New HL2 Screens

[GameHopper]

MikeJ wrote..

Doom3's graphics are way better

http://www.mcsheepy.com/~stig/d3/shot00012.jpg

well, i bet i could find bad screenshot of HL2 in action too!..but wait.. it's NOT out yet.

David Johnston wrote..

Time for a sycophantic view.



I don't think it's really fair to announce that just because Doom 3 has some very unique and customised graphics capabilities, the Half-Life 2 engine is hence outdated. When id/Carmack designed their engine to look as good as it does, they also added some limitations - I doubt, for example, that the D3 engine can handle large open spaces and rolling terrain quite as well as Source, because that's what Source was designed with in mind. D3 was designed primarily to perform best on indoor/artificial environments. But because Source has to handle such a large variety of environments, it also has to restrict quite how much graphics processing it does. To do real-time lighting like D3 in the screenshots of HL2 I've seen would be a killer for most systems, as would having such amazing detail on the world and its characters. So really, D3 is quite heavy-handed in looking and acting realistic, whereas Source goes for more subtle approaches, like the expression technology - which after a while you'll stop noticing, but would notice if it were then to disappear.



D3's gameplay is designed around the dark atmosphere and the lack of visual data it feeds you. HL2's gameplay is almost the opposite - your exposure should make you feel uncomfortable.



Remember the games are selling themselves on different levels. They're both FPS's, so they are really competitors, but that's where it stops. D3 is designed and marketed as an action game to entertain and scare you - it's driven by getting you scared and tense. HL2 (I believe) is designed and marketed more as an action/story/adventure. Sure it'll have tense exciting moments, hopefully for most of the game, but it's a different approach and a different style.



Comparing D3 and HL2 are like comparing 'Spooks'/'MI-5' to '24'. Same subject area, but very different programs with some common features.



It's all been said before, but it's worth saying again :) HL2 is certainly not dead yet.



Wait until both games are out and lets see what sort of mods are around 6 months later...

blah blah blah.

Bigun wrote..

just got a few things to say here, hopefully some of the more intelligent members of the board can back me up.



doom 3 is a good looking game, its gone all the way with the lighting which has left less power in the video cards for all the other stuff in the renderer. case in point being the low poly-ish models - bump and normal mapping cant totallytake away the feel of 'this model looks nice, but it looks a bit angular'.



the scope of hl2's graphics are much more grand. regardless of real-time on the fly lighting calculations (as opposed to hl2's mix of lightmaps and dynamic shadowing), hl2's open vistas and inner-city scenes and artwork blows me away a lot more than endless dark metal corridors, lifts and tunnels. in hl2 there is the variety of wide open spaces, coupled with the lovely inner-city and indoors scenes. shipyards, warehouses, apartment blocks, dried up oceans, abandoned ships and the omnipresent combine machine/tower impress me a whole lot more than the claustraphobic doom setting.



dont get me wrong, im sure the doom3 engine is excellent, and ill bet raven do some wicked stuff with it for quake4, but in terms of visuals as a whole, leaving aside the whole 'doom3 real time light0rings lolz!11' thing, hl2 gets my vote. its not just the engine, its what the artists and animators do with it that makes the visuals special.



case in point: Quake 3 vs CoD. Same engine, but I know which one impressed me more visually.

blah blah blah.

[Stagger Lee]

Pics look good to me. I still remember the original Half-Life and how much fun it was. Good storyline...good pacing. They simply make good product. Who cares if it's delayed as long as the finished product is good. They are only guilty of trying to predict the future such as when they think it will all be shipped. Too many variables that factor into that to nail it. Some game companies let the marketers and shippers determine that decision. Valve lets the Developers. Good job, Gabe.

Don't listen to the rheteric in the forums.

[Vi3tSkl11]

They're both FPS's, so they are really competitors, but that's where it stops.

Uh, no it isn't.

The story (if you're not looking at the details) is VERY similar. A strange experiment goes wrong, monsters teleport inside, etc., etc., etc.

It's at THAT point that the comparison stops.

Multiplayer is worthless. Three of us getting killed by the same person over in very similar looking maps got old very quick.

'

Wait for the mods. If you don't like the intensity of 4-player deathmatch, there'll be plenty of mods coming out to address that.

I, personally, love it. It's much more personal (and in some cases, intense) than the 32-player fragfest that is UT2k4 (or Battlefield Vietnam).

IGN gave if horrible reviews for gameplay (saying it hadn't changed) but because of the pretty graphics they gave it a merciful 8.9 overall score.

Which is why I don't read them for reviews.

The gameplay HAS changed alot. Instead of gunning down hordes of zombies and demons, you're taking down one or two at a time. (Or in the case of the trites and cherubs, several at a time.) The combat is much more intense. The game is FILLED with atmospheric (and just plain creepy) sound.

Sure, you can write it off because the basic gameplay IDEA hasn't changed much, but that's just being pessimistic. The experience is very different, and I'll have to say I like it (as do so many other people.)

'Course, I'm waiting for HL2 just like anyone else here. But there's no reason to be a total fanboy idjit and say that EVERYTHING ELSE is a load of crap. You're just putting yourself in a bad position that way. There's more than one good game out there. Why can't you experience them all?

[MikeJ]

Sounds like IGN is up to their usual tricks of not bothering to play the game before reviewing. if Doom3 had the same gameplay as the originals I would have bought it.



DaveJ is right, and people need to stop flipping out over that HL2 screenshot with the flashlight. I know the flashlight is very important in doom3, a crucial piece of the gameplay, but in HL2 it's just a fun little side toy for annoying Alyx.

[David Johnston]

MikeJ wrote..

DaveJ is right

I am? Hooray!

[int3rnil]

Edited by [user="52207"] @ [time="1091814490"]

I had a chance to actually play Doom 3. I am still going on my last comment above.. I found some good and bad things about Doom 3. Graphics were still too smooth to me, even with the highest setting on.



Multiplay did suck matter of fact.



Seems they rushed it a bit, and the physics were not all that great. Like if you shot a jar on a desk full of something, it would drop to the ground, and not explode like it would in real life. That's a unrealisitic draw back. And the fact when you hit a monster with your flashlight or fist the body just explodes. I would have liked to see the body lay there a suffer a bit..lol..



Your basically doing the samething over and over, there are barley any weapons or extra stuff to use for killing, you can't setup obsitcals etc etc. Almost every place you go looks exactly like the last place you went.



I have to say one thing though that surprised me: Is that it scared the hell out of me, but it got real boring after like a hour or two playing time. I think they could have done a better job on it, just seems rushed..



Thats all im going to say, buy the game to see for yourself. I did not buy the game, I went over a friends house and played for a while. He wasn't all surprised either.

[Vi3tSkl11]

Like if you shot a jar on a desk full of something, it would drop to the ground, and not explode like it would in real life.

Plz show me a game that actually implements this sort of thing. (WORST_COMPLAINT_EVER!)

And the fact when you hit a monster with your flashlight or fist the body just explodes.

There are mods for this type of thing around.

Your basically doing the samething over and over, there are barley any weapons or extra stuff to use for killing, you can't setup obsitcals etc etc. Almost every place you go looks exactly like the last place you went.

That's kind of the point of DooM. I don't see where the weapons comment comes from, though; there are plenty of killing tools for your disposal. And you must have some really bad memory if every place looks exactly the same to you...

[int3rnil]

:) Really I could careless about your sarcasm. And the fact that Doom 3 sucks. And no I don't have a bad memory, im pretty sure everything looked somewhat the same.



I think Doom 1 and 2 were better.



There were not that many weapons at all.. maybe like 12. But what I was trying to say is that there are not extra objects around you can kill your enemies with. Like in HL2.



HL2 infact has things that explode when you shoot them, not just drop to the ground and roll around. :P



Anyway, im done.

[Vi3tSkl11]

HL2 infact has things that explode when you shoot them, not just drop to the ground and roll around

I haven't seen this in any video so far. (Only exploding watermelons and wooden planks.)

There were not that many weapons at all.. maybe like 12.

And that's not enough for you? k, fine, whatever. Guess that's a personal thing.

And the fact that Doom 3 sucks

It's not a FACT. It's a PERSONAL OPINION. Get it straight.

Speaking your opinion like it's some kind of all-around FACT is pure bullshit. Everyone has different tastes. If you don't like it, k, that's fine, but don't go around telling people that it SUCKS for no other reason than you felt it SUCKS.

Seesh..

[Noleafclover199]

this is what i think, doom is the sickest game ive ever played. hl2 will be better graphics and pysics wise, but they are TOTALY different games and have been under production for almost the same amount of time. u cannot compare these wonderfull titles, just enjoy the game play.

[MonKsTeR]

listen to all the doom3 fanboys trying to justify the money they spent on it by insulting hl2

[GameHopper]

MonKsTeR wrote..

listen to all the doom3 fanboys trying to justify the money they spent on it by insulting hl2

why are you posting.

[Vi3tSkl11]

MonKsTeR wrote...

Listen to all the doom3 fanboys trying to justify the money they spent on it by insulting hl2

I wrote...

'Course, I'm waiting for HL2 just like anyone else here. But there's no reason to be a total fanboy idjit and say that EVERYTHING ELSE is a load of crap. You're just putting yourself in a bad position that way. There's more than one good game out there. Why can't you experience them all?

[GameHopper]

int3rnil wrote..

Seems they rushed it a bit, and the physics were not all that great. Like if you shot a jar on a desk full of something, it would drop to the ground, and not explode like it would in real life. That's a unrealisitic draw back.

and we wonder why HL2 is delayed... they must be implementing the breaking jar effect to add to the unique gameplay of jar breaking.

[itsMrHankey2u]

Urban Terror wrote..

Maybe HL2 would have been finished by now if Valve would stop making a big deal about everything that happened during the last few years of development, the most being the whole source code theft. You know, Doom 3's was leaked too, and it was very playable, but ID tried to keep it under wraps and didnt make such a big deal out of it in an attempt to buy more time like HL2 did.

not to beat a dead horse but valve had its source code leaked while d3 only had a compiled version leaked