retired_abess

Well my demo just freezes up semi-randomly. Generally get a 20 min session in before having to reboot. Doesn't seem to be a heat issue. Shouldn't be, I run Bioshock maxed out for hours at a time.

michaelwoodcock

Yeah, but he mentions several times just how great it looks :thup: Nets himself a stupidly big bag of goodies too.

retired_gonzales_885

It's all about the graphics engine. They need to allow for future technology when they design the engine as other companies will license it's use in their games.

As it's the first game to use the engine, they'll want to show it off as much as possible and ensure that it will make use of very high end graphics technology. All the online demo's you see will have been rendered on very high end development hardware.

It's all about scalability. They'll want to make the engine use future tech and faster graphics cards just as much as they'll want it run well on older systems.

retired_mickey5ca

How does one get a job such as yours Gav?

retired_el_chanclas

It was not a "full review" by any stretch of the imagination, just a quickish forum post on it. The full review in the magazine will be at least 4 pages, maybe 6.

As for talking about if the gameplay is enjoyable, I doubt he would say something like "there are set pieces that are the best you've ever seen in gaming" without it being a bit enjoyable.

What sort of "goodies" would those be lol. I doubt EA would send him anything for the magazine with a total readership of about 50,000 people.

This was another of his posts:

retired_mandyg

Amusingly, there's a hack for XP which allows you to play the demo in 'very high' detail. Basically, it looks almost exactly the same as playing it in DX10 under Vista, and unlocks a bunch of visual effects supposedly exclusive to running the new API. Doesn't even require a DX10 card!

DX10 looking more and more like a con right now, imo. The performance gains it gives for running certain eye-candy are negated by the fact that DX9 can do the same thing under XP with the increased performance inherent in the older, less resource-hogging OS.

It's quite shocking really as Crysis was meant to be the showcase for DX10.

michaelwoodcock

Enjoyable in a visual sense is in no great way connected to a greatness in gameplay or addictiveness, both much more important attributes in gaming. Graphically, FM looks like ****, it's a text based interface for most of the game ffs, but that doesn't stop it being one of the most addictive and consuming games of my lifetime. He says the set pieces look great, not that the game plays like a dream, learn to pay attention to what folks say, especially in games reviews, as they have to be very very careful what they say and how they say it if they want the "perks".

As for the goodie bags, I'm glad to see you are obviously clueless about how games reviewing works. Publishers are not stupid, they know the value of word of mouth and good press, so do everything they can to exploit it. Give a good review or two, and they'll make sure you end up on the end of some "promotional merchandise". It's not a bribe of course, they wouldn't dream of underhand tactics like that, it's just a coincidence.

Example, Microsoft rolled the boat out for Halo 3. I don't do 360 reviews, so my mate got that gig. For his troubles, he got a bag of merchandise worth more than £200. Halo 3 wireless controller, skin for his 360, T shirt, poster, a limited edition of the game in a helmet, a figurine, and some other stuff. Not bad really. Given that we review perhaps 2-3 games per week, per platform (depending on release schedules ofc) and you can do very well out of it, especially if you are willing to "help out the publishers". Christ, even if you are not, they still send you stuff. Codemasters sent me some huge mousemat from Razer to "make sure you fully enjoy the Jericho FPS experience". Probably should mention to them I used my 360 controller.

Why do you think so many people trust the reviews from so few reviewers nowadays? Everyone knows these guys are bought off, paid in merchandise to produce flattering reviews.

Arsenaltops, in my limited experience, through blind luck. I met some guys through online gaming, they started a social networking site, and I went to work for them. Eventually, they expanded it to include reviews of games, movies, technology, etc.... and I volunteered to do what I could to help. I only do PC games atm, 360 broke and I've not got around to getting a new one yet, and Brandon's not getting his Wii 'till Christmas. From what I understand though, it's a hugely competitive market to try and break into, as it's most young guy's wet dream when it comes to a job.

retired_Sheree

Just finishing playing the demo, really cool game, I guess I expected a little more from the graphics, imo it's just crysis, still a demo I guess, full game might be different I haven't really kept up with crysis seems to have been to dragged out.

Looks fun though, and far cry is one of my favourite games, can't really see any difference between the two.

retired_Monica65

Enjoyable in a visual sense is in no great way connected to a greatness in gameplay or addictiveness, both much more important attributes in gaming. Graphically, FM looks like ****, it's a text based interface for most of the game ffs, but that doesn't stop it being one of the most addictive and consuming games of my lifetime. He says the set pieces look great, not that the game plays like a dream, learn to pay attention to what folks say, especially in games reviews, as they have to be very very careful what they say and how they say it if they want the "perks".

As for the goodie bags, I'm glad to see you are obviously clueless about how games reviewing works. Publishers are not stupid, they know the value of word of mouth and good press, so do everything they can to exploit it. Give a good review or two, and they'll make sure you end up on the end of some "promotional merchandise". It's not a bribe of course, they wouldn't dream of underhand tactics like that, it's just a coincidence.

Example, Microsoft rolled the boat out for Halo 3. I don't do 360 reviews, so my mate got that gig. For his troubles, he got a bag of merchandise worth more than £200. Halo 3 wireless controller, skin for his 360, T shirt, poster, a limited edition of the game in a helmet, a figurine, and some other stuff. Not bad really. Given that we review perhaps 2-3 games per week, per platform (depending on release schedules ofc) and you can do very well out of it, especially if you are willing to "help out the publishers". Christ, even if you are not, they still send you stuff. Codemasters sent me some huge mousemat from Razer to "make sure you fully enjoy the Jericho FPS experience". Probably should mention to them I used my 360 controller.

Why do you think so many people trust the reviews from so few reviewers nowadays? Everyone knows these guys are bought off, paid in merchandise to produce flattering reviews.

Arsenaltops, in my limited experience, through blind luck. I met some guys through online gaming, they started a social networking site, and I went to work for them. Eventually, they expanded it to include reviews of games, movies, technology, etc.... and I volunteered to do what I could to help. I only do PC games atm, 360 broke and I've not got around to getting a new one yet, and Brandon's not getting his Wii 'till Christmas. From what I understand though, it's a hugely competitive market to try and break into, as it's most young guy's wet dream when it comes to a job. </BLOCKQUOTE>

So you review games for a living, and tell us not to listen to the people that review games?

michaelwoodcock

No, I said learn to pay attention to what games reviewers say, and how they say it, instead of just looking at the percentage score at the side and automatically deciding the game is the best thing since Christ.

Oh, and I'm not like the others, I don't give games false scores to keep publishers happy. There are still some of us who live in hope that honesty will help show publishers and design studios that turning out shoddy games simply isn't on nowadays. Pretty simply isn't enough any more.