Earlier this week DICE stated that Battlefield 3 played on Xbox 360 without the installed texture pack looks like "standard definition."
“The thing with the 360 is that you need to be able to give consumers a game where you don’t have to install it on a hard drive, because there are 360s without a hard drive,” said Battlefield series producer Patrick Bach
“So we need to give you the option of installing it, rather than just demanding it. You could call it a ‘standard-def’ version for the 360 if you don’t have a hard-drive.”
Today, thanks to reddit users "xxgrplayer", we have evidence of just how "standard" Battlefield 3 will look without the HD pack installed on the Xbox 360. Below we have three screenshots comparing the same scene taken with three different setups running Battlefield 3 -- the PC version, an Xbox 360 with the HD pack installed, and an Xbox 360 without the HD pack installed. Keep in mind, these are compressed as JPG and several factors weren't mentioned like frame rate and resolution. Still, I think these give a pretty decent depiction of how the game will look comparatively.
PC is obviously the winner in a graphics comparison, but we all knew that already. What we didn't know was just how well the Xbox 360 version of Battlefield 3 with the HD texture pack installed looks in comparison. PC clearly has the lighting edge over the Xbox 360 (no matter the HD texture), but nonetheless, for a machine pushing five years old, DICE has optimized it quite well.
The face alone isn't the best place to look for differences, but when you look at the knuckles and the gun you can see the big differences. First off, the knuckles on the PC version are much smoother. The gun is more clearly defined on PC, though that could be due to lighting as well.
As for the Xbox 360 HD pack vs Xbox 360 non-HD pack, well, you can definitely see the differences. Look at the guys fingers and it's a dead giveaway. It's actually pretty bad looking at it with the HD pack not installed. Right away you can see the railing missing and the difference in the shirt the terrorist looking over his shoulder is wearing in the non-HD version. The gun and hands are so blocky and lacking texture that it draws comparisons to Half-Life 2. Aside from his face, everything else looks pretty bad.
Although several factors could be contributing to the poor quality of the non-HD textured version of Battlefield 3, I assume this is a pretty accurate depiction of what it will look like. Comparatively, the PC version is better than the Xbox 360 HD-pack version, but not enough to make the game un-enjoyable. Actually, with the HD texture pack installed, the Xbox 360 stands up quite well to the the PC version. The non-HD version on the other hand, well, let's just hope everyone can install it.
from :
http://www.gamezone.com/news/battlefield-3-screenshot-compares-xbox-360-hd-and-non-hd-texture-packs-graphics-to-pc
Minggu, 23 Oktober 2011
Beat Hazard Ultra – PS3 Review
Old school shooters are not being made as frequently as they used to be, so it’s refreshing to play one. In Beat Hazard Ultra, you’re a space ship in the centre of the screen and it’s your job to shoot down all the different enemies. The twist to this game is that the music is intense, hard-pounding techno, and the beats of the tunes can be seen in the beams of your lasers and the enemies. There is also a multiplayer option so you can play co-op with a friend next to you or online. BHU is a fast, action-packed, beautifully made game. Cold Beam Games have done a great job here.
The controls are pretty simple as the left analogue stick is for movement whilst the right stick moves the nose of the ship and is also the shooting control (just tilt the stick forward to shoot). Your arsenal of weapon have been mapped to the shoulder buttons, L2 enables your reflect shield, L1 fires the mini-missiles and R1 is for your devastating Ultra beam. There is also the addition of a super explosion (R2) that gradually radiates out from you in a 360o circle. The movements feel very smooth and the ship slides around in space with a good weight to it, you feel that its solid but at the same time one hit will lose a life. So be careful with your movements.
The gameplay in BHU is fantastic, there will be hundreds of enemies coming at you and the screen gets very busy, but it’s the pyrotechnics the game offers that are truly mind-blurring. BHUlooks like it’s on an acid trip, the colours are vivid and bright, and almost everything on screen pulsates to the intese beat of the music. Truly, this is a fun game, sometimes you lose sight of your ship as there is so much mayhem on screen, but it’s so god damn cool.
The game feature waves of enemies coming at you in patterns, with a boss fight at the end of each section. When you finish, you are awarded points which you can spend in the perks management section. The perks are pretty cool and include more weapons to pimp out your ship with. The game’s single player options offers the Standard mode (as explained above), Survival mode, Boss Rush and Chill Out Modes. The Survival mode is exactly what it says; survive wave after wave of attacks. Boss Rush allows you to fight against all the bosses and try to win, although you’ll struggle, as it’s very very hard. In contrast, Chill Out mode is when you have unlimited lives and can sample all the weapons and just shoot the crap out of everything, which is great fun and highly satisfying.
The graphics in BHU are truly amazing, the detail of the ships is good but the attack patterns they take are always varied and the boss battles are very hard to finish. The weapons look stunnig as they shoot forth from your ship and the dazzling light, stars and various other flashing effects are done with a lot of care. Its pretty clear that Cold Beam games went to a lot of trouble mapping these effects and getting the timing just right with the music.
While the set music is just amazing - all techno and very upbeat - one of the best things about BHU is that you can use your own tunes and the game work just as well with them. The various weapons sound right when fired and the alarms and hazard sounds are also done well. This game also offers a great online mode where you can challenge gamers and also take part in co-op play. There are leaderboards as well. The game also offers a rank-up system based on how many points you get, so you can work your way up from trainee recruit to Elite. Be warned, though, you need a crap load of points and time to get to Elite.
Overall, Beat Hazard Ultra is a fun, intense, fast and very beautiful game. It offers a lot in terms of entertaining old school arcade shooting, with amodern musical twist. There is no story but BHU will still hook you. Trust me, you will hurt your wrists, but it will be worth it as the thrill of beating the bosses is motivation enough to keep playing. Add to this the co-op and online modes and you have a game with a pretty decent life span and one that you will keep playing. Old school shooters are back, baby.
from :
http://www.brashgames.co.uk/2011/10/22/beat-hazard-ultra-ps3-review/
The controls are pretty simple as the left analogue stick is for movement whilst the right stick moves the nose of the ship and is also the shooting control (just tilt the stick forward to shoot). Your arsenal of weapon have been mapped to the shoulder buttons, L2 enables your reflect shield, L1 fires the mini-missiles and R1 is for your devastating Ultra beam. There is also the addition of a super explosion (R2) that gradually radiates out from you in a 360o circle. The movements feel very smooth and the ship slides around in space with a good weight to it, you feel that its solid but at the same time one hit will lose a life. So be careful with your movements.
The gameplay in BHU is fantastic, there will be hundreds of enemies coming at you and the screen gets very busy, but it’s the pyrotechnics the game offers that are truly mind-blurring. BHUlooks like it’s on an acid trip, the colours are vivid and bright, and almost everything on screen pulsates to the intese beat of the music. Truly, this is a fun game, sometimes you lose sight of your ship as there is so much mayhem on screen, but it’s so god damn cool.
The game feature waves of enemies coming at you in patterns, with a boss fight at the end of each section. When you finish, you are awarded points which you can spend in the perks management section. The perks are pretty cool and include more weapons to pimp out your ship with. The game’s single player options offers the Standard mode (as explained above), Survival mode, Boss Rush and Chill Out Modes. The Survival mode is exactly what it says; survive wave after wave of attacks. Boss Rush allows you to fight against all the bosses and try to win, although you’ll struggle, as it’s very very hard. In contrast, Chill Out mode is when you have unlimited lives and can sample all the weapons and just shoot the crap out of everything, which is great fun and highly satisfying.
The graphics in BHU are truly amazing, the detail of the ships is good but the attack patterns they take are always varied and the boss battles are very hard to finish. The weapons look stunnig as they shoot forth from your ship and the dazzling light, stars and various other flashing effects are done with a lot of care. Its pretty clear that Cold Beam games went to a lot of trouble mapping these effects and getting the timing just right with the music.
While the set music is just amazing - all techno and very upbeat - one of the best things about BHU is that you can use your own tunes and the game work just as well with them. The various weapons sound right when fired and the alarms and hazard sounds are also done well. This game also offers a great online mode where you can challenge gamers and also take part in co-op play. There are leaderboards as well. The game also offers a rank-up system based on how many points you get, so you can work your way up from trainee recruit to Elite. Be warned, though, you need a crap load of points and time to get to Elite.
Overall, Beat Hazard Ultra is a fun, intense, fast and very beautiful game. It offers a lot in terms of entertaining old school arcade shooting, with amodern musical twist. There is no story but BHU will still hook you. Trust me, you will hurt your wrists, but it will be worth it as the thrill of beating the bosses is motivation enough to keep playing. Add to this the co-op and online modes and you have a game with a pretty decent life span and one that you will keep playing. Old school shooters are back, baby.
from :
http://www.brashgames.co.uk/2011/10/22/beat-hazard-ultra-ps3-review/
Sabtu, 08 Oktober 2011
Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland - PS3
by Vito Gesualdi, October 07, 2011
Growing up as a social outcast in the god-forsaken 90s, I found myself quickly drawn into the world of Japanese animation, helping to brand myself as a mega-nerd for the rest of time. And though I now believe that the art form I once championed has since devolved into the realm of stunningly offensive mediocrity, there's still something about those wide-eyed teenagers and their neon-colored hair that calls to me.
This is why I'm able to enjoy Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland un-ironically, even though I am a grown-ass man who should quite frankly be repulsed by the adventures of magical fourteen-year-old girls. It's not that I claim to be some paragon of manliness, but it's obvious this shiny coloring book of a game is not intended for the Call of Duty boys club of which I am a card-carrying member. The point is that though it's definitely not a top tier game, Atelier Totori is quite a bit of fun, and quite frankly, about as adorable as a kitten circus.
Atelier Totori follows the adventures of its titular protagonist Tortori, a 14-year-old girl studying the rare art of alchemy: combining various items into strange new magical creations. The story follows her attempt to prove herself as an adventurer, along the way making friends, overcoming her fears, and attempting to discover the truth behind the disappearance of her adventurer mother.
The game itself is really quite simple, with the only apparent goal being to raise your adventurer rank by performing various tasks, either hunting down dangerous monsters; collecting alchemy materials to transmute into various items; or searching out special landmarks. Each area is small, usually about two screens wide, making it about a five-minute ordeal to clear the area of monsters and hit up each marked gathering spot in search of materials. At first I was put-off by the lack of any large dungeon areas, but by paring the game down to these small hot-spots, Atelier's keeps its repetitive tasks from feeling like chores.
Given how simple it is to fulfill quests, the only real constraint is learning to budget your time. Each action, whether traveling around the map; gathering materials; or even fighting a battle, expends a certain amount of time. Many quests are time specific, and failing to complete them in time results in lower-ranked quests being offered. Not to mention that the adventurers guild requires a certain level of progress every few years; stripping the license from lazy adventurers; and gamers hoping to avoid a truly bad ending (the game offers fourteen or so endings total) will need to bust their butt becoming a master alchemist.
Obviously the most interesting aspect of the game is the alchemy system, and learning new recipes and seeking out high-powered materials is essential to making any progress. For starters, Totori is practically useless in combat (Try and find a video showing how she runs. It looks as if a stiff wind could snap her spine). So though it's fun to bop baddies on the head with her magic fairy wand, she's much more dangerous with an inventory full of powerful bomb concoctions, alongside healing potions and other useful tools. The item-crafting also offers some ridiculous levels of complexity, as each potential ingredient offers a stunning variety of rank-boosting traits. Use a certain type root and a usually-perishable item may gain a skill allowing it to last another month or so, use higher-ranked versions of common ingredients and your spiky bomb might gain something like the "cute" attribute, which improves how much it can be sold for.
Despite how well it's been put together, Atelier Totori's core gameplay isn't terribly complex, and though it can be addictive, if you stripped out the 3D graphics you could probably cram the whole thing into a pretty decent iPhone game. Thankfully, the game's polished storyline is what justifies the retail release. Atelier Totori is really just a visual novel tacked onto a competent item-collection simulator, with fun cutscenes and character skits triggering from such minor events as entering an area or returning to town.
Again, if you've no interest in watching a little girl make friends and comically blow up her workshop time and time again, then start running for the hills. But frankly I found the plot to be a lot of fun, the kind of lighthearted comedy I'd expect of a children's movie. The graphics are simple but polished, with most character interaction handled by beautifully drawn 2D portraits. Though the 3D exploration and town areas are often small and lacking in detail, they work just fine. More impressive are the wonderfully animated 3D character models, which all look as if they've jumped right off the page. But the feature that really sold me on the game was the fantastic voice cast, who really brought these fun characters to life, and I never even considered switching over to the included Japanese language track.
Again, Atelier Totori is definitely not a sprawling RPG adventure, but more an anime storybook with some simple and addictive gameplay to propel it along. My mind is not blown by any part of it, though there's few parts of the game lacking in polish, and the overall experience definitely appeals to myself and similar social rejects. In short, if you're a terrifying otaku with no sense of shame, definitely check Atelier Totori out! Or, you could consider the repulsive nature of your lolita fetish and strive to better yourself!
from :
http://www.gamezone.com/reviews/atelier-totori-the-adventurer-of-arland-review
Growing up as a social outcast in the god-forsaken 90s, I found myself quickly drawn into the world of Japanese animation, helping to brand myself as a mega-nerd for the rest of time. And though I now believe that the art form I once championed has since devolved into the realm of stunningly offensive mediocrity, there's still something about those wide-eyed teenagers and their neon-colored hair that calls to me.
This is why I'm able to enjoy Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland un-ironically, even though I am a grown-ass man who should quite frankly be repulsed by the adventures of magical fourteen-year-old girls. It's not that I claim to be some paragon of manliness, but it's obvious this shiny coloring book of a game is not intended for the Call of Duty boys club of which I am a card-carrying member. The point is that though it's definitely not a top tier game, Atelier Totori is quite a bit of fun, and quite frankly, about as adorable as a kitten circus.
Atelier Totori follows the adventures of its titular protagonist Tortori, a 14-year-old girl studying the rare art of alchemy: combining various items into strange new magical creations. The story follows her attempt to prove herself as an adventurer, along the way making friends, overcoming her fears, and attempting to discover the truth behind the disappearance of her adventurer mother.
The game itself is really quite simple, with the only apparent goal being to raise your adventurer rank by performing various tasks, either hunting down dangerous monsters; collecting alchemy materials to transmute into various items; or searching out special landmarks. Each area is small, usually about two screens wide, making it about a five-minute ordeal to clear the area of monsters and hit up each marked gathering spot in search of materials. At first I was put-off by the lack of any large dungeon areas, but by paring the game down to these small hot-spots, Atelier's keeps its repetitive tasks from feeling like chores.
Given how simple it is to fulfill quests, the only real constraint is learning to budget your time. Each action, whether traveling around the map; gathering materials; or even fighting a battle, expends a certain amount of time. Many quests are time specific, and failing to complete them in time results in lower-ranked quests being offered. Not to mention that the adventurers guild requires a certain level of progress every few years; stripping the license from lazy adventurers; and gamers hoping to avoid a truly bad ending (the game offers fourteen or so endings total) will need to bust their butt becoming a master alchemist.
Obviously the most interesting aspect of the game is the alchemy system, and learning new recipes and seeking out high-powered materials is essential to making any progress. For starters, Totori is practically useless in combat (Try and find a video showing how she runs. It looks as if a stiff wind could snap her spine). So though it's fun to bop baddies on the head with her magic fairy wand, she's much more dangerous with an inventory full of powerful bomb concoctions, alongside healing potions and other useful tools. The item-crafting also offers some ridiculous levels of complexity, as each potential ingredient offers a stunning variety of rank-boosting traits. Use a certain type root and a usually-perishable item may gain a skill allowing it to last another month or so, use higher-ranked versions of common ingredients and your spiky bomb might gain something like the "cute" attribute, which improves how much it can be sold for.
Despite how well it's been put together, Atelier Totori's core gameplay isn't terribly complex, and though it can be addictive, if you stripped out the 3D graphics you could probably cram the whole thing into a pretty decent iPhone game. Thankfully, the game's polished storyline is what justifies the retail release. Atelier Totori is really just a visual novel tacked onto a competent item-collection simulator, with fun cutscenes and character skits triggering from such minor events as entering an area or returning to town.
Again, if you've no interest in watching a little girl make friends and comically blow up her workshop time and time again, then start running for the hills. But frankly I found the plot to be a lot of fun, the kind of lighthearted comedy I'd expect of a children's movie. The graphics are simple but polished, with most character interaction handled by beautifully drawn 2D portraits. Though the 3D exploration and town areas are often small and lacking in detail, they work just fine. More impressive are the wonderfully animated 3D character models, which all look as if they've jumped right off the page. But the feature that really sold me on the game was the fantastic voice cast, who really brought these fun characters to life, and I never even considered switching over to the included Japanese language track.
Again, Atelier Totori is definitely not a sprawling RPG adventure, but more an anime storybook with some simple and addictive gameplay to propel it along. My mind is not blown by any part of it, though there's few parts of the game lacking in polish, and the overall experience definitely appeals to myself and similar social rejects. In short, if you're a terrifying otaku with no sense of shame, definitely check Atelier Totori out! Or, you could consider the repulsive nature of your lolita fetish and strive to better yourself!
from :
http://www.gamezone.com/reviews/atelier-totori-the-adventurer-of-arland-review
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