Saw these today on UK's channel 4 teletext GameCentral pages. Its my day off from uni so thougt I would write them up. I think the guy works for Edge (David Jenkins) They are very honest and usually tell it like it is.
PGR3
The more we see and learn about xbox360 the more confused we get. We recently attended an open day where we got to spend time with five 90% completed games. Perfect Dark Zero was again monstrously dissapointing both in terms of technology and particularly design. And yet PG3 was absolutley stunning. It was if they were running on two different machines.
The location for our playtest was a penthouse suit looking out over the houses of parliment. Coincidently or not, one of the tracks from the game essentially ran straight past the window allowing for an unusually convenient reference. Even with the real thing staring us in the face the game did not look at all compromised - it may not be photorealism but its achingly close.
Considering all the whining in hardcore circles about the game not running at 60 fps we found the smooth control to be a particular highlight. None of the cars we drove was shockingly fast but all handled like a dream. You can even flick the right stick at any time to look left or right, without a hint of slowdown.
There is really only one way to test the graphics in a racing game properly: by trying to cause a really big crash. Swithcing to the interior view (which looks fantastic) and pranging our motor into the car ahead not only shattered its spoiler but also produced some alarmingly realistic looking damage to our windscreen. It looks great, even if none of the damage affects the handling.
It may just be the cars we happened to pick but we got the distinct impression the handling was actually more realistic than the last game. Certainly cornering seems a lot harder than before, with not a hint of Ridge Racer style powerslides. The kudos rewards for stylish driving are still in there but you're also now rewarded for things like a clean corner & sticking to the racing line.
In terms of options we had nowhere near enough time to explore everything but there was clearly a huge range of different cities and tracks. Customisation seems to be a particular fetish with every element of the race including how many cars you compete against, what make they are and how good the drivers are. We did notice some worryingly long load times between options screens though.
The quality of PGR3 has calmed most of our worries already. Maybe the next generation hasn't come too early afterall.
Perfect Dark Zero
As appalled as we were by the quality of this game at E3 in May we were very careful to point out that we expected it to improve dramatically. We can now confirm exactly this has happened: its gone from dreadful to slightly below average. If you were hoping for Halo killer for the x360 you better either give up now or hope the other levels are a lot better than what we saw.
We got to play what was described as a 90% complete version of the game on what appeared to be final hardware. The framerate was relativley stable, but superfit secret agent Joanna Dark moves like she's stuck in treacle, looking around and moving forward at what appears to be a snails pace. (We dont like to be rude but she's also spectacularly ugly)
The first level we got to play was set in a large set of tower blocks, which you could travel between on a zipline. We couldnt hear the storyline but it seemed to involve covering another agent by sniping at all the enemies trying to kill him, and latterly you. The backgrounds are impressivley complex and there are lots of nice textures and details, although nothing truly breathtaking.
It initially seems confusing where to go in the game, until you notice the giant neon arrows on the floor indicating your expected path. We noticed no obvious opportunities to deviate from the set route, which even goes as far to indicate where you should stop to snipe. Even if it can be turned off it shows a shocking lack of confidence in both level design and player competence.
The second level we played started in an underground carpark before moving onto a subway. Here we got to try out some of the games other features like the roll and the cover move where you can hide behind a wall and popout to shoot. Both moves involve you switching to a third person view, although this looks very odd if you manage to roll into something behind you and get stuck.
Since MS only had two x360's running the game there wasnt much point trying multiplayer although we did notice it includes the Goldeneye/PD trademark radar. We had a more extended go on the co-op mode though (which also works online) in which you can play through the whole of the single player mode. This also allows you to explore areas of the level not otherwise accessible.
Although some of the enviroments and weapons are interesting there is little that is original and almost no sign of the stealth elements from the original. Whats worse is features like the route indicators, languid movement and weird roll move just feel plain wrong. There is still time to tweak things before release but this is increasingly looking more like a dead duck than a system seller.
Ugh, that took a lot longer than I thought it would, wont be doing this again!
PGR3
The more we see and learn about xbox360 the more confused we get. We recently attended an open day where we got to spend time with five 90% completed games. Perfect Dark Zero was again monstrously dissapointing both in terms of technology and particularly design. And yet PG3 was absolutley stunning. It was if they were running on two different machines.
The location for our playtest was a penthouse suit looking out over the houses of parliment. Coincidently or not, one of the tracks from the game essentially ran straight past the window allowing for an unusually convenient reference. Even with the real thing staring us in the face the game did not look at all compromised - it may not be photorealism but its achingly close.
Considering all the whining in hardcore circles about the game not running at 60 fps we found the smooth control to be a particular highlight. None of the cars we drove was shockingly fast but all handled like a dream. You can even flick the right stick at any time to look left or right, without a hint of slowdown.
There is really only one way to test the graphics in a racing game properly: by trying to cause a really big crash. Swithcing to the interior view (which looks fantastic) and pranging our motor into the car ahead not only shattered its spoiler but also produced some alarmingly realistic looking damage to our windscreen. It looks great, even if none of the damage affects the handling.
It may just be the cars we happened to pick but we got the distinct impression the handling was actually more realistic than the last game. Certainly cornering seems a lot harder than before, with not a hint of Ridge Racer style powerslides. The kudos rewards for stylish driving are still in there but you're also now rewarded for things like a clean corner & sticking to the racing line.
In terms of options we had nowhere near enough time to explore everything but there was clearly a huge range of different cities and tracks. Customisation seems to be a particular fetish with every element of the race including how many cars you compete against, what make they are and how good the drivers are. We did notice some worryingly long load times between options screens though.
The quality of PGR3 has calmed most of our worries already. Maybe the next generation hasn't come too early afterall.
Perfect Dark Zero
As appalled as we were by the quality of this game at E3 in May we were very careful to point out that we expected it to improve dramatically. We can now confirm exactly this has happened: its gone from dreadful to slightly below average. If you were hoping for Halo killer for the x360 you better either give up now or hope the other levels are a lot better than what we saw.
We got to play what was described as a 90% complete version of the game on what appeared to be final hardware. The framerate was relativley stable, but superfit secret agent Joanna Dark moves like she's stuck in treacle, looking around and moving forward at what appears to be a snails pace. (We dont like to be rude but she's also spectacularly ugly)
The first level we got to play was set in a large set of tower blocks, which you could travel between on a zipline. We couldnt hear the storyline but it seemed to involve covering another agent by sniping at all the enemies trying to kill him, and latterly you. The backgrounds are impressivley complex and there are lots of nice textures and details, although nothing truly breathtaking.
It initially seems confusing where to go in the game, until you notice the giant neon arrows on the floor indicating your expected path. We noticed no obvious opportunities to deviate from the set route, which even goes as far to indicate where you should stop to snipe. Even if it can be turned off it shows a shocking lack of confidence in both level design and player competence.
The second level we played started in an underground carpark before moving onto a subway. Here we got to try out some of the games other features like the roll and the cover move where you can hide behind a wall and popout to shoot. Both moves involve you switching to a third person view, although this looks very odd if you manage to roll into something behind you and get stuck.
Since MS only had two x360's running the game there wasnt much point trying multiplayer although we did notice it includes the Goldeneye/PD trademark radar. We had a more extended go on the co-op mode though (which also works online) in which you can play through the whole of the single player mode. This also allows you to explore areas of the level not otherwise accessible.
Although some of the enviroments and weapons are interesting there is little that is original and almost no sign of the stealth elements from the original. Whats worse is features like the route indicators, languid movement and weird roll move just feel plain wrong. There is still time to tweak things before release but this is increasingly looking more like a dead duck than a system seller.
Ugh, that took a lot longer than I thought it would, wont be doing this again!
