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In the late 80’s early 90’s 2d platform games use to rule, you use to see them everywhere in all shapes and sizes, Mario and Sonic being the most notable and popular. So as technology progressed game programmers and developers decided to make 3d games, for first person shooters, racing games and flight simulators, this was great and really enhanced the experience.
But when it came to 3d platform games it just didn’t quite work, most of the initial 3d plat former games to my knowledge were terrible you couldn’t time the jumps properly like in 2d games and the camera angles were just terrible. The characters and surrounding were extremely ugly and it mostly lead to an overall horrible experience.
As time passed the graphics, characters and surroundings got better, but the game play didn’t really get much better, because not much effort was being put into the control system as 3d games require a lot more work then 2d games to make.
So I was put off by 3d platform games and I didn’t really like them and stuck to first person shooter, racing game, sport game and other type of games. But fortunately game developers have realised this problem (but it did take them a while), and started improving the control system and camera angles in 3d games. The first game I think that opened the doors for successful 3d games again was Mario 64, perfect control system, you could literally jump and land were you wanted and the annoying camera problems were fixed by giving the game player fluid control over them.
The other day I was reading the article in NGC Magazine about “The making of Mario 64” in which Miyamoto of Nintendo explains that him and his team had Mario wandering around a simple grid, with objects to pick for months just to get the movements right before any of the game levels were made. Also regarding the camera angles Miyamoto says "Quite a few months were spent just playing around with different camera views, animations, and ways of looking at the map”. So this just shows that making 3d platform games is a whole new ball game from 2d games and rely much more heavily on controls and camera angles.
Since the release of Mario a lot of developers have realised that control and camera angles are an important aspect of 3d platform games so a lot of good 3d platform games are coming out like recently hit “Jak & Daxter” which was as enjoyable as 2d platform games but took the game to a whole new level of entertainment. Other developers are coming out with even more fantastic ideas such as in Klonoa 2, Crash Bandicoot, which the makers have implemented cleaver game play where in some parts of the game it runs in 3d but feels and plays exactly like a 2d game, which keeps the good game play but at the same time cutting edge graphics.
I would like to say that bad camera angles and clumsy controls are a thing of the past, but there are still games out there that haven’t quite got the balance right take Sonic on the game cube its a good game and the controls are good but some of the camera angles are still not perfect and some times this leads to a frustrating gaming experience.
I can safely say all great 3d games no matter what type have perfect if not unchallengeable control systems, take for example Metal Gear Solid 2, Jak & Daxter, Halo, Tony Hawks, GTA3 all these games have great control systems and camera angles which in my opinion is one of the main factors which makes good games into great games.
But when it came to 3d platform games it just didn’t quite work, most of the initial 3d plat former games to my knowledge were terrible you couldn’t time the jumps properly like in 2d games and the camera angles were just terrible. The characters and surrounding were extremely ugly and it mostly lead to an overall horrible experience.
As time passed the graphics, characters and surroundings got better, but the game play didn’t really get much better, because not much effort was being put into the control system as 3d games require a lot more work then 2d games to make.
So I was put off by 3d platform games and I didn’t really like them and stuck to first person shooter, racing game, sport game and other type of games. But fortunately game developers have realised this problem (but it did take them a while), and started improving the control system and camera angles in 3d games. The first game I think that opened the doors for successful 3d games again was Mario 64, perfect control system, you could literally jump and land were you wanted and the annoying camera problems were fixed by giving the game player fluid control over them.
The other day I was reading the article in NGC Magazine about “The making of Mario 64” in which Miyamoto of Nintendo explains that him and his team had Mario wandering around a simple grid, with objects to pick for months just to get the movements right before any of the game levels were made. Also regarding the camera angles Miyamoto says "Quite a few months were spent just playing around with different camera views, animations, and ways of looking at the map”. So this just shows that making 3d platform games is a whole new ball game from 2d games and rely much more heavily on controls and camera angles.
Since the release of Mario a lot of developers have realised that control and camera angles are an important aspect of 3d platform games so a lot of good 3d platform games are coming out like recently hit “Jak & Daxter” which was as enjoyable as 2d platform games but took the game to a whole new level of entertainment. Other developers are coming out with even more fantastic ideas such as in Klonoa 2, Crash Bandicoot, which the makers have implemented cleaver game play where in some parts of the game it runs in 3d but feels and plays exactly like a 2d game, which keeps the good game play but at the same time cutting edge graphics.
I would like to say that bad camera angles and clumsy controls are a thing of the past, but there are still games out there that haven’t quite got the balance right take Sonic on the game cube its a good game and the controls are good but some of the camera angles are still not perfect and some times this leads to a frustrating gaming experience.
I can safely say all great 3d games no matter what type have perfect if not unchallengeable control systems, take for example Metal Gear Solid 2, Jak & Daxter, Halo, Tony Hawks, GTA3 all these games have great control systems and camera angles which in my opinion is one of the main factors which makes good games into great games.
First of all, is here really a 3D platform game. There are games like Tomb Raider and Mario but do they count as platform games. I suppose they could but they are more adventure games than anything.
I think that the only reason for really poor camera angles and reallly bad controls e.g. Tomb Raider were because they wanted to get the game out and they knew people would buy it because of the success the others have had.
I think that the only reason for really poor camera angles and reallly bad controls e.g. Tomb Raider were because they wanted to get the game out and they knew people would buy it because of the success the others have had.
feedback please?
In the late 80’s early 90’s 2d platform games use to rule, you use to see them everywhere in all shapes and sizes, Mario and Sonic being the most notable and popular. So as technology progressed game programmers and developers decided to make 3d games, for first person shooters, racing games and flight simulators, this was great and really enhanced the experience.
But when it came to 3d platform games it just didn’t quite work, most of the initial 3d plat former games to my knowledge were terrible you couldn’t time the jumps properly like in 2d games and the camera angles were just terrible. The characters and surrounding were extremely ugly and it mostly lead to an overall horrible experience.
As time passed the graphics, characters and surroundings got better, but the game play didn’t really get much better, because not much effort was being put into the control system as 3d games require a lot more work then 2d games to make.
So I was put off by 3d platform games and I didn’t really like them and stuck to first person shooter, racing game, sport game and other type of games. But fortunately game developers have realised this problem (but it did take them a while), and started improving the control system and camera angles in 3d games. The first game I think that opened the doors for successful 3d games again was Mario 64, perfect control system, you could literally jump and land were you wanted and the annoying camera problems were fixed by giving the game player fluid control over them.
The other day I was reading the article in NGC Magazine about “The making of Mario 64” in which Miyamoto of Nintendo explains that him and his team had Mario wandering around a simple grid, with objects to pick for months just to get the movements right before any of the game levels were made. Also regarding the camera angles Miyamoto says "Quite a few months were spent just playing around with different camera views, animations, and ways of looking at the map”. So this just shows that making 3d platform games is a whole new ball game from 2d games and rely much more heavily on controls and camera angles.
Since the release of Mario a lot of developers have realised that control and camera angles are an important aspect of 3d platform games so a lot of good 3d platform games are coming out like recently hit “Jak & Daxter” which was as enjoyable as 2d platform games but took the game to a whole new level of entertainment. Other developers are coming out with even more fantastic ideas such as in Klonoa 2, Crash Bandicoot, which the makers have implemented cleaver game play where in some parts of the game it runs in 3d but feels and plays exactly like a 2d game, which keeps the good game play but at the same time cutting edge graphics.
I would like to say that bad camera angles and clumsy controls are a thing of the past, but there are still games out there that haven’t quite got the balance right take Sonic on the game cube its a good game and the controls are good but some of the camera angles are still not perfect and some times this leads to a frustrating gaming experience.
I can safely say all great 3d games no matter what type have perfect if not unchallengeable control systems, take for example Metal Gear Solid 2, Jak & Daxter, Halo, Tony Hawks, GTA3 all these games have great control systems and camera angles which in my opinion is one of the main factors which makes good games into great games.
But when it came to 3d platform games it just didn’t quite work, most of the initial 3d plat former games to my knowledge were terrible you couldn’t time the jumps properly like in 2d games and the camera angles were just terrible. The characters and surrounding were extremely ugly and it mostly lead to an overall horrible experience.
As time passed the graphics, characters and surroundings got better, but the game play didn’t really get much better, because not much effort was being put into the control system as 3d games require a lot more work then 2d games to make.
So I was put off by 3d platform games and I didn’t really like them and stuck to first person shooter, racing game, sport game and other type of games. But fortunately game developers have realised this problem (but it did take them a while), and started improving the control system and camera angles in 3d games. The first game I think that opened the doors for successful 3d games again was Mario 64, perfect control system, you could literally jump and land were you wanted and the annoying camera problems were fixed by giving the game player fluid control over them.
The other day I was reading the article in NGC Magazine about “The making of Mario 64” in which Miyamoto of Nintendo explains that him and his team had Mario wandering around a simple grid, with objects to pick for months just to get the movements right before any of the game levels were made. Also regarding the camera angles Miyamoto says "Quite a few months were spent just playing around with different camera views, animations, and ways of looking at the map”. So this just shows that making 3d platform games is a whole new ball game from 2d games and rely much more heavily on controls and camera angles.
Since the release of Mario a lot of developers have realised that control and camera angles are an important aspect of 3d platform games so a lot of good 3d platform games are coming out like recently hit “Jak & Daxter” which was as enjoyable as 2d platform games but took the game to a whole new level of entertainment. Other developers are coming out with even more fantastic ideas such as in Klonoa 2, Crash Bandicoot, which the makers have implemented cleaver game play where in some parts of the game it runs in 3d but feels and plays exactly like a 2d game, which keeps the good game play but at the same time cutting edge graphics.
I would like to say that bad camera angles and clumsy controls are a thing of the past, but there are still games out there that haven’t quite got the balance right take Sonic on the game cube its a good game and the controls are good but some of the camera angles are still not perfect and some times this leads to a frustrating gaming experience.
I can safely say all great 3d games no matter what type have perfect if not unchallengeable control systems, take for example Metal Gear Solid 2, Jak & Daxter, Halo, Tony Hawks, GTA3 all these games have great control systems and camera angles which in my opinion is one of the main factors which makes good games into great games.