Battlefield: BC, GTA IV, Metal Gear Solid IV and Valkyria

Broker Bridge HillEscape on a Crotch RocketGTA IV hits the ground running with a rain of reviews preceding the official release date (just in time to fuel midnight lines around the Best Buy) which, according to GTA IV Reviews: An Exercise In Hyperbolism by Luke Plunkett (Kotaku) are unilaterally gushy. Welcome to the land of opportunity by Crispin Boyer (1Up.com) is, apparently, one of the better ones. It gushes on some about the new multiplayer mode (which is apparently as good as advertised), then actually offers some criticism:

“I do wish that Rockstar had added checkpoints in the multistage missions to cut down on the grunt work of frustrating retries. GTA4 also suffers from those little things that have always plagued the series, such as sudden pop-in of objects in the environment and the occasional repetition of car models in your immediate vicinity.”

But, on the other hand, the game improves on its predecessors in its virtual reality simulation (which is no mean trick, considering how integrated San Andreas was). You don’t even have to do missions—you can just interact with the world by walking around:

“…Liberty City’s breathtaking vistas, incredibly varied scenery, and lived-in look … [t]he city just feels alive. Mosey on foot for just a few minutes and you’ll eavesdrop on the cellphone conversations of nearby pedestrians, witness cops arresting other criminals for a change, and even run into the random man on the street who will give you a mission or interact with Niko in some other special way. But more than just feeling alive, everything in this world is so integrated.[1]”

There’s also the article, Grand Theft Auto IV Setting (GTAIV.net), which goes into loving detail about the locations within the game and how they stack up against the real NYC.

From the look of the screenshots, the art direction makes it clearly a GTA game; the videos show animation that is familiar, just better. Video Teases GTA 4 Animation Technology (Shacknews) covers the GTA IV animation system in more detail. The video shows figures being struck by projectiles and falling down in real-time and with far more believability than traditional animation. Where most mainstream games these days use a bone animation system, they breathe life into the skeletons with motion capture data or “rag doll” physics. The combination, however, leads to less-than-realistic results because, whereas the motion-capture data is very life-like, it can only animate expected behavior. Anything else is rendered with rag-doll physics, which takes only the bones and their weights into account.[2] The GTA IV engine uses NaturalMotion’s euphoria animation technology to imbue its characters with life-like behavior through the spectrum; in fact, it requires no motion-capture data at all.

Middle of AlgonquinPanorama of the CityLiberty City at Sunset

That’s not to say that traditional motion-capture is dead. Another game, coming out in June, is Metal Gear Solid 4. They recently released an April Fool’s video, Konami/Ubisoft April Fools’ Joke: Metal Gear Creed (Shacknews) which, though it goes on waaaaay too long and isn’t a funny April Fool’s joke (unless you’re 15 and a total game nerd), features some amazing animation in the initial street fight scenes. It’s in fact quite difficult to tell whether you’re watching Al Jazeera or playing a game.

GTA IV also isn’t alone in using filtering to give its rendered scenes a more “artistic” look. Many recent games are moving away from the once-desired photo-realism and moving in a more pleasing—and fun—direction. One game available now is Team Fortress 2, which is a multi-player game with a whole host of cartoon characters instead of the traditional super-rendered avatars to which we’ve grown accustomed over the last few years. The game comes from Valve Software, purveyors of the hyper-realistic Half-Life 2 series; it uses the same engine. The Team Fortress 2 Trailer (Fileshack) is pretty huge, but lots of fun.

Team Fortress II: Sniper and ScientistTeam Fortress II: EngineersTeam Fortress II: Cast of Characters

Another game following in this vein is Battlefield Heroes. The original Battlefield was a breakout multi-player strategy and team-fighting game and its first sequel followed in its footsteps with the same thing in Vietnam—where it boasted better and more realistic graphics. The next sequel leaves all that behind and combines the same gameplay with a more fun, cartoony style. The two movies, Battlefield: BC Tutorial Teaches Strategy (Shacknews) and New Battlefield Heroes Trailer (Shacknews) should give you an idea of what you can expect.

Battlefield Heroes: the Royal ArmyBattlefield Heroes: Attack from Above

And finally, there’s Valkyria, a new game from Japan that uses filtering to render the game as if it was hand-drawn anime. The screenshots are quite good, though the illusion breaks up a bit when examined too closely; the trailer available at Valkyria Chronicles Trailer Illustrates Fine Filter Use (Shacknews) is fantastic, though. These days, video almost always trumps still screenshots—even those that have been touched up.

Valkyria: Cast of Characters