Graphics and Sound
THE GRAPHICS & SOUND
Well now on to the graphics and sound. Since Far Cry the standard of graphics has changed dramatically. Since then we have seen games like Doom 3 and Half Life 2, which set very high standards in graphics. This particular game closely resembles Doom 3. I personally thought that this game must be running on the Doom 3 engine when I first saw the screenshots in Guru3d forums a few months back. But this is not the Doom 3 engine. It's called Starbreeze Engine Technology © (2002 - 2004 Starbreeze AB.) And mind you it produces stunning graphics. The game is dark. But not scary pitch black as we saw in Doom 3. And darkness is the friend of Riddick in the game, instead of your enemy in Doom 3. Riddick gains the power to see in total darkness in the initial stages of the game. People who have seen the movie Pitch Black or Chronicles of Riddick will know what I am talking about here.
The game environments are crisp and beautiful. Its semi-indoor environment. Developers have taken good effort in modeling Vin Diesel in the game and he looks almost same as he looked in the movie and real life. The other models are also good enough. Yes there are some glitches in the graphics like small artifacts on some models and bullets sometimes seem to come through the walls. But these are very minor and don't hurt the game experience at all. But yes, you will need a pretty powerful machine to run this game at its full glory. The game has shader model profiles for different graphic adapters. So make sure you choose proper shader model before you start playing the game. On machines with Geforce 6 series of cards, the game auto detects Shader 2.0+ but this is unplayable on most machines even with the mighty 6800U graphic card. And many times the game will simply lock up. So make sure you set the Shader Model to 2.0 or lower according to the setup.
The lighting effects are very good and real looking. All models cast shadows properly. Guns modeling is also good. And the game uses some 3rd person views, especially when you are in conversation, climbing onto boxes, hanging on to something or when you are climbing ladders. During this you will notice how well the Riddick is modeled and how good and natural his body movements are. This really shows how well the game engine is working and how much effort was put into making good graphics.
When it comes to sound, it's good. Vin Diesel has done the voice for Riddick ,which adds special something to the game. Makes it more believable and more natural. The guns sound real and so do explosions. All models in the game are given separate sound, tone and voice. Everyone walks differently too. Sounds of camera and turrets pointing at you, other people and enemies talking to each other adds to the overall feeling of the game. Developers have taken care to add even a small sound while you climb or are hanging onto something. These are very small details, which can go unnoticed but that is the beauty of the game. It feels like you are there and you totally get involved in the game play.
