Thursday, January 8, 2009

Naughty Dog, Realtime Graphics, and Comparisons!

Since the unveiling of the Uncharted 2 footage just before and during the Spike TV awards many have been questioning and speculating about the visuals they received concerning gameplay. Naughty Dog has of course responded to the skepticism and has stated the trailers were rendered using the title's in-game engine. Given history one would have right to doubt and question these things. Sony once before tried to pull a fast one on us with the unveiling footage of killzone 2. Sony showed us what was CGI footage and attempted to pass it off as in-game graphics; however, Naughty Dog was quick to note that they have a good track record with showing game footage they claim was in-game, but how genuine is their claim? Is their track record credible?

Naughty Dog in a few interviews after the release of the original game claimed the character models in both cut scenes and in-game are one and the same. According to ND the characters use the exact same textures and polygons. I have decided to test that claim.


Due to the default nature of the in game camera it would be hard to see any similarities between in-game models and those in cut scenes. The problem is that the camera is set back to far away; however, there are several times and places where the camera can be zoomed in allowing you to get a closer look at these in-game models. After working around with the camera in these select situations I was able to do some close up capturing of the in-game characters. Hopefully with this comparison any doubt can be laid to rest concerning Naughty Dog and their credibility with in-game and trailer/cut scene graphics.

Click on the images to view them in their original 720p full resolution.


In these images one particular thing to note is Drake's gun harness.

Cut scene


In-Game



The focus here is Drake's hair.

Cut scene

In-Game

In-Game




Cut scene
In-Game




Notice Drake's hands.
Cut scene
In-Game


Here the focus in on the face, gun, and general upper body.

Cut scene

In-Game
In-Game


It seems that Naughty Dog was not telling a tall tale concerning the character models. The cut scene model appear to be same as the in-game models just only zoomed in. It is amazing how well the characters look that close up in-game, but how good are they compared to a similar rival in the genre? How does Uncharted stand up to the Crown Xbox graphics king, Gears of War 2? The following comparison was made at the request of friends from GAF and the Gamespot Forums.

Click on the images to view them in their original 720p full resolution.






























One thing I noticed in Gears of War 2 was that there seems to be some strange blurring effect going. I have no idea as to why this was happening, but I had to redo some character shots because some of the subjects would come out blurred. I had to set my software to capture every individual frame coming in so I could discard the blurry captures from the non blurry ones. Below are some examples of the strange blurring I noticed.









More images are coming soon. I have yet to upload the comparison of enemies and other secondary characters. I also will have images of smoke and explosive effects to compare. Stay tuned!

Also to all the Sony fanboys, Gears' gameplay >>>>>>>>>>>>> Uncharted.

Kinetic Ninja out!
*Disappears surreptitiously into the tenebrae of the taciturn night. . . to play Gears of War II *

19 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. How bored are you? Uncharted runs in a higher native resolution, and stream loads. Gametrailers, a reputable website.. called Uncharted the best looking console game out.

    Not only are all the Gears models lower polygon, their normal mapped details are lower resolution and are pixelating. Thats what you are seeing. The blur is a gaussian blur that the unreal engine uses to fake better ligthing/fx. Its the cheap way of doing Motion blur, when your hardware can't handle individual motion vectors per objects, Like Uncharted can.

    Graphically, you wont find any dev community that thinks that the Unreal Engine is capable of running 1/2 of what uncharted runs on screen, in the resolution, and with the framerate. Sorry man.

    But this is just pointless to point out how bad gears looks compared to Uncharted. The details on the Gears characters are all normal maps. Drake has pockets and actual belts/bullets on him.

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  3. Will doesn't know what he's talking about lol,infact u're just a troll talking out of his ass,what the fuck are you talking about resolutions? uncharted runs at 720p so does geow2,Geow2 has a lot more going than uncharted when it comes to A.Is on the screen,destructability and post processing filters and the games runs between 35 and 40fps and uncharted is only 30fps game with sceen tearing all over the place,and this blog is biased 100%

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  4. BagofSuck you're using bs to combat bs....that's just BS. There is NOTHING particularly out of the ordinary with Gears AI.

    All of this is funny. both games are doing different things with different art styles. I'm no fan of the Unreal Engine 3 because of the nasty popups and not so hot textures but that doesn't mean Gears of War 2 looks bad.

    Both games are a solid graphical showcase for different reasons. End of story.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. uncharted destroys gears 2...damn, and thats pretty much the best 360 can put out.

    the weakest spots in uncharted for me is the flat detail on drakes shirt and his shoulder holster, both of which have been remedied in uncharted 2.

    the 360 needs to up its game seriously.

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  7. @jared...too bad Gears 2 pushed the 360 to the max. Funny how you are comparing Uncharted 1 which is basically a launch title to a 4th generation 360 title lol...this site is a joke. Uncharted 2 will dominate anything on the box and so will Killzone 2 and MGS4 and ... lol

    Oh and Will was right when he said Uncharted runs at a higher native rez cause if you knew anything about anything you would know that gears has a native rez of about 560p and is upscaled to 720p. Suck on it losers

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  8. Thank you for the comparison. I assume just graphics wise both machines are simular but Xbox360 Developer seem to be less dedicated and more corporate driven then the companys that work exclusive for Sony (Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Guerrilla and of course their own Computer Studios) It is just sad to see that multiplatform Games drag down the overall quality of Games in the past few years. I would like to see more exclusives on each platform that uses the whole potential of the dedicated console.

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  9. Awhile back I did my own comparison of these two games and I came to the conclusion that Uncharted 2 is easily the more graphically advanced game.

    Uncharted has better lighting, better textures, better effects, better character models, and well...it pretty much wins in every category.

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  10. Oh, and I think Uncharted's gameplay is better than Gears of War's. More varied and interesting, in my opinion. I also think the cover system works better.

    Uncharted is one of my very favorite games this generation.

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  11. LOL! Next time Sony dick-lick, don't use PC versions of games running with textures and effects on low to make 360 games look bad in comparison to 360 games. You're fooling nobody with this BS, disingenuous comparison.

    As to the asshat who claimed Gears 2 runs in 560p, you're dumb as shit too. The game runs in native 720p and upscales to 1080p. It's already been confirmed on beyond 3d you stupid cocksuck.

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  12. Just to reiterate my point, that's not even Gears 2. PC version of the original Gears running with effects on low.

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  13. yo joe blow... it woudn't matter. Uncharted is technically on the same gen as gears 1. So it wouldn't matter which title it was compared too. And for those who say geow2 gameplay >>>>> uncharted2. Come on, marcus and DOM move like bulky boxed robots. They aren't even mo-capped like drake.

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  14. Hey Joe, I like how it shows a XBL box popping up on one of the pics above =p

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  15. Lol joe_H
    you fail, since some of the Gears screenshots say use B to melee, which is in the 360 version, get over it man.

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  16. u guys make no sense if u want to know how hard can unreal engine go check the new batman game look the graphics and like one of u said the engine its use for different things uncharted is an aventure game it doesnt have multiplayer and its not bloody like gears in the other hand gears focused in multiplayer and blood thats the different gears a 3rd person shooting game, uncharted is a 3rd person anventure game.

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  17. Am i the only one that will just throw this out there. both games are great works of art and achievement. really when you aren't picking each game apart piece by piece they look very similar. that being said. Uncharted does look better than gears 1 and 2. not by a lot. but it is still noticaebly better.

    just remember, it doesn't even really matter. they're both amazing games and if you own a ps3 *which I do...you should be happy for uncharted. if you own an xbox 360 just be happy you have gears of war to play.

    quit worrying about minor details like this and just get along as gamers who appreciate the incredible graphics and artistry that we are able to achieve in gaming. think of how far it has advanced throughout history and how far graphics and immersion will advance in the future.

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