GameTrailers: Gears of War 2 Comparison of War

GT writes: "We put both gears under the microscope to see what's upgraded, and what's the same."

[Condoleezza Rice]

The graphics haven't seen a big improvement(They looked awesome in GeOW 1 so I really didn't expect them to look uber realistic this time around),the lighting has been improved though,you can def' see more detail in the Lancer

edit:I just noticed the blood looks to be slightly lighter and toned down in GeOW2,bummer :(

[sonarus]

Well Gears 2 looks better but marginally so. About as marginal as usual sequel is on most consoles. Sort of like how GodOW2 looked better than GodOW 1.

[JokesOnYou]

the colors, the textures, but YOU guys say the game hasn't improved much? ha ha Are you guys serious? Look at the comparison, the game looks awesome, so why do sony loyalists make sure they jump on Gears threads so quickly to downplay the game?.... oh wait nevermind, silly question, this is the alternate reality known as n4g.

JOY

[sonarus]

Yea. Its hard to top gears 1 visually

[Tmac]

@ JokesOnYou

You really need to calm down, let's not forget the amount of hype that was coming with this in-game trailer. I have to admit I was expecting a lot more from the graphics department, comparing this to Killzone 2 (it's inevitable) Gears of War 2 did not deliver the graphics to rival KZ2.

Gears of War 2 will certainly, no doubt in my mind set the bench mark for graphics and game play on the Xbox 360, but that's where it stops.

[justgamez]

That was not a good video comparison. I am playing Gears right now in the background and they made it look darker and a little muted in this comparison. There is no doubt the game has seen some visuals upgrades but they are minor. That isn't a bad thing considering how excellent the original is but let's not make it out to be more then it actually is.

This generation of gaming suffers severely from over hyped product that usually never lives up to the hype. I hope Gears 2 breaks this streak. The original was plagued with glitches and frame drops when playing online. Epic created a lot of patches but they usually fixed some problems and added new ones. I hope that same doesn't hold true for this one because the dueling chainsaws have me squirming in fear of a whole new set of glitches. Since a lot of the glitches in the original were based around the chainsaw.

This game definitely looks like they added some nice detail, a little punch in the color palette, some new animations and gameplay elements, but OMG mind blowing visual new never before seen eyegasm it's not.

[Condoleezza Rice]

WHY is it that whenever a person differs in opinion and states a truth,he/she is automatically a Sony loyalist?

Downplay the game?Are you SERIOUS?lol,if you knew how much I love this game,you wouldn't utter such a comment.

Here are the things I immediately noticed in GeOW 2:Lighting has improved,Framerate looks to be silky smooth(still at 30FPS though),you can now fight against the Brumack,and finally;The graphics look very much like GeOW 1.Now is this a bloody bad thing?Heck no,as GeOW 1 STILL outdoes the majority of Xbox 360 games when it comes to the graphics department.

Anyways,I didn't fall in love with GeOW 1 because of the damn graphics;It was the gameplay.So before you start pointing the 'Sony loyalist' finger at people,take a step back and look at what you're doing

[CrazyMystical]

.

[steck67]

Not really a HUGE improvement but it did improve in some spots. They still got about 6 months to improve the rest of the stuff, so im sure it will look better by then.

[chaosatom333]

i think it is fair to compare it to god of war series.

God of war 1 was awesome and God of war 2 is equally awesome, but with bigger more epic setting with some cool moves.

I don't think it will bring more audience than it already has, but will certainly satisfy the audience it has.

I mean come on, they got only two years and to think that they will surpass graphics set by Killzone 2 or uncharted is unrealsitic.

An overall improvements in all region is better game, then becoming a graphics whore.

[Kami]

there is a minimal difference between them, i think UT3 looked better(360) but still looks good, so por favor! stop posting $hit my fanfriends.

[prowiew]

I still think gears 1 is the best 360 game, but somehow im not that hype for the sequel. weird.

[alexM]

http://www.jeuxvideo.tv/vid...

4:05

http://www.gamersyde.com/ne...

XBUTTTS owned FOREVER

they should rename GEARS2 as GAME with 0 AI....BRUMACK doesnt respond after being hit!!!!

the graphics look crap vs UNCHARTED

so not to even mention KZ2

[Daz]

YOU are one sad person. hope you die or get shoot be good for you.

[Kazuo Hirai]

This new trailer is nothing but Donkey vomit,Killzone 2 makes this game look like a Gameboy Advance title

[power of Green]

You keep showing that pic of that gun when KillZone's charactor models and textures are inferior lol. Both games are not finished and we all know developemnt on the 360 can speed along.

[alexM]

a single character in KZ2 eg the GUN has more poly/textures than an entirer scene in GEARS2.

It doesnt even look as good as UNCHARTED .

How would it challenge KZ2?

MART aka POG you have 10 accounts here

Others MART and POG are the same person

http://www.n4g.com/ViewComI...

http://resistance100.wordpr...

http://resistance100.wordpr...

[power of Green]

Don't make a new account when you hit one bubble please.

[PlayStation360]

I can't agree with you about KillZone's charactor models and textures being inferior. I mean even you said in the same comment Both games are not finished. And Kill is at an advantage being this great looking and still having 3+ months more time to develop than Gears2.

However, I also can't agree with my PS3 bros. Gears2 still looks beautiful. And you best believe I'm getting it come November (Limited Edition). I mean sure, I am one of the dudes who sees Kill2 being the better looking at the moment. And I wait in cruel anticipation for that game. Absolutely. But that does not take away the fact that Gears is still one hell of a game to see/play.

No need to argue which is better looking. Both look dope as hell. And I bet both will sell like crazy.

Hell, instead of arguing like this, we need to hope ol' Jack"ass" Thompson won't try to go after Gears2/Killz2. :(

[power of Green]

He doctored the 360 gow 2 pic by making it blurry and used a CGI pic of killzone lol.

[PlayStation360]

I don't know bro. They showed hands-on gameplay of K2. And it looked just like that when they played it. Hell yeah it looks like CGI. That's why everyone is so blown away.

Hell, people refuse to believe its gameplay. That's how crazy it looks. So when it's released, and the possibility for even better graphics, and when people know it's real. People are gonna be even more awe struck. I can't wait dude.

And as for the blurry G2 pic. You ain't gotta convince me bro. I know it looks dope. Already got it reserved :).

[power of Green]

I'v seen the KZ2 gameplay this isn't a KZ2 thread. KZ2 has the main charactor very detailed thats it!, the rest of the game doesn't messure up. no more killzone man I'll join you in killzone threads.

[Tmac]

Power of green, you really do seem delusional, almost every one has admitted that Killzone 2 has the best graphics to date, except for yourself and some of the other Xbox fanatics.

The fact is everyone is praising Killzone 2 because it DOES look like CGI, that's how impressive it is.

[Blademask]

That CGI pic is killzone2's gameplay. The link that Kaz made.

Yes, the 360 uses such advanced textures that it looks exactly like the first one. Give me a break

Killzone's characters are higher resolution, as well as their texturemaps. 2k maps are used J U S T for the faces normal maps,diffiuse maps,bump maps, spec/reflection maps.

Please don't pretend that the UNREAL engine which is KNOWN for shortcuts with geometry using normal maps to show detail all of a sudden is capable.

[Pain]

Sorry but its true. You kids can thank old-gen Xbox 360 Hardware and DVD9 for that.

[zapass]

it's exactly as predicted: just a tiny better than 1.0 and to compensate for the massive shortcomings, we have a huuuuuuuuuuge overconfident hyping effort that stinks just as much as halo 2.1 LMFAO!

I must say, I had a good laugh cuz at some point it reminded me of Republican Space Rangers, they look and sound just as dumb LOL!!

Cliff B: good try but you failed

[zethos56]

I think you spend most of your life on n4g. You're always the first to post on news like this.

[Obama]

Pow is truely delusional, and that's why he should support Hillary instead of me.

[Blademask]

Gears 2 is coming out end of 08..

And the difference is Minimal.

There was all this smack talk about how Gears was going to show off a New bar of graphics. I guess they set the bar oh so high in 2006 that they didn't bother makign drastic improvements. Yeah.. right *rolls eyes*

Lets just hope in the bigger better gears, the net code works, host doesn't have neo-like speed, and we get more than 8 people.

I'll tell you one thing, that graphical limitation wall is staring microsoft dead in the face right now.

[Daz]

I do agree with some of what you said but you cant judge on one video because one level might show of better then a big open level where you stuck on a tank thing:P.

YOU have your opinion i have mine, happy gaming if your not a fanboy :/

[TresTrendu]

Ok you guy's are really funny. Killzone2 look's exactly or actually most of you say better than the e3 2005 trailer. But gear's only looks a little bit better, alway's a lose-lose situation. But hey to each to his own i guess.

[trikster40]

If any level is going to look better, it is going to be one like this because it is on rails and a lot of procedures that would normally use the processor can be used for other resources. Most of the backgrounds do not have to be real-time rendered because you do not have to worry about a player interacting with them, and AI is cut down because most of the things going on are scripted.

I do have to say I am disappointed because they were talking about how the new version of the UE allows them to have 100 characters on screen. I didn't think they meant 100 guys on a battlefield where there is no interaction with them.

I definitely think this game will deliver though regardless of whether people think it looks better or not. Like you said, this is just one level. I am sure they chose the one they had optimized the most to show off, so let's hope further videos down the line can hold up to the scrutiny they are sure to gather.

All I want is a more cohesive story (one that actually goes somewhere), coop online, and some cool new weapons. I could really care less if it looks better than Gears 1...it's not like the first one looked too shabby in the first place lol.

[Milky]

Surely they would show the best looking level they have running, so I reckon that level will be one of the best-looking in the whole game.

[Kazuo Hirai]

put down those sleeping pills and come to us,we will make everything better for you and your filthy friends

[Daz]

They look both good to me and i be getting both. NIce comparision . NOt :P

[Nadine Coyle]

KAZ, DESCRIBING WORD, VERB

KAZ = A SELF DILLUSIONAL PERSON WHO HAS NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN MAKE PITTIFULL COMMENTS ABOUT OTHERS WHICH NOT ONLY DOWNGRADE HIM AND HIS PERSONALITY BUT ALSO GIVE HIS CONRADES A BAD IMAGE. KAZ OFTEN FINDS HIM SELF WITH MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS WILLING TO BOOST HIS BUBBLES UP SO HE CAN CONTINUE MAKING HIM SELF LOOK AND FELL LIKE AN IDIOT. KAZES MIND IS CORRUPTED WITH ONLY ONE SIDE OF THE ARGUMENT. HE IS BLIND TO EVERYTHING ELSE THAT DOES NOT CO EXIST WITH HIS 'TRUTH'.

CURE: THEIR IS NO CURE. ONCE YOUR IN HIS STATE OF MIND, I AM AFRAID TO SAY THEIR IS NO HOPE LEFT IN THE GAMING WORLD.

HOW TO STOP THE PLAUGE CALLED KAZ.
THE BEST WAY IS TO JUST SCROLL OVER HIS COMMENTS. NOT READING OR REPLYING WILL JUST MAKE YOU SEEM LIKE A BETTER MEMBER. ARGUING AGAINST HIM WILL JUST LEAD TO ONE PATH.THE PATH WHICH HAS NO RETURN.

SO MY ADVICE IS TOO IGNORE HIM AND DONT GIVE HIM WHAT HE WANT, ATTENTION.

J U M P I N & P L A Y B E Y O N D
NEWS FOR GAMERS NOT ADDICTS FOR FANBOYS.

GOOD GAMING

[Kaz Hirai]

Keep up the good work, Kazuo Hirai!

33 days until Judgment Day, Nazisoft!

MWAH-HA-HA-HA!!!

[Tmac]

You need to calm down before you have a heart-attack "All-Caps Kid".

[Nadine Coyle]

LOL :)

it is a joke i thought the whole purpose of the open zone was to have a laugh and not take no one seriously.

:)

[Xlll]

Well you failed. This game looks like @$$. This is what you xbots are comparing to KZ2? Your joking right? Enjoy smears of war 1.1

[tweaker]

GeoW2 was supposedly the second half of GeoW1 but it couldn't fit on a DVD disc. Smart move Epic. Split one to make two. ;)

[iceice123]

I also hear from the same people that Bush caused Hurricane Katrina and he caused 9/11!

Get out of here with that sh­it.

[Blademask]

and its true.

Bar nudged.

[Xlll]

Icewake just cause Gears still looks the same you can still enjoy your homo fantasies while watching your smeared hero run around. Sadly this is all your 360 can handle in terms of visuals.

[DiabloRising]

Looks good, but I'm still not a fan of "uber muscle guys" and the everything covered in vasoline, BLOOM LIGHTING up the ass, or hi we are all made of plastic look of the U3 engine.

Question is will the gameplay offer something new, or will it still be Kill.Switch + ?

Ah well, let the totally pointless and inane comparisons between this and KZ2 and Resistance 2 commence... *sigh*

[crck]

Hope the campaign lasts longer this time around though. Its good to be a gamer. Gears vs Resistance part 2. Can't wait.

[yanikins111]

Redundant much?

[jackdoe]

Looks like the meat of the improvements went towards number of characters on screen and the overall scope of the game. Those Brumak fights look epic.

[Milky]

I agree that the bulk used was for scope of game but I dont agree that the brumak or whatever fights look epic.

JUST MY OPINION

[DailyAddict]

First of all, LOL at HD DVD's comment. That was pretty damn funny in how random it was.

Second, this side by side comparison really shows that ultimately the game didn't change too much graphically beyond the fact that they gave it more color. It's not as grey toned as the first, but the improvement is so minimal that ultimately you have to go through it with a fine tooth comb.

Is this to say that the 360 is maxed out? Maybe. But not necessarily. Gears 1 was pushed pretty hard for the system and seeing as how it come out relatively early in the console's life it's an easy argument to say that if 2 years later go by and you can't improve that much then you might be maxed out.

I don't want to go as far as saying that I think the 360 has all ready been maxed out in terms of graphics, as that would be a damn shame (2 years and it's maxed out... sounds like Dreamcast reborn), but I will say that if a company as great of designers as these guys are - and they are utilizing that sick ass Epic engine - ouldn't improve the graphics 2 years later, then it doesn't look all that hopeful for a lot of other companies.

However, I don't recall them ever saying that they were going to improve the graphics (?). Time and time again I've heard them mention Bigger and Better and from the looks of this trailer, that's exactly what it looks like. The world seems a little bigger and there are tweaks to the engine. Graphically, it's almost the same, but there's no denying that the game looks even more fun to play.

[jackdoe]

Rather than improving the eye candy, the developers improved the code to allow more characters on screen and allow Brumak(s) on the 360. Epic did improve the engine this go around, just not so much in terms of texture and character model work (hell, they may be reusing the same character models from the first; 2 year turn around for development with the same team AND director is kind of rushing it). More behind the scenes improvement though. They may have added destructable environments, but nothing in the announcement vid shows this.

[voice_of_ reason]

It's hard to take anything you say seriously... "Why waist time changing something that already stellar." You can hardly manage to put a sentence together. "Me edonus, me like talk" ...that's how grammatically bad your whole argument is. But I'll help you out! It's "waste" not "waist"... it's "that is or that's" not just "that"... and finally, you asked a question but ended the sentence with a period. If you're going to try and make a point, at least sound like you're older than 10.

[Boldy]

"Gears 1 was pushed pretty hard for the system and seeing as how it come out relatively early in the console's life it's an easy argument to say that if 2 years later go by and you can't improve that much then you might be maxed out."

GamePro- Having worked on Xbox 360, from a technology standpoint, how much more do you think the system can be pushed with future games?

Cliff Bleszinski- I think there's plenty of room to push and experiment when it comes to physics and AI and real-time lighting. I think we've only scratched the surface of what we can do with gameplay as well as the 360. There's far more potential down the road to do more stuff. As amazing as I think Gears is, and my gut tells me I still love playing it, I think we have a really incredible experience; I think we'll definitely push it further if we get around to doin a new version in the future.

http://www.gamepro.com/news...

Lets recap here. Do I go with the person that did not develop the game and just assuming that it pushed it almost to the max, or do I go with the actual game developer.

I think I'm gonna go with Cliff here.

[name]

I won't be able to play gears 2(I only have a PS3 and a gaming PC), but people really need to stop this crap. Gears 1's graphics were already great enough, but it's not graphics alone that carried gears. It's the gameplay and the enviornments. I really, really like the art design of gears and I'm happy it's sorta merging with UT3 as far as enviornments go. It'll be a great game I'm sure of it. Hopefully it arrives on PC soon after so I can play it. Stop the comparasin crap. For most of you, you won't be able to play one of them anyway so why do you care?

[pwnmaster3000]

is it me or those gears 1 look better and the AI is better to.
the gears one looks more nicer and gears 2 look more washed out, but it has many month to go so yeah i wont hate, 360 fan should do the same and dont hate on killzone and resistance

[JVIDICAN]

one is finished and other isnt
to early to say

[name]

Most people expected gears 2 to not have as much of an impact this time because Gears 1 got the attention it had because it was the first real next gen looking game. This time there's actual competition.

[pwnmaster3000]

i think so to i kno hella people that wont buy gears 2 because they didnt like gears 1 and there pro 360 and some have both ps3 and 360

[AngryXbot]

confirmed.

[sheng long]

I've said this many times before, don't expect Gears 2 to look that much better than the first. If anything, it will be a small improvement. That doesn't mean the game won't be fun, i'll probably drop countless hours into that game as i did with Gears 1.

[snakeater3]

wait wait....sony fanboy here ....but i must say....gears 2 looks phenomenal ...well done epic...well done 360 hardware ...kudos to ms. whats fair is fair right?

[anh_duong]

it looked good to me

[DJ]

All the resources in the world, two years of development, and this is it? Looks like the 360 really did hit its limit.

[pshizle]

and killzone2 AI is still Retarded

[Ludwig]

tech-wise I see a lot of improvement, A LOT.. I think we are back at the "gamers can't tell art from tech" again.. and again..

[beavis4play]

the more you post, the less intelligent you sound.

[599 US Dollars]

BOTH GAMES LOOK F*CKING AMAZING! GLAD ALL YOU MORON DROIDS WHO NEVER EVEN PLAYED THE FIRST GAME COMPLAINED ABOUT IT BEING "GREY". NOW LOOK HOW VIBRANT IT IS, AND HUNDREDS OF GUYS ON SCREEN, AND RUNNING AT A BOOSTED 60 FRAMES A SECOND THIS TIME. LMFAO. OWNED.

PS3 IS F*CKING FINISHED.

[kingboy]

I remember when they claimed this can`t be done on ps3,probably even better if they have the chance to. hahaha..it`s funny how times have change

[Ludwig]

We are years away from realtime radiosity? O really?
http://br.youtube.com/watch...

Halo3 has a light bounce solution, it's not real radiosity by any means but it's ahead of UE3/KZ2 engines ambient light by a mile.

[Ludwig]

The worst of hardware/console flame wars is that the majority doesn't really understand how the tech works and how it's relevant.

90% judge "technology" based on visuals.. which is very much a huge mistake. Silent Hill series has been the most realistic looking games back til now, yet .. technology-wise it's very weak.

Frequently I see people judge how good a game technology is by "how much color" it has .. wtf?...

Here in gears we have a very hefty technology update, draw distance/unit count etc.. ARE graphical improvements because they give freedom to reproduce much more cinematic scenes to the artists.

Also, textures are at least 2x higher resolution, there's more material overlays (less frequent use of metalic shader, giving place to more materials.)

We finally have Ambient Occlusion (missing from Gears 1 .. but mario galaxy have it o_O pretty weird Gear 1 fail to have it .. and btw, Killzone2 doesn't have it.)

Killzone2 looks great and that is enough within it's purpose, but the light isn't dyanamic (baked.) , there's no realtime radiosite algorithm.. unlike crysis/gears2 (now)/Halo 3 and a few other games.

It affects a game within the mechanics, there won't be change from night to day (unless they bake it too.) which is a very tatical change for certain maps.

In conclusion, if you trust your eyes you have to shut your mouth because what you see isn't always what you have and there's way more to it than it seems.

[Ghoul]

Ludwig no offense but claiming noone know the tech behind a game when criticising you know shocking less of the game you claim to know about.

Gow2 has a very great engine, but stop telling crap you dont know jack s..t about.

beeing into gamedevelopment for some time now i can assure you that kz2 has the most advanced lighting engine ever created for a realtime game, if you can devour some tech documents have a go

http://www.guerrilla-games....
http://www.unrealtechnology...

"
90% judge "technology" based on visuals.. which is very much a huge mistake. Silent Hill series has been the most realistic looking games back til now, yet .. technology-wise it's very weak."

in fact you made the same mistake, for ME gran turismo is by far the most realistic game ever as they (polyphony) are masters in faking realism through tricky coding instead of sheer horsepower of a gpu

"textures are at least 2x higher resolution,"
with ue2 allready usnig 2048x2048 you would suggest they use 4096² wich is utter nonsense, the texres stayed at the same level.

"Killzone2 looks great and that is enough within it's purpose, but the light isn't dyanamic (baked.)"

Kz2 has Dynamic light all the way if you can devour the tech read some docs. kz2 has an incredible realtime lighting engine.

"there's more material overlays (less frequent use of metalic shader, giving place to more materials.) "

do you even know what your talking about ??? a less frequent use of a certain shader doesnt give you more materials its up to the devs if tehey decide wich materials to produce for wich scene via shaders and wich not, gears 1 and 2 has will frequently reuse the shaders and i HIGHLY doubt you can even make a difference in those shaders when seeing them.

"a very hefty technology update, draw distance/unit count etc.. "

whatever dude what we see here is professionals at work advancing theyre engine, a hefty update is ue4 wich is in devlopment and set to release in 2010 earliest, but that goes how you define the word "hefty"

gow2 engine updates include, wich are great additions to keep the engine up to date.

Ambient occlusion
Realtime Mesh destruction calculation based on impact calculation
Specular calculation improved
Softbody
Dynamic fluids
Character isntancing

[mistertwoturbo]

Well if the technology you speak of doesn't improve the game's Visuals, then what's the point of using it? Although I'm buying this game day frickin one for my 360, I'm a bit disappointed seeing as how it just looks like an updated unreal engine. Gears 1 already set the bar very high, all they did with this so far was just nudge it up a bit further.

[Ludwig]

Read both those documents and many more before, it doesn't change the fact in video KZ2 is being rendered with static lights and cleary baked. (Using aditive blending to add the light from explosions/etc.)

The scenery shadows are cleary blurred with artifacts of the UV projection angles.. yay for them for using the Blu-Ray storage for all that, but it's not dynamic.

What I told you about materials is that the art team has now more options of materials to use in the scenery and characters instead of depending on metalic shaders to make it look "next-gen" hence the more realistic/bright direction in the photography and they are also using an smart solution to place them, like the tilling technology carmack uses on IDtech5 (Megatextures.) because the material use is very well spread on all objects and scenery .. and not just on specific objects.

And no, I didn't suggest they are using 4096² textures, I suggested they are using more 2048 textures, more unique textures for each surface, hence the more sharp detailing even on the characters (watch the video from Live, not youtube bullshit plz.)

[Ghoul]

"What I told you about materials is that the art team has now more options of materials to use in the scenery and characters instead of depending on metalic shaders to make it look "next-gen" hence the more realistic/bright direction in the photography and they are also using an smart solution to place them, like the tilling technology carmack uses on IDtech5 (Megatextures.) because the material use is very well spread on all objects and scenery .. and not just on specific objects."

no sorry wrong again, the amount of material shaders are not driven by the "new" engine but the decision wich to code and when to use, it jsut seems they decided to archieve a new look for the outdoorscene with new shaders. In fact the trailer havent showed any new materials at all.

The Metallic shaders you speak of is epics way of rendering normalmaps ue3 allways overshines the surfaces with a general specular to push the normalmap, thats why the ue3 allways looks a wee bit glossy and metallic, nothing more and is still the same in gow2.

"I suggested they are using more 2048 textures, more unique textures for each surface,"

wrong again. first, you did say they use 2x res
second, gow1 had faced its limits with texture space on he 360 ram (in fact it was epics bidding to ms to get 512 meg instead of the planned 256) and with the 360 having NO harddrive you cant stream stored data or store tempdata on the harddrive on level load, that easy. you will see a minor improvement in unique texture space but not the revolution you speak off.

"they are also using an smart solution to place them, like the tilling technology carmack uses on IDtech5 (Megatextures.)"

They are not. They do have theyre own streamtech wich is great to archive enough different textures on screen, but it has nothing to do with carmacks tech5 engine you mentioned. such massive changes to the way textures are loaded and placed, they would have to revamp the whole engine wich would be insane, they will come up with such a tech in ue4 tough.

[Ludwig]

Thx for the intolerant, passive-agressive conversation, I never said they are using real-megatextures .. I said "something like it" which is OBVIOUS.

2x more textures on screens is = 2x more res... SEMANTICS... thx for the objective technology discussion...

And again, I wasn't talking about the amount but the variety of them on the same surface. (for instance, a photorealistic human face can use up to 15 dif shaders on the same surface (Count on my latest shader.) ..

Could you at least "not" try to argue like a brat and use the arguments instead of subjective interpretation of the text? ..

[Ghoul]

dude sorry i wasnt meant to offend you, but why are you acting like that. telling everyone how advance ue3 is, and how bad kz2 when its simply not true, thats all. Its an awesome update to the u3 engine but its not the holy grail.

Your pushing the engine with untrue claims thats all.
And im suprised how much technology changes to the ue3 engine you can see through a trailer, either i missed a techsheet (or im blind) about the new update or your really only assuming those improvements , couse the trailer really didnt made the impression for me to claim such improvements to the engine.

[Ludwig]

Actally I don't find either to be the holy grail, those technologies SHOULD be on both way long before .. I'm expecting more from Splinter Cell Conviction's engine, Project Offset, Alan Wake .. and other projects that are licensing hardcore firmware (like Geometric Enlighten.)

Halo 3 tech-wise is better than Gears2 so far, yet .. I find highly unfair to say Gears 2 didn't evolved .. it's a joke.

[Ghoul]

as this was your last bubble i try not to open new topics to be fair
i never said gears 2 didnt evolve, in fact i said it had awesome additions to keep it up to date, i really like ue3 and i totally love Gow, i like/love halo3 but also uncharted or the resistance/rathcet engine and others, so im definatly biased towards a game or company

dude i really am on your side of the boat and didnt mean to offend you a bit i was just countering your claims :) so relax.

[Tmac]

To underestimate the KZ2 engine loses you any credibility.

[LorD]

but you have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about. To say that Crysis/Halo3 and ANY other game out there has a radiosity algorithm tells me that you are just throwing around technical jargon to give the impression that you "are in the know".

There is no radiosity/global illumination in ANY commercial real time engine at the moment. We are still a few years (at best) to seeing this tech in a game.

To say that the lighting in KZ2 is "baked" yet again tells me you really don't know what you are talking about.

I know that Ghoul ripped your posts to shreds already.. but I just wanted to throw in my 2cents

[fenderputty]

You're an idiot. KZ2 uses both baked and realtime lighting.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

[Le-mo]

Is it just me or did Epic Game just made GeOW2 brighter and more colorful? Don't get me wrong, the game looks good, but in terms of graphical update there's not much difference. Epic Game should really develop a new engine specifically for GeOW if they want to push the capabilities of the 360.

[Kleptic]

this wasn't a good gameplay video to see what new tech actually made it into Gears 2...

that looked like Gears 1...thats either good or bad depending on how tired you are of UE3 yet...be ready for it though, you know so far this has Gears 1.5 all over it...

[kewlkat007]

if a Game is definitely improved over the first 1, YES it deserves a buy. Your a fn Fool or ignorant fanboy if you bash this game on certain MERITS.

It's rare you see "old-gen/new-gen" type difference between the first and second installments of games. (For those that praise KZ and just looks, you will be comparing PS2 vs PS3 type improvments)

The graphics will be improved in Gears2 but not so mind blowing, we are not re-inventing the game here.(Expected)

I'm more interested in the "GAMEPLAY" this time around and it's looking fn Awesome. Fix what we griped about about the first Gears and really make the game what we all want it to be.

As far as the HYPE about this game...

Expectation for this game is not that HIGH after the FIRST. The game has cemented itself already.

1. It's no longer a NEW IP/Franchise
2. Gears of War by many, deserve it delivered.(Plenty Awards/Honors)
3. It now, has a Fan-base(Automatic Sales/Pre-Orders in the BAG) EPIC knows this.
4.The game is looking to improve on the "First Installment" with whatever Fan griped about.

One thing I do know using the new updated Unreal Engine, the game automatically improves with what they are now able to do.(EPIC showed us + Whatever the graphics will look like) When polished.

I want a game that PLAYS as good as it LOOKS. I know Gears will. You can't say the same for some other games coming out.

[liquidsnake]

Gears of War 1.5. Seriously, I couldn't see much of a difference.

[Nadine Coyle]

IT DOES, YOU LOOK AT EMBRY SQUARE THEN LOOK AT THIS YOU WILL NOW THE DIFFERANCE. THAT IS IF YOU PLAYED GEARS OF WAR.

[Xlll]

Try not using caps when making a point. Congrats on making yourself look like the retard of the week. But with all the xbots saying this game looks better the KZ2 you have a lot of competition.

[Jamaicangmr]

This is what happens when people get ahead of themselves and over hype a game. Am hard pressed to find any real improvements visually. The frame rate really didn't bother me back when i played but then again i played it on my PC. The game play looks the same except for the additional enemies and the fact that you can now use the enemy as a shield outside that not that impress cliff. I mean based on all the "Wait till GeOW2 talk coming from Xbox360 loyalist i was hopin for something stunning not the same graphics with a different story.

Many said Gears 1 maxed out the Xbox360 and this doesn't help to prove that theory wrong.

Anyway happy gaming.

[Blademask]

While you have the ps3 that is improving its graphics and gameplay, you have the 360 just improving the gameplay, because the graphics are done. The 360 has such a superior proc/mem yet no titles can prove to give.... hell, even Heavenly Sword...a run for the money. The "epic" 30 people crowd is laughable. We wont even talk about Uncharted. The cant even stream a game with complex visuals. Mass Effect just gets confused and loads stuff 30 minutes later.

I want to know why Gears2 doesn't look like its 2008. Why it made no graphical leaps. Yeah people can pretend it has higher resolution textures (with all that extra space on DVD that wasn't there the first time they made the game) but outside of that silly argument, yea.. its 1.5 gears.

Gears 1 maxed out the 360 thats why its been the fanboy default "Best looking 360 game" Because it literally is.

[AngryXbot]

I, too, laughed when they showed 30 locusts behaving idiotically. And you cant even interact with them lol.

Was that supposed to be the epic large scale battles they were talking about? lol 30 crazy locusts all running straight forward? LOL

It looked like the same footage during GDC08 when they showed a bunch of locust all running in the same direction. Except minus 20 locusts.

Lmao in the end its still 2-3 locust at a time. And these xbots thought GOW2 was gonna save them rofl.

Huge areas? Like what? Like that on rail tank battle where you are limitted to whats going on in that platform? Can you jump out and explore the forest? Rofl its on rails to give you the impression that its a huge ass battle when in fact you are stuck on that single platform.

And visuals like GOW 1.5 was revolutionary back in december 2006, you know. But in 2008, its called backwater.

[Mike134nl]

Still looks amazing. Though didn't expect a sequal would launch so quickly...
Hope it is for the better than the worse

[Vespertine]

Gears Of War was released in 2006.
Gears Of War 2 will be released in 2008.

That is a wide gap for development time.

[Tmac]

The graphics have over seen minor upgrades, but comparing it to the Killzone 2 video we've recently witnessed that wow factor just isn't there. I'm 100% the game play will be awesome, but to say the least I am disappointed with the graphics.

[Vespertine]

Why do we gamers have to compare graphics like this? The biggest thing we should be worrying about is the new gameplay Gears Of War 2 is introducing.

At some parts in the video I saw little difference between the two games but in the end I think Gears Of War 2 has the graphical edge as well as a breathtaking cinematic experience.

[Tmac]

I'm going to have to agree between the two, the difference its self is minimal.

[Ace Ventura]

Looks very similar. If no one told you... you would think they are just different parts, of the same game.

[level 360]

To all the critics - in a big way you would actually help sell this game even further., so thanks for hyping it with all your criticisms.
Once this game comes-out it will definitely sell like hotcakes, that's for sure.
Truly one of the greatest games.

[sephy 9 2 5]

Didn't think 5 million was that much to people. Sell more than Halo 3 I suppose then you could say such a thing.

[beavis4play]

of course it will sell. there isn't that much coming out for the 360 this year. and i'm curious- do hotcakes sell really well? i'm more of a french toast guy myself.

[ThaGeNeCySt]

The difference between the footage of gears of war 1 and gears of war 2 side by side in this comparison TO ME shows more than just a marginal improvement... it looks like gears of war (what'd you expect? it's a sequel of a game that wasn't a launch title on the same console) but the lighting, frame rate, anti-aliasing, colors, scope, gameplay mechanics make this game look WAAAYYY better than the original. It's no Killzone 2 (from what I've seen from the gamer's day footage) but it's going to be a great game holiday 2008.

[Vespertine]

I completely agree, you took the words right out of my mouth.

Holiday 2008 is going to a great time for gamers everywhere, especially for PS3 and Xbox 360 owners.

+ Bubble for you

[LorD]

I'd say the reason why you are not seeing a true graphical update in GOW2 is because they are simply re-using and polishing their original artwork.

To make everything from scratch again to compete with the likes of KillZone2 or Crysis would just not be financially viable.

[Spike47]

Not impressed. Though it reminds me of resistance 2. It looks as good as resistance 2 but if not a tiny bit better.

Killzone 2 is still way better in graphics than both games. The gameplay I saw was incredible in daylight.

Gears of war 2 will be a good contender for GOTY just like GTA4 and MGS4.

[fatam69]

I don't think any of you guys relise that it is a "work in progress."
But hell I just watched the trailer on xbox live and in HD the game clearly looks better than the first Gears, probable not by much but just the scale of the battle and the little tweaks that they made to the combat system and the amount of people on screen truely is amazing.

Don't know what you mean about calling Gears graphics pushing the 360 to the brim, when COD 4 looked better anyways?

[TwissT]

The two games look near identical, the only difference I see is that Gears 2 has much more colours and the lighting is much more better.

[Salta_nelas]

Well, just as i tought, its UE3.5 and the game looks practically the same as GeOW, good, but nothing breathtaking. And curiously where are the comments saying its grey? No color here too, but i guess only KZ get those comments...

IMO Uncharted still tops it, let alone Killzone.

[n4gzz]

gears 1 was good, 2 is little better than 1 but much better than many other games. so it doesn't matter if it looks slightly better than 1. It is still very good game and certainly will stands with kz2 and resistance2 line.

[heroman711]

i dont wanna be called a fanboy for saying this since i played gears 1 and i absolutely loved it, but i dont see a huge difference from gears 2 and gears 1. only difference i see is that gears 2 has better lighting

[heroman711]

i hope this comes to PC soon so i can play it

[running rampid]

gameplay tweaks look good, chainsaw duels etc. graphics wise still looking stellar but not really expecting anything extraordinary.

can't wait!

[PS360PCROCKS]

Looks good. But all that I care about is this is going to be DAMN fun! Can you say this about KZ2? nope.

[joevfx]

why cant you say that about KZ2? have you played it? FACE!!!

[beavis4play]

what you should care about is the campaign length. i hope it's longer than the 8 hrs. i needed to beat the first one. and i'd like to see some better weapons.(chainsaw was the great!) and hopefully some kind of story.(some backstory on the locust?) how many humans are left, since we never see any in gears1. why is every guy in gears looking like someone from pro wrestling? are the women that big too?(yikes!) and how does the locust make all their equipment underground?------you listening epic?

[Strife Lives]

The graphics actually look better than expect.the levels dont look as 'bland' as GeOW1 ,also,notice the lighting on the character models,they look great,but what looks better,is the how they show the MUCH more detail on Marcus has.his hair textures that could never be seen in GeOW1 ,bt,were they not shown? Or simply not there? Wow.ths game.preorder for me ASAP !

[GUNS N SWORDS]

the lighting is much improved, it's more vibrant and the framerate is way more smoother,

plus

the brumak's weapons and equipment details were textures now they are fully modeled, along with some other extra improvements.

GEARS OF WAR 1 -

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/...

(SEE THE HD VID OF GEARS2 TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE)

these improvements along with others in this new game are big enough to make it a more up-to-date 3rd generation title.

[CallOfWar22]

You can't expect Gears 2 to be a huge leap because MGS4 and Killzone 2 are making their debuts for the first time on NExt Gen. They wouldn't look like huge improvements either if they were released a year and a half ago. Resistance graphics were crap compared to Gears so they can't go anywhere but up from there. Gears 2 will redefine shooters with its amazing multiplayer and gameplay. All I want from Gears 2 is more options in the multiplayer. Better match making. No host advantage. I can already see major improvements (Chainsaw Battlings looks awesome!, Using locusts as shields!!!!, More enemies, bad ass vehicles and bosses. Story mode only lasts for a few hours and online lasts forever. Look at COD4 be success and how long was the campaign? Can't wait baby!!! Gears 2 is gonna rock the world. I once again await Emergence Day!!

[thehitman]

I thinks thats why people have claimed that this game will be like gears 1.5 because graphically no leap from the first and the graphics basically made the game. They have to do a lot of things gameplay wise in order for them to make a leap. They have proved that the gameplay will be better and Id say it looks like it could give Res2 some competition.

[joevfx]

just shows the 360 hit its graphical limits back when gears 1 came out if they cant even improve one of there flag ship titles anymore then lighting.

[rebirthofcaos]

i told you the RROD 180 is at its max. ill se how many houses burn when Gays on war 1.2 go out XD XD XD XD

[Rainne]

Sometimes I wonder why do SOnyfan boy...no i should say...sonydick boy just cry over every 360game.....is it because your father constantly raped you when you were a kid? .......awww poor baby. we understand now. I hope bashing other things you can never have help make your sore anus feel better.

[PoSTedUP]

it looks like the first 1, it looks like the first 1, just like halo, just like halo, when will they learn? when will they learn? microsoft stop killing decent franchises! gears 1 was awesome! i was gonna get gears 2 until i opened my eyes.

[hollowtipz_360]

It is hard to top gears 1 visually

[joevfx]

they look the same to me. They are trying to compair two totally different lighting situations. one is of a sunset or sunrise (gears 2)and the other is a foggy overcast evening ( gears 1) ofcoarse this is gonna make gears 2 lighting look better.

[ghostface]

First day buy for me.

[Trekster_Gamer]

I am interested in seeing the Water Effects, and some nighttime video.
These two areas I think will really show off what they have been able to
do with this amazing engine...

I watched Killzone 2 footage again and to those that think it is so much better than GOW2 they need to take another unbiased look. Don't get me wrong I am strictly a 360 fan but KZ2 looks amazing and fun as hell but to say it is really better looking that GOW2 is just not true.

[beavis4play]

uh, sorry- you need to take another unbiased look. KZ captures battle like no game i've ever seen. and yes,(now that i've seen the gears trailer) KZ is better than gears. which will be the better "game" is diff. story. we won't know this till both games are out.

[MainEventX]

I don't know why PS3 owners complain about Microsoft Exclusive games, all 360 games come to PC and look better on PC so whats the use of buying an xbox to play gear2 when when i can get it for PC just like all 360 games

[strongbad1441]

Gears 2 looks better, with a little better definition and more color, except when the head is brought close. Then it looks muddy and not as good as the original.

[Kratos_1986]

this game looks cool...but comparing it to killzone2...and after i saw the game at playstation day...gears doesnt stand a chance againts killzone 2

[JEDI WOLVERINE]

Killzone 1 graphics = 5
GeOW 1 graphics = 8

Killzone 2 graphics = 9
GeOW 2 graphics = 9

The bigger jump from the first Killzone to the second makes it look amazing and it does but because the bar was set so high on the first GeOW a massive jump is impossibile - still pretty much even though and when it comes down to gameplay........
If they are similar to the originals then GeOW will come out on top.

[DomUltra]

Your really only lying to yourself if you believe that Killzone 2 is only on "par" with Gears of War 2.

[LevDog]

Whats funny is KZ1 was on ps2 and he is comparing it to a 360 game.. IDIOT.. and KZ2 rivals crisis let alone GOW2.. GOW2 barley rivals the first Gears.. SAD

[Strife Lives]

i tel ya now.go to your 360.pop the disc in yourself.and look at the floor. Yes,the textures SUCK compared to this. Its not just the lighting thats improved.This 'new look' looks beautiful.And, I only hafta say GDC 08 ,and u remember the tech demo. The walls ,ground,everything being destructible and having 20 locust attack in stead of 4 or 5 is enough for me to say its a HUGE leap.Im going to start up a new game of gears before I go to bed tonight lol.

[LevDog]

Personally it looked like all they did was make it sunnier.. It didnt have that dark war zone look.. GOW2 had a more sunny look.. Chainsaw effects look the same.. The cutting in 2 was Cool.. but no real difference.. besides it seems brighter...

Im not here to say it sucks by any means.. cause if you read my comments ive never put GOW down at any time.. but after the KZ2 gameplay video.. Its gotta bother you a lil bit..

I understand 3rd person and FPS.. are different but again I wasnt raving about KZ2 a month ago.. But after that KZ2 gameplay vid.. I dont know what is gonna beat that

[WildArmed]

To me, an untrained eye, I see some more detail on the gun and better lighting and color... and alot more enemies... but dats about it.
Didnt get to see how AI reacts... hopefully they improved it.

But looking good.

[IQUITN4G]

The Sony comments here today are super hilarious, you guys really don't have a clue.

And purely looking at the action taking place, it's hard to argue against how exciting this all looks.Killzone2 looks a little pedestrian up against this and does not contain the sort of thrills of the thrilling e3 2005 trailer.

[beavis4play]

the gears trailer is of a rails shooting level. you call that action? you get excited about being stuck on one spot and just shooting? hec, they'll probably end up giving this game an "E for everyone" rating if this is a ferocious as it gets.
everything they're showing of KZ is full on,balls out, combat. i'm not being a fanboy here; just describing what i've seen of the two games. maybe i just prefer a more hectic, violent, realistic war enviroment. just let me know when we get to see some footage where marcus isn't "tied" to a derrick or something. AND, the new KZ footage looks much better than '05. wow, i could go on; but, since you seem to prefer slower, safer, calmer games, i doubt you'd understand.

[Grassroots]

I'm glad to see their is better lighting, and colors. Adding colors makes a big difference in my eye other than that basically what I expected from the sequel. Looking forward to it.

[OOG]

o damn double post

[OOG]

everyone realizes they are judiging all these games on a few mins of video right???? I wish I had the ablities to know everything for all these games right now off a couple of videos....youd think all you guys should be making these games....but o wait none of you guys are.....

[joevfx]

..that the 360 already hit its graphical limits and it has only been out for less then 3 years. halo 3 looked like poop and gears 2 looks slightly better. if they cant pull more out of those game engines then the 360 has hit its wall.

Im sorry, it does look good, but thats kinda sad considering Killzone 2 looks just as good if not better and its coming out on a system less then 2 years old with new hardware thats never been developed for in the gaming industry. It shows that the PS3 definitly is gonna have a 10 year life.

[ngg12345]

I don't understand why geow 2 is being hailed as the new graphics king for xbox 360. I'm not very impressed with it visually, because it isn't impressive. It may be trolling but, I don't really care. I thought the footage graphically sucked, but it doesn't mean that xbox 360 is close to its peak. Alan Wake, fable 2, too human, and Assasin Creed already look far superior to what was shown for GEOW 2. It is expected that the game won't have much improvement because it is using the same engine, UE3. The engine needs to be optimized or recoded in order to be more effective, but won't because it is being used by so many devs. It would be impossible to give all the devs new engines, and teach them how to code their games in a different manner because Epic is so small.

[smurfie4]

To see that the video was underwhelming. I see little to no difference between gears 1 and this. If anything has changed its probably the lighting. By that I mean the lighting is different and not improved. The mountain textures look flat and everything out of focus looks smothered in vasoline. And is it just me or did those locusts look like they were lost? Gears is a good looking game but this sequel wasnt much of an improvement. Ill give it the benefit of a doubt for being early though.

[djtek184]

Gears 2 looks exactly the same, they should just make it as an extra down loadable content.

[diablo103]

but graphically it looks the same, its still a by for me i just hope by the time it comes out it will look better than killzone 2, resistance 2, halo 3, and mgs4

[pshizle]

takes a big fat sh1t on THE WAITSTATION