XIII Vs Prince of Persia (Next Gen) – Cel-Shaded Comparison
November 12th, 2008
Since it’s popularization with Jet Grind Radio (2000), cel-shading has become an increasingly more popular tool of artistic visual expression within the medium of games. There have been many good examples of the technique but for this article I would like to contrast the works of one company from last generation to now; Ubisoft.
In 2003 Ubisoft released the apt XIII, a first person thriller based around the Belgium/French comic book of the same name. I highly recommend that you sought this title out if you haven’t tried it. Particularly the PC version which runs in a high resolution.
The other game is Prince of Persia, a new iteration of one of gaming’s classic favourites. This title is utilizing the technique to evoke a connection to the original PoP game. It can already be seen from the two main trailers released that Prince of Persia is adopting an extremely striking and intimate feel to its visual presentation.
I have collected several screens from both games which can be seen below. It has been difficult to find equivalents since the two games are set in opposite perspectives. Click on the images for high definition.
Beyond the model rendering and polygons, the main difference comes from the application of the technique. Prince of Persia lowers the alpha channel of the shading, allowing richer detail to shine through, giving the game a water colour look to it. This is then enhanced by the blurring and softening of the landscapes in the background. XIII on the other hand uses strict colour fills and some undynamic shadowing effects. The greater rendering power allows Prince of Persia to display much clearer lines around the characters, particularly around the face. Clothing, hair and fabric are also displayed with much better fidelity.
Visual Connection – Inside Out Game Covers
August 30th, 2008
I’ve always admired Sony, not just Sony Computer Entertainment but Sony as a worldwide manufacture of electronics. For a few years I worked in retail selling electrical goods and built up that wider interest in Sony products which grew from the premium nature of the brand. I have a Sony DSLR camera and a pair of Sony headphones both have faithfully delivered good quality.
They say that with a ‘premium’ brand it’s all the little things combined which improve the quality of the product and demand the premium price. I like to think of the following as an example of that. I noticed that some of my PSP and PS3 games have artwork on the back of the front cover (that’s on the same piece of paper, in the inside). Take a look at what I mean:
Neat isn’t it? While only a few games have the inside artwork, I’d like to think that as games move forwards companies can continue to deliver on these subtle advantages.
Perfect Dark Zero – The Possibility of HD Cel Shaded Beauty
May 16th, 2008
As I have mentioned before I am not particularly interested in the Xbox or Xbox 360. That is of course with a few exceptions and one of those exceptions is Perfect Dark Zero. I throughly enjoyed the original and even though Rare have been butchering themselves lately I would still be interested in giving this game a go.
What I wanted to look at are some of the character designs for a cel shadded Perfect Dark. These were put out by Rare while the Xbox was still in business and were created by Wil Overton. I personally would have prefered a cel shaded Perfect Dark over what ended up being a realistic final result. Just recently I have been playing XIII; the cel shaded FPS by Ubisoft. Fortunately on the PC version you can play this game in native high definition and I must stay that this game is visually stunning. Much like other successful cel shaded games (Okami, Zelda:WW) this game looks tremendous in it’s own right.
So I thought that I would just post up these shots of the cel-shaded Joanna leaving with you an idea of how magic this could have been. Full Size Images.
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