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[benny_a]

A couple of people have repeated this, but in every gif or video I've seen, it's Arkham Knight that looks comparatively lifeless. I mean, aside from the graphical aspects, are there actually even randomly roaming or living NPC's in the world, cars, traffic etc? All the streets look devoid of ordinary life? Besides the enemies that is.

The lack of ordinary life is the setting they choose. You can have streets filled with many many goons, if there is a riot for example.
Very comparable to the numbers of pedestrians in Infamous.

I would say NPC count is comparable and car count in Infamous is higher.

 

[Parhelion69]

Indeed. I had to make a video of it when I went to down check it out.

Best water graphics in a released game so far, no question about it.

 

[Melchiah]

The lack of ordinary life is the setting they choose. You can have streets filled with many many goons, if there is a riot for example.
Very comparable to the numbers of pedestrians in Infamous.

I would say NPC count is comparable and car count in Infamous is higher.

I'd wager they chose the setting for a reason.

As for the the NPC count in Infamous, there was often a pretty good crowd in the streets. Here's few gameplay shots of mine, taken before the photo mode patch, which show the NPCs and cars.

I agree, that AK does look more vivid though due to the amount of environmental detail.

 

[benny_a]

I'd wager they chose the setting for a reason.

As for the the NPC count in Infamous, there was often a pretty good crowd in the streets. Here's few gameplay shots of mine, taken before the photo mode patch, which show the NPCs and cars.

No doubt did they choose that setting for a variety of reasons. I'm just saying that the NPC count is still comparable.

 

[IzzyF3]

I haven't noticed any texture popin yet. It's friggin magic with Unreal Engine.

 

[dispensergoinup]

That water gif made me thirsty for some AK, I should really finish Asylum first though..

 

[Crossing Eden]

No doubt did they choose that setting for a variety of reasons. I'm just saying that the NPC count is still comparable.

I'd say it's way more, crowds like this seem relatively common from my four hours of playtime.

 

[benny_a]

I'd say it's way more, crowds like this seem relatively common from my four hours of playtime.

But they scatter when you get closer in my experience. If that is for tech reasons or for game design reasons I don't know.

 

[Fafalada]

That's fine, it seems good on X1 as well, but the frame-rate is more consistent on PS4 in addition to the higher resolution.

Is the IQ still as awfully grainy/shimmery as it was in trailers to date?
I appreciated the attention to detail in this game but the IQ issues put it a pretty far step down from Infamous or even ACU in footage I've seen to date.

 

[Bad_Boy]

definitely more impressive than infamous. as it should be. that was a long time ago.

 

[BaraSailey]

Indeed. I had to make a video of it when I went to down check it out.

My god that water is gorgeous. This game is just so impressive visually; the city is very stylized and gorgeous. It reminds me of the Gotham in the Tim Burton movies in terms of style and color.

 

[Crossing Eden]

But they scatter when you get closer in my experience. If that is for tech reasons or for game design reasons I don't know.

True but if you're good enough you will have a pretty large pile of bodies piled up. It seems to be that they run out of fear because they know that batman has heard them talking shit. The one odd aspect tho, is driving goons, ok that makes sense, goons have cars, but, we leave them in a flaming mess especially if we ram into them at breakneck speed. Yet we're supposed to believe they're fine.

 

[RoadHazard]

definitely more impressive than infamous. as it should be. that was a long time ago.

Infamous has the better IQ (it's damn near perfect in that game), along with some other things (for example, I think Delsin's character model is more impressive than Batman's, although the later also looks very nice), but yeah, as a complete package AK wins.

 

[Ultranist]

you're never baiting.

 

[RoadHazard]

True but if you're good enough you will have a pretty large pile of bodies piled up. It seems to be that they run out of fear because they know that batman has heard them talking shit. The one odd aspect tho, is driving goons, ok that makes sense, goons have cars, but, we leave them in a flaming mess especially if we ram into them at breakneck speed. Yet we're supposed to believe they're fine.

Yeah, that bit is a little weird. The drones are unmanned, and if you shoot at an enemy with the Battank you just fire those riot suppressing bags (or whatever), but the goons in cars? They seem pretty fucked.

 

[Xaero Gravity]

*pic*

RIP

 

[Alienous]

It's one of the best performing games this generation and probably the best performing we've had in the past year, something must be wrong from your end.

Also sub 20FPS means less than 20FPS, so unless you mean sub 30FPS that's just untrue.

Have you completed the game?

I'm sure the framerate dips to below 20fps. And it isn't for no reason; when the game is pushing a huge amount of things (multiple vehicles, explosions, crashing physics, lights, rain) I've had the FPS plummet.

Only when driving the Batmobile, but when it dips it dips hard. I'm sure I can't be the only one, because the amount of things happening on the screen during those dips made them completely justifiable.

I had nary a performance hitch for the first half of the game, but as they push more and more things at you I've had the performance get really bad.

Edit:

Do me a favour and try an APC chase on Founder's Island, that's where the dips have been most severe.

 

[Lightning Count]

I wouldnt recommend it, afaik that meme is outright banned here on gaf.

Good, maybe a few other gaming communities should take note and do the same.

 

[RoboPlato]

Not untrue but I think they've done some insane things with the engine here. UE3 still leaks through but the overall presentation is one of the best I've ever seen as a whole. The animation, post-processing effects, particles, transitions between everything, etc.

I love the gorgeous particle lighting. When using the winch the smoke produced by the tires is fully lit up by the lights on the Batmobile. The way the rain and smoke are lit is just beautiful.

It doesn't have global shadowing but many areas DO use decent shadow maps that cast nicely across the character so it doesn't really feel out of place. I haven't been this wowed by a game's visuals for years. Looks very close to the Samaritan demo (excluding the shadow quality).

If it wasn't for the aliasing and UE3 material remdering this would be the best looking game on consoles. The particles, lighting, and post processing are incredible. I love the use of DoF and motion blur.

You know, between this and something like AC Unity with its baked GI, I'm starting to change my mind on dynamic time of day. I don't really need it in most games - I don't think it's worth it.

I'd rather see environments finely tuned for specific conditions. The Witcher 3, for instance, often looks very bland to my eyes with its solution to lighting.

Obviously there are genres where it makes a LOT of sense to have time of day but it's definitely not necessary in all cases. Time of day wouldn't make sense for Batman, for instance, but it's pretty important to The Witcher 3.

Always been my take on it as well. It's a cool feature for large scale, exploration focused games but Arkham's more tightly designed action game philosophy lends itself so well to being more hand crafted.

So, nobody else has had any slowdown playing the game?

That's the strangest thing. I've had sub-20fps dips driving around in the Batmobile on Founder's Island and in the other areas of the game during the latter half, especially when you are chasing a vehicle and multiple vehicles are around you.

It's some of the worst performance I've seen in a game this generation of PS4 and to have nobody else notice is making me wonder if it was something unique.

I've done all the APC chases and barely had a hiccup in them.

 

[Alienous]

I've done all the APC chases and barely had a hiccup in them.

Far enough.

That's strange.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

A quick search of Youtube shows someone upload a minute long video showing the sea here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGmsJomTYM

Nice.

 

[AstroNut325]

I'm honestly impressed by this game. The water does look life-like with the way the waves break and collide. Also the lighting of the water seems impeccable with soft shades of distant light reflections.

Anyone else imaging Wave Race with this water?

I don't think you should imagine that. Nintendo's hardware isn't capable of producing these kinds of visuals.

Edit:
Wait... is that water GIF PS4 or PC?

 

[FalsettoVibe]

questionable picture

Don't do this man.

Anyway......man, you guys are making me guys want to leave work early to play.

 

[Footos22]

A couple of people have repeated this, but in every gif or video I've seen, it's Arkham Knight that looks comparatively lifeless. I mean, aside from the graphical aspects, are there actually even randomly roaming or living NPC's in the world, cars, traffic etc? All the streets look devoid of ordinary life? Besides the enemies that is.

Yeah there is no civilians or anything they all got evacuated in the intro.

Everyone you see is an enemy, even the cars.

 

[Dictator93]

You know, between this and something like AC Unity with its baked GI, I'm starting to change my mind on dynamic time of day. I don't really need it in most games - I don't think it's worth it.

I'd rather see environments finely tuned for specific conditions. The Witcher 3, for instance, often looks very bland to my eyes with its solution to lighting.

Obviously there are genres where it makes a LOT of sense to have time of day but it's definitely not necessary in all cases. Time of day wouldn't make sense for Batman, for instance, but it's pretty important to The Witcher 3.

Why not have the best of both worlds by targeting more powerful hardware?

High quality GI in real time

Heck it is even higher quality than Unity's baked solution, looks similar to all those UE4 demoes and is even real time. Indirect specular (in real time) even! The reflection in this shot for mirror here is done via a SVOGI trace.

 

[Lightning Count]

Borderline trolling pic.

Just stop right there, this is asking for trouble.

 

[driver116]

ruh-roh

 

[Sorral]

Disengenous is not the right word, because resolution is not the determining factor for game visuals, as Ryse will tell you. Also, the game looks quite good in motion as well.

For some reason, I felt Ryse would be brought up as it is another 900p and sub 30fps game... Again, what's impressive about it if it had to take a dive in both resolution and fps to get its visuals? I can't just put that with 1080p/30+ games as 1:1 equal comparison.

Batman:AK does it right: No compromised resolution, steady FPS, and impressive visuals.

I should say that resolution isn't a big deal to me actually. It is just that I don't find games that clearly sacrificed it while also consistently dropping FPS for better visuals to be that impressive. They end up running badly to reach visuals that are good for screenshots pretty much.
Note that this is about the state of some games end up as on consoles.

Edit:
Wait... is that water GIF PS4 or PC?

PS4: DS4 Button prompts(unless they are in PC too, but), rain effects on batman, and a PSN link in the video's description.

 

[benny_a]

For some reason, I felt Ryse would be brought up as it is another 900p and sub 30fps game... Again, what's impressive about it if it had to take a dive in both resolution and fps to get its visuals? I can't just put that with 1080p/30+ games as 1:1 equal comparison.

I think the point was more that you can be visually impressive without being 1080p.

For which Ryse is a good argument, even if does have performance problems here and there.

 

[Sorral]

I think the point was more that you can be visually impressive without being 1080p.

For which Ryse is a good argument, even if does have performance problems here and there.

I thought it was more than just here and there? which I could be wrong on...been too long. Either way, yeah, I see that being a good argument that a game can look great without being 1080p. I don't disagree with that.

Can't say the same for AC:U when it ran really badly at the same time.

 

[dan2026]

PS4 is amazing.

Beautiful game and 99% of the time never drops a frame.

Its crazy good.

I have so much respect for Rocksteadys tech guys. Optimising an open world game must be a nightmare.

 

[BlackNinja]

I envy the PS4 crowd.. this game looks to be the top dog on PS4.. yea, I'm including The Order, DriveClub and ISS.

 

[mejin]

Will get my ps4 copy tomorrow. Can't wait.

 

[VanWinkle]

The game is astonishing looking. Here are some of my shots:

 

[Omnistalgic]

I agree with you. Just to tick a checkbox is wasted when you can have a stronger vision by just placing it at night or at day time.

I think the best examples for a dynamic ToD are The Witcher 3 and Dragon's Dogma. But there it doesn't just change the way the world looks, but it also has gameplay changes. (DDogma more drastic than TW3, IMO.)


I guess that is what I mean. There are certain lighting conditions that are not very visually impressive in TW3 but that's the dynamic and one-lighting-solution-has-to-fit-all things.
Infamous Second Son, despite not being dynamic ToD but rather narratively decided ToD also has certain times that look quite worse than others.

DD was amazing at night with the rouge based character. Different moves, enemies, etc....

What a great game!

 

[Omnistalgic]

I envy the PS4 crowd.. this game looks to be the top dog on PS4.. yea, I'm including The Order, DriveClub and ISS.

Those other games are still very impressive, you should judge each one in person.

Plus UC4 will take the cake, and then Horizon, then GT7, then GOW4 '-)

 

[BlackNinja]

Those other games are still very impressive, you should judge each one in person.

Well, I happen to have all of those games.. So yea.. I do judge them. AK takes it.

Plus UC4 will take the cake, and then Horizon, then GT7, then GOW4 '-)

Based on the footage I've seen at E3 of UC4 and Horizon? Nah.

GT7 and GOW4 we haven't even seen.. so that's assuming a little too much. Besides, I'm not saying AK will ALWAYS be the best graphical game on console. I'm saying it's on top right now IMO.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Unity does look great, but I can't help but notice it's blurryness on the console's, having now gotten used to playing mostly 1080p games. But to me it looked blurrier than even most 900p games look. Granted the only thing I've seen it being played on is a 50" plasma at fairly close viewing distances.

I don't agree that InFamous aged badly. Looks incredible even now, and is still one of the cleanest looking games out there.

InFamous has an incredible open world engine.

I can see people arguing that certain games have better art design, but I don't think there's a better open world gaming engine. Apply Batman art with the InFamous engine and it would look even better.

Seattle just isn't as exciting as Gotham. But the night time graphics in InFamous are better than AK taking art out of the equation. The engine looks cleaner and has a more polished CG look with all the powers and motion blur going on.

 

[AgentP]

Will get my ps4 copy tomorrow. Can't wait.

Same, got the version with the statue too 😀

 

[SnowFlakeCake]

Played a little bit of this game and yeah it looks lovely on PS4 but so far, nothing in terms of looks has beaten Infamous: SS for me (open world games that is). To think that game released so quickly after the PS4 launched, we have seen how GG have progressed since Shadowfall so cannot wait to see what Sucker Punch have managed to do next. Yoshida even said he played their latest game so chances are that by latest next E3, we will get a first look at the game.

Batman is the second prettiest open world game I've seen on PS4 though, not a mean feat at all for a game which would of course not take full advantage of the console by virtue of being a multiplatform title.

 

[danielcw]

Is the water based on realtime physics, or "just" well animated?

 

[matmanx1]

Glad the console versions did not suffer the same fate as the PC port. Rocksteady makes a very good game. I wish they could have handled the PC port but that was likely a decision that WB made.

 

[Rymuth]

I do not care for Ivy's new face but the visuals are impressive.

 

[Creaking]

True but if you're good enough you will have a pretty large pile of bodies piled up. It seems to be that they run out of fear because they know that batman has heard them talking shit. The one odd aspect tho, is driving goons, ok that makes sense, goons have cars, but, we leave them in a flaming mess especially if we ram into them at breakneck speed. Yet we're supposed to believe they're fine.

Yeah, that bit is a little weird. The drones are unmanned, and if you shoot at an enemy with the Battank you just fire those riot suppressing bags (or whatever), but the goons in cars? They seem pretty fucked.

The great thing is that if you watch the wreckage, the game always shows the thugs crawling out of the car (they can then be incapacitated normally). Rocksteady went to extreme lengths to make it so that Batman wouldn't be breaking his one rule.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Rocksteady are to be fully commended for their beautiful work on consoles this gen. Both consoles have great performance and are just generations apart from the previous games in terms of scale and visuals, even on a maxed out PC(i've seen pictures!)

The black spot on this technical tour de force is WB's handling of the PC port, but i don't blame Rocksteady for that. They were able to make the best game possible on the platforms they worked on.

 

[bobbytkc]

I just found out this is made using unreal engine 3. They basically mastered the use of this engine.

I wonder why they did not go with unreal 4. Too deep into development to make the switch perhaps?

 

[GreyOcelot]

I just found out this is made using unreal engine 3. They basically mastered the use of this engine.

I wonder why they did not go with unreal 4. Too deep into development to make the switch perhaps?

i believe they were contractually obligated to use it. just makes me think of what a proper open world-ish bioshock infinite would look like on rocksteady's modified UE3, zipping around columbia city on skylines

 

[BlackNinja]

I got Infamous and well, I'm just not seeing it. It's the least impressive of the top 4 players IMO.

Batman:AK
The Order
DriveClub
Infamous

 

[DonMigs85]

Tomb Raider DE honestly looks great too, and it runs close to 60FPS much of the time.

 

[Primethius]

Tomb Raider DE honestly looks great too, and it runs close to 60FPS much of the time.

That game hit 40-50 FPS far too often and in too many locations to be considered close to 60 FPS much of the time.