Eurogamer was full of surprises for me, such as the Heavy Rain Developer session showing us how awesome that game will be, and the brilliant gameplay of Aliens Vs Predator.
What I really didn’t expect was a demonstration of 3D gaming. One single monitor on the showroom floor throughout the weekend had a mass of gormless gamers staring at it with glasses that were reminiscent of Joe 90. The game that was on show was James Cameron’s Avatar, so I quickly grabbed a pair of 3D specs and took a gander at the gaming action.
I think it's fair to say that 3D glasses don't work with a camera.
Now the last time I looked at a 3D moving image that was jumping out at the screen at me was probably when I was about 7 ish. It was an episode of Dr Who with John Pertwee and me, mum and dad were adorning cardboard specs with green and red lenses. Lord knows why to this day I still remember removing the specs for just a second that evening and seeing a green and red fuzzy outline. So when I put on my uber geeky looking glasses I could not help but feel a little relieved that I wouldn’t be getting a paper cut on the bridge of my nose. With that aside, the concept of 3D visuals hasn’t moved that much from the cardboard specs days. Removing the glasses still shows you a blurry image just this time you don’t constantly see with a red and green tint.
However, now HD technology is around the 3D image is a lot more crisp, it really does jump out at you. If you were to show a five year old these 3D visuals I am 99% sure that they will aimlessly try put their hand out to try and grab what is coming out of the screen. The HD graphics of games these days do make 3D gaming look pretty damn good. Sometimes it’s so good you may feel a little ill after playing a good solid day, like most gamers do these days. So as it is a nice novelty it’s probably not a great thing for day long gaming fests.
That aside, I have heard that the good old technology guru’s known as the Japanese are perfecting 3D gaming without the glasses. I don’t know much about this yet but I am mighty interested.
Now that’s 3D gaming, what of James Cameron’s Avatar the game? Well all you 3rd person shooter fans are in for a treat hear as it is your classic 3rd person shoot em up. If you are familiar with the likes of Gears Of War and Lost Planet you will be right at home here.
The demo I played started off in an air craft of sorts, I had to fly and shoot my way through an alien jungle demolishing all sorts of extra terrestrial foliage to get my big ship through. Now I don’t know about you, but I have no knowledge of Avatar the game or the movie, so I thought it was a bit rude that humans would go to an alien planet and start wrecking up the place. Anyway once I got my ship on the ground finally, I was running around in the classic 3rd person shooter style that we are all familiar with and we all love.
Now I’d hate to say this and I will be damned by the creators of Avatar if I say it but this game plays a lot like Lost Planet 2. It’s similar in game play and game features. Throughout the demo I was running and gunning in the same style as Lost Planet which quite frankly I thought was just a coincidence, I mean my mentality when it comes to games is, If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Hence why a load of Hack and Slash games feel similar but play awesomely in their own right. But, and this is quite a big but, it wasn’t until I got into a mech that this game literally screamed Lost Planet and to be honest at this point I was a little disheartened, that this title, isn’t that original in all honesty. I know I am not one for negativity in games, but there is always something out there that is gonna rub any gamer up the wrong way and this time round Avatar for me was not a great gaming highlight
With all that said though the visuals in the game look great, you can definitely tell the developers have taken time in making this game look sharp and beautiful. That’s probably why it was up for the 3D gaming demo. It really does stand out visually.
So to sum up this nice little two part article, 3D gaming is definitely going up in the world, even though that it is probably not for the day long gaming slog fests that us gamers do day in and day out. It is definitely a novelty that will be getting five year old’s and drunk people grabbing at things coming out of the screen. It will be interesting to see how the Japanese develop the technology without the Joe 90 glasses.
As for avatar. stunning looking game, the visuals are great, hell the game play isn’t awful but then its not entirely original. Having no prior knowledge of Avatar the game or film I am still confused when humans are charging into a relatively nice looking alien planet all guns blazing without so much as a ‘Hello’ but then that’s just me.
Garv
