Halo 3 graphics

I'm not to big onto basing too much of my opinion on reviews; but i obviously take them into consideration. But "review scores" are very contradictory at times. There are sometimes too many inconsistencies to the review write-up and the scores.

Gamepro, Pro-G and IGN give Halo and Heavenly Sword the same scores for graphics??? Thats an insult to the good work put in by Ninja Theory. Heavenly Sword's graphic quality and the scale of the levels, draw distance is fantastic. Also the number of soldiers rendered in real-time is something i have not seen b4.

I've seen vids/pics of Halo 3 and it doesnt look special and maybe this whole 640p upscaling thing is the reason so. I'm indifferent to Halo but will see it 4 myself if my bro gets it. I tried Halo 1 on a PC zone demo disk back in the day but i couldnt get with the purple spaceships and frog-like characters and those bee looking things.

But again, i dont know how they can equate Halo 3's graphics to HS.
 
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I haven't seen HS in the flesh (pixel?) so I can't comment, but you could well be right.

I do agree though that scoring is out of kilter in all respects on all platforms. It's just wrong to grade games based on the same 100point scale because it's all so subjective, it just doesn't work.

I get the impression a lot of reviewers felt that Halo had to out do BioShock, so they just gave it 10's. Halo's a great game, but in my book it's definitely not a 10, neither is BioShock for that matter, no game should really be. I'd give them 8 and 9 respectively, rating on "polish", but I'd rate them both as "buy". Someone else who plays SP exclusively would probably score Halo at 7's because Forge or infection mean nothing to them.

To me a 10 means buy the game and play it exclusively for the rest of your life. But someone else may set the bar as low as 10 = just worth the money.
 
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Agreed :p

doobiwan said:
I haven't seen HS in the flesh (pixel?) so I can't comment, but you could well be right.

I do agree though that scoring is out of kilter in all respects on all platforms. It's just wrong to grade games based on the same 100point scale because it's all so subjective, it just doesn't work.

I get the impression a lot of reviewers felt that Halo had to out do BioShock, so they just gave it 10's. Halo's a great game, but in my book it's definitely not a 10, neither is BioShock for that matter, no game should really be. I'd give them 8 and 9 respectively, rating on "polish", but I'd rate them both as "buy". Someone else who plays SP exclusively would probably score Halo at 7's because Forge or infection mean nothing to them.

To me a 10 means buy the game and play it exclusively for the rest of your life. But someone else may set the bar as low as 10 = just worth the money.
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Guess i wont be seeing this after all ... my bro thought the graphics would surpass GeOW but seeing that Bungie confirmed that the game is not even HD but ED, he wont be getting it. I guess it explains the screens/vids i saw... and it gets a 9 for graphics ?? gee wiizz
 
I don't understand people deciding to buy games based on graphics, you cannot compare Halo to Bioshock or Gears in the graphics department. They are very different...

I have to say the lighting is awesome in Halo though, watching the sun coming through the leaves is just impressive
 
Yeah i hear you Gavin but sometimes with FPS's that dont add too much that is new ... pretty sweet graphics prove a great consolation mate. But it isnt even a HD game now so that disappoints. Anyway with all the marketing that was taking place (lol gamer fuel anyone?) I admit i was swallowed a bit and was actually pushing him to get Halo3 ...he almost did till Friday until this whole thing came out abt the non-HD graphics etc.
 
GavinMannion said:
I
I have to say the lighting is awesome in Halo though, watching the sun coming through the leaves is just impressive
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dude....which side do you bat for?

personally haven't had the time to slow down and smell the roses or watch the sunset....to each his own i suppose:D
 
Tan365 said:
Guess i wont be seeing this after all ... my bro thought the graphics would surpass GeOW but seeing that Bungie confirmed that the game is not even HD but ED, he wont be getting it. I guess it explains the screens/vids i saw... and it gets a 9 for graphics ?? gee wiizz
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Frankly, that's a lame reason not to get Halo 3.

From Bungie re. the whole 640p thing:

"You Owe me 80p!

One item making the interwebs rounds this week was the scandalous revelation that Halo 3 runs at “640p” which isn’t even technically a resolution. However, the interweb detectives did notice that Halo 3’s vertical resolution, when captured from a frame buffer, is indeed 640 pixels. So what gives? Did we short change you 80 pixels?

Naturally it’s more complicated than that. In fact, you could argue we gave you 1280 pixels of vertical resolution, since Halo 3 uses not one, but two frame buffers – both of which render at 1152x640 pixels. The reason we chose this slightly unorthodox resolution and this very complex use of two buffers is simple enough to see – lighting. We wanted to preserve as much dynamic range as possible – so we use one for the high dynamic range and one for the low dynamic range values. Both are combined to create the finished on screen image.

This ability to display a full range of HDR, combined with our advanced lighting, material and postprocessing engine, gives our scenes, large and small, a compelling, convincing and ultimately “real” feeling, and at a steady and smooth frame rate, which in the end was far more important to us than the ability to display a few extra pixels. Making this decision simpler still is the fact that the 360 scales the
“almost-720p” image effortlessly all the way up to 1080p if you so desire.

In fact, if you do a comparison shot between the native 1152x640 image and the scaled 1280x720, it’s practically impossible to discern the difference. We would ignore it entirely were it not for the internet’s propensity for drama where none exists. In fact the reason we haven’t mentioned this before in weekly updates, is the simple fact that it would have distracted conversation away from more important aspects of the game, and given tinfoil hats some new gristle to chew on as they catalogued their toenail clippings."
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Thats just a technical explanation of why the graphics are not good though BlueCollar. Glad you also agree then that the graphics are not great, more so its puzzling how it recieved a 9 for graphics.

On ur commenting the 'lameness' of not getting Halo 3 for graphics? Please read my previous post, i've attached it below.

I've seen vids/pics of Halo 3 and it doesnt look special and maybe this whole 640p upscaling thing is the reason so. I'm indifferent to Halo but will see it 4 myself if my bro gets it. I tried Halo 1 on a PC zone demo disk back in the day but i couldnt get with the purple spaceships and frog-like characters and those bee looking things.
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So you see, the graphics being below expectations was part and not the entire reason it wasnt purchased. Please people, read thoroughly coz this always seems to happen in this forum.

But before this becomes a 5 pager of 'tit 4 tat' just read this below carefully and the comments as well.

here --> http://www.gamerevolver.com/articlenav-52-page-1.html

Look, i'm not interested in a long one abt this article so please read the comments thereafter as it does seems to cover the debate quite well.
 
lived666 said:
dude....which side do you bat for?

personally haven't had the time to slow down and smell the roses or watch the sunset....to each his own i suppose:D
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lol, when the internet frenzie starts about the 630p graphics you need to slow down and smell the roses... Seriously the lighting in Halo 3 is the best that I have ever seen. The rest of the graphics are average next gen graphics but Halo 3 wasnever going to be a graphical master piece...

Gameplay is what it's all about, anyway now that I have finished my studies for the day it is time to boot load Halo 3... Anyone up for a game?
 
Great one Tan,

I think that link pretty much sums the whole thing up, but even so the comments the follow reveal that it can never be that simple, there is always gonna be that one person from which ever side of the war that will refuse to let it die. This war will rage still for a while.

My only fear now is that the multiplatform releases for the ps3 arnt dragged down by the xbox, wether its power, graphics or storage related!

Please note that the above statement is in no way meant as an attack on fans of a perticualr console, It is my own fear based on personal opinion
 
I just don't understand the point of people who don't own the game or have ever played it, whining about the graphics?
The game is flippin fantastic, I find the game play, the AI and yes even the graphics mind blowing.
I thoroughly enjoyed GOW but I find the lighting and overall gaming experience here far far far better...and to all the PS3 fanbois - nah wah boo hooo wah wah - you don't have this game so instead of playing, go troll and search google all you want for flaws, in the mean time the rest of us will be online kicking halo butts..wahhhh booohooo the PS3 doesn't have halo 3 so lets find 101 reasons to trash the game , looosers!
 
While I'm more concerned by the actual game play I'm still curious . . . has anyone who's actually played the game felt disappointed by the graphics?
 
bwana, the game play is mind blowing, from jumping from a jeep to knocking off a dude on a ghost ship, to skimming over the sand, blowing up a wraith, man, it is one hectic campaign and the AI, probably the best I have come across - I find two player multi screen the best for me, but that's cause I keep getting lost and need someone to hold my hand.
Other than that, the graphics and detail, well I find boggling, but I am just a lame arse home gamer, so what do I know, but it is overall, a very impressive world to play in - and if you have the time, like gavin, you can look for the sun shining through leaves, ....but the lighting and colours, awesome, man just awesome...ok, rugby time.
my only complaint though about the graphics, was in chapter 6, along the corridor, if you turned your head left 80 degrees, closed your one eye and then looked down, you see a shadow next to the wall on the far right that in my opinion, should not be there!!!
 
played quite a bit of it and was actually quite impressed with the graphics

as was a buddy of mine whos been playing xbox since the day it was released
bought his when it came out cuz he was living in the uk

he was stoked with it graphically too

so that makes two of us
 
abev said:
Great one Tan,

I think that link pretty much sums the whole thing up, but even so the comments the follow reveal that it can never be that simple, there is always gonna be that one person from which ever side of the war that will refuse to let it die. This war will rage still for a while.

My only fear now is that the multiplatform releases for the ps3 arnt dragged down by the xbox, wether its power, graphics or storage related!

Please note that the above statement is in no way meant as an attack on fans of a perticualr console, It is my own fear based on personal opinion
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Your personal opinion sucks! :p

Do yourself a favour and get the game by borrowing a X360 if you have too. Whining about something you have never tried is just .... stupid? ;)
 
Well, all I say to anyone not playing Halo 3, whether it be for graphics or just out of spite, to quote the indomitable Marcus Fenix . . . "Sucks to be you" ;)

but seriously, the game is awesome. Every night I play it amazes me in little ways that other games just don't get, whether it be a brilliant game of fast and furious multiplayer, ranked matchmaking and netcode that works like nothing I've ever experienced. Or like last night going from crapping myself being hunted by a Scarab to running for my life against flood, only to stop and absolutely boggle at some of the graphics. From experience I'll tell you that Bungie are 100% right. In said level last night I spent about 2 minutes just oggling some scenery that absolutely blew my mind. Sure the game has a cartoony flavour to the look and the models aren't that detailed, but the stuff I was looking at last night was the most photo realistic machinery I've ever seen in a game. But that's beside the point . . .
EDIT: For those interested- towards the end of chapter 5 As your reinforcements and their weapons are dropped, you're standing on a catwalk, look around the area .. .

If you're not buying Halo "just for the graphics" then I really feel sorry you feel that way. Underneath is actually a really good game that's not "just another shooter" I'd rather describe it as an "interactive Hollywood blockbuster". If you want something to show off your console, get Gears, get DiRT, get Ace Combat 6 and it looks like PGr4 will set a new benchmark. If you bought your console to play games - get Halo.

EDIT: Tell me this looks "bad"? http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/nrg_wp/1803481-720.jpg?t=1191112530
That's just an arbitrary in game MP shot.

If you're not buying Halo 3 because you didn't like Halo on the PC (It was absolutely "meh") I'd also urge you to reconsider. It's a console game and works best on a console. Releasing it 2 years later on PC is like releasing UT1 the same time as releasing UT2003.



And Abe, if you want to lose the "PS3 fanboy without even a console" monicker...

troll said:
My only fear now is that the multiplatform releases for the ps3 arnt dragged down by the xbox, wether its power, graphics or storage related!
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Is a troll post of note because it's unqualified and completely negative. Storage, cool I can handle that, but the other two are debatable to say the least and you have no foundation for that statement.

Even so, whether you're right or wrong - PS3 games are going to be bound by the 360, simply because it's own the developers. So suck it up, and enjoy everything 2-3 weeks late with added slowdown! ;)

oh, which is to my last point. I highly advise the folks b!tching about "640p" being un-HiDef read the original thread that it was posted in, it's quite technical, very informative and also explains that Most PS3 game do the same if not worse. In fact it's the favourite way developers get 360 games to run on the PS3 at the same frame rate. Halo still runs at 720p because it's 4x anti aliased, which is the whole point. Once you AA the scene into 720p you couldn't tell the difference between a 640p source and a 720p source.
 
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I agree with doobi.. i was anti-HALO for the 1st and 2nd one, never got it really. But i was also a PC FPS fan. since i opened up to console gaming, i must admit, it's just a game of pure enjoyment :D
w00t, u used my screenie.. awesome rounds. ranked as well. NO LAG, alot better than gear's netcode.
 
To Useless, you are the reason I will keep posting, comments like "Your personal opinion sucks!" pretty much sums up the experience on this forums. Congradulations, you make a good ambassadore!

To doobiwan, My comment " My only fear now is that the multiplatform releases for the ps3 arnt dragged down by the xbox, wether its power, graphics or storage related!" was not meant as flame bait but was rather a response from the previous post of tan, but hey Im guess you didnt even bother to read through the whole thing. Seems such is your nature. I was merely commenting on the comment made by some on else, and made it cleasr that it was my own thought on the matter.
 
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