
If there's one complaint people have about the Halo 3 beta it would have to be that the graphics aren't what some had hoped to see. Nobody is saying that the graphics are horrible, people are just saying that they aren't Gears of War quality or a gigantic leap over what Halo 2 has to offer. But if you really think about it, how much have Halo 3's graphics improved over its older bro? Gamespot dusted off their copy of Halo 2 on a mission to find out. They took a few screenshots from both Halo 2 and the Halo 3 beta and showcased them in complete image rollover fun. And, from what we see, the differences are quite noticeable. The textures and reflective surfaces in Halo 3 are far superior to Halo 2, even the geometry is beefed up. But that's expected on a next gen game. It all comes down to what your expectations are and if you feel the visuals took a big enough leap. What do you think about the comparison?
[Via Digg]




Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
5-18-2007 @ 2:31PM
Hello said...
I think the graphics are fine now. Anyone who thinks they will be 10 times better in september will be dissapointed. It's a good thing everyone who likes Halo will be too busy playing to be annoyed by the whiners.
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5-18-2007 @ 2:36PM
Toph said...
...And as for 'maturing' the graphics as ntRvenous said...I'd have to say no to that.
Just because something looks darker, has more black, is less garish and is a little more photo-realistic dosen't mean it's better graphically.
Yes, Gears of War may LOOK better, but it works within it's world and environment. The Halo world needs to keep it's own 'flavor' to distinguish itself. If there are to be purple metallic Covenant Ghosts and ships, then that's fine..just give us a little more depth to the sheen, detail of the metal; let us touch it.
I would like to finish this little diatribe by saying..comic books are great; they have their own style from realism and still remain a world we can submerge within. Artist Alex Ross stays faithful to this comic book world and yet makes it tangible to look at and in a way, more accessible to believe, yet dampens none of the comic book feel, colors, or styles.
Bungie should go that route. Just amp up what we've already seen..don't make it feel worlds different!
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5-18-2007 @ 2:39PM
Ithilis said...
I have never played a Halo game before, choosing to get my FPS fix in the UT series on the PC. To be honest, I'm very unimpressed with the Beta. The graphics look last-gen, upscaled to 720p, and with four months remaining until the release date, I can't imagine much of an improvement. More than the graphics, however, I'm very disappointed with the gameplay. None of the weapons are unique or creative, there's no dodging or evasive moves that make encounters more dynamic, and the physics are very poor. I honestly don't understand what all of the hype is about.
I doubt that my opinion matters, though, because the game will still sell like hotcakes.
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5-18-2007 @ 2:42PM
erivera3 said...
@23
Your post makes me glad that you DON'T play Halo, stay with your Unreal Tournament please! Leave Halo for those that truly appreciate how great it is.
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5-18-2007 @ 2:47PM
ccc said...
Bottom line is, Halo 3 is good for all of us that want 360 to dominate the console industry love it or hate it. The gameplay is what ultimatly matters not the graffix.
Still, Halo 3 is destened to be the best selling video game in history...................Until Gears Of War 2 comes out.
ccc
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5-18-2007 @ 2:49PM
Sam said...
hmmm... i think it looks great, if you zoom in on the spartan models the textures look immense. as good as gears imo.the environment looks a bit iffy but after all IT IS A BETA! Some people need to chill. I can still play Final Fantasy 7, that has terrible graphics but the gameplays immense, some people expect too much. I suppose thats what you get with a game like halo though eh.
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5-18-2007 @ 2:51PM
Ithilis said...
Oh, I won't play Halo. I prefer more dynamic weaponry with multiple firing modes, each lending themselves to different strategies. I also like being able to dodge, jump-dodge, and dodge off of walls during combat, making each encounter more skillful and exciting. Jumping in the Halo 3 beta is like jumping on the moon, you just float around for a few seconds! UT also has better level design, with levels that actually flow and twist in creative ways. What does Halo 3 have to offer? Snowbound is just a wide open space with a few, ugly bases.
The FPS genre has a LOT more to offer than Halo, people. For those of you that think this is the king of the genre, you don't know what you're missing.
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5-18-2007 @ 2:53PM
Ithilis said...
Oops. My previous post was meant to be directed at #24, sorry.
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5-18-2007 @ 3:02PM
Joel Brown said...
Halo 3 has SO MANY improvements in the "little things" that you can see. Things like lighting that were never there on Halo 2. Also, things like surface reflections that were never there on Halo 2 make an appearance in Halo 3, but it happens in such a wonderfully realistic way that you don't notice it right away. After you play it for a few times you notice something is different and you say, "Hey, now I know that lighting is there but it wasn't in Halo 2!"
The word out there is that we will see the TRUE graphic improvements in the Single Player version of Halo 3, because that is when we will see more detailed versions of aliens and some of the new alien races, along with new bosses that look incredible.
Only the multi-player aspects are being tested in the Halo 3 beta right now. Gameplay is the most important part of a multiplayer game like that, and the gameplay in Halo 3 is AWESOME!!!
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5-18-2007 @ 3:06PM
ccc said...
I personally was hoping that Bungi would have incorperated the idea of keeping it a FPS but zooming out to a 3rd while leaning against walls like Rainbow 6. Then there could have been added elements to the game. They alreay put you in 3rd when Turrets and vehicles are used. I think the thought honestly just never came up during the early stages of development.
It's ashame.
ccc
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5-18-2007 @ 3:11PM
Chris the Marketer said...
I think your on dope if you think the graphic variation "touch ups" will "blow us away" from here on out.
I love halo 3, will buy it, and gears will be collecting dust.
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5-18-2007 @ 3:17PM
CalabreZ said...
FANS OF HALO, don't be ashamed to admit the graphical leap is somewhat dissapointing. When you compare the games and start saying "yea the textures are better and blah blah blah" you are just trying to convince yourself. If it was much better, you'd get that wow factor that gears provided. In Gears, you didn't have to get into detail about the geometry and stuff like that cuz u no it was simply beautiful.
I'm a huge Halo fan and I would have liked to been impressed. But still, the game is excellent and there's room for improvement.
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5-18-2007 @ 3:19PM
Service_Games said...
YIKES! They really are a lot more similar than I had expected (and unfortunately, I had rather low expectations). I really don't see much more than a few more normal maps and some better reflections.
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5-18-2007 @ 3:22PM
:( said...
Of course the people selling the game say it'll look 10x better when it's out...
The graphics seem nice but they lack an extra flair to set it apart from anything else, same goes for the gameplay which looks unchanged.
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5-18-2007 @ 3:39PM
Toph said...
Goldeneye 007 still plays excellent and unique, much like Halo..:)
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5-18-2007 @ 3:47PM
Anthony33 said...
I want to respond to anyone who thinks that this game won't look better in the next few months. I happen to think it will and to prove my point a little back-story is necessary. When Bungie was purchased by MS they needed to switch Halo from a Mac exclusive to the Xbox platform. Time was running out and many people doubted how the game (not just graphics) would come together. I also remember a similar last second rush when it came to Halo 2.
It seems this time, Bungie is far ahead of where they were with Halo 1 and 2 and has a large amount of time to tweak graphics that they haven't had in the past. I'm not going to lie that I am worried about the graphics, but I am more than confidant in Bungie who, as some people know, has always been known for their graphical abilities.
Lastly, let's not compare apples with oranges. Gears of War is nothing like Halo and as a Halo fan I'm happy with that. I bought Gears the day it came out and was, ironically, very disappointed. What I was disappointed in was the gameplay and how poorly implemented their cover system is (play R6:V for a real cover system). The graphics blew me away, but I haven't touched that game nearly as much as I have Halo 2.
So, in conclusion, let's wait and see how this all turns out and be happy that the Beta plays as well as it does.
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5-18-2007 @ 6:25PM
cfsage said...
what a let down, why bother with this game when we have Gears to keep us happy
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5-18-2007 @ 6:27PM
cfsage said...
in response to #36, this game won't look any different once the final is released, maybe some nicer textures, but an entire reworking of models and environments take a whole lot of time, so I wouldn't count on that. They are done as far as it looks, the beta is only to narrow in on the bugs before a Sept release
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5-18-2007 @ 6:51PM
Boff said...
At the end of the day gameplay is what makes a game, if it hasn't got that then the graphics don't even matter.
I had a quick bash of it lunchtime and only had time for one game but it felt pretty good. Looked good too I thought. No it didn't blow me away like Gears but I wasn't expecting it to.
And I was a PS2 boy so never played Halo 1&2!
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5-18-2007 @ 7:48PM
Tom said...
I'm not expecting it to look as good as Gears of War, but I hope it atleast ends up looking as good as Mass Effect, RB6, or GRAW. Right now everything looks like it's made of plastic, but that's not a criticism of the graphics per se, but rather it's a criticism of the art style, which is bland, and the unimaginative design choices.
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