The GTA 4 vs GTA 5 Vehicle Physics Debate

Accurate representation of driving in GTA 4

Every driving game can be mapped onto a spectrum. At one end are those with arcadey vehicle physics. Vehicles in these games do not handle realistically at all; they are typically cartoonish and deliberately silly. At the other end are those with realistic vehicle physics; these games aim to recreate the experience of driving actual vehicles.

The Grand Theft Auto series has leaned more on the realistic side of the spectrum since GTA 3. The PS2 games featured vehicle physics at their most arcadey, though they were relatively realistic by the standards of the time. The physics and damage models are simple compared to modern GTAs. They would undoubtedly be considered outdated if alternative urban sims such as Watch Dogs and even many dedicated racing games weren’t still lagging behind Rockstar’s earliest efforts.

Continue reading

Why Is Titanfall 2’s Movement System So Good?

Titanfall 2 pilot wallhanging
He do be zoomin’ tho

Movement shooters are more common now than they used to be. For about a decade after the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, practically every shooter was what you could call a ‘positional’ shooter.

In positional shooters, players move slowly and die quickly, thus making each player’s position at the start of a firefight a significant factor in the outcome. Players would spot each other, start shooting, and within a couple of seconds one of them would be dead.

The domination of the positional shooter of FPS began to loosen around the release of Titanfall, a game with movement so fast and versatile that Call of Duty soldiers appeared to be wading through invisible mud by comparison.

Continue reading