This is a really interesting video. My first question would be why this issue wasn’t caught early by the devs. The Id Tech 4 engine at the time was considered absolutely cutting edge stuff, and (as the video identifies) even it had to be constrained to interior environments. Halo 2 was using an iteration off of Halo:CE’s engine, so unlike Doom the engine wasn’t specifically built to do those shadow tricks. Who thought that they could rework an existing engine to do shadows like this, get it to work better than Id Tech 4 at doing outdoor spaces, and then get it optimized enough that not high end computers but X-Boxes could run it? And do all of that on top of actually just making the game itself inside of a market driven timeline?
Laid out like that, it looks like a crazy idea. I wonder if the art style was developer or management pushed, and who allowed it to get far enough that models were made with it in mind.
Apparently the games that did use that technique, like idtech games and splinter cell, generally all had small environments that were within the limitations of the hardware, where as halo 2 had massive environments that stressed it too far with the lighting active.
This is the original game. Settlers of Kalguur is the newest league (think “season”) launching at the end of this week.
PoE 2 goes into early access sometime later this year, whenever that is. Regardless, they’ll be two distinct experiences, with many players planning to devote some time to both.
If you’re interested in starting PoE, my general advice is that the best time was yesterday. In this case, with a new league starting this week, I’d still encourage anyone to play around in the non-league standard just to get an early feel for things before Friday. PoE has a notoriously steep learning curve, so it’s never too early to log a few hours and experience the opening acts.
I predicted Dizzy. Venom would have been like my third or fourth guess. I never would have called Lucy, even if you told me to start guessing guest characters.
I really enjoy this game, I have been playing it for a while and it does scratch that SWAT4 itch. Some of my favorite missions are the Voll House, data center, school, and the streamer apartment. Missions like the vineyard, car dealership, and hotel are probably my least favorite. I dont like the layout of those maps, and I don’t enjoy the large army of suspects.
My biggest complaint used to be the crackhead “John Wick” AI, but they seem to have fixed that. So now it is the lack of non-lethal options. Or rather, the small number of situations where non-lethal methods are successful. It is entirely possible that this is realistic, and infact that is probably the case, but I like to play in a way that lethal weapons are the absolute last possible option necessary. I am playing a law enforcement game, not a military covert ops game afterall. On the other hand, when SWAT enters a situation, I suppose that all other non-lethal options are probably already exhausted by that point. SWAT is basically the “covert ops military branch” of regular police.
That and performance being very inconsistent. Sometimes even within one mission my framerate goes anywhere from 120 to 20 fps, and it doesn’t seem to be completely consistent. It has certainly gotten better over time, but it still needs work.
Supposedly the real-life SAS has had a very successful nonlethal career going many deployments without any shots fired. Their main way of operating is to flood a building with CS Gas and go in with masks - I don’t know if that makes for a good game though.
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Aktywne