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This thread has been linked to the game 'Half-Life 2'.
Oh yes it was worth the wait, worth the upgrade and it was also worth the hype.
After the disappointing Doom 3 and the less than impressive Halo 2 I was wondering if any of the big 3 would actually live up to some sort of expectation, oh how right I was to back Half-Life 2...
It is sort of one of those moments where I am sat here wondering where the hell to start because the opening couple of hours just left me speech-less not knowing what the hell to think, NEVER before has a FPS or any PC game looked so unbelievably polished, ran so unbelievably well (Catalyst 4.12 impressions further down) and felt so much fun to play in a looooooooong time. I think Riddick is possibly the only FPS - coupled with Far Cry - that I have played since the original Half-life where I have really been compelled to play on and so impressed.
There are a couple of minor niggles I would like to brush aside which I am sure they will do. The transfer between RAM into the Virtual Memory does cause the odd pause or too here and there which is a shame because the rest of the game runs at a startling frame rate to say everything is maxed out at 1280 x 1024 LCD. These are usually after load sequences but they do appear now and again in and amongst the action. These issues were reduced with the introduction of the Catalyst 4.12 beta drivers which gave around a 6-8 frame boost for both the Video Stress Test (CS: Source) and in Half-Life 2. Anyone having issues with memory errors or crashing should grab either the final release of 4.11 or the beta release of 4.12, preferably the latter which I didn't have any problems with yesterday on either Half-Life 2 or CS: Source.
The slight 'load-lag' issues aside the game is damn near faultless.
Visually I was more impressed than when I originally booted Doom 3 for the first time. The character models are crazy detailed, the environments and level design have thus far blown anything of recent times out of the water. The physics engine is the best I have seen yet, the lighting for DX9 cards is very very impressive, the water effects are frighteningly realistic, the flame effects replicate similar feelings... Erm... yeah there isn't really a whole lot more I can say aside from the fact that it is the best looking game *cue cliché* ever!
Audio wise it rocks just as much. Haven't got my PC hooked up to my Surround Sound but regardless of this the voice acting, music, general effects and anything else you can think of are all of a top standard. I was particularly impressed with City 17 and the apartment block, I can honestly say I don't think I have ever played a game that has put so much attention to detail into the characters voices and how they react to their surroundings both during pre-scripted scenes and 'on-the-fly'.
The controls are tight, completely customisable and responsive. The menus are very easy to navigate. You can alter various specifications depending on the hardware you are running. Pretty much everything you would expect from a top end PC game is in there for you to play about with and f*ig to your heart’s content.
The level of interaction is unsurpassed; anything that is in the game can be either picked or destroyed. Two genius moments were throwing the can into the guards face only to watch him fap as he chased you with his baton, throwing the explosive barrels down the oil slicks and blowing them apart as those roof ‘thingy ma-bobs’ picked up the broken pieces allowing you to get through unscathed. This side of the game as I have already mentioned it pretty much leagues ahead of any other title out there.
So far I am more than impressed and yes it has lived up to my expectations and even gone beyond them. I didn’t really know exactly what to expect as it is such an ambitious attempt at taking the FPS genre forward in possibly the only few ways the genre can go. Everything pales in comparison to Half-Life 2 and Valve have managed to make a sequel that up to press has bettered and or equalled the level of the first only with more of everything and unbelievably good game engine.
One last thing to say…
Half-Life 2 |--------------------------------->Rest
Absolutely fantastic!
After the disappointing Doom 3 and the less than impressive Halo 2 I was wondering if any of the big 3 would actually live up to some sort of expectation, oh how right I was to back Half-Life 2...
It is sort of one of those moments where I am sat here wondering where the hell to start because the opening couple of hours just left me speech-less not knowing what the hell to think, NEVER before has a FPS or any PC game looked so unbelievably polished, ran so unbelievably well (Catalyst 4.12 impressions further down) and felt so much fun to play in a looooooooong time. I think Riddick is possibly the only FPS - coupled with Far Cry - that I have played since the original Half-life where I have really been compelled to play on and so impressed.
There are a couple of minor niggles I would like to brush aside which I am sure they will do. The transfer between RAM into the Virtual Memory does cause the odd pause or too here and there which is a shame because the rest of the game runs at a startling frame rate to say everything is maxed out at 1280 x 1024 LCD. These are usually after load sequences but they do appear now and again in and amongst the action. These issues were reduced with the introduction of the Catalyst 4.12 beta drivers which gave around a 6-8 frame boost for both the Video Stress Test (CS: Source) and in Half-Life 2. Anyone having issues with memory errors or crashing should grab either the final release of 4.11 or the beta release of 4.12, preferably the latter which I didn't have any problems with yesterday on either Half-Life 2 or CS: Source.
The slight 'load-lag' issues aside the game is damn near faultless.
Visually I was more impressed than when I originally booted Doom 3 for the first time. The character models are crazy detailed, the environments and level design have thus far blown anything of recent times out of the water. The physics engine is the best I have seen yet, the lighting for DX9 cards is very very impressive, the water effects are frighteningly realistic, the flame effects replicate similar feelings... Erm... yeah there isn't really a whole lot more I can say aside from the fact that it is the best looking game *cue cliché* ever!
Audio wise it rocks just as much. Haven't got my PC hooked up to my Surround Sound but regardless of this the voice acting, music, general effects and anything else you can think of are all of a top standard. I was particularly impressed with City 17 and the apartment block, I can honestly say I don't think I have ever played a game that has put so much attention to detail into the characters voices and how they react to their surroundings both during pre-scripted scenes and 'on-the-fly'.
The controls are tight, completely customisable and responsive. The menus are very easy to navigate. You can alter various specifications depending on the hardware you are running. Pretty much everything you would expect from a top end PC game is in there for you to play about with and f*ig to your heart’s content.
The level of interaction is unsurpassed; anything that is in the game can be either picked or destroyed. Two genius moments were throwing the can into the guards face only to watch him fap as he chased you with his baton, throwing the explosive barrels down the oil slicks and blowing them apart as those roof ‘thingy ma-bobs’ picked up the broken pieces allowing you to get through unscathed. This side of the game as I have already mentioned it pretty much leagues ahead of any other title out there.
So far I am more than impressed and yes it has lived up to my expectations and even gone beyond them. I didn’t really know exactly what to expect as it is such an ambitious attempt at taking the FPS genre forward in possibly the only few ways the genre can go. Everything pales in comparison to Half-Life 2 and Valve have managed to make a sequel that up to press has bettered and or equalled the level of the first only with more of everything and unbelievably good game engine.
One last thing to say…
Half-Life 2 |--------------------------------->Rest
Absolutely fantastic!
Page:
The thing is, it does run fantastic and I can't see providing you are willing to back a little why you still can't run it low-medium settings with the Catalyst 4.12 drivers.
All of a sudden I'm thinking my Mobility Radeon 9700 won't cut it.
A big resounding "yup".
It's an incredibly polished product.
I've noticed a few stutters as you mentioned, but on a athlon 64 3500, 1gb and 6800gt Golden sample I can run it at 1280 x 1200, high detail on all, 8x filtering 16x antistropic at the same speed as the hires e3 demo videos.
Makes Doom3 looks like the techdemo it really is.
I spent about twenty minutes last night playing on the see-saw, dropping stuff on one end and jumping from the stairs on the other.
It's a bit of a worry as I've a feeling that it's going to be a long, long time before any company tops this. Those magic words "Half Life 2 beater" may be a long way off, and I dread to think of the quality of the product to be awarded them.
Magic.
[edit] Steam still sucks.
It's an incredibly polished product.
I've noticed a few stutters as you mentioned, but on a athlon 64 3500, 1gb and 6800gt Golden sample I can run it at 1280 x 1200, high detail on all, 8x filtering 16x antistropic at the same speed as the hires e3 demo videos.
Makes Doom3 looks like the techdemo it really is.
I spent about twenty minutes last night playing on the see-saw, dropping stuff on one end and jumping from the stairs on the other.
It's a bit of a worry as I've a feeling that it's going to be a long, long time before any company tops this. Those magic words "Half Life 2 beater" may be a long way off, and I dread to think of the quality of the product to be awarded them.
Magic.
[edit] Steam still sucks.
Oh yes it was worth the wait, worth the upgrade and it was also worth the hype.
After the disappointing Doom 3 and the less than impressive Halo 2 I was wondering if any of the big 3 would actually live up to some sort of expectation, oh how right I was to back Half-Life 2...
It is sort of one of those moments where I am sat here wondering where the hell to start because the opening couple of hours just left me speech-less not knowing what the hell to think, NEVER before has a FPS or any PC game looked so unbelievably polished, ran so unbelievably well (Catalyst 4.12 impressions further down) and felt so much fun to play in a looooooooong time. I think Riddick is possibly the only FPS - coupled with Far Cry - that I have played since the original Half-life where I have really been compelled to play on and so impressed.
There are a couple of minor niggles I would like to brush aside which I am sure they will do. The transfer between RAM into the Virtual Memory does cause the odd pause or too here and there which is a shame because the rest of the game runs at a startling frame rate to say everything is maxed out at 1280 x 1024 LCD. These are usually after load sequences but they do appear now and again in and amongst the action. These issues were reduced with the introduction of the Catalyst 4.12 beta drivers which gave around a 6-8 frame boost for both the Video Stress Test (CS: Source) and in Half-Life 2. Anyone having issues with memory errors or crashing should grab either the final release of 4.11 or the beta release of 4.12, preferably the latter which I didn't have any problems with yesterday on either Half-Life 2 or CS: Source.
The slight 'load-lag' issues aside the game is damn near faultless.
Visually I was more impressed than when I originally booted Doom 3 for the first time. The character models are crazy detailed, the environments and level design have thus far blown anything of recent times out of the water. The physics engine is the best I have seen yet, the lighting for DX9 cards is very very impressive, the water effects are frighteningly realistic, the flame effects replicate similar feelings... Erm... yeah there isn't really a whole lot more I can say aside from the fact that it is the best looking game *cue cliché* ever!
Audio wise it rocks just as much. Haven't got my PC hooked up to my Surround Sound but regardless of this the voice acting, music, general effects and anything else you can think of are all of a top standard. I was particularly impressed with City 17 and the apartment block, I can honestly say I don't think I have ever played a game that has put so much attention to detail into the characters voices and how they react to their surroundings both during pre-scripted scenes and 'on-the-fly'.
The controls are tight, completely customisable and responsive. The menus are very easy to navigate. You can alter various specifications depending on the hardware you are running. Pretty much everything you would expect from a top end PC game is in there for you to play about with and f*ig to your heart’s content.
The level of interaction is unsurpassed; anything that is in the game can be either picked or destroyed. Two genius moments were throwing the can into the guards face only to watch him fap as he chased you with his baton, throwing the explosive barrels down the oil slicks and blowing them apart as those roof ‘thingy ma-bobs’ picked up the broken pieces allowing you to get through unscathed. This side of the game as I have already mentioned it pretty much leagues ahead of any other title out there.
So far I am more than impressed and yes it has lived up to my expectations and even gone beyond them. I didn’t really know exactly what to expect as it is such an ambitious attempt at taking the FPS genre forward in possibly the only few ways the genre can go. Everything pales in comparison to Half-Life 2 and Valve have managed to make a sequel that up to press has bettered and or equalled the level of the first only with more of everything and unbelievably good game engine.
One last thing to say…
Half-Life 2 |--------------------------------->Rest
Absolutely fantastic!
After the disappointing Doom 3 and the less than impressive Halo 2 I was wondering if any of the big 3 would actually live up to some sort of expectation, oh how right I was to back Half-Life 2...
It is sort of one of those moments where I am sat here wondering where the hell to start because the opening couple of hours just left me speech-less not knowing what the hell to think, NEVER before has a FPS or any PC game looked so unbelievably polished, ran so unbelievably well (Catalyst 4.12 impressions further down) and felt so much fun to play in a looooooooong time. I think Riddick is possibly the only FPS - coupled with Far Cry - that I have played since the original Half-life where I have really been compelled to play on and so impressed.
There are a couple of minor niggles I would like to brush aside which I am sure they will do. The transfer between RAM into the Virtual Memory does cause the odd pause or too here and there which is a shame because the rest of the game runs at a startling frame rate to say everything is maxed out at 1280 x 1024 LCD. These are usually after load sequences but they do appear now and again in and amongst the action. These issues were reduced with the introduction of the Catalyst 4.12 beta drivers which gave around a 6-8 frame boost for both the Video Stress Test (CS: Source) and in Half-Life 2. Anyone having issues with memory errors or crashing should grab either the final release of 4.11 or the beta release of 4.12, preferably the latter which I didn't have any problems with yesterday on either Half-Life 2 or CS: Source.
The slight 'load-lag' issues aside the game is damn near faultless.
Visually I was more impressed than when I originally booted Doom 3 for the first time. The character models are crazy detailed, the environments and level design have thus far blown anything of recent times out of the water. The physics engine is the best I have seen yet, the lighting for DX9 cards is very very impressive, the water effects are frighteningly realistic, the flame effects replicate similar feelings... Erm... yeah there isn't really a whole lot more I can say aside from the fact that it is the best looking game *cue cliché* ever!
Audio wise it rocks just as much. Haven't got my PC hooked up to my Surround Sound but regardless of this the voice acting, music, general effects and anything else you can think of are all of a top standard. I was particularly impressed with City 17 and the apartment block, I can honestly say I don't think I have ever played a game that has put so much attention to detail into the characters voices and how they react to their surroundings both during pre-scripted scenes and 'on-the-fly'.
The controls are tight, completely customisable and responsive. The menus are very easy to navigate. You can alter various specifications depending on the hardware you are running. Pretty much everything you would expect from a top end PC game is in there for you to play about with and f*ig to your heart’s content.
The level of interaction is unsurpassed; anything that is in the game can be either picked or destroyed. Two genius moments were throwing the can into the guards face only to watch him fap as he chased you with his baton, throwing the explosive barrels down the oil slicks and blowing them apart as those roof ‘thingy ma-bobs’ picked up the broken pieces allowing you to get through unscathed. This side of the game as I have already mentioned it pretty much leagues ahead of any other title out there.
So far I am more than impressed and yes it has lived up to my expectations and even gone beyond them. I didn’t really know exactly what to expect as it is such an ambitious attempt at taking the FPS genre forward in possibly the only few ways the genre can go. Everything pales in comparison to Half-Life 2 and Valve have managed to make a sequel that up to press has bettered and or equalled the level of the first only with more of everything and unbelievably good game engine.
One last thing to say…
Half-Life 2 |--------------------------------->Rest
Absolutely fantastic!
Page: