Andrew was indeed right-- blurry background on GTA4; draw ..

On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:23:32 +0100, Andrew <spamtrap DeleteThis @127.0.0.1> wrote:

>Oh dear, my eyes are hurting, and not in a good "wow, this is the best
>game ever and I have been playing it all day" kind of way.
>
>I guess in order to keep the frame rate up on the 360 (I presume the
>PS3 is the same), they have made all the textures further than about
>50 yards really blurry and it is horrible to look at
>
>I have played it for about 3 hours today and I haven't been gripped by
>the storyline yet and it doesn't seem to have the sense of humour and
>fun of its predecessors.
>
>I expect in time I will get into it, but the graphics are genuinely
>bothering me and I can't believe they weren't mentioned in reviews.

Well, it appears that Andrew's comments were spot-on:-

From Anand's early-impressions of GTA4, published today:-

(see:-

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3297

for the complete text.)

-----------------------------
"The graphics of GTA4 fall short in two areas: draw distance and
animation. The draw distance issues are pretty annoying; while the
game looks great in close quarters, look off into the distance and
you're met with a sea of blurry. It's like the cameraman just
discovered depth of field and went nuts with it. I get that there are
technical limitations that mean we can't have infinite draw distance,
I just want to point out the blemish"
-----------------------------
Also Anand's thoughtful perceptions about the importance of good
animation in a game and the hardware contributions still necessary
to achieve that objective.

"Just as a good story in a movie can be ruined by bad acting, a good
story in a game can be ruined by poor, or un-lifelike animation. The
problem is that we're not quite at a stage in both the CPU and GPU
space, where we can apply lifelike animations to many highly detailed
characters, in complex worlds, in real time. GTA4 comes closer to
reality than any other previous GTA, but we still have a long way to
go. Facial expressions, body movements, environmental interactions,
etc... are all no where near lifelike, and it's simply tough to
believe in a well written story if it's acted out in a choppy fashion.
The story in GTA4 isn't bad by any means, but I'll reserve complete
praise for when we've got the processing power to tell it in a way
that can truly rival a movie (and this is why we'll continue to need
faster CPUs and faster GPUs, we're no where near done folks). "

( Hmm, with respect to the subject of animation realism and fluidity,
I wonder if Anand has seen Assassin's Creed on the PC. Maybe Ubisoft
and Rockstar should get together on the port of GTA4 to the PC... if
it ever happens ...)

-------------------------------
And finally from Anand:-

"And I can't help but ask, where's the PC version? I get that consoles
are far better sales platforms these days, but if we view the creators
of a game like GTA4 as artists, then they should want their art on the
best possible canvas. The draw distance and graphics issues could be
alleviated (although probably not solved completely) on a PC; sure it
would take a very high end PC to deliver the perfect experience, but
with new and more powerful GPUs coming out every 6 - 12 months, the
chances for making GTA4 look beautiful on a PC are pretty good."

" In short, Grand Theft Auto 4 is an addicting game, fans of the
series won't be disappointed but there's little chance that someone
who hated the previous games will fall in love with this one. It's not
what I would call perfect, but it's a decent evolutionary installment
of an already good franchise. "
==================================================


The fact that the PC version is unlikely to arrive before Christmas
2008 ( if it comes at all...) may be a great blessing in disguise.
For two reasons:-

(a) the usual bug-fixes and game-play balance tweaks found to be
necessary after the mass-audience have had their say.

(b). The accelerating evolution of PC hardware. I would think that
Rockstar might well take the opportunity to tweak the game and its
controls to show off what they can really do without the console
limitations. After all, there will be the precedence of games like
Assassin's Creed, Age of Conan and Crysis to show how animation (and
depth of field) can be done on modern PC hardware. Plus a revamped
GTA4 would be a showcase for what might be in store for GTA5. By the
time GTA5 arrives, the next-gen consoles will be emerging. For
example, regardless of Microsoft's repeated denials, the Xbox720 has
to be here before Christmas 2009. Mandatory integration of Blu-ray for
both movies and games cannot be deferred any longer or Microsoft's
declared ambition of the Xbox360 "family" being the
media/entertainment hub of the living room will fade into oblivion.

Footnote:-

For a comparison of GTA4 images on the two consoles, see:-

http://news.filefront.com/video-comparison-of-gta-iv-xbox-360-vs-playstation-3/

The PS3 looks a lot better than the Xbox360 in this clip. Note the
Xbox360 aliasing jaggies on the chrome surround of the car back window
for just one obvious example. And the Xbox360 background does look
more washed-out than the PS3.

John Lewis

> ( Hmm, with respect to the subject of animation realism and fluidity,
> I wonder if Anand has seen Assassin's Creed on the PC. Maybe Ubisoft
> and Rockstar should get together on the port of GTA4 to the PC... if
> it ever happens ...)

Yes Anandtech has seen and reviewed Assassins Creed. They have a long list
of complaints about it. If I want game reviews I don't go to Anandtech. Let
them stick to hardware, something they know something about. JLC