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S.T.A.G.E. on 31 December 2010
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themanwithnoname said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Squilliam said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Squilliam said:

I was talking about graphics really, it seems most developers still shoot for cost effectiveness in their design and Gears of War is the most cost effective current generation game.


If you're talking about cost effectiveness, engine, style and graphics, I would say the Unreal Engine holds the crown this gen. I agree with you from that stand point. A large quantity of the major and successful multiplat and upcoming titles are using the Unreal engine. Keep this in mind:

Bioshock franchise

Mortal Kombat (The new one)

Batman Arkham franchise

Mass Effect franchise

Lost Odyssey

Shadow Complex

Gears of War

Borderlands

DC Universe Online

Enslaved

etc

 

If we're talking about setting the bar here. I think Uncharted, Heavy Rain, Little Big Planet, Infamous and other Sony exclusives have set the bar not only for multiplatforms but for games on other consoles. If we're talking about platformers then Nintendo holds the crown there still with Mario Galaxy. It depends on the genre really.

Im also talking about relevance. A multiplatform engine is the best benchmark for other multiplatform games especially as many also share a commonality with the same engine. An exclusive doesn't give you a good benchmark when you're trying to compare and contrast a game which potentially has an upper 10% budget in it's class with games which had a fraction of the attention and were developed for multiple consoles. Especially as these were not game designs massaged with a major purpose of pushing visuals unlike the major PS3 exclusives which are typically listed.

A good benchmark isn't, 'I out spent ya'll so you can suck it'. A benchmark is a reasonable standard to attain and meant to be exceeded.


If you're talking about relevance, Gears of War is burning itself out just like Halo is starting to do. Better a steady and solid title than a supernova ready to burn out based on a companys intentions.

Based on what exactly? Go ahead and show me how each of these are becoming irrelevant.


Gears will have an equivalent next gen or possibly within this gen. No doubt about it. Microsoft always has that one game and they do not implore the devs to keep pushing the envelope. This is why Halo was surpassed by Call of Duty. They took what was special about the Halo franchise (game play and multi-player fundamentals) and applied it to their shooter and sold it multi-platform for a huge profit . Soon there will be a Gears killer within the TPS genre. Look at Tomb Raider for crying out loud. They realized that what Naughty Dog did set the standard for what they will do with Lara Crofts adventures. People today want realism, action, suspense and the gritty details to go with their game play. They re-imagined her and bet your bottom dollar they will try to make it as close to Uncharted as possible to clear any possibility of failure.

Most TPS titles follow uncharted and Gears cover system, but each game is evolved. Uncharted allows more movement and interaction with the environment with the characters, therefore allowing for a more expansive move set. With Uncharted I await a new moveset and capabilities. With Gears I await new moves, but just get new kills for the same buttons to make things seem fresh. Uncharted cannot be duplicated no matter how many games like Enslaved and so on try to copy its fundamental style. This is partially due to its engine. With the Unreal Engine it is easy for devs to create the Unreal cookie cutter character with the buff westernized look.  Gears is the closer game to Killswitch of the two, but Uncharted has set itself apart. Beware of how Microsoft has made the Halo franchise less popular as the years roll on. Uncharteds sales go up (no matter how small they seemed), Halos sales go down. This is the last Gears so cherish it. After Gears Launches I don't believe I can find anything exclusive of interest to me on the Xbox any longer. This is possibly why I will probably invest in a Wii where in the past I rethought buying a 360 in the place of my recently broken one. This is a much better investment which gives me more variety.