Gaming Enviroments .....

[Neo_Kuja]

I find that with the choice of games that are available, each game must have *something* unique about it to succeed in today's market, but I've lately noticed that each "Next-Gen" game is promising different enviroments to play in :

Half Life 2 : I'd expect this to be a mostly an urban setting for the most of it, but it also includes some outdoor settings as well. The feeling of the enviroment is of "grittyness", because of (presumably) the combine presence on the world. The town of Ravenholmn (E3 2004 Video) seems to be a special example of this, with all the desolate ruins, zombies, and so on ......

Far Cry : Yes, I can hear you shouting "Heathen !" at me, but I don't care. Far Cry has VERY good atmosphere in the beginning of the game, with the beautifall jungle atmosphere and nice beaches. The game slowly degenerates (Is that the right word ?) over time into a creepy night-time atmosphere, where "things" (I ain't going to name what "they" are, because I'd spoil the game for those yet to complete it) roam the jungle, ready to strike when your back is turned, causing a sense of insecureness, however, the indoor scenes were not very good ....

Doom 3 : "An Abandoned Martian Base". Well, I can't say it's an original concept, or a particularly good one to use, but let it be what the developers want it to be, be it their rise or their downfall. I (personally) am tired of limiting corridors telling me where to go, but if that's you preferance, so be it ......

S.T.A.L.K.E.R : This one pretty much nails the "post-apocalypse" feel, with the shells of building, mutated humans and animals walking around, and heavy military presence. The overall fell is of "grimyness", much more than HL2 has at any rate. I guess we'll have to wait until 2005 to see anyway ......

What do you guys think ?

 

[brink's]

Stalker is due this year!!!!<----September
who knows if itll be done by then.
People can say all they want about the crappy skins or Npc models but no other game can match its urban atmosphere graphically. Also they apparently modeled 60% of Charnobyl Ukrain accurately.

 

[Neo_Kuja]

Stalker is due this year!!!!<----September

I budgeted in advance so I could get both HL2 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R when they were instantly released ,so I'm getting both .Doom 3 doesn't excite me at all, because of the limited, linear gameplay. Plus the fact you can only get *4* monsters on the screen at once, I don't see anything to get excited about !

I'd also like to add something about replayability, in different situations.

=SPOILERS=

HL2 : Half-Life 2 has been said to have *scripted sequences*, but as has been mentioned in a couple of magazines, every combat situation will be different. The enemys are smart enough to change tactics. Say you hid in a building one time, they'd 'nade you out. If you stayed outside, they'd try to flank you.

Far Cry : Much the same thing, only different. In the "treetops" level, you are in (you guessed it !) the treetops. The ground is littered with Trigens (Monkey-Beast Things) and the mercenarys are camped in the treetops, same as you (Except for some jeep-guys, who get wasted in short order). First time I played this, I let the mercs kill the trigen, but the mercs eventually got wasted by the trigen's attacks, but I avoided the tree-top trigens and went for the objective. Second time, The *Mercs* won, and again, I snuck around them into the objective. Third time, I distracted the mercs, and the trigens snuck up of them, and after that, the ground (and railings !) were littered with dead mercs, the trigens came after me, but I wasted them with the M4, because they HAD to come at me 1 at a time.

Doom 3 : Corridors, 'nuff said ......

S.T.A.L.K.E.R : By an online reviewer " I was playing the demo, and was told that I had to kill another Stalker ("Dog" I think), retrieve an artifact from his corpse, and return it. Simple enough task, you say. First time, I did as instructed, filled his head full of lead , returned the artifact, and was rewarded. Second time, I took a long route around, to try and sneak up on him. When I rounded the corner, his corpse lay on the ground, with a zombie dog eating. A few shots and the mutt fled, alowing me to take the artifact and return. Thirdly, I took the long way around, again the guy was dead, but his body empty. But there was a rival Stalker on the horizon, on a hill. Once he spotted me he fled, and I began a long chase ..... "

Sounds like the future of games is going to be very bright indeed (with the exception of Doom 3) ........

 

[brink's]

At least give doom3 a chance. Not that I'm half as exited about it as hl2 or stalker but I have faith in ID, considering that they really havn't released a bad game and most of them are classics.

I agree with everything else you mentioned.

 

[Eywanadi]

Many people are going to taste foot when doom 3 ships methinks

 

[disruptioN_]

I like the futuristic city environment in Halo 2. I just hope it doesn't get as boring as those weird alien complexes in the first Halo.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

At least give doom3 a chance. Not that I'm half as exited about it as hl2 or stalker but I have faith in ID, considering that they really havn't released a bad game and most of them are classics.

I agree with everything else you mentioned.

Well its a matter of opinion...Personally i didnt like the previous Doom games at all....and thats not comparing them to todays games either.

 

[Bio]

I think HL2, Doom3, Halo2 and Stalker looks great but in different ways.