Gears of War 2

[_phil_]

and cant help it but the game looked very much like ut3 sometimes

yes ,we are exactly in the design 'school' ,texturing approach, and scene lighting set up.same artists worked on it.
Sure we'll never see something like mirror edge comming from them.
But in their own style they're the best and are the most competent in selling UE3.

They work with the engine.But i'm sure they could achieve 60 fps with a better engine.

My experience of gears 1 , i was completly fed up with little shinny pixels everywhere and the sense of having seen one single material in the whole game with just different textures.Shiny pixel overdose for me.
I've never been impressed at all by anything in that game,but as a professionnal i'm truly facinated that it's given as the holy grail of console gaming visuals (and texturing !),really .

sorry for giving my displeasing opinion

 

[Laa-Yosh]

It's probably about visual complexity... Gears owns that this generation for sure.
If one could mix that with the shading and lighting of GTA, it'd make me a happy camper

 

[Hazuki Ryu]

while to you perhaps theres not to much difference between
http://images.gamersyde.com/gallery/public/8749/1560_0004.jpg
+
http://au.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objec....html;jsessionid=1hnr1rbbnpk45?page=mediaFull

to me theres a huge difference + im not talking about the higher res textures or AA, its the lighting!

heres a screenshot from GOW1 to remind you that they done the same thing in the buildup to GOW1
http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen-hires/36634/Gears-of-War/
now the models didnt look like this in game did they?

if they did achieve this
http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen-hires/36841/Gears-of-War/
ild be on my hands and knees paying homage but as it stands they were + still guilty of distorting ppls expectations

I don't really know about the lighting probably wont be as good but as far as plygon and texture goes they look close enough, I think to really apreciate and compare the lighting they need to have a light in the same angle.

In gears of war they didn't achieve those visuals you were showing above but they did achieve this in the ingame cut scenes that I think is close enough and if you compare that screen shot with the old man it loses in probably shadow some face textures/complexity but the body looks better for sure http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1167/full-res/1162870520.jpg

 

[pjbliverpool]

It's probably about visual complexity... Gears owns that this generation for sure.
If one could mix that with the shading and lighting of GTA, it'd make me a happy camper

Even limiting the discussion to consoles I don't think Gears comes close to winning the visual complexity crown. Even a very early game like Oblivion slaughters it in terms of the sheer amount of detail on screen.

Don't get me wrong, Gears looks awsome, but its more down to the lighting and shadowing systems used IMO. Plus the art of course.

 

[pjbliverpool]

I don't really know about the lighting probably wont be as good but as far as plygon and texture goes they look close enough, I think to really apreciate and compare the lighting they need to have a light in the same angle.

In gears of war they didn't achieve those visuals you were showing above but they did achieve this in the ingame cut scenes that I think is close enough and if you compare that screen shot with the old man it loses in probably shadow some face textures/complexity but the body looks better for sure http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1167/full-res/1162870520.jpg

The texture resololution in those shots is WAY to high. Even if we discount the perfect image quality I firmley believe the game won't look that good. Those scales for example could never look that "sharp" and "3d" in real time.

The game will look great without a doubt. But its not going to sweep in and destroy everything that ever came before it like those shots suggest. Not even Grears 1 managed that.

 

[Hazuki Ryu]

The texture resololution in those shots is WAY to high. Even if we discount the perfect image quality I firmley believe the game won't look that good. Those scales for example could never look that "sharp" and "3d" in real time.

The game will look great without a doubt. But its not going to sweep in and destroy everything that ever came before it like those shots suggest. Not even Grears 1 managed that.

Sure you're right I don't mean to imply that it will be exactly like that what I mean is that it will look close enough.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Even limiting the discussion to consoles I don't think Gears comes close to winning the visual complexity crown. Even a very early game like Oblivion slaughters it in terms of the sheer amount of detail on screen.

I respectfully disagree here. Just look at any Gears character model or weapon, not to mention the artistic differences where Oblivion is lightyears behind.

 

[warb]

Gridlock remake comparison images: http://www.videogamer.com/features/article/27-06-2008-450.html

I like the new look.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

The only thing I hate in UE3 games is that u can't see beyond five meters. Myopia all over my eyes! Man DOF is not supposed to be used like this ! I can't even see my enemy who is shooting at me, He is all blurred !
I hate it in Gears and UT3, both have this damned blur all over the place.Also, everything is made of the same material, this shiny glossy metal! Skin shaders were a little better in UT3, but still, everything rock, metal, concrete, ground everything is made of this glossy metal block!

 

[upnorthsox]

The only thing I hate in UE3 games is that u can't see beyond five meters. Myopia all over my eyes! Man DOF is not supposed to be used like this ! I can't even see my enemy who is shooting at me, He is all blurred !
I hate it in Gears and UT3, both have this damned blur all over the place.Also, everything is made of the same material, this shiny glossy metal! Skin shaders were a little better in UT3, but still, everything rock, metal, concrete, ground everything is made of this glossy metal block!

Funny how it goes, at first glance I thought it was improved alot mostly inre to his armor and the textures on the left wall but after reading your post and looking it over again it's shocking. They've basically traded almost all distance detail for close up detail. Look at the first building on the left that juts out, a sniper up there on the roof in the first shot would probably be spotted but in the 2nd would be little more than a smudge or shadow, the farther buildings, well what farther buildings?!! If Marcus is going to do any fighting in this scene he better hope the enemy are all hold up in that dumpster otherwise he's just going to look good dying.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

What's happened to the screen-space AO? Looking at this image for example, the original has much more convincing lighting. Gears2 seems more artistic, and brown (woohoo!). The only noticeable difference to me is Marcus' rear is clearly visible in Gears2, but it's flat and more illustration than realism. The increase in muck is there, but with a loss of fidelity. I think I'd prefer playing in the original setting in this instance. The brown and foliage of Gears 2 gives me the impression of Resistance meets Uncharted

It's also a testament to the original how, some years on, few games are managing 720p with this level of texture detail.

 

[Nesh]

hmm the improvement isnt as large as I hoped based on these images. It looks more like a change of art direction than a graphical improvement.

The first trailer though showed more improvements

 

[_phil_]

It's probably about visual complexity... Gears owns that this generation for sure.
If one could mix that with the shading and lighting of GTA, it'd make me a happy camper

There is not a big deal of complexity outside texturing in Gears.I saw a lot of instaning,and it's the way to go with that engine .
(yes, i practised it. extensively in it's 2 /2.5 period. nothing really changed since)

 

[_phil_]

It's also a testament to the original how, some years on, few games are managing 720p with this level of texture detail.

not really ,it's a pretty small corridor game.Not every developper wants to make small corridor game just to show big concentration texture wise.

 

[Hazuki Ryu]

I have posted this screens before but I'll post again for the ones who have missed it to see the differences I spoted between Gow and Gow 2

http://ui30.gamespot.com/989/5-96828.jpg
http://ui30.gamespot.com/29/4-61348.jpg

The character models have gotten quite better ofcourse one have to look close enough to notice those improvements but thats not because they are so small its because the first character modeles already were very nice looking.

The only thing I hate in UE3 games is that u can't see beyond five meters. Myopia all over my eyes! Man DOF is not supposed to be used like this ! I can't even see my enemy who is shooting at me, He is all blurred !

I don't know what you mean by geats being blurred and overusing DOF looking at this image I can see everything in the distance clearly http://static.videogamer.com/videogamer/images/pub/misc/gearsofwarvs2.jpg

There are games way worse in that departement like GTA4, KZ2, COD4.

What's happened to the screen-space AO? Looking at this image for example, the original has much more convincing lighting. Gears2 seems more artistic, and brown (woohoo!). The only noticeable difference to me is Marcus' rear is clearly visible in Gears2, but it's flat and more illustration than realism. The increase in muck is there, but with a loss of fidelity. I think I'd prefer playing in the original setting in this instance. The brown and foliage of Gears 2 gives me the impression of Resistance meets Uncharted

It's also a testament to the original how, some years on, few games are managing 720p with this level of texture detail.

I think thats what cliff said they'd do go more artistical and cinematic than realistic with the lighting.

 

[obonicus]

I don't know what you mean by geats being blurred and overusing DOF looking at this image I can see everything in the distance clearly http://static.videogamer.com/videogamer/images/pub/misc/gearsofwarvs2.jpg

You don't see the haze that starts about a block away from Marcus? You can barely see the windows on a building a block away. Windows you mostly know are there because you have the capture from GoW1.

 

[suryad]

YEah I see the haze and it is a bit unsettling...

 

[woundingchaney]

You don't see the haze that starts about a block away from Marcus? You can barely see the windows on a building a block away. Windows you mostly know are there because you have the capture from GoW1.

There is clearly a haze.


Are we questioning whether this is for performance or artistic reasons?? I cannot see anyone doubting the presence of the haze.

 

[obonicus]

There is clearly a haze.


Are we questioning whether this is for performance or artistic reasons?? I cannot see anyone doubting the presence of the haze.

Did you read the post I quoted?

I don't know what you mean by geats being blurred and overusing DOF looking at this image I can see everything in the distance clearly http://static.videogamer.com/videoga...rsofwarvs2.jpg

I haven't seen anyone speculate whether it's artistic or not, especially since GeoW didn't have the effect, and it seems to go well with the extra-grime filter on the GeoW2 screenshot. I think the question is more whether we like the extra haze or not.

 

[Neb]

You don't see the haze that starts about a block away from Marcus? You can barely see the windows on a building a block away. Windows you mostly know are there because you have the capture from GoW1.

Its haze sure, a layer. Though that doesnt sync with the "blurry and overuse of DoF" thingy, when there is no blurring nor DoF on that part. Many games has his to add depth to the scene. The mountains though looks to use subtle DoF or its just a 2D backdrop for the higher mountains...

Anyway that scene looks way better with the haze layer than without, more depth IMO.