Now that I've played all the major shooters running on their proprietary engines (and these include Far Cry, Doom 3, Half-Life 2, and F.E.A.R.) I can conclude with some degree of certainty that in terms of graphics Half-Life 2 comes out on top as the clear winner - both in terms of how it looks and how it performs. The thing with the F.E.A.R. engine is that, though it looks wonderful rendering gritty-looking indoor environments with lots of bump-mapped surfaces, it really drops the ball when it comes to rendering outdoor scenes. You just need to take one quick look at the background textures to realize we're talking about original Half-Life type of 2D sprites here.
If Far Cry wasn't released so long ago, he'd give the Source Engine a run for its money. In my opinion, the quality of rendering of the *entire* game world, which naturally consists of both indoor and outdoor settings, is critical in determining the 3D engine's effectiveness in immersing the player fully into the environment. This also includes the ability to make the transition between outdoor and indoor settings as seamless and believable as possible, and this is something that the Source Engine (now with the help of High Dynamic Range lighting) does best.
Bear in mind that I'm not talking about AI, physics, or anything else that doesn't have strictly to do with 3D graphics.
On a related note, there are two things I'd like to add:
One is that Gabe Newell is a very smart man; in fact one of the rare truly great men in this industry. Yeah, I know I've made fun of Butter Boy so many times before, and to be honest, personally, he strikes me as a bit of a pompous ass...nor do I approve of many of his moves. However, I was WRONG not to acknowledge more what he has done for this industry, and I admit that.
The things he has achieved so far and the amount of responsibility that he has taken upon himself show that he is definitely not your average guy.
Secondly, I think that Epic's Unreal 3 Engine will be the one engine to rule them all. For many years, Tim Sweeney has rather unfairly been in the shadow of John Carmack. This engine will prove that Tim is the real king of 3D engines.
www.actiontrip.com
If Far Cry wasn't released so long ago, he'd give the Source Engine a run for its money. In my opinion, the quality of rendering of the *entire* game world, which naturally consists of both indoor and outdoor settings, is critical in determining the 3D engine's effectiveness in immersing the player fully into the environment. This also includes the ability to make the transition between outdoor and indoor settings as seamless and believable as possible, and this is something that the Source Engine (now with the help of High Dynamic Range lighting) does best.
Bear in mind that I'm not talking about AI, physics, or anything else that doesn't have strictly to do with 3D graphics.
On a related note, there are two things I'd like to add:
One is that Gabe Newell is a very smart man; in fact one of the rare truly great men in this industry. Yeah, I know I've made fun of Butter Boy so many times before, and to be honest, personally, he strikes me as a bit of a pompous ass...nor do I approve of many of his moves. However, I was WRONG not to acknowledge more what he has done for this industry, and I admit that.
The things he has achieved so far and the amount of responsibility that he has taken upon himself show that he is definitely not your average guy.
Secondly, I think that Epic's Unreal 3 Engine will be the one engine to rule them all. For many years, Tim Sweeney has rather unfairly been in the shadow of John Carmack. This engine will prove that Tim is the real king of 3D engines.
www.actiontrip.com