TheDorkProject on 23/11/2003 at 00:58

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Just got done playing the demo for the first time, I haven't explored it fully yet at all. I would probably still be playing it, but the key config resetting constantly annoyed me enough that I decided to come here either to get an idea of how to fix it (sounds like the read only ini files is the key, crossing my fingers) or at least to whine about it.

That's my main gripe, other than that... I do have to express a little dissatisfaction with the general feel I get off it, I mean I definitely feel like "oh yea, this was definitely co-developed for a console" - wish I was saying "man I can't tell at all that this wasn't just made for PC only"

It kind of reminds me of some feel I get off of Halo's PC port. The interface, the menus, the text... it's all too big and bulky, I wish they would correct this, that's probably the biggest factor. Get some high resolution text and other interface elements in there, guys. That's a huge deal.

So far it seems a little claustrophobic too, I miss the big expansive areas from the first game.

Here's my rig:

P4 3.0ghz
1 gig of DDR RAM
Radeon 9700 Pro
21 Inch flat screen Trinitron monitor

Most games I run at 1600x1200, I bumped this down to 1280xwhatever because it was chugging too much at 1600. That isn't a real big deal to me, or a big surprise. That's okay, I guess.

I do think I should probably be able to handle 1600, but again... not the end of the world.

But apart from that specific issue I do think the game chugs a bit, maybe a bit more than it should is what I mean. Again, I am reminded of Halo's PC port.

Let's take Max Payne 2 as an example, that game just came out very recently... it's an INCREDIBLE game in terms of graphics, I'm able to run it at 1600x1200 with all settings maxxed, no problem whatsoever. The frame rate is gorgeously smooth, and everything is perfect. Everything is sharp, including the menu elements and the text. Also, all the sound and music is very clear and crisp.

DX2 on the other hand, leaves me with an impression of muffled sound, voice and music... and muddled graphics and menus. That is unfortunate. Most unfortunate!

Yet, Max Payne 2 is coming out on the consoles here shortly... it would appear it was kind of co-developed on them to some degree. But they kept the integrity of the PC version extremely high, so that's a good example to follow.

A patch to improve the menu and interface graphics would go a long way to making me much happier with the game. Even if all it did was address the big, aliased, bulky text issue. I like PC games where the text is tiny and thin.

Renzatic on 23/11/2003 at 01:18

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lol, no one else likes the bloom but me...

What it's supposed to do is add haze or overbrights to certain lightsources, It's most noticable in the bar where it looks like all the lights are being filtered through a really thick cloud of smoke.

Muzman on 23/11/2003 at 01:35

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Oh I saw that part of it; gives things a hazy effect. That's what I expected it to do (although it doesn't really have any sort of additive glow to the lights, which is what a haze would do normally. An effect like that would be good since I'm having trouble getting a decent contrast without either dulling the whites or losing ambient detail)
What I didn't expect it to do was really noticably speed the game up and corrupt the image (on my machine).
The blur on the PS2 I believe actually reduces the resolution and frame rate, but smooths things over a bit. Thought the bloom might be doing something similar.


The sounds appear to have been busted down to 8bit, probably to save on file size and speed up downloads a little

ZylonBane on 23/11/2003 at 02:04

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That's how it sounded to me too. The funny/sad thing is that they then turned around and tacked 40MB of Bink videos to the download.

Muzman on 23/11/2003 at 03:13

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yeah pretty much. Although If I have Bloom and Multisampling turned on together outside of a certain radius around the character every edge develops these random patterns of little gray blocks around it (screenshots are of little use since it's the effect of it moving around that makes it really obvious).
It seems that turning on Bloom effectively cancels out/screws up Multisampling for me (as well as strange artifacts the edges are thoroughly aliased with Bloom on). Thus turning Bloom off gives a performance hit because Multisampling starts working properly again, I'd say.
Another interesting tidbit; forcing the anti aliasing Always-On in the Radeon driver thingy results in the same artifacts and no evident anti aliasing in the demo, bloom or no bloom, multisampling or no multisampling.
The demo's multisampling works fine by itself (although it's a bit slow). I guess their driver implimentation isn't quite up to speed yet.


Anyway; I got bored, went into the bar and proceeded to drink everything in sight and then smashed the place up, sprayed fire extinguishers in people's faces, ultimately clobbering the barman with a Beer Keg repeatedly.
No one got more than mildly annoyed. Is this Brave New World and everyone's on Soma?
I was also bummed that, upon killing her competition Greasel and breaking her window, Tina did nothing but walk into the wall making annoyed comments. Maybe I expect too much from generational jumps in gaming technology but the first time I did it I was kinda worried, since she spotted me and said so, that she might, you know, come and get me; leave the flat and come around the back, maybe even climb the fire escape? (hey, they did it in Return to Castle Wolfenstein and the baddies in Severance could mantle like your character!)
Oh well. This game does look kinda fun, provided you can end up in situations with about half a dozen competing interests to play around with (which I believe you could get in the original)