Prine said:
And I dont understand the woods complaints, they are so varied, you find hidden wrecks, caverns, nature trails and so on to explore. And they are so beautiful to walk through.
Ditto...and neither do I of the daytime graphics. The bits with you on the ferry has some of the most natural-looking lighting in any game, absolute LOVE the film-like mood and contrast. Other graphical effects I like include detailed reflections on the lake (seaplane landing on the lake was a beautiful sight), metal chain on the boat physically reacting when you push against it, detailed texture of the seabed, etc
Not so hot on the shadows though, as they get noticeably lower in resolution if they're not within 10 feet of you. There's also this weird shadow effect throughout the game that surrounds your character and other objects; it gets more prominent if you or other objects are close to a wall, thus looking like they're casting soft shadows against it... so I just shrugged it off as Remedy's own implementation of ambient occlusion. Still, it's a little strange to see this shadow effect detaching itself from your character/objects if you move the camera quickly.
But the REAL shadows, on the other hand....OH MY GAWD...I think a huge chunk of the game's immersion comes from the torchlight's ability to cast dynamic shadows from almost every object available. Save for some grass and low shrubs, but bigger ones do and the shadow effect looks awesome when things get intense and the all the leaves you're shining your torch at are rustling.
It's nice to see another company other than 4A Games pushing the 360 this hard with all the post-processing effects and lighting.
