Halo 3: Graphically Unimpressive

Hi guys, I thought I'd bring up a topic that seems to be avoided around these parts, which happens to be the appearance of Halo 3. First off, I'd like to say that I'm a fan of the series and while I'm greatly looking forward to the 3rd and evidently final chapter, I must say that I'm quite underwhelmed. Granted, these are beta screens, but as we all know, they're usually indicative of the final product. It saddens me to think that Bungie of all developers, hasn't delivered on something truly pleasing to the eye, especially since we've seen phenomenal examples from the likes of Rare, Epic, and many others on the platform thus far.

Also, watching the multiplayer videos both officially released and leaked, I have to admit that it seems as though we're going to be treated to a warmed over serving of Halo 2.5 (or something to that effect). I sincerely hope that we're going to see some significant changes in both visuals, gameplay, and hopefully even story elements. I was blown away by the first, dissapointed by the 2nd and to be frank, I'm concernedwith the progress shown with the 3rd (so far).

Maybe Halo 2 killed the anticipation and standards I once held this series to? I don't know, but I want the magic this series had right before the release of the 2nd... Bungie, please don't let us down, because this is the LAST game!

[EDIT: Screens have had to be removed, as they break a NDA] 

Halo 3 has a coat to put on and still needs to be polished.  You know the December trailer, BUNGIE has swore that H3's graphics will be better than that.

I'm not sure what the hell is Bungie doing here, but it's definitely counter-productive. It all started well-enough, last years E3 trailer was awesome, but I haven't seen anything even remotely impressive since. They're killing their own hype. All of the "alpha" and "beta" screens/footage is complete and utter bull****. Bungie needs to release some impressive footage or something, not those lame documentaries nobody cares about.

I think the leaked video is the best thing that could have happened to Halo 3. If they originally were only going to polish the graphics a little more, they will now have to do major improvements. The fans got a glimpse and said that it wasn't acceptable so if they want to create a stir with Halo 3 they now have to put a lot more work into the graphics and start releasing ingame footage that everyone will be excited about. I had my worries that Halo 3 would be lackluster and they'd just try riding the popularity of Halo 1 and 2. But now they have no choice but to make a better game. bigdrew172

I just don't see them going back and reengineering a new graphics engine. If this is indeed what it will look like, then I don't know what the heck they were thinking. Yes, gameplay matters so much, but we also buy next generation consoles to get next generation visuals too.

 From what I've seen so far, the gameplay doesn't look to be anything revolutionairy either.

I'm not sure what the hell is Bungie doing here, but it's definitely counter-productive. It all started well-enough, last years E3 trailer was awesome, but I haven't seen anything even remotely impressive since. They're killing their own hype. All of the "alpha" and "beta" screens/footage is complete and utter bull****. Bungie needs to release some impressive footage or something, not those lame documentaries nobody cares about.

UpInFlames

Indeed.  I think gameplay footage needs to speak for itself, not the other way around. 

I'm not sure what the hell is Bungie doing here, but it's definitely counter-productive. It all started well-enough, last years E3 trailer was awesome, but I haven't seen anything even remotely impressive since. They're killing their own hype. All of the "alpha" and "beta" screens/footage is complete and utter bull****. Bungie needs to release some impressive footage or something, not those lame documentaries nobody cares about.

 

UpInFlames

The documentairies they've released have been counterproductive with me, because I see a game that seems to be nothing more than a continuation of the route Halo 2 went. From the documentaries, I see Halo 2-like graphics, animations, GAMEPLAY, and it doesn't help that they've made the brutes the focus. 

Yeah, I'm not really impressed with how they've handled Halo 3:

The CGI commercial was at best a lame move, and a deceptive one at worst.

The early sneak peeks of the game right when Gears came out was baffling, as all it did was make Halo 3 look awful by comparison.

They got people to buy Crackdown by allowing them into the Halo Beta, but conveniently left out that it was only for a couple weeks.

EDIT: And let's not forget the $129 "Special Ed"ition.

And now the game looks like a gussied-up Halo 2.

Yeah, not off to a very smooth start with me. At all. I'm sure it'll play awesome and sell twice as nice, but I'm not impressed by how it's been handled or what I've seen.

Yeah, I'm not really impressed with how they've handled Halo 3 at all:

The CGI commercial was at best a lame move, and at worst a deceptive one.

The early sneak peeks of the game right when Gears came out was baffling, as all it did was make Halo 3 look awful by comparison.

They got people to buy Crackdown by allowing them into the Halo Beta, but conveniently left out that it was only for a couple weeks.

And now the game looks like a gussied-up Halo 2.

Yeah, not off to a very smooth start with me. At all. I'm sure it'll play awesome and sell twice as nice, but I'm not impressed by how it's been handled or what I've seen.

Shame-usBlackley

The "in-engine" video they showed us way back when definitely was deceptive, because as you also stated, the shots (which evidently were in-game) released during GoW's release really did make it look a generation behind.

I'm not convinced that this one will sell as well as the 2nd, because Halo 2 had Halo 1 to set the precedent :)

Maybe they're not aiming for Gears of War level graphics in order to offer a stable online multiplayer experience from the implimentation of large maps and 64 player online play?:o...... Of course, I'm just pulling stuff out of the sky. I don't know if that's Bungie's goal or the technical aspects of any of this. If that's not the case then I hope they do touch those graphics up a bit. Korn_Wallace

That's another thing... why isn't there any talks about user-created maps or anything above 16-player multiplayer? Where is the next-gen stuff that wasn't possible with the original Xbox? 

halo was never about graphics. JPOBS

[QUOTE="Korn_Wallace"]Maybe they're not aiming for Gears of War level graphics in order to offer a stable online multiplayer experience from the implimentation of large maps and 64 player online play?:o...... Of course, I'm just pulling stuff out of the sky. I don't know if that's Bungie's goal or the technical aspects of any of this. If that's not the case then I hope they do touch those graphics up a bit. Ernesto_basic

That's another thing... why isn't there any talks about user-created maps or anything above 16-player multiplayer? Where is the next-gen stuff that wasn't possible with the original Xbox?

That's one thing I'm still waiting for. Like I said, I'm not knowledgeable in the technical espects of video game consoles, But computer games have had 64 player on-line play for years. I would have thought consoles would have reached that level by now. Imagine a 32 on 32 Halo team deathmatch! I was playing Call of Duty for the PC two years ago on a 64 player server. The chaos was beautiful, although it was slightly laggier. Perhaps lag is the issue as that many players in one session might overtax the XBox Live server. Not sure. 

i think even if they make the grahics better, it would look like any other halo game but just clearer

I don't understand the big deal. Why not want a game that has increased the areas of AI, world size, phyics, and framerate solidness. are not those things more diversed than just a graphical boost?overfeind

We aren't speaking in black and white. Of course we want gameplay improvements. But graphical enhancements are anticipated as well; there is no reason to that it cannot have both good gameplay and good graphics.

I don't understand the big deal. Why not want a game that has increased the areas of AI, world size, phyics, and framerate solidness. are not those things more diversed than just a graphical boost?overfeind

I'm not sure why should we choose one over the other. I expect all of those things in such a high profile game. The problem is we haven't seen any of this.

I don't understand the big deal. Why not want a game that has increased the areas of AI, world size, phyics, and framerate solidness. are not those things more diversed than just a graphical boost?overfeind

It has the capability to do that. This is next gen hardware you know.

That's one thing I'm still waiting for. Like I said, I'm not knowledgeable in the technical espects of video game consoles, But computer games have had 64 player on-line play for years. I would have thought consoles would have reached that level by now. Imagine a 32 on 32 Halo team deathmatch! I was playing Call of Duty for the PC two years ago on a 64 player server. The chaos was beautiful, although it was slightly laggier. Perhaps lag is the issue as that many players in one session might overtax the XBox Live server. Not sure.

Korn_Wallace

 Part of your problem with consoles is that you don't really have dedicated servers, like you do with PC's.  Everything's peer to peer, which means that the machine that's hosting also has some dude playing on it.  

I don't understand the big deal. Why not want a game that has increased the areas of AI, world size, phyics, and framerate solidness. are not those things more diversed than just a graphical boost?overfeind

You know what I don't understand? Why is it that when anyone has anything negative to say about graphics, people like you assume that we ONLY want graphics and graphics ONLY???? Seriously, we should expect more instead of making excuses for developers.

I want great graphics, advanced AI, advanced physics, and NEW gameplay mechanics (like how Rainbow 6 mastered the cover system and such)!!! I love the Halo universe, but I find the information we already know to be seriously lacking to say the least.

[QUOTE="Korn_Wallace"]

That's one thing I'm still waiting for. Like I said, I'm not knowledgeable in the technical espects of video game consoles, But computer games have had 64 player on-line play for years. I would have thought consoles would have reached that level by now. Imagine a 32 on 32 Halo team deathmatch! I was playing Call of Duty for the PC two years ago on a 64 player server. The chaos was beautiful, although it was slightly laggier. Perhaps lag is the issue as that many players in one session might overtax the XBox Live server. Not sure.

Teufelhuhn

Part of your problem with consoles is that you don't really have dedicated servers, like you do with PC's. Everything's peer to peer, which means that the machine that's hosting also has some dude playing on it.

This is true, but when they have a dedicated server option, things work well. Unfortunately, ever since Halo 2, EVERYTHING has been P2P. 

It looks Halo 2. The video they had explaining all about Halo 3 didn't look like a big jump.

-it looks the same when someone dies

-still no bullet holes on guys when you shoot them

-Hell, there still aren't rag-doll physics for anythin except boxes and vending machines

-Graphics are a tiny big less blurry, woo...hoo...

At the risk of sounding inflammatory...if you can't just look at a screen and say "next-gen" the devs have already failed. This looks like a vote of no confidence from Bungie. Maybe they know that whatever they do, it won't match the hype the game has, so they're not even going to try.Alaris83

EXACTLY!!!

This is Microsoft's FLAGSHIP title... make no mistake here, this is the one that will be the face of the system and it is paramount that it not only meets the established baseline, but that it also pushes the envelope! Look back on other flagship titles for past consoles and ask yourself if they were mere upgrades. Super Mario 64, Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros.... get the idea? Objecively speaking, it looks like a decent title if it was from a 3rd party... you know, one that didn't create the FRICK'N HALO SERIES!!! This is THE MS game, THE game to own an Xbox/Xbox 360 for and if you look at the stuff that's coming out as a casual gamer, you've got to say "wtf, Gears of War looks better than that!"... Now, if you're a long-time fan of the series, I can also see where you'd be completely underwhelmed with the direction it's been taken to. I just don't see anything here that says it will be anything more than a better game (maybe great to those that truly loved H2 multiplayer... I personally didn't like the way it turned out).

[QUOTE="JPOBS"]halo was never about graphics. bigdrew172

Anyways, I'm not worried at all. I remember PDZ looked like pure crap months before release. Now, to this day that game has the best textures I've seen in any game ever. Even Gears.

Heck, I was pretty disappointed by the way the GTA4 trailer looked, and now journalists that have played the demo are saying it already looks noticably better than the trailer.

I think Halo 3 will be just fine. Wait until Fall (or at least until you've seen a single screen from campaign mode) to start complaining.

Anyways, I'm not worried at all. I remember PDZ looked like pure crap months before release. Now, to this day that game has the best textures I've seen in any game ever. Even Gears.

Heck, I was pretty disappointed by the way the GTA4 trailer looked, and now journalists that have played the demo are saying it already looks noticably better than the trailer.

I think Halo 3 will be just fine. Wait until Fall (or at least until you've seen a single screen from campaign mode) to start complaining.

The_Duke_Lives

I think GOW graphics are overrated personally. I find some parts of Oblivion, GRAW and even Kameo to look better to me. Rare has some killer textures going on. I don't know why the 360 can't seem to render larger areas without murkey, muddy textures that gradually fade into detail though. It stands in contrast with the smaller areas.

With Halo 3, yes it looks largely like a higher resolution halo 2. But I've been playing alot of games that want to wow you with graphics and they come off feeling more like interactive experiences than actual games. Games like Halo and GTA can't come soon enough for me and it's all because of the gameplay.

Here's my theory, call me a conspiracy nut if it pleases you......

  I honestly believe that the majority of what we will see in Halo 3 is content that has been cut from what was to be originally included in Halo 2.  I thought Halo2 single player was absolutely terrible compared to the first, for a variety of reasons that I'm sure you all have heard numerous times. 

 Anyways, it makes perfect sense: MS tells Bungie to gut the better parts of Halo2 and use them for 3.  Not only will it speed up the development process of H3, but they know damn well that Halo 2 would garner undeserved praise based off of hype and the first's reputation and will subsequently sell well, which it definitely did.

Now, by looking at the visuals, it makes me believe even more that the majority of content has been brought over from Halo 2, albeit polished up and optimized for the 360.

This is probably gonna piss some of you off, well hey.....that's the way it goes.

Halo 3 is probably more than likely Halo 2.5.

Halo 2 went alpha in July, so there isn't " a lot" of time to work on the graphics.  There's no way the game should look like that, especially since many of the players won't be seeing it on a HD.  trifecta_basic

I said the same thing about Unreal Tournament 2004, but I proved wrong.

Anyway, you should wait until the final version appears.

Maybe it's just me, but I played Halo 2 for years and have put hundreds of hours into it, I think Halo 3 looks miles better.  Also, Halo 3 has 16 player support, and Gears Of War has 8.  So the graphics have to take a hit to allow for more players, and I would rather have more players in multi than better graphics.  That, and the recent leaked video (which im unsure if we can post images from), showed a re done Zanzibar map which was far bigger than the Zanzibar in Halo 2.  Some games do change a lot too, IIRC GRAW1 came along a long way in the space of a few months.