NFS: Hot Persuit 2

E

evil

Newcomer
Just got the game (Gamecube), and it's fun to play but the framerate is HORRIBLE. It still feels very playable but looks very choppy. Closer examination reveals that they actually do not synchronize the updates with the video refresh (turned vsync off) and just draw the whole thing as fast as they can, resulting in tearing and general choppyness. It also explains the lack of a 60hz option.

This is the first time I've ever seen it on a console game! And the graphics don't look that complex to me either, the GC should be able to handle that easily at high speed.

Did they skip the optimization and rush this title out ? What I'm wondering is, is it the same on the other consoles this game is released on ? Has anyone ever seen this before ? (vsync off in a console game)
 
The GC and Xbox /PC NFS were developed by EA Seattle, while the PS2 (the good one) was developed by Black Box (I think).

The irony is, ofcourse, that if a seperate dev was building the game ground up for the more powerful consoles, it'd be better in all regards (especially graphics), right? Apparently not!

Go figure. If you have access to a PS2, try its version out. Much fun.

zurich
 
The EA seattle office is being closed. that might have somehting to do with the quality of the product.
 
The PC version isn't very good, at least compared to HP2 on PS2.

It seems that every port of this game pales next to the PS2 version.. :-?
 
BTW, I thought it was the other way around- EA made the good PS2 version and Blackbox made the subpar GC and Xbox version. Is that incorrect?
Click to expand...

Apparently, that's incorrect. Blackbox made PS2 version, and EA Seattle (some say EA Canada?) made it for the PC, GC and XBox (which are ports of the PC version)

Blackbox is part of the EA, btw. They bought the team some time ago.
 
Well this is a big surprise to me. I've been playing the PS2 version here for some time, and there is literally no mention of Blackbox in the opening credits- just all EA (not saying you are wrong, just giving feedback on the perception). For anybody out there with the GC/Xbox version, is there any mention of Blackbox as the game loads up, or is it all EA with the logo that pops with the BOOM? Just curious how it is advertised in the other versions.
 
Makes me feel sad, reading all the comments on the PS2 version about what I'm missing out, heh.... well it's still fun to play, hope they do a better job next time or I'll just skip it like I skipped NFS4 after what EA pulled with the US-only NFS3 PC patch (I'm European). At the very least I'll be reading the reviews first.

Well my bro does have a PS2 and is interested in getting the game... we'll see how much of a difference it really is!
 
evil, help me out here? Do you see any kind of Black Box promo screen when the game first loads up, or is it just the EA screen?
 
Before I do something I'll possibly regret - can anyone confirm the framerate of this game? Every review I've read says something vague like "it's reeaaal smooth", "much better than the demo" (which was horrible indeed) etc. So, is it:

A) Perfect 60fps
B) 60fps with frequent dips
C) 30fps
 
Randy,

PS2 version I played was 60 with veeeeery infrequent dips. About the only time it'd dip would be when the chopter would drop a zillion concussion bombs all over the road and the entire screen would explode with action. And even then, it was a slight dip, nothing that ruin game play.

I was immensely impressed with the PS2 version, and disgusted with the PC demo.

zurich
 
I've heard it is definitely better than the demo, but if you are a stickler for anything less than a perfect 60 fps then you probably will have "issues" with this game. Some say it is 48 fps, others say 24 fps. There are also moments of jitter. Honestly, it isn't perfect, but by no means deficient unless you are the type to judge a game entirely by its fps.
 
48 or 24 fps? We're talking about the PS2-version, right? This is getting weirder and weirder... It's SO obvious when a game is running at full framerate (ie 60fps on an NTSC TV) that I frankly don't understand how people can miss it. It's not about the graphics, it's about how any action/reflex oriented game is pretty much killed gameplay-wise if running at sub-60.

Also, it's only at full framerate the animation/movements/scrolling seem "real" as opposed to a series of discrete frames - much more important for the immersion than any number of bumpmadded textures or cinematic effects (at least until realtime rendering techniques approaches its offline counterparts, with insane sub-frame motionblur as the most important factor).

Arcade games, and historically also console games, have *always* been running at 60fps. At least every action game worth its salt. I'm glad this still seem to be the consensus with most japanese developers.

A console game running at 48fps sounds like a bad joke, at best.
 
Arcade games, and historically also console games, have *always* been running at 60fps.
Click to expand...

Actually, hardly any console games run at 60FPS. Almost all of them are at the same rate movies on your TV are, 30FPS.
 
Randycat99, I don't remember any Black Box screen but I'd have to check when I get home (and don't forget again).

VNZ: Yes on NTSC systems console games will run at either 60 or 30 fps... however the European Pal system is 50hz and there games will run at 50 or 25fps (48/24 ?).

Don't know what the PS2 version runs at but on the gamecube it just pumps out the frames as fast as it can without synchronizing to the display refresh, causing tearing and horrible framerate effects. I don't think it even makes it to 30fps, feels more like 15-25.
 
BenSkywalker:
Well, console games up to this generation almost exclusively ran in non-interlace mode, which means 60 full frames per second.

Anyway, I don't mind too much as far as frames/fields go. As long as the game logic and graphics engine update every field, I'm perfectly happy with 30fps. Why? Those frames each essentially includes two game images, displayed sequentially with game logic + graphics changed. That's indeed 60fps in a gameplay sense.
 
Actually, hardly any console games run at 60FPS. Almost all of them are at the same rate movies on your TV are, 30FPS.
Click to expand...

Huh? THere are many games that run at full 60Hz progressive, and much more games that run at 60Hz interlaced...

Movies use motion blurring to address the lack of the frames per second, and in a way that would be extremely difficult to calculate in the realtime graphics. Thus, 30FPS games look much choppier than movies.
 
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