28th March 2013, 11:02 AM
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Along with the Quantic demo, this is a tech demo with a narrative compelling enough to deserve its own game. This whole set piece alone moved me more than Final Fantasy XIII. For one thing, the characters, at least in this glimpse, seem to actually be characters, well rounded people with emotions other than the highly stereotyped dolls littering the last Final Fantasy. Yes, I get it, Lightning is "a hardcore go it alone fighter". Could you perhaps have her do something OTHER than that to remind us she's human? Cloud dressed like a girl to get out of a sticky situation. Squall had a lot of inner monologs rounding out his personality. What's Lightning got?
So as to the engine itself, if this is next gen, sign me up. This looks amazing. I love all the little details I'm seeing here, like the liquid inside the soda bottle double refracting the light in a realistic way. Those eyes... Eyes are certainly taking a big turn in realism. Seen the Hobbit? Gollum's new eyes were pretty realistic, but blown up and stuck on that emaciated body made them look terrifying and creepy.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pRSZy12EOSs" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
The new FOX engine looks to be coming along well. Sweat dripping down those doctor's faces, it all comes together very nicely. Konami is claiming this will be on current gen hardware. Right, I expect that it won't look as good as this PC tech demo though.
The game itself seems to star Big Boss. They've filled in just about every bit of space they have to tell Big Boss's story from Naked Snake through to his forming of Outer Heaven. I suspect this actually takes place after Metal Gear 1, the first one, maybe before he goes on to form Zanzibar Land. The people saying he needs to live are probably those he was able to convince to join his cause in Outer Heaven.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1EvqiGm0wz8" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
This one is getting a lot of attention. Some of it for all the wrong reasons. Anyway, as with the Agni demo above, this one demonstrates an interesting game world that a lot of people want to see actually made. I see a lot of allegory to women's rights in this story, and it could be very well done in that regard.
The visuals are once again very nice. I mean some of the edges need a bit of work, but the facial expression is incredible.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dD9CPqSKjTU" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
Unreal 4... Well it does look amazing. Demonstrating "the 4 elements" is a good way to show off the tech. The mountain vista in particular was very stunning. However, the general "look" of an Unreal game is something they need to find a way to fix. Unreal Engine games start all looking like each other once everyone is using the engine, and this one still has that "look" to it, if more detailed. Bioshock Infinite managed to experiment in ways that make the game look very different than the standard Unreal engine game, but when you look closer, you start to notice the Unreality of it all. If they can create tools to easily change whole art styles and lighting parameters so any two games looking similar can only be attributed to laziness, then Epic can fix that issue. As it stands, whatever you may think of Epic's games, they are making an absolute killing on licensing their engine alone.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5IZB-wQ0T3k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
This is the latest Unity tech demo. This is the engine the new Torment game will be using, so I'm glad to see that it seems very capable. It can do cartoonish style too, which is great. The demo itself was also funny, which helps. It had a Pixar feel to it.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U8HVQXkeU8U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is a demo of the new Frostbite engine, and also Battlefield 4. The engine itself looks amazing. The running theme of most of these new engines seems to be "how fluids interact with objects, especially faces, and how faces show emotion". Battlefield 4 itself? Well, I can be a sucker for self sacrifice, but at the same time, these are nameless soldiers fighting for reasons that don't really make any sense. Aside from their interaction in the car, I really didn't care much about them. The only one that actually had a personality was the "chew off its own leg to survive" guy. The game itself, these days, is a by the numbers affair.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/h542YbZuwkQ" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
This isn't really a tech demo, just the opening FMV for the "rebooted" FFXIV MMO. I'd be shocked if this MMO was any different than the others, even after the "reboot", but wow, what a story this FMV tells. Yes Squeenix, you know how to do incredible FMVs.
Along with the Quantic demo, this is a tech demo with a narrative compelling enough to deserve its own game. This whole set piece alone moved me more than Final Fantasy XIII. For one thing, the characters, at least in this glimpse, seem to actually be characters, well rounded people with emotions other than the highly stereotyped dolls littering the last Final Fantasy. Yes, I get it, Lightning is "a hardcore go it alone fighter". Could you perhaps have her do something OTHER than that to remind us she's human? Cloud dressed like a girl to get out of a sticky situation. Squall had a lot of inner monologs rounding out his personality. What's Lightning got?
So as to the engine itself, if this is next gen, sign me up. This looks amazing. I love all the little details I'm seeing here, like the liquid inside the soda bottle double refracting the light in a realistic way. Those eyes... Eyes are certainly taking a big turn in realism. Seen the Hobbit? Gollum's new eyes were pretty realistic, but blown up and stuck on that emaciated body made them look terrifying and creepy.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pRSZy12EOSs" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
The new FOX engine looks to be coming along well. Sweat dripping down those doctor's faces, it all comes together very nicely. Konami is claiming this will be on current gen hardware. Right, I expect that it won't look as good as this PC tech demo though.
The game itself seems to star Big Boss. They've filled in just about every bit of space they have to tell Big Boss's story from Naked Snake through to his forming of Outer Heaven. I suspect this actually takes place after Metal Gear 1, the first one, maybe before he goes on to form Zanzibar Land. The people saying he needs to live are probably those he was able to convince to join his cause in Outer Heaven.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1EvqiGm0wz8" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
This one is getting a lot of attention. Some of it for all the wrong reasons. Anyway, as with the Agni demo above, this one demonstrates an interesting game world that a lot of people want to see actually made. I see a lot of allegory to women's rights in this story, and it could be very well done in that regard.
The visuals are once again very nice. I mean some of the edges need a bit of work, but the facial expression is incredible.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dD9CPqSKjTU" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
Unreal 4... Well it does look amazing. Demonstrating "the 4 elements" is a good way to show off the tech. The mountain vista in particular was very stunning. However, the general "look" of an Unreal game is something they need to find a way to fix. Unreal Engine games start all looking like each other once everyone is using the engine, and this one still has that "look" to it, if more detailed. Bioshock Infinite managed to experiment in ways that make the game look very different than the standard Unreal engine game, but when you look closer, you start to notice the Unreality of it all. If they can create tools to easily change whole art styles and lighting parameters so any two games looking similar can only be attributed to laziness, then Epic can fix that issue. As it stands, whatever you may think of Epic's games, they are making an absolute killing on licensing their engine alone.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5IZB-wQ0T3k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
This is the latest Unity tech demo. This is the engine the new Torment game will be using, so I'm glad to see that it seems very capable. It can do cartoonish style too, which is great. The demo itself was also funny, which helps. It had a Pixar feel to it.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U8HVQXkeU8U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is a demo of the new Frostbite engine, and also Battlefield 4. The engine itself looks amazing. The running theme of most of these new engines seems to be "how fluids interact with objects, especially faces, and how faces show emotion". Battlefield 4 itself? Well, I can be a sucker for self sacrifice, but at the same time, these are nameless soldiers fighting for reasons that don't really make any sense. Aside from their interaction in the car, I really didn't care much about them. The only one that actually had a personality was the "chew off its own leg to survive" guy. The game itself, these days, is a by the numbers affair.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/h542YbZuwkQ" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
This isn't really a tech demo, just the opening FMV for the "rebooted" FFXIV MMO. I'd be shocked if this MMO was any different than the others, even after the "reboot", but wow, what a story this FMV tells. Yes Squeenix, you know how to do incredible FMVs.