Briareos H on 1/6/2010 at 14:46
Re. that particular point, I find Just Cause 2 to show the most impressive and accurate simulation of day/night cycle, weather and atmospheric conditions to date. Have you tried it ercles ?
Matthew on 1/6/2010 at 15:29
Lord of the Rings Online. Poor character models but absolutely beautiful scenery.
Aja on 1/6/2010 at 16:21
Quote Posted by PigLick
oh aja
yeah yeah but it's true: just before the sun rises the colours are all muted and low-contrast, like in real life. And when the sun sets it casts a golden glow and the colours get vivid.
When I first played Uncharted 2 I thought it looked a bit washed-out, but it turns out it was doing the same thing: for the Borneo level in particular, the overall palette becomes richer as the sun sets. And any overcast scenes look noticeably duller than sunlit ones.
Sulphur on 1/6/2010 at 16:47
I'd cite Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain as examples of freakin' awesome stylised-realistic art direction, but Flower here wants PC only. Ah well.
demagogue on 1/6/2010 at 17:30
I recall someone posting something about id people mentioning Doom 4 looking even better than Rage, which may just be hype, but something to look forward to checking out. Anyway, Google says first news and maybe screenshots of D4 will come at Quake Con 2010, August 12th-15th. But I've liked the screenshots of Rage from the start, even if it is a step back into baking light techniques.
The screenshots I've seen of Alan Wake look good, though do we know if it's coming out on PC yet? (Edit: Just looking at the video trailer, though ... the AI and fx don't look so good.)
Gryzemuis on 1/6/2010 at 17:43
Quote Posted by Sulphur
but Flower here wants PC only. Ah well.
There are 2 reasons why I am only interested in PC games.
1) I own a PC. I don't own a console. I plan on never owning a console. I am planning to play a few new(ish) games in the upcoming months. I have The Witcher (half-finished), The Void and the original Stalker on my desk here. I just wanted to know if there was something better to play. (Better in eyecandy. Gameplay is a lot more subjective).
2) I didn't want to talk about console games. Because the level of eyecandy is more tied to the power of the hardware there. And there was a big risk of people starting "console war" types of discussion. I'm not interested in that.
So far nobody mentioned GTA4. I've seen it on a friend's PC once. It looked pretty good. I'm not sure I wanna play that game (I prefer fantasy stuff atm). But I'm surprised nobody else mentioned it.
Ulukai on 1/6/2010 at 17:50
I'm not surprised, I've always thought GTA4 looked pretty average. There were no, "holy shit this looks awesome" moments, although some of the sunsets/sunrises are nice. It looks like a grubby city with some decidedly low poly pedestrians.
Sulphur on 1/6/2010 at 18:20
What Ulu said. GTA IV isn't even in the same league as Just Cause 2, and Just Cause 2 is a phenomenally good-looking game that's still a little shy of Crysis.
Note that if you're looking for a game that models everything to be as 'real' as possible, most of the mentioned games do fantastic environments, but unless special attention was given to NPC models, you'll find most human characters lurching and bouncing off the sides of the uncanny valley before tumbling away into its depths.
Malf on 1/6/2010 at 22:16
Quote Posted by Sulphur
I'd cite Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain as examples of freakin' awesome stylised-realistic art direction, but Flower here wants PC only. Ah well.
Add God of War 3 to that list too (obviously not exactly
realistic, but still damn high fidelity). The PS3 has really come of age graphically recently. I've not seen anything look quite so good on the 360, although I am fully aware that the 360's graphics hardware is technically better.
ercles on 2/6/2010 at 01:12
Quote Posted by Aja
You know what captures day and night and the transitions surprisingly well? Believe it or not, Viva Pinata (I can't find a screenshot, you'll just have to play it for yourself and see).
Snipes aside, he's totally correct. Viva pinata was a fucking gorgeous game, and although they're obviously heavily stylized, the day night cycle was great.
