I don't understand why people aren't madly raving about Splinter Cell the way they did about Tomb Raider (okay there's less boobs, but is that really so important to the game?). The environments are various and interesting, the graphics are gorgeous and the gameplay is smooth and engaging. The avatar is blank enough for ease of identification, yet sexy and sleek and he moves with a nice awkward grace. When I started the level on the oil rig, the place (graphic above) took my breath away. The blowing clouds, the ominous thick black water, the moon and stars, the oil rig itself in the distance. I spent quite awhile wandering around just looking, not quite ready yet to throw myself into the action. In a similar game moment, my friend Jim Munroe told me that he often playes Grand Theft Auto just wandering around looking at stuff. I knew he did this as a video project, but didn't understand why he would stray from the tasks of the game while playing on his own. Then the other day I was in the middle of a GTA mission down by the waterfront and I noticed how nice the sky was looking. So I stopped what I was doing to watch the sunrise. It looked damn pretty, a glowing ball rising over the water, the sky turning soft shades of pink and blue, and it was well worth taking the time out. These experiences of great rendering are much more complete and intense than I ever expected in my lifetime. It's disconcerting, for an old gal like me, to find my relaxed, internal thoughts straying towards such constructed, visual environments.
Splinter Cell is definitely a great game in terms of environmental aesthetics. I love the shadows and changes in lighting as Sam hides under stairs and generally skulks around in the shadows. The whole game is based on stealth so staying in the shadows is a key part of the game. On another note, some fun pointless interaction can be had while playing Midtown Madness 3 (xbox). Its great to play in cruise mode and drive around Paris and Washington D.C. My personal favorite is to switch to first person bumber view and look for these sets of white patio furniture and just push them around the city with your car. Those tumbling white plastic chairs sure are purdy!
Yeh, Splinter Cell is beautiful. probably the first game ive ever played in which light is iintegral to both the atmosphere and the gameplay itself. (sams stealth-o-meter or whatever its called). it did remind me a little too much of Metal Gear Solid on the playstation 1 to be completely satisfying. Experiencing the environments of 3d games are perhaps the main reason i play them and the gameworld i most like entering for a virtual stroll is an 'old' (1995) fantasy shooter called Hexen. the dated 3d graphics actually enhance the aesthetic experience for me. rich colours and pixellated sprites make the visuals almost tactile, like being in the middle of a crude expressionist painting done with a pallette knife.
Hexen sounds great! I'll look for it.
Looks yummy. I'm also intrigued by games like Shenmue, where you can do toatally mundane things. But then I think that game cost lots of $$. Lots of programming, all that nothing and gumchewing and picking up random things you can do.
in shenmue 2 you can:
-sleep in a flophouse
-pawn your belongings
-gamble
-get in streetfights
-work in shit manual labor jobs (and get yelled at when you screw up)
kind of like a proletariat fantasy camp
oh yeh, has anyone read 'trigger happy' by steven poole? it's the most insightful, accessable deconstruction of video games i've read yet. chapters on narrative, game physics, graphics and gameplay experience with lots of unpretentious references to art and philosophy. this guy isn't a game industry insider or an academic- just a really articulate gamer.
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I don't understand why people aren't madly raving about Splinter Cell the way they did about Tomb Raider (okay there's less boobs, but is that really so important to the game?). The environments are various and interesting, the graphics are gorgeous and the gameplay is smooth and engaging. The avatar is blank enough for ease of identification, yet sexy and sleek and he moves with a nice awkward grace. When I started the level on the oil rig, the place (graphic above) took my breath away. The blowing clouds, the ominous thick black water, the moon and stars, the oil rig itself in the distance. I spent quite awhile wandering around just looking, not quite ready yet to throw myself into the action. In a similar game moment, my friend Jim Munroe told me that he often playes Grand Theft Auto just wandering around looking at stuff. I knew he did this as a video project, but didn't understand why he would stray from the tasks of the game while playing on his own. Then the other day I was in the middle of a GTA mission down by the waterfront and I noticed how nice the sky was looking. So I stopped what I was doing to watch the sunrise. It looked damn pretty, a glowing ball rising over the water, the sky turning soft shades of pink and blue, and it was well worth taking the time out. These experiences of great rendering are much more complete and intense than I ever expected in my lifetime. It's disconcerting, for an old gal like me, to find my relaxed, internal thoughts straying towards such constructed, visual environments.
- sally mckay 3-01-2004 12:35 am
Splinter Cell is definitely a great game in terms of environmental aesthetics. I love the shadows and changes in lighting as Sam hides under stairs and generally skulks around in the shadows. The whole game is based on stealth so staying in the shadows is a key part of the game. On another note, some fun pointless interaction can be had while playing Midtown Madness 3 (xbox). Its great to play in cruise mode and drive around Paris and Washington D.C. My personal favorite is to switch to first person bumber view and look for these sets of white patio furniture and just push them around the city with your car. Those tumbling white plastic chairs sure are purdy!
- m nobody (guest) 3-02-2004 3:45 am
Yeh, Splinter Cell is beautiful. probably the first game ive ever played in which light is iintegral to both the atmosphere and the gameplay itself. (sams stealth-o-meter or whatever its called). it did remind me a little too much of Metal Gear Solid on the playstation 1 to be completely satisfying. Experiencing the environments of 3d games are perhaps the main reason i play them and the gameworld i most like entering for a virtual stroll is an 'old' (1995) fantasy shooter called Hexen. the dated 3d graphics actually enhance the aesthetic experience for me. rich colours and pixellated sprites make the visuals almost tactile, like being in the middle of a crude expressionist painting done with a pallette knife.
- graybaby (guest) 3-02-2004 5:41 am
Hexen sounds great! I'll look for it.
- sally mckay 3-02-2004 5:49 am
Looks yummy. I'm also intrigued by games like Shenmue, where you can do toatally mundane things. But then I think that game cost lots of $$. Lots of programming, all that nothing and gumchewing and picking up random things you can do.
- MK (guest) 3-04-2004 6:31 am
in shenmue 2 you can:
-sleep in a flophouse
-pawn your belongings
-gamble
-get in streetfights
-work in shit manual labor jobs (and get yelled at when you screw up)
kind of like a proletariat fantasy camp
- graybaby (guest) 3-06-2004 12:53 am
oh yeh, has anyone read 'trigger happy' by steven poole? it's the most insightful, accessable deconstruction of video games i've read yet. chapters on narrative, game physics, graphics and gameplay experience with lots of unpretentious references to art and philosophy. this guy isn't a game industry insider or an academic- just a really articulate gamer.
- graybaby (guest) 3-06-2004 1:13 am