NEWS
Head2Head: Best Looking Engine This Year?
Every year we see a huge improvement in graphics in our games. With a few new engine upgrades being revealed and used this year, it is our duty as gamers to compare them in our usual shallow way.
With the release of yet more Dead Island screenshots this week it was hard to not look at them and wonder if these were the best graphics we have seen so far this year. Of course The Witcher II had something to say about that this week, so why not compare these two games, heck, let's compare four games!
There are four engines this year that stand out for their graphical capabilities. They are Techland's Chrome Engine 5, Crytek's CryEngine 3, CD Projekt's RED Engine and DICE's Frostbite 2.0. Each of these engines are capable of producing absolutely stunning games with a combination of insane rendering and physics features.
Apart from merely looking at the engine demos, the real fun is found upon comparing the games running them of course. These are respectively Dead Island, Crysis 2, The Witcher II: Assassins of Kings and Battlefield 3. A screenshot comparison of these games is now possible with a bunch of in-game shots being released for each of these games, we have even seen them in action now as well. We can all agree that they are all beautiful looking games, but which engine and corresponding game looks the best?
First up is Techland with their Chrome Engine 5. Unfortunately we do not have a tech demo of Chrome Engine 5, but we do have one for its predecessor, the Chrome Engine 4.
Obviously Chrome Engine 4 only runs Direct X 9 and so comparing this tech demo to the other two engines that can run up to Direct X 11 is a little unfair. So to add a little balance to the comparison, we also have this Dead Island demo using Chrome Engine 5:
Secondly we have a CryEngine 3 tech demo:
There does not seem to be a RED Engine tech demo, so this will have to do for now:
Finally here is the entry from DICE with their Frostbite 2.0 engine:
Of course it is very hard to tell which of these (if any) is the better looking just from a tech demo. Neither is the next comparison really going to answer this question. However, deciding on the best looking game from the screenshots below is something gamers have become quite adept at doing. So go ahead, stare at the shots below and look out for any discrepancies. Then voice your opinion on who you think is the winner of each set in the comments below. I know who my money is on.
Set 1: Facial/body textures
DEAD ISLAND
Set 2: Lighting/particles
DEAD ISLAND
Set 3: Landscapes/environment
DEAD ISLAND
