• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Kotaku: "Injustice 2's Facial Animation Is So Good It's Uncanny"

NeoRaider

NeoRaider

Member
pwkl2nnll95oeyahpstl.gif


Injustice 2's story mode features a strong script voiced by top voice talent, but the real stunner is the way the in-game faces move when acting out the dialogue. Can you make out what Harley Quinn is saying in the animated GIF above? Hint: she's talking about Gorilla Grodd.

Here's a scene between Batman, Robin (Damien Wayne) and Wonder Woman from early on in story mode:

https://youtu.be/MXD6MS5egwA

See Robin's smirk? The hint of sadness and concern in Wonder Woman's eyes? It's not just animation, it's acting.

Just as bad animation can severely cripple a video game's ability to tell a compelling story, good animation draws the viewer into the narrative, adding emotion and nuance. Injustice 2 has very, very good animation.
Click to expand...


I guess they (NRS) finally did it.

More: http://kotaku.com/injustice-2s-facial-animation-is-so-good-its-uncanny-1795259070
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
The writing with regard to character interactions and quips in the main story cutscenes is exceptional. Honestly better than most DC movies and contemporary animation. The quality facial animation just makes it that much better.
 
D

DJSharpeCheddar

Banned
Yeah, I don't know. Wonder Woman is overdoing it a bit in that scene. The range of expressions is impressive but it's not exactly subtle work. Playing it too big.
 
U

UnluckyKate

Member
How can their faces and animation be so good in cutscene, but animations so bad in gameplay ?

How can their animations and faces can be so good when their art direction and costume design are so bad ?

Truly I don't understand this studio... But they make it work so good for them and for the fans
 
D

daveo42

Banned
The gifs in this thread are better than the video in the OP tbh. Wonder Woman's face looks good, but not that good either.
 
F

Femto.

Member
Next: get the animations (during gameplay/outside of cutscenes and intros) up to par with other fighting games.

Looking forward to playing this.
 
O

Octavianus

Banned
Uncanny as in creepy as fuck maybe.

The tech to have truly realistic visuals (including animations) just isn't there yet and all these close but not quite realistic games are really off-putting as a result.
 
S

Shanlei91

Sonic handles my blue balls
Every cutscene with Harley Quinn creeps me out because her facial expressions consistently look too real.
 
F

fritzo

Member
all the cutscenes have been uploaded to Youtube. Will that be taken down you think? Wondering if i should download it instead.
 
L

Lucifon

Junior Member
What's crazy is the faces actually looked pretty bad in some of the trailers leading up to release. They seriously put in the work!
 
O

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
Octavianus said:
Uncanny as in creepy as fuck maybe.

The tech to have truly realistic visuals (including animations) just isn't there yet and all these close but not quite realistic games are really ufputting as a result.
Click to expand...
Why try if you can't reach perfection?
 
Toni

Toni

Member
DJSharpeCheddar said:
Yeah, I don't know. Wonder Woman is overdoing it a bit in that scene. The range of expressions is impressive but it's not exactly subtle work. Playing it too big.
Click to expand...

Honestly, this is the best facial animation work I've seen in fighters. An area a great number of them typically dont excell at. If at all.

This is excellent dude
 
Ploid 3.0

Ploid 3.0

Member
Look really good to me, some people have too high of a bar I guess. This is a videogame not actually real actors.
 
V

vg260

Member
Octavianus said:
Uncanny as in creepy as fuck maybe.

The tech to have truly realistic visuals (including animations) just isn't there yet and all these close but not quite realistic games are really off-putting as a result.
Click to expand...

I think people need to check their expectations, especially for a fighting game story mode.
 
T

tuxfool

Banned
True Fire said:
They're really close to nailing human faces, but she needs to blink.

It reminds me of Horizon Zero Dawn. The faces have a crazy amount of detail, but they look like animated corpses.
Click to expand...

One of the funny things about mocap is that the actors often don't blink while giving performances. The animators then have to add extra blinks in order for people to not think it is fake.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Its not bad but it suffers from the issue of one part of the face moving and none of the rest of the face reacting or moving. People's mouths are incredibly emotive but their eyes are often staring straight ahead, their brow's are like plastic, etc. Its really good especially for what is a fighting game but I don't know, it stood out immediately watching even a few clips.
 
R

RootCause

Member
Huge step up. First Injustice was something scary.

I'm loving all the positive press for Injustice 2. I'm sure it's driving a certain group crazy, which makes it even sweeter.
 
K

K' Dash

Member
HStallion said:
Its not bad but it suffers from the issue of one part of the face moving and none of the rest of the face reacting or moving. People's mouths are incredibly emotive but their eyes are often staring straight ahead, their brow's are like plastic, etc. Its really good especially for what is a fighting game but I don't know, it stood out immediately watching even a few clips.
Click to expand...

I don't see this.
 
R

Riptwo

Member
Looks good, but dammit, why is Batman's face/cowl so messed up in big budget titles? It looked great in Arkham Origins and Telltale, but the core Rocksteady games and Injustice make him look like Clint Howard.
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
It's a step up but honestly I think the animation quality varies highly.

For example, Harley's facial animations are superb, but Green Lantern looks goofy as fuck.
 
R

Relaxed Muscle

Member
2n2 said:
I think people need to check their expectations, especially for a fighting game story mode.
Click to expand...

Considering the story cutscenes are leagues ahead of every other fighting game, yeah, people nee to check their expectations. Did people not seen the last Marvel vs Capcom cutscenes? If I was Marvel I would take back the marvel license from Capcom...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dragon's Dogma 2 only had 1/4 of the people credited for working on the game compared to the last few titles by Capcom
2
56
3K
KyoZz replied
Final Fantasy XVI is a Good Game
3 4 5 6 7
313
16K
stn replied
  • Locked
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 | Review Thread
Analysis Review
2
672
Draugoth replied
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 | Review Thread
Analysis Review
4
857
BlackTron replied
PlayStation 3 Games That Desperately Need a PS5 Remaster/Remake
Opinion Platform 2
68
2K
Hoppa replied
Top Bottom