First Killzone screenshot/details? So says USAToday..

[DemoCoder]

Cover is overused (like bullet time), I agree, but there is still room for innovation. Destructability is key. Many games claim to have realistic materials destructability (I like the digital molecule demo!), but I find they always underdeliver.

Crysis and COD4 seem to be delivering usable destructability as a tactical gameplay aspect, not in the "exploding barrels aspect" or the "magical weapon that goes through indestructable walls" gun, but in the "oh, you stood behind drywall, sheet metal, or apple cart. You're toast!"

I am very much looking forward to COD4 on the PC.

 

[psorcerer]

Crysis and COD4 seem to be delivering usable destructability as a tactical gameplay aspect, not in the "exploding barrels aspect" or the "magical weapon that goes through indestructable walls" gun, but in the "oh, you stood behind drywall, sheet metal, or apple cart. You're toast!"

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. already has these.
And I'd say it does not add that much of a gameplay value.

 

[morlock]

Crysis and COD4 seem to be delivering usable destructability as a tactical gameplay aspect, not in the "exploding barrels aspect" or the "magical weapon that goes through indestructable walls" gun, but in the "oh, you stood behind drywall, sheet metal, or apple cart. You're toast!"

I am very much looking forward to COD4 on the PC.

You can shoot through walls in COD4, but it does'nt leave any holes or break.

 

[Tap In]

You can shoot through walls in COD4, but it does'nt leave any holes or break.

It leaves bullet holes just not destroyed drywall... the new Battlefield game OTOH, will have completely destructible walls AFAICS

 

[Daozang]

I think it's all about art direction.

Would anyone complain if beyond the city there was a desert with small settlements? Maybe connecting city A with city B. A good DOF effect to hide the detail in the distance (maybe something like Motorstorm with a “Terminator futureâ€￾ feel to it? or even Lost Planet)... Fortified spots and plenty of room for vehicle combat, many places were you can demonstrate the fancy weather effects...
From the things we've seen, well, we can't say much about the game’s environments now can we?

The engine seems to be able to push a lot of polygons to the screen, from there, I think it's a matter of art and how well it can be associated within the game context that will make it or brake it. Up to this point, art direction doesn't seem to be a problem regardless of someone’s taste, the attention to detail is simply stunning.
IMO if the developers want to implement reasonably bigger battlefields than the ones they showed up to this point, they can do it. The question is if they want to do it at all and more importantly if it really matters...
What if they want to make a corridor crawler? Please don’t tell me it will instantly suck…

 

[patsu]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. already has these.
And I'd say it does not add that much of a gameplay value.

I think it also depends on the "overall" design.

Resistance has glass windows/panes that shutter upon impact (complete with realistic holes and cracks). You can proceed to target people once the translucent window is torn down. This plays like a traditional FPS and wastes ammo.

When a human holds an Auger, he is able to see the name tag of people behind a wall (but he can't tell how far behind the enemy stands). Shooting is not so effective but still usable in choke points and other partial covers. It's pretty fun to use.

OTOH, an enraged Chimera can see through walls. Killing an enemy with Auger this way is very satisfying -- like playing pranks (You can also shoot at people one floor above or below you).

What if they want to make a corridor crawler? Please don’t tell me it will instantly suck…

It won't instantly suck but they may need to make an effort to "simulate" or stage an invasion rather than an infiltration... but that's just me. I think their competitions won't let them off so easily too, unless the KZ2 corridor fights are varied and mind-blowing.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Cover is overused (like bullet time), I agree, but there is still room for innovation. Destructability is key. Many games claim to have realistic materials destructability (I like the digital molecule demo!), but I find they always underdeliver.

Crysis and COD4 seem to be delivering usable destructability as a tactical gameplay aspect, not in the "exploding barrels aspect" or the "magical weapon that goes through indestructable walls" gun, but in the "oh, you stood behind drywall, sheet metal, or apple cart. You're toast!"

I am very much looking forward to COD4 on the PC.

BIA Hells Highway will probably use this even more so.

Taking cover is an integral part of the game, and they've been touting the destructable environments for over a year now.

Even concrete or sandbags can be destroyed with a rocket launcher, and things like fences or carts will be shredded.

 

[Daozang]

It won't instantly suck but they may need to make an effort to "simulate" or stage an invasion rather than an infiltration... but that's just me. I think their competitions won't let them off so easily too, unless the KZ2 corridor fights are varied and mind-blowing.

I think that simulating an invasion is a hard thing to do. And it requires more than 20 enemies on the screen to sell the effect. What is more likely to happen is that they’ll go for something in between.
I’ll be happy if they nail down the guerrilla warfare look and feel, and not make a mediocre attempt on simulating an invasion.

 

[patsu]

You have a very valid point. I think the story telling, cutscenes, scripted sequences, and "war zone" theatrical effects (projectiles, debri, human cries, explosions, ...) can go a long way.

In the demo, Sev is ordered by Captain (?) Narville to seek and destroy the lightning canon so that others may land safely. We should be at the beginning of an invasion already. And that's what I meant, they have to continue that illusion convincingly throughout the entire game. I am not sure clearing rooms all the way is going to cut it. OTOH, I also agree with you that they need to maintain high quality work throughout.

Perhaps like in the LOTR movies, one or two teams will proceed to infiltrate the enemy bases and "weather stations" while the main army (in cut scenes, scripted sequence) will stitch the entire campaign together. Even then, this is an intergalactic invasion, something massive (ships, weapons, army size, boss), both offense and defense, should be paraded and/or experienced.

When all is said and done, the gameplay still count first. So I definitely agree that if they have excellent level design and gameplay, it will superceed any shortcoming in the game.

 

["Nerve-Damage"]

Nothing new...

Interview: Guerilla's Dutch director on PS3's big gun

It looks fantastic. What kind of approach are taking with the visuals?

Jonge: We want to make sure that everything looks realistic and feels believable, but at the same time we're going for a Hollywood-style realism; it's a little bit over the top, more exaggerated, bigger explosions - more bang for your buck basically.

Even though it's a different planet and a very hostile environment, it's still very much grounded in reality. Everything you'll see you will recognise and you'll know what to do with things.

We want to have a seemless transition from cut-scenes right into the gameplay, so there's no loading pause or anything like that - it's all seamlessly integrated into the game.

Part of the reason behind this is that we wanted to create a very cinematic feeling; it's always first-person, you're always part of this world and it feels very immersive basically.

We're doing 7.1 surround sound and lots of clever visual tricks to make sure that the player feels that they're a part of it. One of these tricks is post-processing. You can immediately see the effect it has; it really draws the picture together.

 

[Obakan]

Anyone noticed the enemy A.I. and the Team mate A.I.?
Does not looks so good, is there difficulty settings? What was it set on?
I noticed that the enemy A.I. did not move so much and did not shoot when they stood infront of the player.
Two team mates did not run away when the player set a C4 right next to them, the C4 explode and they did not die either ,they should have died or atleast flied to the side by the shokewave.).

I like though that the three boards breaks when you shoot at them.

They better fix the A.I. if this games is going to be of any interrest to me.

 

[patsu]

Yes ! The developers said they are still working on the AI. In particular, the squad AI is something they are looking into.

The GAF folks found some concept art (Vehicles and open battles):
* http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4834/killzone2gc0714ey7.jpg
* http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/1064/killzone2gc0716zg7.jpg
* http://pici.se/pictures/RcAlbTnCc.jpg

 

[Obakan]

Yes ! The developers said they are still working on the AI. In particular, the squad AI is something they are looking into.

The GAF folks found some concept art (Vehicles and open battles):
* http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4834/killzone2gc0714ey7.jpg
* http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/1064/killzone2gc0716zg7.jpg
* http://pici.se/pictures/RcAlbTnCc.jpg

Thats great! As long as they fix the enemy A.I. aswell. This could turn up to be very good game, hope the gameplay lasts.

 

[patsu]

Interview: Guerilla's Dutch director on PS3's big gun

Actually, that interview answered some of the questions raised here:

The first Killzone and Liberation took place on Vekta the home world of the ISA, but now we're part of a full-scale invasion of the Helghast home world, Helghan.

...

Our new main character, Sev is part of a special ops team called The Legion. The Legion is called in as soon as the Navy - who's running the invasion - are stalled and basically call them in to sort out the problem.

They're trying to get to the government stronghold but they're encountering some heavy resistance; there are anti-aircraft guns firing electricity bolts at approaching aircraft and there's also mortars stalling the convoy that's approaching. The Legion is called in to deal with the electricity cannon and these mortars.

How important is AI to Killzone 2?

Jonge: We've worked extensively to improve the AI, because we have destructible environments and lots of physics objects flying around - that's something that the AI has to reason with.

It needs to know if its cover is being destroyed or if you're behind cover that can be destroyed. They'll avoid standing next to explosive barrels, if the lights can be destroyed they'll shoot out the lights. We've also improved standard things like AI being able to work as a group and knowing where their teammates are.

Can you offer any details on multiplayer or co-op modes?

Jonge: Co-op we're not talking about at the moment, but we will have extensive multiplayer features. We're saving that for later.

What about drivable vehicles?

Jonge: There are no drivable vehicles... in this level.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

IMO coop should go in. The future I think is social gaming. Online, with friends, or whatever, that seems to be a big thing getting bigger. Competitive gameplay isn't as much fun in many cases. Ideally all three tastes should be covered - Single player, competitive multiplayer and cooperative. Especially as this is Sony's flagship FPS. They want as many reasons for people to rave about it as possible.

 

[Acert93]

Hey, shooting out lights I am glad they read our forums!

IMO coop should go in. The future I think is social gaming. Online, with friends, or whatever, that seems to be a big thing getting bigger. Competitive gameplay isn't as much fun in many cases. Ideally all three tastes should be covered - Single player, competitive multiplayer and cooperative. Especially as this is Sony's flagship FPS. They want as many reasons for people to rave about it as possible.

Totally agree. I like competitive online gaming, but I think it only appeals to a fraction of the market by its very nature. Games that emphasize social elements as much as competition are really the rage. And even in the FPS space you see games like Battlefield which is much sandbox game and social game (work as a team, play roles to achieve a purprose through communication and teamwork, not necessarily twitchy skill) as it is FPS. The days of Quake and CS clones ruling online is over. There is a place for them of course, but the future needs to be broader.

 

[RobertR1]

Coop = King. The more the merrier!

 

[NRP]

IMO coop should go in. The future I think is social gaming. Online, with friends, or whatever, that seems to be a big thing getting bigger.

Totally agree. The most fun I've had gaming has been at LAN parties with friends. The next best thing is online co-op with friends from different cities, countries, etc. Co-op is a "must have" feature IMO.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Totally agree. I like competitive online gaming, but I think it only appeals to a fraction of the market by its very nature.

That's an interesting point. Has the slower adoption of online gaming in the past been because it's been directed mostly at competitive play? Creating cooperative play my be the key to getting more users online, where you can then sell them [strike]junk[/strike] a media rich experience.

That's another reason to include cooperative play (speaking as someone who's Tuesday evening entertainments have come to an end because we've finished Champions of Norrath and there's very few 3+ multiplayer coop games available. MUA didn't go down well, and we've footballed to death and likely won't return to that until they've got some serious new technology in play)

 

[patsu]

What do people mean by co-op ?

In Resistance, we have clan games and compete against other teams in capture-the-flag, node assault, ... etc. We usually split the team in 2 (offense and defense). So it has both cooperation and competition aspects.

Or are you "strictly" refering to completing the single player campaign cooperatively ?