Page 10 - Unreal II
Unreal II: The AwakeningNew in our benchmark suite is Unreal II - The Awakening. The reason we include this software as a benchmark is again related to driver-optimisations. Compared towards Unreal 2003 it's not commonly used as test-software and therefor excellent to test products with.
You play John Dalton, an ex-marine now working as a space marshal for the Terran Colonial Authority. Dalton leads a rag-tag group of fellow ex-marines and one alien navigator aboard the ship Atlantis, charged with the task of patrolling the outer-reaches of space to quell any trouble that may crop up on any of the scattered colonies on his patrol.
Another plus is an incredible graphics engine, capable of producing some of the most glorious and breath-taking graphics to date. This engine is put to good use with some inspired level designs of vast proportions, many filled with intricately designed structures and endless beauty. Character models here have a roundness and human warmth in their textures and coloration that make them almost leap off the screen. They're more cartoon-like than photo-realistic, although they have a peculiarly vivid presence that tops anything we've seen. They also don't have those bulky "Quake hands" sported by every human and humanoid denizen of a first-person shooter since 1996, so bonus points have to be awarded for that aesthetic alone.
Unreal II: Awakening | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200 |
Radeon 9600 256 | 71 | 57 | 42 | 30 |
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra | 71 | 57 | 43 | 33 |
Radeon 9600 pro | 82 | 71 | 55 | 41 |
Radeon 9700 Pro | 92 | 86 | 75 | 63 |
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra | 97 | 89 | 73 | 58 |
A few technical improvements in Unreal II include texture compression, alpha blending, distance fog, advanced particle physics with forces and particle collisions, and per-poly collision detection for characters. The 9600 still is holding up nicely up-to 12x10, after that framerates cave in which is not a good prognosis for Quality settings. let's take a look:
4xAA 8XAF | 800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200 |
Radeon 9600 256 | 46 | 35 | 24 | 11 |
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra | 40 | 30 | 21 | 14 |
Radeon 9600 pro | 58 | 45 | 33 | 16 |
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra | 59 | 46 | 34 | 27 |
Radeon 9700 Pro | 78 | 65 | 50 | 38 |
As you can see it's virtual impossible to play the game with quality settings at AFx8 and AAx4.