Dishonored [PS3/360/PC] review

[chopemon]

The game looks the way it does because of the size of level it is holding in memory at once. In a game like Gears you have one closed off arena in memory which is dumped when you exit and a new one is loaded. In Dishonored you have an entire level in memory at once with 20+ active characters all running at once. It is something of a technical feat that it runs as well as it does on console in Unreal.

I finished the game last night and loved it all. How wonderful to play a game with genuine gameplay choices in a rich world. I loved exploring and learning about the world and getting as close to no killings and no detections as I could.

Shame you could see the story twist coming a mile off though.

[rmoxon]

The game looks the way it does because of the size of level it is holding in memory at once. In a game like Gears you have one closed off arena in memory which is dumped when you exit and a new one is loaded. In Dishonored you have an entire level in memory at once with 20+ active characters all running at once. It is something of a technical feat that it runs as well as it does on console in Unreal.

I finished the game last night and loved it all. How wonderful to play a game with genuine gameplay choices in a rich world. I loved exploring and learning about the world and getting as close to no killings and no detections as I could.

Shame you could see the story twist coming a mile off though.

The game does not load the entire level at once, every time you exit each small section of it a new part is loaded. It's done in a similar way to somthing like Bioshock, only that had big areas loaded at once and considering its age was alot more technically impressive than this is.

This is a great game, but technically impressive? No.

[gambit6613]

It is not that technically impressive when you consider open world such as Red Dead Redemption, GTA4 and Skyrim for example, in theory they are stunning looking worlds but they both can easily have 20+ characters moving at once without the need for any load screens. Dishonored is a very good game, once of the most interesting for a good while, but it still looks very bad.

[chopemon]

rmoxon, are you saying that it is streaming in areas after each loading screen? I'm not sure that's happening because you have big open areas with large draw distances (which Bioshock did not (there is also far more geometry than in Bioshock) and you can get to a high point and look back down the length of the area you have just been in and see all the active characters and anything you have interacted with. E.g. on the

->Open Spoiler<-

Kaldwin Bridge

chapter which is essentially a straight line, you can enter one section and get right to the end of it (before a loading screen), look back and see the whole area and everything in it and they aren't doing it with fakes. The openness of the world creates a streaming nightmare in Unreal.

I'm not saying it's a technical marvel but it is trying to far more than all of the linear games that are out at the moment and that comes at some compromise. I think that it looks fantastic and while texture resolution is an issue, the big picture looks wonderful.

[prinnysquad]

I couldn't give a cock's toss about fancy-dan textures. This game's art direction works for me, and it feels like a properly-created world, with a rich backstory and atmosphere.

[rmoxon]

rmoxon, are you saying that it is streaming in areas after each loading screen? I'm not sure that's happening because you have big open areas with large draw distances (which Bioshock did not (there is also far more geometry than in Bioshock) and you can get to a high point and look back down the length of the area you have just been in and see all the active characters and anything you have interacted with. E.g. on the

->Open Spoiler<-

Kaldwin Bridge

chapter which is essentially a straight line, you can enter one section and get right to the end of it (before a loading screen), look back and see the whole area and everything in it and they aren't doing it with fakes. The openness of the world creates a streaming nightmare in Unreal.

I'm not saying it's a technical marvel but it is trying to far more than all of the linear games that are out at the moment and that comes at some compromise. I think that it looks fantastic and while texture resolution is an issue, the big picture looks wonderful.

Theres no streaming, it loads up the area of the game you are in before you enter it. Whenever it asks you if you want to leave the area, if you do, then it loads up the next area. its not a massive open world that is constantly alive with NPC's like a tradiontional open world game. In fact its not an open world game at all.

The game gets by on its art style, but its not tehcnically great, the textures lack detail and the environments arent exactly great either, they are very simple, not many different objects about in the world.

Doesnt really matter too much though, the gameplay is brilliant and youre still drawn into the world through its story, voice acting, ect.

[PeteJ]

Right, so what you're saying is the last few posts don't matter

I've just done the

->Open Spoiler<-

bridge

mission and now onto the next. Yup, still loving it...I don't know if my gameplay 'style' or gaming ethos as lent itself to this game more than some others, but basically I just play and "let it be". I don't play for perfect runs, stealth runs or super killy runs, I just play it and deal with whatever mistakes I make the best way I can. Achievements be damned!

[Family Fry]

I 1000g'd it over three runs. 1st run I stealth/ran about and killed everyone with super powers, really enjoyed that felt like a bad ass out for revengence. 2nd run was super stealth, knockout only ninja and I really enjoyed that too. Haven't had that much fun grabbing a full 1000g since the original Dead Space.
It would have been two runs if I hadn't messed up, I didn't even know I had messed up til I got to the bit and the game was having none of it. My fault for not reading up about the achievements.

[EvilBoris]

I just finished my 2nd run through too, I didn't really get a great deal of enjoyment on the first run, but when I was going for no kills/no alerts/only blink every move I made became calculated, it was really fun.

Bring on Hitman I say!

[crocky-chocky]

I thought this was outstanding right the way through and went straight into a second play. This time I'm opting for a higher chaos level, while still trying to remain unseen.

I felt the last third was only noticeably linear in places where I actually wanted it to be.

->Open Spoiler<-

Getting my gear back, the sewers

etc and the routes through the

->Open Spoiler<-

lighthouse

were so fun to figure out, and well intense due to the number of guards.

I'd echo what prinny said about the graphics. Great game environments are so much more than fancy textures - This is going to sound well poncy, but Dunwall has that pretty rare quality in games where you actually get a sense of the oxygen in the place. I dunno, I can't quite explain it, but Okami, Demon's Souls and Bioshock have it too. Oh, and the architecture, poster art and hand painted signage were just ace.

Didn't seem to pander or crowbar in loads of modern gaming standards either. Everything in it felt necessary, and there in the interest of making a great game, and not to sell loads.

Bloody loved it.

[EvilBoris]

I suspect the watercolour hand painted style textures are ra little TOO subtle for people to actually realise they are deliberately lacking detail.



If there was a little more power left over , perhaps a little post processing filter would of made it clearer.

[rmoxon]

Well we weren't talking about it looking bad or anything. The game obviously looks the way the top developer would like it too. All I was saying was that it wasn't technically amazing or anything.

The focus on style rather than technical quality will always make the look of the game a love or hate it thing with people. So I can certainly understand why some people may say the game dies not look good.

[prinnysquad]

The people remind me a bit of Timesplitters.

[teddymeow]

Just started the 3rd "proper" mission and I've got to say this is my GotY!!

It just feels absolutely splendid on all fronts.

[crocky-chocky]

Done with my second 'high-chaos' playthrough.

It could just be I wasn't expecting them, but I was really impressed by both the subtle and major differences to Dunwall that were brought on by playing like a nutter. Emily's

->Open Spoiler<-

giant scrawling of Corvo's creepy mask in place of the more sensitive portrait

actually freaked me out a tad, and made me feel like a bit of a turd. Did anyone who

->Open Spoiler<-

branded

Overseer Campbell

->Open Spoiler<-

notice him return as a weeper in the room where you get your gear back? He even leaves a slightly heartbreaking journal behind.

Nice touch.

The story was properly brilliant a second time around too. Maybe because I was focused on all the little details and how awesome Dunwall is, rather than the characters and spotting the easily spottable twist.

D'ah what a game!