Actually it's not the same engine. It is Gameloft's own engine but no, it's not exactly the same one. Calling this the same engine is as TASM 1 is like saying CryEngine 1.0 is the same engine as CryEngine 4. Or that UE is the same as UE4. Or that Frostbite 1.0 is the same as Frostbite 3.0. Or that Unity 1.0 and Unity 4.0 are the same. As it is their own engine, they keep the details of versions to themselves and don't publicise them because they have no need to, they don't sell it or subcontract it out. They would share a common architecture origin, just as any of the well known game engines and their variations do at a base level, but, no, they are certainly not the same much in the way that UE and UE4 are not the same.
It's more like cod mw3 and black ops 2 level of improvement,Yes they have added dynamic shadows to enemies and have changed the art style a bit but that doesn't mean they are using a new engine or have even improved upon it.The very fact that it lags on a 5s a device almost teice as powerful as vita and has ps2 quality graphics shows all the effort or lack of it that was put in making this game.
You're just making my point there. Trees in BS are for physics. Considering the fact that it's a mobile game, it is safe to assume that they use separate models for the "damaged" ones which is triggered by collision so there are just instanced trees with no separate collision object as in TASM2 where there are trees and there invisible collision objects which are rendered at the same time thus causing the lag due to the large number of polys that need to be calculated at the same time. FYI I've played TASM1 on iPad Air and no lag at all there. @Rip73 agreed. Looking at the first game I don't think the old engine can handle normal mapping and real time shadow like the second one.
Have you tried restarting your device? I have and it plays smoothly apart from the central park issue.
So if trees are destructible and animate realistically then they are easier to render than the low poly ones in Tasm which do not animate at all,that's pretty interesting. Yes it doesn't lag much outside central park apart from ocassional drop here and there but it shouldn't anyway because of those outdated graphics a ps1 quality game would and should never lag on a ps2 and a multiplatform game for 7 year old ps3 will run smoother on a gtx titan it's common sense really. Dynamic shadows aren't anything new the psp version had those years ago on a dated hardware and there are no normal maps here the geometry is the exact same as the previous game,the word you're looking for is art style which has changed to a more cartoonish one to mask low poly geometry. They are definitely using the same engine as I do remember tasm 1 lagging in the same central park area on my ipad 2 back when it was released,No way could they emulate the same bug on a new engine in the same exact manner. As far as updates go the first game has been only updated 3 times since it was released,Which is almost 2 years back.
I don't think the poly count will be the problem with the trees in Central Park. My guess is that the slowdown will be caused by the number of alpha channels being used on screen at one time to render the foliage textures with transparency. Alpha channel transparency can be a problem when there are too many instances on screen simultaneously, especially when they are overlapping one another.
@Candykiller,Yes this was a problem with san andreas port as well,As soon as you entered grassy area it lagged heavily and crawled to 8-9fps,It's a common bug found in ps1era games especially the n64 which struggled a lot with transparency issues.But after that era it's become a non issue,just goes to show how impeccably advanced this engine is from the last game. This will continue to be a big problem for GL they a their same old engine which cannot measure up to the hardware anymore,Even GV using havok engine had terrible physics compared to san andreas to an extent that I just couldn't enjoy driving around the city like I did in san andreas,Compare the leap between rr2 ro 3 and asphalt 7 to 8 Real racing 3 blows A8 out of water in every single category and still manages fanstastic framerates.Gl can't optimise for sh*t,it's a fact.
Theory yes (though not entirely if you read the Gameloft reps' comments), but a lot of the games that require an internet connection have been cracked/patched to play offline, and my point is that some people will download the cracked version as the online part was the only bit stopping them buying the game in the first place.
Guess it's not an online-only game, huh? Since you can play it without being connected to a server that is yet to exist! How much for a ride in that time machine of yours? Probably less than the data charge for playing this one!
I use an iPhone 5 to play this and am constantly connected to the internet so that aspect doesn't bother me. As far as the game goes, it is much better then the first one. Especially in the voice acting dept. because the first one was horrendous. Nobody is going to win any awards for voice actor of the year but it's playable and the game looks/plays much better. I like it
I don't know why, but I just really wanna play a good spiderman game. The permanent internet connection doesn't bother me, and it sounds like the costume IAP isn't necessary at all. Should I get this game?
Cheers, yeah, I wasn't making a guess on that one so thanks. They have heavily reworked and upgraded the engine over the last year and a half or so to the extent that it can easily be considered new. A very extensive improvement at the very least. On the lag point, I'm seeing in general that the A7 chip seems to be the root cause of a lot of problems with framerate for developers for a lot of games. The change in architecture caused some unanticipated results particularly in the framerate area. I find it interesting that you had no lag with the first one on an Air, it thickens the plot because I have heard a lot back that the A7 is not as easy to optimise for as people think. Thanks for that bit of info, it'll come in useful. @Louis Ace I'd recommend it. Although I suppose its pretty obvious at this stage that I would. If the online only is no issue for you, then definitely because the iap is definitely only optional and mainly cosmetic. The iap suits do have higher stats but I'm not noticing a major difference while in combat and it's not something that the standard suit can't take care of anyway. The skill tree is the only part that's of any importance and unlocking and purchasing combos has proved much more useful than an iap suit. And you earn enough for those by just doing missions and getting achievements. In other words, just playing a game as you normally would expect to. It is a real good Spider-Man for mobile and should give many hours of entertainment.
There are no normal maps in sight only dynamic shadows on enemies and the art style has been made more cartoonish,Normal maps or bum mapping is the technique utilised to add wrinkles and create an impression of depth and diverse detail on polygonal objects which is not the case here the geometry is same as the first game. 'Heavily' is the wrong word here marginally maybe what you're looking for,The game struggles with framerate on my ipad 2 as well so it's definitely not an 'A7' specific issue. And A7 devices are hard to optimise? who told you so? Apart from san andreas every single game runs better on A7,Even all the gl games I've tried run better on A7.
Not at all. Asphalt 8 lags Gangstar Vegas lags horrible Modern Combat 4 is smooth in 1024x786 but is unplayable in retina resolution and without effects (dunno if it's already fixed) Someone said Nova 3 lags GT Racing 2 has many frame drops All these GL games run perfectly fine and smooth on iPad 4 but doesn't on iPad MiniR. There are tons of other non GL games which have serious framerate problems on A7 devices. Even your beloved RR3 runs more smooth on an iPad 4 than it does on an Air/MiniR. Most of these non optimised games became unplayable for me after I switched to an A7 device especially iPads cause the 5S can still handle them due to its much lower resolution. It beats the lack of optimisation with pure hardware power.
Well I don't have a rmini but a 5s,Out of those games I have tried GV,Mc4 and Rr3,gv runs at 28-35 fps with slight ocassional lag,Rr3 and Mc4 runs at 60fps no lags whatsoever.So you might be true about gl but other games like bastion,bladeslinger, shadowgun deadzone,oceanhorn,Battle supremacy etc. Do run super smooth on my 5s.Gl games lag even on the latest devices like s4 and htc one like I said they don't optimise their games at all.But other devs have been able to optimise their games for A7 pretty well I think. Anyway this is GL we are talking about you can give then a gtx titan if you want but their games will still lag heavily on it.I wonder where ryan is though he seems to be offline since the release,poor chap is always hanging around different forums to collect feedback which will be ignored by GL,No point having people on forums if you don't care about the community feedback.
I'm still on the fence about this one. Is there a good variety in missions, or all they all pretty much "go here, beat dudes up" type stuff? Is the combat fun? (TASM 1's combat was decidedly not, felt unresponsive and sluggish) Disappointed that some suits are IAP, and outrageously priced, too. In games like this something as small as a different looking suit can be a lot of fun, especially for spidey fans such as myself.
I also want to know. Also, how is the performence on an iPad mini first gen? If the combat is more like SMTM, than I'm all in for the combat. I really hated the combat of TASM.
Missions are less repetitive but mostly boil down to what you mentioned,Combat is a lot better than the first one but noway near total mayhem level of polish it does become dull rather quicky,The swinging is the only good part of the game but if you have played the first one it will be boring as well.For 5$ I would say you let it go and get something else as I have a strong suspicion that this is going to go free quickly or will have a massive price drop very soon,Also be beware of future ads they might prove to be annoying.
Yep, true. Oceanhorn and Battle Supremacy were optimised for A7 though. Especially the devs of Oceanhorn did a great job. First time I've installed it it wasn't smooth but it got an update for the MiniR so it runs @60fps after that. Shadowgun is kinda old so it won't stress the GPU that much. Dead Trigger 2 on the other hand has some problems were the framerate drops heavily as soon as if more than two sources of smoke have to be rendered. I guess it's due to the development time when A7 devices weren't around. I can't blame them for this but if they consider to update their game on a regular basis they should consider to optimise it after release. Won't happen mostly though which is sad. I guess Ryan is on easter holiday? I definitely regret buying this. But I've to admit I didn't liked the first one either :> TDKR was so much more fun imo so I lost interest in TASM pretty fast. It's open world but there is almost nothing you can do imo. And why the hell isn't spidey capable of using his two hands "separately" for swinging like in every comic and movie?
rr3, asphalt, and mc4 run great on my air. All of gloft games run fine on my A7 devices. San andreas and Neon Shadow run terrible on all my devices. I think gameloft understands the gist of the A7, just some minor devs don't. It seems as if the A7 can't handle much more than the A6. You can barely notice the difference between A6 and A7 on IB3, it just has some minor touch ups like better reflections. Gangstar just has a bit more cars and people on screen (hardly noticeable). And I can't even notice whats different in A8 and RR3. The draw distance in San Andreas is greatly increased and there are a ridiculous amount of reflections and better looking explosions in A7 compared to A6. Im no devs so I could be completely wrong but its just a pattern I've noticed
