 3 times in a row I think the other thing that is making me feel underwhelmed is the shadows... the contrast and "life" seems to be lacking from some of the other stuff. But you are right, it looks a lot better than most of the DoA4 characters (although they were smooth and had some nice environoments... and the wrestling lady looked really good).

I am probably being too picky and comparing it to some of the CGIs. I guess lighting and shadowing, the hardest things to do, are too high on my priority list.