Call of Duty: Ghosts is out now; here’s our Call of Duty: Ghosts review.
Nobody yet knows how the new consoles to which Call of Duty: Ghosts is inextricably tied will affect its PC version. Oh, apart from one bit you might have guessed years ago: it’s going to be significantly prettier than its predecessors. In fact, Infinity Ward reckon that, thanks to some tricksy tesselation and improvements in corner-shaving, it nears perfect imperfection.
In the first part of the video, the developers hawk their new tessellation feature – displacement mapping – which sees high-res geometry modelled in real-time on surfaces that would be otherwise flat.
Clever Infinity Ward turn it off to reveal the flat, rubbishy 2004 rock texture beneath – then turn it back on again so we can watch the rocks bubble upwards like boils on a time-lapsed buttock.
They’re also using a piece of tech called Sub-D – a sort of infinite, contextual anti-aliasing device that means the scope of your rifle will always look good enough to lick.
In combination, say the developers, the tools “allow us to show the most minute of details, like cuts, scrapes, and other natural imperfections.”
Also new in Things That Look Nice: a brief period in which the player adjusts to the light when entering bright areas. Didn’t we always have that, or am I half-remembering scripted sequences? Leaving Fallout 3’s Vault and such?