Low_Flyer_MkIX
12-11-2010, 12:40 PM
This PS3 driving stuff has got me thinking. Is 'eye-candy uber alles' killing off the traditional playability we all crave?
Now I'll hold my hand up here and confess to prostituting my artistic genius on this very forum with examples of what Il2 can look like, but having dipped my toe into three driving games recently, I'm drawn to the graphically inferior offering as it gives me a gameplay experience lacking in the bright and shiny alternatives. Let me start from the beginning. One of my first pc game love affairs was the original Colin McRae Rally. I followed the series up to the third (or '03) edition before we lost touch and drifted apart. I recently attempted to install its' successor 'DiRT' on my pc. My pc wasn't having it - nor the other two driving games that came with the bundle. One of the reasons I went PS3. Whilst saving up, I consoled myself (oh, the wordplay!) with a cheap copy of Colin McRae 5 that satiated my getting a car dirty and dented needs and must admit to enjoying it, despite it showing its' age (5 years is an eternity in gamesville).
Well, came the happy day when the PS3 arrived and filled LowFlyer Hall with Gran Tourismo 5's call centre on hold muzak. Happy as I am With GT5, I picked up a few more games to feed my new pet with, among them the much lauded DiRT 2 - "bestest graphics in a videogame ever, honest!", and WRC10 "It's awful! Sub PS2 graphics!" Of course, I was blown away with Dirt 2's eye-candy - more than living up to the hype, and must confess that whilst the cars are nice in WRC10, the environments could have had a bit more put into them - not that it's truly awful, it's just that after DiRT 2...well, you know. Then DiRT 2 started to grate. It was the overall X-treme dude 'dudeness' of the presentation, coupled with an unstructured advancement system that got to me. I mean, one of the recognitions/awards you get early on is called 'Gnarly'...FFS! It's gorgeous though, I'll give it that.
WRC10 is, in contrast, just what it sets out to be - a licenced rally sim with noticeable differences in car handling depending on class, with the 2010 World Rally Championship ready to go from single stages, via an entire championship, to a career starting off in the junior classes. It'll keep me happilly annoying the servants with car noises for months. I enjoy it. It's not a bad stab at representing rally driving. The more I play it, the more it draws me in and I forgive its' dowdy first impression. I'm learning to love it.
GT5 - well, it's GT5 isn't it? Stonking new graphics for the new cars and circuits and the 'used cars' you can buy being just that - used in previous versions of the game (Il2's Mig 3 anyone?). For all that it's a great game/sim with something for everybody. I hate Formula One and Top Gear, there's no need for me to go near them - more than enough alternative car stuff to pick from. GT5's rallying sucks, too - which brings me back to that old gaming flame of mine and how playable, faithful WRC10 is. It was, of course, given average to mediochre marks by 'the online games critics' purely for 'not looking like DiRT 2'.
So have games finally taken on a human trait? Is cyber-beauty truly only skin deep?
Now I'll hold my hand up here and confess to prostituting my artistic genius on this very forum with examples of what Il2 can look like, but having dipped my toe into three driving games recently, I'm drawn to the graphically inferior offering as it gives me a gameplay experience lacking in the bright and shiny alternatives. Let me start from the beginning. One of my first pc game love affairs was the original Colin McRae Rally. I followed the series up to the third (or '03) edition before we lost touch and drifted apart. I recently attempted to install its' successor 'DiRT' on my pc. My pc wasn't having it - nor the other two driving games that came with the bundle. One of the reasons I went PS3. Whilst saving up, I consoled myself (oh, the wordplay!) with a cheap copy of Colin McRae 5 that satiated my getting a car dirty and dented needs and must admit to enjoying it, despite it showing its' age (5 years is an eternity in gamesville).
Well, came the happy day when the PS3 arrived and filled LowFlyer Hall with Gran Tourismo 5's call centre on hold muzak. Happy as I am With GT5, I picked up a few more games to feed my new pet with, among them the much lauded DiRT 2 - "bestest graphics in a videogame ever, honest!", and WRC10 "It's awful! Sub PS2 graphics!" Of course, I was blown away with Dirt 2's eye-candy - more than living up to the hype, and must confess that whilst the cars are nice in WRC10, the environments could have had a bit more put into them - not that it's truly awful, it's just that after DiRT 2...well, you know. Then DiRT 2 started to grate. It was the overall X-treme dude 'dudeness' of the presentation, coupled with an unstructured advancement system that got to me. I mean, one of the recognitions/awards you get early on is called 'Gnarly'...FFS! It's gorgeous though, I'll give it that.
WRC10 is, in contrast, just what it sets out to be - a licenced rally sim with noticeable differences in car handling depending on class, with the 2010 World Rally Championship ready to go from single stages, via an entire championship, to a career starting off in the junior classes. It'll keep me happilly annoying the servants with car noises for months. I enjoy it. It's not a bad stab at representing rally driving. The more I play it, the more it draws me in and I forgive its' dowdy first impression. I'm learning to love it.
GT5 - well, it's GT5 isn't it? Stonking new graphics for the new cars and circuits and the 'used cars' you can buy being just that - used in previous versions of the game (Il2's Mig 3 anyone?). For all that it's a great game/sim with something for everybody. I hate Formula One and Top Gear, there's no need for me to go near them - more than enough alternative car stuff to pick from. GT5's rallying sucks, too - which brings me back to that old gaming flame of mine and how playable, faithful WRC10 is. It was, of course, given average to mediochre marks by 'the online games critics' purely for 'not looking like DiRT 2'.
So have games finally taken on a human trait? Is cyber-beauty truly only skin deep?