Lack of any sense: Difference between revisions

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= <center>Duke Nukem Forever</center> =
= <center>Prey 2006</center> =


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<center>[[image:dnf_bad1.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>[[image:prey2006_sense1.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Level 16''</center>
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<center>[[image:dnf_bad2.jpg|900px]]</center>
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<center>''Level 16''</center>
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From the point of view of realism it may be right to have fast spinning fans. But from the point of view of a player the fast spinning fan creates a blinking shadows / lights effect that may even cause seizures in some people. I have no idea why they did it. In horror / thriller movies or scenes it's common to have shadows from spinning fans but they aren't that fast. With night vision on it's even worse, the glare blinds the player and it's the way the player has to go.
In this part of the game there are these blue energy capsules. If the player shoots them they explore and destroy the bridge. The game provides no explanation for this. It's not part of the plot nor it has any meaning. It's there to show that the game features destructible environments. That or there was some scripted event that was discarded before the final version. If the player shoots the capsules and ruin their way forward they can still progress because there are two landing pads placed that work as an alternate path. In case the player destroys the bridge they can still travel to the other side by means of a shuttle. It's very strange to fly using a shuttle to travel a distance of a few meters. To make matters even more illogical the enemies in this room can fly, which means that destroying the floor can only hinder the player himself.




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<center>[[image:prey2006_sense3.jpg]]</center>
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<center>''Level 10''</center>
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<center>[[image:dnf_bad5.jpg|900px]]</center>
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<center>[[image:dnf_bad6.jpg|900px]]</center>
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<span class="jcarousel-control-prev">[[#|&lsaquo;]]</span>
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Misaligned textures are the sign of laziness or carelessness. Very often misalignment is unavoidable, but if those spots are hidden in the shadows, dark or behind other geometry nobody is going to notice it.
The game doesn't make good use of its own tech. Why is the anti-gravity track being used to cross a chasm by walking upside down? In the background there is a regular bridge, so why overcomplicate things by using an anti-gravity track like that? Were the tracks placed on the walls it'd be at least more meaningful than having a bridge that forces the player to walk upside down for no reason.


 
Sometimes ideas can sound cool but in practice they aren't.
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<center>[[image:dnf_bad7.jpg|900px]]</center>
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<center>[[image:dnf_bad11.jpg|900px]]</center>
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<center>[[image:dnf_bad12.jpg|900px]]</center>
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<span class="jcarousel-control-prev">[[#|&lsaquo;]]</span>
<span class="jcarousel-control-next">[[#|&rsaquo;]]</span>
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This sci-fic setting in DNF is ugly. There isn't contrast in the textures themselves apart from some normal mapping and lines. The fluorescent light on the wall has both a strange shape and a texture that glows more at the center of it than on the borders.
 
The nuclear symbol that serves as a duke's trademark glows like fire. The orange light is right in terms of duke nukem's trademark, but it's completely out of place in the level. It even glimmers like a candle in the wind, which is completely nonsense given the sci-fic setting.
 
The textures themselves lack personality. There isn't a clear identity. It feels bland, tasteless, generic metallic panels that convey no meaning at all.




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<center>[[image:prey2006_sense4.jpg|900px]]</center>
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There are shadows here that come from nowhere. It looks as if they didn't recalculate the lights after changing something. That or somebody just though that the shadows were pretty or appealing. Now I can't know for sure the reason behind those out of place shadows. I really have no idea what they were thinking.
This platform isn't very high, yet the player has two ways to get up there. One is the anti-gravity track and the other is a dimensional portal that is opened by an enemy and left open. Wouldn't it be easier to have a lift or a staircase?


In the beginning of the DLC expansion they didn't put much attention to lights and shadows. There are some very noticeable mismatches.


= <center>Dark Forces</center> =
<center>[[image:prey2006_sense5.jpg]]</center>


<center>[[image:darkforces_bad1.jpg|900px]]</center>
In here the player reaches a corridor at the edge of a chasm. Some enemies were placed here to try to stop the player's progress. For some strange reason the architectural choice made here broke the path in the middle of it, with no stairs or lifts. The player has to jump down to go inside the hole, which is a portal that teleports the player to inside a cube in the middle of the chasm. The player has to solve the cube's puzzle to progress.
<center>''Detention Center mission''</center>


There is this room which servers as an obstacle because the player has to shoot that target to unlock the doors to pass. I don't know what the level designer was thinking to make the room full bright and white while the rest of the detention facility is mostly black and dark. Maybe they were thinking on some sort of decontamination room or some sort of a security room. I really don't know.
= <center>Duke Nukem Forever</center> =


   
<center>[[image:dnf_sense1.jpg]]</center>
<center>[[image:darkforces_bad2.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''The Hive''</center>
<center>''Research Facility mission''</center>


I have no idea why is the room dark when there are so many lights here. From the point of view of contrast it may look pleasant, but I have no idea why is the room dark. This game uses sector based lighting but that isn't an excuse to mismatch textures and lighting. To make it worse, the same lights in other corridors in the same level make them much brighter.
In The Hive's level there are organic light sources that can be destroyed to prevent some enemies from using them against the player. This isn't an horror game and much less a game's mechanic for the player to take advantage of. It's completely nonsense for the player to destroy the lights in a dark place to prevent certain enemies from using them against the player.


= <center>Shadow Warrior</center> =


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<center>[[image:shadowwarrior_bad1.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>[[image:dnf_sense2.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Chapter 5''</center>
<center>''The Hive''</center>
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<center>[[image:dnf_sense3.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''The Hive''</center>
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<center>[[image:shadowwarrior_bad2.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>[[image:dnf_sense4.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Chapter 5''</center>
<center>''The Hive''</center>
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<center>[[image:shadowwarrior_bad3.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>[[image:dnf_sense5.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Chapter 5''</center>
<center>''The Hive''</center>
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Fire without light doesn't exist. Better say, some chemical reactions do produce fire without light but that's a different story. For some strange reason there are candles with fire but no light. In chapter 10 there are red alarm lights inside the ship that are way too small for how much bright they are. In chapter 14 there are over-bright candles. The light is too much bright.
This obstacle doesn't follow the game's own rules. When the player reaches this place a door closes behind the player, locking him or her. There is a corpse, blood and pipe bombs. The player is left with no directions or clues at all. What the player has to do is to throw a pipe bomb at the jump pad and detonate it after the bomb reaches the little opening where the creature with purple light is. The thing is, why can't the player just toss the pipe bomb or fire a rocket directly at the creature? The design of this whole obstacle is nonsense. Even worse, after finally getting the creature to roll out of that little opening, the door that was closed opens up again when the player pushes the key.
 
 
<center>[[image:shadowwarrior_bad4.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Chapter 10''</center>
 
Why is the sunlight shinning inside the ship? Are the walls transparent? Inside the ship the sunlight is shinning on some walls and doorways, highlighting paths while at the same time, important paths are hidden in the dark. Before venturing inside the ship the player has turned off a power generator, which would explain the lack of lights inside the ship. However, that's not the case as there are some lights on inside the ship. Light in this level feels illogical.
 
 
<center>[[image:shadowwarrior_bad5.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Chapter 16''</center>
 
The blue lanterns are out of place. These Chinese lanterns are originally red. For some unknown reason there are blue ones in the level. Blue light is both incoherent with the Chinese style and out of place because the whole level has a dusk atmosphere and hue.
 
The light sources in a level must match the architecture. A light of one type should have the same color and intensity across the level to keep things consistent.




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<center>[[image:shadowwarrior_bad6.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>[[image:dnf_sense6.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Chapter 13''</center>
<center>''The Clone Carousel''</center>
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<center>[[image:shadowwarrior_bad7.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>[[image:dnf_sense7.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Chapter 13''</center>
<center>''The Clone Carousel''</center>
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These green orbs are proximity mines that harm the player. The first time the player encounters them they signal a new type of enemy that is a walking toxic bomb. What the game does wrong is to not follow that pattern and the green orbs show up again when the walking bomb enemy isn't placed nearby the mines. Sometimes the mines don't even signal danger ahead. They are just there to invite the player to follow that way. Why not use the green light sticks that already exist? Even the green light sticks fail to follow a pattern and aren't always placed to guide the player where there is no other light source. Sometimes, the green light sticks were placed at random just because the green light is pretty.
I have no idea why they placed this pillar in the middle of the player's way.
 
= <center>Prey 2006</center> =
 
<center>[[image:prey2006_bad4.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Chapter 11''</center>
 
In here the player finds a new weapon locked inside a forcefield. The energy beams have to be turned off and if the player go to each side they'll find a device to be destroyed that shut downs the energy. In regards to unlocking the weapon the game does a pretty good job in having an environment that the player can easily understand what to do. However, why is the forcefield holding the weapon red? The energy beams are blue, there is no reason for the bubble to be red.
 
On the background there is a wall with what seems to be a hatch or door, highlighted with a blue light. Textures and lighting in a game must be meaningful to the player and not misleading as it is this case. That wall has nothing there, it's just a wall.




<center>[[image:prey2006_bad5.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>[[image:dnf_sense8.jpg|900px]]</center>
<center>''Duke Side of the Moon''</center>


The game fails to be coherent in regards to signaling open and closed doors. In general the pattern is blue for open and red for closed, which also matches the pattern of traffic lights around the world. However, the game doesn't always follow this pattern. That giant door has a red light meaning it's closed. After the player activates a certain control panel the light stays red, albeit flashing.
The last boss battle is completely nonsense. Duke has a vehicle but he has to get out of it in some parts of the battle. Duke doesn't have an astronaut suit and has to hold his breath. The developers decided to reuse the same underwater mechanic, but this time the water is replaced by vacuum. I've never seen a design decision that is so stupid and ridiculous like this.

Latest revision as of 02:20, 10 February 2025

Prey 2006

Level 16
Level 16

In this part of the game there are these blue energy capsules. If the player shoots them they explore and destroy the bridge. The game provides no explanation for this. It's not part of the plot nor it has any meaning. It's there to show that the game features destructible environments. That or there was some scripted event that was discarded before the final version. If the player shoots the capsules and ruin their way forward they can still progress because there are two landing pads placed that work as an alternate path. In case the player destroys the bridge they can still travel to the other side by means of a shuttle. It's very strange to fly using a shuttle to travel a distance of a few meters. To make matters even more illogical the enemies in this room can fly, which means that destroying the floor can only hinder the player himself.


Level 10

The game doesn't make good use of its own tech. Why is the anti-gravity track being used to cross a chasm by walking upside down? In the background there is a regular bridge, so why overcomplicate things by using an anti-gravity track like that? Were the tracks placed on the walls it'd be at least more meaningful than having a bridge that forces the player to walk upside down for no reason.

Sometimes ideas can sound cool but in practice they aren't.


This platform isn't very high, yet the player has two ways to get up there. One is the anti-gravity track and the other is a dimensional portal that is opened by an enemy and left open. Wouldn't it be easier to have a lift or a staircase?


In here the player reaches a corridor at the edge of a chasm. Some enemies were placed here to try to stop the player's progress. For some strange reason the architectural choice made here broke the path in the middle of it, with no stairs or lifts. The player has to jump down to go inside the hole, which is a portal that teleports the player to inside a cube in the middle of the chasm. The player has to solve the cube's puzzle to progress.

Duke Nukem Forever

The Hive

In The Hive's level there are organic light sources that can be destroyed to prevent some enemies from using them against the player. This isn't an horror game and much less a game's mechanic for the player to take advantage of. It's completely nonsense for the player to destroy the lights in a dark place to prevent certain enemies from using them against the player.


The Hive
The Hive
The Hive
The Hive

This obstacle doesn't follow the game's own rules. When the player reaches this place a door closes behind the player, locking him or her. There is a corpse, blood and pipe bombs. The player is left with no directions or clues at all. What the player has to do is to throw a pipe bomb at the jump pad and detonate it after the bomb reaches the little opening where the creature with purple light is. The thing is, why can't the player just toss the pipe bomb or fire a rocket directly at the creature? The design of this whole obstacle is nonsense. Even worse, after finally getting the creature to roll out of that little opening, the door that was closed opens up again when the player pushes the key.


The Clone Carousel
The Clone Carousel

I have no idea why they placed this pillar in the middle of the player's way.


Duke Side of the Moon

The last boss battle is completely nonsense. Duke has a vehicle but he has to get out of it in some parts of the battle. Duke doesn't have an astronaut suit and has to hold his breath. The developers decided to reuse the same underwater mechanic, but this time the water is replaced by vacuum. I've never seen a design decision that is so stupid and ridiculous like this.