When I heard designers brag about how awesome their Nano virtual micropoon geometry and Lumen full dynamic global illumination were at the UE5 debut more than a year ago, my expression went something like this:
After seeing the real-world demo of Black Myth Wukong with unreal engine 5 this summer, my mood has changed like this:
After actually getting started with the demo of "The Matrix: Awakening," the "first Unreal 5 game for young people," I began to feel like I'd found a new world, just like... Ate the red pill like NEO.
On the question of whether the TGA that was settled last week is qualified, I think this year and last year's similar topics have brought very different voting results, which should convey the views of ranger network buddies.
▲ From last year's "bad reviews like a tide"
▲ To this year's "mixed reviews"
Of course, as the finale star Keanu Reeves and the "Matrix: Awakening" he brought, he still received praise from all players without suspense, which can be attributed to the recognition of the divine composition of "The Matrix" and The audience of Keanu Reeves can be called a man, woman and child, and more importantly, I think the reason may be that most manufacturers are still drawing cakes on paper and are not even willing to give a specific release year, "The Matrix: Awakening" has released the first demo on PS5/XSX.
It lived up to expectations with a level design that could not distinguish between reality and illusion and an open city of 16 square kilometers, with 1248 intersections and 45,073 cars, and at the end of 2021, it brought me the 2030 game experience.
For example, the real-time mirror from this blank space transition to the online city below is very realistic to break the reality projection into the virtual.
Yes, as the first Unreal 5 game demo we've come into contact with, the most revealing aspect of The Matrix: Awakening is its visual performance. Because in the opening 7 and a half minutes, my brain kept asking my eyes – is the segment you're seeing now rendered in real time or shot in real time?
And just looking at it has no way to give an accurate answer, such as the opening NEO (Ver. 囧伟) looks like it should be a real shot, the rendering of the natural folds of the T-shirt (clothes) is difficult for the engine to do now, the Unreal 5 probability has not overcome this problem, and the entire Demo is probably just such a live-action shooting.
Also judging by the folds of the clothes, neo (Ver. Luvik) in the suit should already be virtual.
In the game also provides a special camera system, the player can adjust the time and angle of the sun at any time, increase or decrease the traffic flow on the street and some filter effects, after removing the so-called Matrix movie filter, simulating the city under natural light is a stunning sense of reality.
Of course, this feature doesn't just let you be a "god", through the toggle nanite yes/no display, we can see more polygons behind the finer city and stable game running efficiency (30 frames), feel the powerful modeling and optimization capabilities of the 3D graphics software Houdini in the engine.
Unlike modern movies with fake CG effects and offline rendering, the realism of "The Matrix: Awakening" is not all provided by high-material models and black technology showmanship, but also hidden in the biggest difference between video games and traditional media, the sense of interaction between players and this virtual world.
For example, the broken glass of the vehicle is not a simple animation effect, the broken glass will really remain in the car, and it will also slide inertia as the vehicle moves left and right;
For another example, in "The Matrix: Awakening" will not appear in the ordinary open world game minimap, although the driving vehicle also retains the throttle brake and other operating prompts and dashboards, but the operation prompts are very small is placed on the far left of the screen, do not look carefully almost will not notice, the dashboard is also a simple word and flat route, and the theme of "The Matrix" is very suitable, and if you do not drive, the player can not even find any head-up display and status bar in the main interface of the game.
This is also one of the directions of the design of many open-world games now (such as the film footage of "Red Dead Redemption 2"), and with the very realistic picture of "The Matrix: Awakening", it will make people feel that they are really walking in the city, so real that they can even feel the touch of passing by pedestrians, precisely because of it
Of course, players' evaluation of a game will eventually fall into a very subjective question: Is it interesting to "play"?
Unfortunately, The Matrix: Awakening is positioned more closely to a "technology demo" than a game, and beyond the opening few minutes of story performances and some complex presentations about technology, the rest of The Matrix: Awakening is somewhat lackluster.
The problem is also with "interaction".
For example, the size of the city is very large, we can do very little, but walking, running and driving, can not talk to pedestrians, can not help people can not do evil, the beginning of the very thrilling gunfight, the gameplay itself may not be as good as the QTE in the God of War.
Even the more basic collision volume in the game is not done well, hitting pedestrians, they will become a virtual stream of data from the world, hit the street trees, railings and other obstacles, the car will be as momentarily stopped as if it crashed on the iron plate, coupled with the occasional small bug.
In the next half an hour of experience, the awesome experience created by the opening scene of "The Matrix: Awakening" plummeted, and you can only drive in this seemingly full city, feeling the emptiness of the road, and in the gameplay, it is likely that it is not even as good as the 2D overhead view of "GTA1" more than 20 years ago.
But it also made me breathe a sigh of relief when I closed the game - if this demo is really good and fun and free, I am more defensive players may wonder if the manufacturer really did "The Matrix" to prepare to hack into my PS5, want to install a virus in the game to steal PSN wallet information (laughs).
▲Sincerely, I wish The Matrix: Awakening was a virus software that would automatically deduct 60 knives from my wallet and upgrade it to the official version for free
To sum up the shocking experience that "The Matrix: Awakening" brought to me, before it, I felt that Unreal 5 was still far away from me, and after getting started, I felt its epoch-making significance, at least for the future AAA masterpiece to set a guiding standard for the performance of the picture - no matter what, it can't be worse than this "Matrix 4" commercial, right?
It is undeniable that even if you put aside the philosophical discussion of the "brain in the cylinder" in the movie, just talk about the technical power of "The Matrix", it is still a film series of extraordinary significance, such as it enabled a computer-assisted photography technology to simulate variable speed effects, at that time there were few technologies used in film and television works, yes, this is the "bullet time" that appeared widely in many games later, in the hearts of many old fans such as my dad, "The Matrix" represents the peak of film technology and viewing experience. And Unreal 5 chose "The Matrix" as the next generation of technology display should also be looking at its cutting-edge, fortunately in the picture of this "Matrix: Awakening" is pinched.
If you already have a PS5/XSX and are still playing a game from a previous generation, or have your love machine lying in the corner of the TV cabinet eating ashes, then I highly recommend that you try this free demo, maybe there is only one Matrix: Awakening between you and the real next generation.