First PS2 Splinter Cell review

[Qroach]

Yes, when i said "sheen" i'm talking about the specularity of the surface.

To me a reflective floor looks nicer then a bit of shinyness (I assume you mean that's what you mean by sheen?). Although in the vids I've seen from GC version the floor actually seems to look shiny as well as reflective (but the lights weren't bright so I might be wrong on the shinyness).

I'm not a huge fan of that technique. It's simply not realistic, but has it's usefulness depending on the game. For this game i think it looks a little odd, since they are trying to be as realistic as possible, and the super polished floor(mirror) look doesn't add to this IMO.but there are differences in hardware that prevent similar effects from being used across all versions.

BTW how do you know GC can't do that sheen effect with TEV?

How do you know it can?

I don't see how rendering an image upside down as a reflection is "faking" anything. Surely its no more of a fake then any other way of doing reflections.

You could honestly say all these methods are faking reflections. This method has been used for years. There's other ways of making reflections that look more accurate. One method uses a cube map if you really wanted, but that would kill performance. As far as games goes, the method used in SC has limitations. It only works on completely flat surfaces, which is fine since it's only used on room floors.

BTW the reflections are not just for the main character but also for any other characters and objects in the room as well.

That wouldn't suprise me... no need to get so defensive, i'm just wondering why people are touting such a normal effect used quite often as a important feature? Also, why did you suddenly suingle out the cube when you were replying? i was talking about the cube and PS2.

 

[marconelly!]

Why would rendering upside down to produce reflections by any more of a fake then any other way of doing reflections?

Because it's not on the Xbox, you silly

For this game i think it looks a little odd, since they are trying to be as realistic as possible, and the super polished floor(mirror) look doesn't add to this IMO

It's being done all the way throughout MGS2 and it looks really good. The key is not to make the reflections blatantly obvious. Splinter Cell is supercharging it's effects most of the time though. Everything seems to be set to '11', not just metallic reflections, which often makes it more 'over the top' looking than actually 'realistic'.

 

[randycat99]

While I don't know if specularity effects appear in SC PS2 or not, I know I've seen it in other PS2 games. So this is not an issue of the hardware not being capable of some "uber" effect (as usual).

 

[chaphack]

I think this review is.....not right. PS2 demo i seen, Xbox >>> PS2 graphics, it is not even funny. :?

 

[Ali-G]

How do you know it can?

I don't know. Although I do have a reason for asking. I read some old threads in this forum recently where a dev was saying that GC's TEV was very similar to the pixel shader in XBox. So I thought it might be wrong to think this cannot be done on GC just because its a pixel shader effect.

That wouldn't suprise me... no need to get so defensive, i'm just wondering why people are touting such a normal effect used quite often as a important feature?

I was only adding info, that I thought you didn't know, to the discussion that's all, not being defensive. Also I don't think its an important feature, just an addition to these versions that's worth mentioning.

Also, why did you suddenly suingle out the cube when you were replying?

When I talked about the game I was talking about what I'd seen in GC vids of the game. When I asked about the sheen effect, I only had a reason to think it might be possible on GC, not PS2, so I didn't mention PS2. That's why I singled out GC in my post.

 

[CaptainHowdy]

I think this review is.....not right. PS2 demo i seen, Xbox >>> PS2 graphics, it is not even funny. :?

here is why
when a reviewer makes judgements on the game, what is going through thier head? , "Games are good, I am lucky to review games for a living, This game is fun, I am enjoying myself"

When chap plays a game?
"I like Xbox, everything else is crap, I am a fanatic, Microsoft owns my Soul, I would die for Bill Gates, he is my leader, Xboxx....Goooodddd....*Drool, Slobber, Foam* Gooooddddd"

I wonder which opinion is more objective..
I dont think the PS2 version looks near as good, but for someone who has a PS2 and not an Xbox, I would certainly say its Good enough.

 

[Fafalada]

I'm not a huge fan of that technique. It's simply not realistic

Well neither are specular highlights really

but has it's usefulness depending on the game.

Rendering mirrored stuff to offscreen surfaces, along with postprocessing and modulating of the results by the surface geometry it's been seeing a lot more use then just mirror surfaces (wet roads and water surfaces in particular come to mind).
Obviously you can also do more then decent specular highlights with it too.

 

[_phil_]

I think this review is.....not right. PS2 demo i seen, Xbox >>> PS2 graphics, it is not even funny. :?

as i said precedently ,it's a 3 month port in china .Add the fact that unreal engine is PC dedicated tech.What did you expect ?