Alrighty then...



I' m the only person who' s responded to the last half of the post thus far I believe. That' ll be more constructive than trying to make an argument for personal preference.

Also talk about game your disapointed with for not improving. What was your first next gen game?

Perfect Dark was a big let down, but only because the hype machine had been rolling forever. If the story had been more complete it would have been nice to.

The term Next Gen really only refers to which era a game belongs to, specifically the upcoming generation (duh). I get annoyed when it' s used as a benchmark term. The word should only be used to describe games that haven' t been released yet. We' re always in This Gen, even Crysis is This Gen.

People get boners when using the word " next gen" which is why it has lost it' s true meaning. Now we' re stuck in these awkward discussions trying to redefine the term.

At worst I would say it could be used to describe a game that pushes the technical boundaries not possible in this or last gen. For me I would look for everything. Graphics alone does not impress me. It' s rare that new gameplay elements are only possible due to new technical capabilities to be brought on by the next gen. We' re usually only see incremental steps in the area of gameplay.

I know I only talked about graphics but Crysis does so much more better than most. The game also has tons of:

animations,
atmosphere,
physics,
destructible environments,
scripted events,
relatively advanced A.I.,(once the bugs have been patched)...

Trust me when I say the game IS FUN. It' s one of these games you have to play yourself. Because I' ve never seen a game that has been critiqued so much by people who haven' t even played the game. They assume because the technical aspects are unbeatable that the developers slacked on the gameplay, they didn' t.

Running around in a near photorealistic jungle hunting Koreans and Aliens with a suit that makes you one badass mother fu.cker always brightens up my day. It feels a lot like Half-Life 2 with the physics and scripted events except Crysis has the added advantege of being much more open ended. You rarely feel like you' re being led by the hand, and you often have a choice on where to go and how to do things.

I thought character interactions in Mass Effect were done really well.

Agent, I agree 100% with you, especially on the term " Next Gen" . It' s not even the correct term anymore, just a marketing ploy. But if any game deserves to get the title of " Next Gen" it' s Crysis.

I' ll be blunt though. I hated Far Cry. After running around in the jungle and having to deal with mutant apes, you realize it' s just a technical demonstration. The gameplay was pretty crappy. So when I put Crysis in for the first time, I was expecting more of the same.

Much to my own surprise, I enjoyed it immensely. Thinking that maybe something was wrong with myself, I told my brother to play and finish the game. He did, and was absolutely blow away by it. Now comfortable that I wasn' t insane, I went ahead and finished it a second time on Delta. Now that I think back to it, I enjoyed Crysis more than any other FPS I have ever played - this includes Half Life which I have always thought was incredibly overrated. Not only that but it' s one of my most enjoyed games ever.

I think there are a few reasons why people are quick to judge Crysis as just a graphical shell:

1) They do not have the means to play it. A lot of people don' t have PC' s capable of running Crysis - or any games for that matter. Crank up those graphics and you' ll see why. Although, to CryEngine 2' s credit, it is a very scalable game. I can run it on my 3 year old PC (med-low settings) and it still looks better than 90% of the stuff out there.

2) The graphics are phenomenal. I' m sorry, but nothing currently beats it. Quite often, they' re all that' s talked about. People can often assume that if that' s all people are talking about, it mustn' t have much substance. Wrong.

3) At first glance, it looks similar to FarCry, which was generic and repetitive. Just like I did, people are quick to pass it over based on previous experiences. In fact, if my friend hadn' t been nagging me constantly about playing it, I probably wouldn' t have played it at all. This is a big mistake.

I urge everyone to play this game if you have the means to do so. If you enjoyed Halo 3, or any other FPS in the last few years, you' ll be blown away by Crysis. Crysis is like Halo for adults as Nitro put it. There are certain times in the game where you' ll just sit back and say " woah" . It' s quite hard to articulate why it' s such a great game to play.

When you set foot in the alien mothership, you' ll know why.
When you first hot drop into a warzone, youll know why.
When you see an alien the size of a 747 come rumbling through the jungle at you, you' ll know why.
When you take out an entire base with nothing but your fists and wits, you' ll know why.

I think quite a few games are next-gen. What where people expecting? I mean, they look and sound better, allow for a lot more stuff on screen and many offer innovative controls and even the whole movement thingies the PS3 and Wii have.

I am guessing people are onyl gonna call a game next gen when the game talks to you or gives you some sort of sexual pleasure

There seems to be an underlying trend in the answers here, which is that whilst ' Next Gen' was the buzz word for the 360 and the PS3. Nothing truly ' Next Gen' has arrived....yet!!!

Games that have made me sit up and take notice of the potential power the consoles have are:

Ace Combat 6 (Ok the graphics side of things.)
Mass Effect for pulling off interaction, gaming and the sheer size of the thing
BioShock
Oblivion (just for the sheer size).

Ok they are all 360 games, however I am sure that Oblivion on the PS3 looks as good and is of the same size.

Hoping that GTAIV and Halo Wars will do something that will push the boundaries further.

Natural Motion Natural Motion Natural Motion...

I just wanna know how natural motion will work in a multiplayer setting. GTA will show that I assume but how far who knows. AI knows to reach out and grab to save itself but would that work with a human controlled character? Then again the description of being drunk and Niko leaning on walls naturally might mean it will do so...

Either way <3 Natural Motion

Different people have different opinions of what the words " Next Gen" mean. I, for one, have always looked at it as being games that are being released onto future consoles.

Last > Current > Next

However, if I were to have to choose which game I think is " Next Gen" , I think that would be Mass Effect. I have yet to play it (although I do own it), but the character interaction doesn' t appear to have been done so well in the past.

Dead Rising is also unique in the number of AI that they managed to squeeze into it.

If you placed: Pro Evolution 2008 (Wii version), SMG, Crysis, Wii Sports, Mass Effect, GOW, GTA4, VF5 amung a few others, in pot together, we' re getting somewhere, Each has atleast one strong element of the forever seeking ' Next-Gen' Game.

People who say this generation of games hasn' t been impressive haven' t played a PS2 game in a long time, LOL.

GT HD/prologue/5.

Every time i see the game my jaw just drops to the floor. The graphics, the physics , the number of cars/AI, etc are all staggering. Many people say that the physics seem weak but its not because its a real driving simulation (dont know about those guys but i dont see real cars jumping around in streets). If you really want to check the physics set the camera to driver view and youll see the car leaning and bumping as you drive through the track.

Sonic the Hedgehog it was a masterpiece full of no loading times.