It's in the running for best cinematic framerate on console, that's for sure.
Crysis 2 and Castlevania: LOS were other obvious nods.
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Digital Foundry -- Halo 4 Tech Analysis
- Thread starter adamsapple
- Start date
It's in the running for best cinematic framerate on console, that's for sure.
Crysis 2 and Castlevania: LOS were other obvious nods.
MrCunningham
Member
And 2007 never happened.
Man, I forgot how good PGR4 looked.
Hawk269
Member
I would easily take a remix edition on the next gen console at launch. Give it to me with:
* 60fps
* 1080p
* no jaggies
* add in 2 more Single Player Campaign Missions
Now that I thought of it....it would make a hell of a pack in game with the new system. Usually systems don't come with a game, this would be an interesting pack in!
* 60fps
* 1080p
* no jaggies
* add in 2 more Single Player Campaign Missions
Now that I thought of it....it would make a hell of a pack in game with the new system. Usually systems don't come with a game, this would be an interesting pack in!
Hawk269
Member
Yeah, I have a killer/top of line/water cooled gameing rig that plays everything at 1080p, 60fps and all the bells and whistles...even with all that power, Halo 4 is up there. Yeah, you can tell it is not as clean as my PC games, but fuck me is the game gorgeous and amazes me they are doing what they are doing on such old hardware.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Let us give thanks to James Cameron and his glorious perf-cap tech and what it did for HALO cutscenes.
Clay Davis
Member
And 2007 never happened.
pgr4 was ahead of its time visually, bizarre were so incredibly talented. it's such a shame what happened afterwards. such a shame and a loss for both microsoft and fans of project gotham.
on a side note, the last gif is unintentional hilarious. the wipers are on but the roof is down.
I've played Reach sp many times and the only things in that game game that out did H4 graphically were the skyboxes. Other than that nothing else in Reach looked way better than 4 to me. Art direction wise tespecially , Reach's colors were too drab and muted compared to other Halo games. Reach was'nt bad looking by any stretch but H4 tops it.
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Clay Davis
Member
A great shame. Luckily, that talent hasn't been entirely lost.
I haven't played as much of horizons as I would like due to being so engrossed in halo 4, but it does look incredible. probably the best looking racer I've seen. the image quality is just insane. I don't know what they did, but it looks incredible.
it would be great if this can go on to fill the arcade racer void left by project gotham racings demise or if microsoft do the right thing and put playground to work on developing a new project gotham for their next console.
they have a golden opportunity here. they can have one arcade racer, one sim racer and one open world racer.
4x MSAA combined with FXAA.
Clay Davis
Member
can we expect this to become the norm in future racers on 360? or is it exclusively for horizons due to how it was developed?
NinjaBoiX
Member
Really? What does 343 mean? I've played all the games, but the story goes in one ear and out the other for me.
Ein Soph Aur
Member
A reference to the character 343 Guilty Spark.
Terrible, terrible studio name even if it refers to an aspect in the Halo lore. I blame Stinkles.
They should really have gone for something people can use fully in normal speech without having to abbreviate etc (and the current abbreviation is a three digit number. Three-Four-Three....). Something so straight forward like Team Halo would be 100x better. And they could easily do better than that. Bungie for example is a good catchy name.
They should really have gone for something people can use fully in normal speech without having to abbreviate etc (and the current abbreviation is a three digit number. Three-Four-Three....). Something so straight forward like Team Halo would be 100x better. And they could easily do better than that. Bungie for example is a good catchy name.
I'd be suprised if 4xMSAA gets used in major another title for the rest of the 360's life. FXAA alone is too tempting.
On second thought, maybe F1 2013. They've had 4xAA before.
No.
You said it does not use any "deferred tech", that is false.
UE3 does use some deferred systems and it is fully deferred in UE3 DX11.
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Either that or put Lucid Games on it. I don't think the franchise is dead yet, and I wouldn't be surprised to see PGR5 launch alongside the next Xbox. Playground probably couldn't make the launch, having just finished Horizon. That said, if Lucid is really working on a new IP, they probably couldn't make it either.
I finished playing Halo 3 yesterday, and although its IQ is certainly not perfect, I was surprised to find it a lot less jaggy than I expected after hearing everyone say what a mess it was in that department. I suppose we have different standards, perhaps because I still play a lot of last gen games.
I think it's catchy and unique. They definitely won't be confused with another studio.
If you are okay with 30 frames per second, sure. There is no secret to it. They halved the frame rate from forza and got double the cpu time to make this possible.
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And yet few other 30 fps racing games on the 360 (well, none that I'm aware of) use that combination.
No, it is CPU time. In programming, time is measured in the number of clock ticks of the CPU
I don't really care about the other games, I am saying that you have to accept 30fps if you want to implement both 4xmsaa and fxaa.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
There's a fuck ton of games that can't get 30 FPS down either, so if it's possible and becomes something of a norm, yeah I wouldn't mind if all 360 games here onwards use the same method, 4xMSAA + FXAA on top, it would smooth the shit out of every game.
And 2007 never happened.
I still get depressed every time someone posts PGR4 gifs
It was this generations RSC2. ALL WE WANT IS ANOTHER GAME!Alan Wake American nightmare uses that setup ie. 4xMSAA with FXAA, although the rendering resolution isn't 720p.
Or a simpler rendering approach.
I wonder if they could've added FXAA in GT5 at the expense of some other post processing effect.
Robot Pants
Member
What?!
I haven't played it, but I have a really hard time believing it looks better than gow3
Bolded - no point even replying really. The same "miles head" when it's not rubbish peppered throughout this thread - also open areas doesn't automatically mean better when you're talking technology and visuals. It's a trade off and you can't simply make that kind of comparison.
Halo 4 is very, very good technically, but it's simply not that far ahead (or even arguably ahead at all) of anything that isn't already on the market.
Your views of GoW3 have been refuted elsewhere and you show the same lack of knowledge regarding Uncharted engine too.
The point is that finally the 360 has a great custom engine at the level a number of flagship PS3 titles have had for years - I wouldn't normally even come in to post anything about PS3 but really, the level of idiocy in the early posts (which did bring in PS3 titles) was simply astonishing.
I guess its inevitable that when something like Halo 4 hits all the old "hey the 360 is better" nonsense will surface. Understand the consoles strengths/weaknesses and you realize that for games (and in particular game engines such as power Halo, Killzone, etc.) they are almost identical in capability if properly coded for (and the bolded is the key because when there is a gap in games it's not the consoles themselves its the quality of the code).
NemesisPrime
Banned
Wow... this thread is going down the drain fast.
I just find it ironic that the two best looking (exclusive) console games this year (Forza Horizon and Halo 4) seems to be on the console with ~no exclusives~!!!
I do hate the sound of the new warthog :S
I just find it ironic that the two best looking (exclusive) console games this year (Forza Horizon and Halo 4) seems to be on the console with ~no exclusives~!!!
I do hate the sound of the new warthog :S
Halo 4/forza. Their 30fps cinematic framerate, while not as good as a true 24fps experience™, is still way better than the infinite framerate of real life.
Windom Earle
Member
No SSAO, no motion blur and no DOF in gameplay. Too much for good old X360 I guess.
Sucks. Motion blur and some subtle DoF would have done wonders.
High quality SSAO is hard to do on consoles. It's almost better with no SSAO than bad SSAO.
Mohonky
Member
I find Halo 4's visuals interesting because it shows what can be done with the Xbox360 now very modest hardware. I don't think too many developers have really pushed the Xbox360 that hard in part due to the fact that it seems more straight forward to develop for; so it's not hard to make a good or even great looking game even if its not outstanding.
I think Sony pushes it's first parties a little in terms of visuals and outstanding tech initially to justify it's expense. When the system first launched they touted it as being by far the superior console and they really had to show that given it's cost. Multiplatforms were regularly underperforming but their in house studios were really showing what could be done with the hardware when a game was dedicated to the hardware. Microsoft just didn't seem to have any in house teams that were as heavily focussed on the hardware side. There were a few exceptions.
Rare games always looked amazing, Kameo, Banjo Kazooie, Viva Pinata are still amazing looking games imo. Kameo was leaps and bounds ahead of anything else out there for quite some time.
Lionshead have always had 'nice' looking games but they hardly push the envelope, hell Fable 3 was a real disappointment visually.
Bizarre however were godly. PGR4, yeh the cars weren't as detailed as the GT series; but the cities and tracks were just mind boggling; the textures, lighting and weather effects to this day are still the best in any racing game imo. MS really should have bought them. I know they have pieces of Bizarre that were brought into Turn 10 but Forza has always looked like Forza; oversaturated colours and lighting, it's not quite the same and while the team has stepped up the visuals I don't think they really dedicate as much to the visuals as they do to content. (mind you the lack of tracks is something they really need to look at next time round.....)
Gears of War has arguably always been the best if not very closest to the highest point in visuals for the console but it's still running a middleware engine. It maybe optimised more than the usual UE3 title but it's still a middleware engine.
Alan Wake from Remedy? Love it. It may not be 720p but the lighting in that game is awesome. It really is awesome to see and a high point for the system. Again not specifically an in house production and maybe not as 'tech intensive' as Sony's in house stuff but still a brilliant looking game that showcases some dedication to the hardware can yield awesome results.
The Halo series has been a mixed bag. Under Bungie is seems content was key with things like the constant recording of in game footage and an awesome lighting model but again I don't think they really went hard on the 360 hardware. It seems though with Bungie gone, I think this is probably the first time an MS in house studio had the whip cracked at them to make a game that really shows off the hardware and the result is a game that pretty well leaves anything else before it for dead.
Is it the best looking console game out there? Not entering that debate, others can waffle on about it all they want. But there is no denying that when a team really takes the time to focus on the consoles strengths; it's no slouch. I can't remember being wowed by a games visuals so much in recent times even playing games on PC. It makes you wander why MS never pushed the technical side of things before. Maybe they will in future, obviously Halo 4 would have had a budget over developers can only dream of but it certainly got results.
If only MS would start putting together more studios like 343 instead of lots of little ones focussed on 'casual' gaming. I understand their desire for those divisions but it seems Microsoft have dismantled or let their bigger teams go. If they had another 2 or 3 teams like 343, I would love to see what they could do.
I think Sony pushes it's first parties a little in terms of visuals and outstanding tech initially to justify it's expense. When the system first launched they touted it as being by far the superior console and they really had to show that given it's cost. Multiplatforms were regularly underperforming but their in house studios were really showing what could be done with the hardware when a game was dedicated to the hardware. Microsoft just didn't seem to have any in house teams that were as heavily focussed on the hardware side. There were a few exceptions.
Rare games always looked amazing, Kameo, Banjo Kazooie, Viva Pinata are still amazing looking games imo. Kameo was leaps and bounds ahead of anything else out there for quite some time.
Lionshead have always had 'nice' looking games but they hardly push the envelope, hell Fable 3 was a real disappointment visually.
Bizarre however were godly. PGR4, yeh the cars weren't as detailed as the GT series; but the cities and tracks were just mind boggling; the textures, lighting and weather effects to this day are still the best in any racing game imo. MS really should have bought them. I know they have pieces of Bizarre that were brought into Turn 10 but Forza has always looked like Forza; oversaturated colours and lighting, it's not quite the same and while the team has stepped up the visuals I don't think they really dedicate as much to the visuals as they do to content. (mind you the lack of tracks is something they really need to look at next time round.....)
Gears of War has arguably always been the best if not very closest to the highest point in visuals for the console but it's still running a middleware engine. It maybe optimised more than the usual UE3 title but it's still a middleware engine.
Alan Wake from Remedy? Love it. It may not be 720p but the lighting in that game is awesome. It really is awesome to see and a high point for the system. Again not specifically an in house production and maybe not as 'tech intensive' as Sony's in house stuff but still a brilliant looking game that showcases some dedication to the hardware can yield awesome results.
The Halo series has been a mixed bag. Under Bungie is seems content was key with things like the constant recording of in game footage and an awesome lighting model but again I don't think they really went hard on the 360 hardware. It seems though with Bungie gone, I think this is probably the first time an MS in house studio had the whip cracked at them to make a game that really shows off the hardware and the result is a game that pretty well leaves anything else before it for dead.
Is it the best looking console game out there? Not entering that debate, others can waffle on about it all they want. But there is no denying that when a team really takes the time to focus on the consoles strengths; it's no slouch. I can't remember being wowed by a games visuals so much in recent times even playing games on PC. It makes you wander why MS never pushed the technical side of things before. Maybe they will in future, obviously Halo 4 would have had a budget over developers can only dream of but it certainly got results.
If only MS would start putting together more studios like 343 instead of lots of little ones focussed on 'casual' gaming. I understand their desire for those divisions but it seems Microsoft have dismantled or let their bigger teams go. If they had another 2 or 3 teams like 343, I would love to see what they could do.
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I don't know what you care about, but you were answering a direct question about other games.
Probably true for SSAO and motion blur, considering everything else that's on display here, but it wouldn't surprise me if DOF was a design decision since it goes against everything that Halo is about.
I'm prety sure there is motion blur. and there is DOF in gameplay when you use the regeneration field armor ability.
Windom Earle
Member
According to to DF there is no motion blur. And I would love to see more DOF.
It sure is pretty, love the art direction and sense of scale. They know how to use their art to make it look good. If it were as clean as Horizon it would be a godly looking game.
edit: what's going on, reading the last few pages and it's Uncharted and Killzone screenshots ... oh my GAF.
edit: what's going on, reading the last few pages and it's Uncharted and Killzone screenshots ... oh my GAF.
I am master race... but I can subjectively compare the graphical fidelity of games when narrowing my scope to consoles and basing my opinions relative to that.
Gaf can be so obtuse at times...
I think everyone expected games to really push the hardware on the tail end of the life cycle?
The only thing that is mind-boggling is the amount of flak Halo 3 was and still is getting for its tech. Considering all the crazy features the games was pushing simultaneously (very robust physics engine, AI that's more advanced than any non-Halo game since, big levels with lots of enemies, recording all of it any time, theatre mode revealing there was no smoke and mirrors unlike other shooters) it was a shame people couldn't look past jaggies and ugly faces. Other shooters (HL2 Ep2, Bioshock, COD4) at the time were so simplistic in comparison.
Obviously Crysis was in a different league visually and in terms of level size, but it wasn't a console game.
CrankyKong
Member
I haven't seen a good old fashioned graphics headbutt thread in years.
Brings a tear to my eye
Brings a tear to my eye