Image of Halo 3's campaign
2007-07-05 20:20:59 by snoopers
Bungie strikes hard with the second image ever released of Halo 3's story mode. It doesn't show much, but still, it's damn beautiful. E3 can't come soon enough...
1 solo image
Since 1001 Days
2007-07-07 19:03:17 In reply to Acert93 (2007-07-07 12:53:44)
2 3D pictures.
The Chief in the announcement video was using a bump-detail map derived from concrete, heh.
The Chief (and the MP Spartans) have since been given rather a lot of material love. The artists decided that the armor surfaces should actually look like a hardened metal surface instead of cast iron or "metallic sponge".
It's not blasto gratuitous bumpiness anymore. If that's what floats your boat, then too bad, our artists don't share your tastes. The materials are much more refined now (and the light play on them in motion is rather nice. :)
Yes, I liked the "rough textured" look in the E3 trailer, but it isn't a big deal if the pock marks were displaced by some sort of new detail, be it color variations, more specularity and reflections, fine grained scratches... something, anything. It looks like they removed the shader pass for the coarse texture normal maps and didn't replace the missing detail with anything at all. And without a number of new lighting passes and effects to give it a proper metalic finish it looks very bland. e.g. the metal hand covers look almost plastic, not hard metal.
I know they are trying to be true to the Halo mythos and design concepts, but therein is the problem: The design document for MJOLNIR armor is designed for the limitations of the Xbox, not the Xbox 360.
Shoehorning the gameplay and graphics for design concepts developed to best utilize a 7 year old console isn't the best approach IMO. Maybe pock marked armor doesn't mesh perfectly with the late 90's design concept of MC (which is when the game got under development). But it is 2007 and limitations and designs are different. And while I doubt few would hold them to the exact E3 design choices -- although, notably, Bungie thought it looks very good, at least back then -- there are other decisions they could have made. If they wanted a harder smoother metal they could have designed some shaders to give the armor a much more metalic look. Heck, metal is something console GPUs do well at this point. Right now it looks very flat with noticable normal map compression on edges (ugh) and, besides the HDR pass, the model is really lacking some natural lighting touches (where is your GI Bungie?). Some of this can be chalked up to the lighting environment, but based on the Beta that doesn't go very far as an arguement.
As for the new pic... clouds look nice (hopefully real) and the hazy overcast look is done well. If it is an explosion in his visor it seems to not be a spot light (note the bloom coming from the left/sun and yet not lighting interaction coming from the explosion direction, VERY much unlike the E3 trailer... boo!) Nice draw distance,yet the mountains look low detail (pretty sure that is a height map) and the pasture to his back left looks muddy, but not unlike the valley in the E3 trailer. Trees look decent at the distance they are away from MC. MC himself is a mixed bag, with some excellent detail in some areas and yet a rubber feeling in others (some abusive normals in some areas). MSAA levels look good although this may be a resized picture as many Bungie ones are. Some nice TLC in details, like the gun as well as some smoke on the back right.
A lot of this is going to come down to LOD -- how good do things look in the distance? How "full" or barren is the planet and how good is the terrestrial texturing and shading? The game is gonna rely on its lighting and shadowing, which Bungie themselves have hinted at, but they also were pumping up the Beta in this regards which was average in these regards.
Loved the E3 trailer, lets hope MS pulls a GOW E3 2006: Halo 3 HUGE demo and it rocks hard. Right now they have a lot to prove: Did they stick to the Xbox1 design scheme or are we getting a REAL next gen, 360 Halo?
We already knew that the Halo2 engine was being stretched for Halo3. But I think what the developers at Bungie are talking about is a new aesthetic for Halo 3. One that perhaps is less photo-realistic than we could have expected. The artists working over there at Bungie could have influenced the project in a different artistic direction.
We just won't know until we see the game in motion
Bungie did release a couple of more QTVRs of two Spartan Variants. No, it ain't the Master Chief, but they're still excellent-
C.Q.B. Spartan
http://www.bungie.net/projects/halo3/content.aspx?...
E.V.A. Spartan
http://www.bungie.net/projects/halo3/content.aspx?...
He can also
ban your ass!
Since 1129 Days
2007-07-07 20:19:53
Mr. Bad Cop Since 1100 Days
2007-07-07 20:44:55 In reply to GrimThorne (2007-07-07 19:03:17)
I just don't see much of a mesh of art direction that is returning a high IQ.
C.Q.B. Spartan
http://www.bungie.net/projects/halo3/content.aspx?...
E.V.A. Spartan
http://www.bungie.net/projects/halo3/content.aspx?...
And I could dig that... just go with the GI Joe action figure look. I would totally dig it! But the world NEEDS to reflect the same art direction and the IQ, the quality, really needs to be uppsed. The game just doesn't seem to be accenting itself well. It is like tossing a photo realistic gun on a TF2 cell shaded character with a CGIish world. It would seem... meh.
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The fans have spoken. Concerning the graphics of the Halo 3 Beta: "There's so many little effects and things going on that make this game pretty much 2nd only to Gears at the moment."
Since 887 Days
2007-07-07 23:22:03
For the love of god people cant we just be happy we are getting another Halo game. Who cares if it doesn't look as good as GOW or isn't the same as the teaser trailer. Juat play the game when it arrives and enjoy it as I am sure we all will. Its a game remember not a bloody oil painting in years to come people wont be talking about its looks or it bump maps or specular lighting effects. All that will be important is the gameplay and the replay value which the Halo series has in spades.
PuS3Y
Since 1077 Days
2007-07-07 23:31:23 In reply to omac (2007-07-07 23:22:03)
This is a 'Flagship' game and we demand the best.
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I'm Spartacus!
Since 818 Days
2007-07-08 01:22:40 In reply to GriftGFX (2007-07-07 20:19:53)
After all this, it's clear that Bungie do not have next-gen shader artists. Most of those guys need to go. First, they accidentally made the Chief look so awesome in the trailer, and then they thought it would look better to FAIL at stealing the look from the CG commercial? Plz revert that decision, Bungie. Please change back to the trailer.
Those two new vids look alright. Once again, lacking a metallic finish. I'll try to send Bungie one of my favorite metallic shader tutorials. Metal = high specularity. Why can't they comprehend this? The armor looks bad and the guns always did. Just look at the amazing guns in PDZ. Yeah the game wasn't A+, but the guns sure were. Look at the guns in Vegas. The models look great, but the shaders look like dog shit. The guns ended up looking like Xbox 1. It's all about specularity, and Vegas had virtually none.
But who knows, really. We will all find out come E3. Maybe they will surprise us...
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bantha poodoo
Since 1001 Days
2007-07-08 02:57:20 In reply to omac (2007-07-07 23:22:03)
Since 1098 Days
2007-07-08 14:27:44
bungie says, "
Then there was the complaint that it was different than the model shown at E3. Well it was, but only in that we replaced the “concrete” hammered finish texture with a flatter metal version that the artists here preferred, and was more akin to the previous iterations of the Spartan MJOLNIR metal. Otherwise the model is identical. It’s literally the same geometry."
so yes bumpy suit gone. flat suit in. if i were an artist i would have made the same choice. where do you go to buy bumpy metal anyway?
Since 482 Days
2007-07-08 16:49:02
It's interesting how far down the hype meter the Halo franchise has gone. I remember when Halo 2 was a couple months away and almost everyone was going crazy with hype. Now, for Halo 3, I see a LOT of ppl saying, meh...I'm more looking forward to *fil in the blank* for my FPS fix this fall.
I don't know if it was the lackluster campaign of Halo 2 or the lackluster Beta graphics, but I'm surprised Microsoft's flagship title is losing so much steam.
Hopefully Bungie has a few aces up their sleeves come E3. Can't wait to see what happens.
Since 1152 Days
2007-07-08 17:30:28 In reply to Nietzsche (2007-07-08 16:49:02)
The underwhelming campaign with its overly "directed" peak moments in 2 for sure I think. That and the feeling of deja vu about that game.
I mean, it's okay if the game feels fundamentally the same as long as it tops the first in other significant areas, but it's as if they painted themselves into a corner with 2 and just recycled settings from the last game. The Arbiter was the highlight for me, partly because I simply loved the character, but also because it was a fresh, new and exciting perspective.
A lot of people fear Halo 3 will feel too similar again, including me. There's also the added pressure of having the rather un-charismatic brutes be the main enemy this time and the fact that the entire game is supposedly set on earth means there's risk of sameyness in locations.
I'm sure Bungie are aware of this, but then surely they must've been aware that people would want a meaty campaign for 2 and yet it was over in like 6 hours. Fingers crossed though.
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Mr. Bad Cop Since 1100 Days
2007-07-08 17:49:27
Hopefully E3 fills in the blanks and gives Halo the proper respect to show why it should be counted among the *rightful* elite titles this fall. I note rightful because it no doubtably is going to be huge -- but there are a lot of games that deserve to be geeked up because they have earned it in a quality product that expands our gaming horizons. It is always sad -- VERY sad -- when these games are overlooked due to the "name" more well known, but inferior products, have. Every time I see a game like NFS outsell a PGR or Forza... ugh!!
I haven't judges SP because... we don't know anything about it. MP is a safe, balanced experience... but a let down for those looking for some evolution and improvements outside of tweaks, balancing, and "mods". Halo 2.1 MP in many ways.
Lets hope SP blows the doors totally open.
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The fans have spoken. Concerning the graphics of the Halo 3 Beta: "There's so many little effects and things going on that make this game pretty much 2nd only to Gears at the moment."
Since 885 Days
2007-07-08 18:23:25
There's certainly a lot of uncertainty regarding Halo3 SP. Multplayer plays great for sure, but single player campaign is one big unknown... But we'll find out soon enough. :)
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"That just happened 'cause that was awesome" - Randy Pitchford, Gearbox