- Jul 29, 2001
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http://xbox360.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3147170&did=13
Evidence continues to mount that EA is taking the high road in bringing its current library to the 360. Company reps stopped by the office today with a copy of the upcoming Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and gave a pleasantly surprising demo. If you thought the game looked good on your Xbox, wait until you see what EA's been able to do with it.
Improving the look was one of the top priorities from the time the team decided to do the port. That makes sense, of course, considering the heat other games have taken for lazy efforts that fall well short of what the new hardware can do. But you might not expect the developers to take a current game and rework 100% of the art. That's what's been done, because the desire isn't just to look better -- it's to have a game you pull out to show off just how good a game can look in HD on your new 360.
That's a pretty tall order, but from the way things are shaping it could be attainable. From the first glance it's easy to see a significant upgrade in the look. Yes, part of that could be the jump from the usual SD Xbox to seeing it in HD on 360, but there's definitely more at work. Every piece of the game -- guns, vehicles, buildings...whatever -- looks really clean and nice. There's neither an unnatural shininess nor the over-worked look that can creep in when a game is made "next-gen." What is here is a skilled use of the shaders in the 360 for a believable look.
And the thought of playing it on the 360-ized version of Live makes it that much better, and not solely for the multiplayer. In current generation machines, Modern Combat had a well thought-out system of ranks and awards tied to how you completed each mission. The setup couldn't be better made for Live achievements if it tried. And it goes without saying -- the experience of managing and playing online with the 360 could give the PC version of Battlefield a real run for its money.
If you already played the game on PS2 or Xbox, getting psyched up for the single-player campaign might be a little more difficult. Essentially, the time spent refining the game creates the equivalent of a director's cut DVD. The A.I. has been tweaked to be a little more responsive and spawns have been managed to cut out that annoying habit of the game dropping a squad of guys into the area you just cleared. One thing veterans of the current version will appreciate is the ability to hot swap without line of sight. This cures the need to make multi-hop jumps to get to the soldier you need in a tight spot.
While all of that might not bring you back for the single-player, packaged with the hefty visual upgrade and improved Live play it could be a lot harder to resist. A chance to spend some real multiplayer time with game should help shed some light on whether that will be enough. Until then check out the latest crop of screens on the media page.
Evidence continues to mount that EA is taking the high road in bringing its current library to the 360. Company reps stopped by the office today with a copy of the upcoming Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and gave a pleasantly surprising demo. If you thought the game looked good on your Xbox, wait until you see what EA's been able to do with it.
Improving the look was one of the top priorities from the time the team decided to do the port. That makes sense, of course, considering the heat other games have taken for lazy efforts that fall well short of what the new hardware can do. But you might not expect the developers to take a current game and rework 100% of the art. That's what's been done, because the desire isn't just to look better -- it's to have a game you pull out to show off just how good a game can look in HD on your new 360.
That's a pretty tall order, but from the way things are shaping it could be attainable. From the first glance it's easy to see a significant upgrade in the look. Yes, part of that could be the jump from the usual SD Xbox to seeing it in HD on 360, but there's definitely more at work. Every piece of the game -- guns, vehicles, buildings...whatever -- looks really clean and nice. There's neither an unnatural shininess nor the over-worked look that can creep in when a game is made "next-gen." What is here is a skilled use of the shaders in the 360 for a believable look.
And the thought of playing it on the 360-ized version of Live makes it that much better, and not solely for the multiplayer. In current generation machines, Modern Combat had a well thought-out system of ranks and awards tied to how you completed each mission. The setup couldn't be better made for Live achievements if it tried. And it goes without saying -- the experience of managing and playing online with the 360 could give the PC version of Battlefield a real run for its money.
If you already played the game on PS2 or Xbox, getting psyched up for the single-player campaign might be a little more difficult. Essentially, the time spent refining the game creates the equivalent of a director's cut DVD. The A.I. has been tweaked to be a little more responsive and spawns have been managed to cut out that annoying habit of the game dropping a squad of guys into the area you just cleared. One thing veterans of the current version will appreciate is the ability to hot swap without line of sight. This cures the need to make multi-hop jumps to get to the soldier you need in a tight spot.
While all of that might not bring you back for the single-player, packaged with the hefty visual upgrade and improved Live play it could be a lot harder to resist. A chance to spend some real multiplayer time with game should help shed some light on whether that will be enough. Until then check out the latest crop of screens on the media page.
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