It's funny, but as each new console comes out, I always find myself thinking, "there's no way they're going to make it look any better than this." Inevtiably, I'm always proven wrong, and you'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now.
As technology rolls forward, the gap between each console generation is often best illustrated visually. With games releasing across different multiple platforms across two generations, this is easily the best time to see the differences, and during a recent conference conference, Nvidia did just that, with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag as the medium.
DualShockers was the first to report on the conference, and we've provided the images below so you can see the differences for yourself.
First up, a look at the "Dynamic Foliage," current-gen first, followed by next-gen...
The difference is most notably in the growth on the ground, and increased amount of greenery. But it's funny, because as good as the graphics are, writing about plant detail is still boring as hell.
The real evidence here is how the rain has actually pooled, and the individual drops are causing small ripples. Also note the way the light hits it, and the increased amount of detail in the barrels and pillar on the left.
A poster from NeoGAF also noted some of the exclusives as far as tech goes that each platform is getting:
NEXT GEN TECH (PC + Xbox One + PlayStation 4)
- All tech built on PC first. Side-by-side slides of next gen vs current gen.
- Dynamic foliage: far denser foliage rendered a longer distance.
- Rain/Wet Surfaces: 3D rain, particles independently lit. Puddles created as it rains. Rain moves with wind.
- Parallax Occlusion: Smooths objects.
- Screen Space Reflections: Full reflections on surfaces, like the ocean.
- Volumetric Fog: Fog rendered through locations, impacted by lighting.
- Lighted particles: Smoke from cannon fire lit up over distance, such as ships battling at night.
- High Resolution textures.
- HBAO.
- Improved shadows, motion blur, DOF, lens flairs, god rays, etc.
PC ONLY TECH
- HBAO+
- Improved soft shadows.
- MSAA, TXAA.
- Improved God Rays.
- 4K Resolution.
Black Flag is the first prequel in the Creed franchise, and sees players controlling AC3 protagonist Connor's grandfather, Edward Kenway, a former Royal Navy man for the British crown turned pirating privateer in the blue waters of the Caribbean. The game takes place somewhere around 1713, long before the last time we saw any vestige of the assassins, the American Revolution. The colonial frontier of the new world has traded in for the warm waterfronts of Nassau, Havana, and Kingston, with historical figures such as the infamous pirate Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Charles Vane, and others are set to appear.
Like in the Vita exclusive Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, Desmond Miles doesn't have a role in Black Flags, having been replaced with an Abstergo researcher.
For both the PlayStation 3 and 4, Ubisoft has promised additional, exclusive content in the form of extra missions with the heroine of Liberation (which is getting its own PS3 port), Aveline de Grandpre. The first female assassin will be featured in as many as three bonus missions.
The game's overseas release was recently pushed forward, and will arrive worldwide for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 29. It will hit PC on November 22, and be a launch title for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on their respective launch dates.
