Tuesday, November 23, 2004
22:37 by FoxTwo Like everyone else in the world, I have been playing Half Life 2 lately.
In a word - WOW! Even my graphics card, a GeForceFX 5700 LE, considered an old and "obsolete" model, has enough power and punch in it to render the graphics very close to what the developers intended. All I can say is - WOW!
Screenshots do not do it justice. You have to see it with your own eyes to believe it! Trust me, the amazing thing about Half Life 2 graphics is that it looks so..... NORMAL. Yes, you look at it, and it's almost like a photo-realistic picture, something you can see if you look out your window into the world outside. As one reviewer said in a gaming magazine, perhaps now, we try to make computer graphics life-like.
Now, because the graphics are so life-like (the characters in the game are very lifelike too, but more on that later), it makes it into a pretty scary game. When the nasties jump at you, you JUMP!
Ok on to the characters. Yup, they have facial expressions! Well not as sophisticated as our human ones but it's VERY GOOD. I'd think that within the next couple of years, development into this part of games will continue and soon we'll have NPCs (Non-Player Characters) that look, act, sound and behave like real humans. Even the way the NPCs walk in Half Life 2 looks "normal". Nothing stiff or computer-graphic-y about it. When they smile, the eyes smile too...
Ok about the gameplay. Um, not done with it yet so I can't comment, but from what I've seen so far, HL2 has brought gaming to another level. With REAL PHYSICS, objects suddenly obey the laws of nature. You can't lift heavy objects. If you push a washing machine off a ledge it will land with a thump and possibly make a small hole in the ground. Each time you shoot at a barrel, depending on where your bullet hits (yes the bullet has physics built-in too), the barrel will tilt the correct way.
For those with some knowledge of Object Oriented Programming, you have to stop and marvel at how well the programmers have incorporated OOP into the game. No wonder it took 5 years, yes FIVE YEARS to get this game out into the market. My hat's off to the devs.
Another game I'm watching closely now is OBLIVION, by Bethesda. They are the makers of Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind series of Elderscrolls games. If you were to look at their screenshots, they are achieving close to what Half Life 2 has done in graphics. Not much else is known about the "Physics" of that game but if it's anything close to like what Half Life 2 has, I am definitely all hyped up about that game as well. Seeing as Morrowind has such an expansive world with an open-ended gameplay, I have a feeling I'll be lost in Oblivion for months on end when it does come out in 2006 or so.
Ok enough talk.. back to the game!
22:37 by FoxTwo Like everyone else in the world, I have been playing Half Life 2 lately.
In a word - WOW! Even my graphics card, a GeForceFX 5700 LE, considered an old and "obsolete" model, has enough power and punch in it to render the graphics very close to what the developers intended. All I can say is - WOW!
Screenshots do not do it justice. You have to see it with your own eyes to believe it! Trust me, the amazing thing about Half Life 2 graphics is that it looks so..... NORMAL. Yes, you look at it, and it's almost like a photo-realistic picture, something you can see if you look out your window into the world outside. As one reviewer said in a gaming magazine, perhaps now, we try to make computer graphics life-like.
Now, because the graphics are so life-like (the characters in the game are very lifelike too, but more on that later), it makes it into a pretty scary game. When the nasties jump at you, you JUMP!
Ok on to the characters. Yup, they have facial expressions! Well not as sophisticated as our human ones but it's VERY GOOD. I'd think that within the next couple of years, development into this part of games will continue and soon we'll have NPCs (Non-Player Characters) that look, act, sound and behave like real humans. Even the way the NPCs walk in Half Life 2 looks "normal". Nothing stiff or computer-graphic-y about it. When they smile, the eyes smile too...
Ok about the gameplay. Um, not done with it yet so I can't comment, but from what I've seen so far, HL2 has brought gaming to another level. With REAL PHYSICS, objects suddenly obey the laws of nature. You can't lift heavy objects. If you push a washing machine off a ledge it will land with a thump and possibly make a small hole in the ground. Each time you shoot at a barrel, depending on where your bullet hits (yes the bullet has physics built-in too), the barrel will tilt the correct way.
For those with some knowledge of Object Oriented Programming, you have to stop and marvel at how well the programmers have incorporated OOP into the game. No wonder it took 5 years, yes FIVE YEARS to get this game out into the market. My hat's off to the devs.
Another game I'm watching closely now is OBLIVION, by Bethesda. They are the makers of Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind series of Elderscrolls games. If you were to look at their screenshots, they are achieving close to what Half Life 2 has done in graphics. Not much else is known about the "Physics" of that game but if it's anything close to like what Half Life 2 has, I am definitely all hyped up about that game as well. Seeing as Morrowind has such an expansive world with an open-ended gameplay, I have a feeling I'll be lost in Oblivion for months on end when it does come out in 2006 or so.
Ok enough talk.. back to the game!
