3D Vision Mega Evaluation – Gimmick or Gaming’s Future?

The games

We played 6 fairly new games from start to finish that were either “3D Vision Ready” or rated “Excellent” by Nvidia

• Metro 2033
• Bulletstorm
• Duke Nukem Forever
• Alice: Madness Returns
• Dungeon Siege III
• Crysis 2 DX11

We published two full game and performance reviews of Duke Nukem Forever and Alice: Madness Returns that covered playing them with 3D Vision within the past two months.  Feel free to read them for the full evaluation of the games and their performance.  Here we will give you a very brief recap of each game before we go into the general section with the 80 older games that we replayed for this evaluation.

Metro 2033

Metro 2033 makes great use of 3D Vision and it is a very immersive experience playing it in S3D.  There are no problems with the HUD or depth although again it is a very dark game and sometimes it is a bit difficult to see (anyway).  The real S3D issues are that it is a very demanding game in 2D and you must make real compromises to run this game with 3D Vision – even with a GTX 590.  And we cannot imagine even trying it in 3D Vision Surround’s 5760×1080 resolution without Tri- or Quad-SLI.

Bulletstorm

There are some limitations for some PC games that affect the 3D appearance of some objects in the game in relation to others.  This is not so much the issue in Bulletstorm as that the action is somewhat confusing in S3D and it is magnified by 3D Vision Surround – too much is happening on the periphery and it is somewhat tiring.

Bulletstorm is an Unreal 3.5 Engine game and they all run well from a performance standpoint and they can also be well-optimized for S3D and 3D Vision.  Players have access to a large arsenal of over-the-top combat moves and large weapons featuring alternative fire. Bulletstorm also has a variety of “skillshots” which have ignited controversy in the press. The skillshot system rewards the player for dispatching enemy NPCs in the most creative and destructive ways possible.  It is a decent shooter with a pretty ridiculous story and totally crass humor which may appeal to some.

Since Bulletstorm was the first game that this editor played from start to finish with 3D, there was very little tweaking involved.  Returning to the game after a 4 months exploration with 3D Vision, and adjusting convergence and depth, we were able to alleviate some of the original issues and of course, on a second playthrough, the 3D effects did not confuse as before although playing it in Surround is over the top and not as impressive or immersive as in Just Cause 2, for example which had spectacular panoramic ariel views only enhanced to the nth degree by 3D Vision.

However, unlike with Just Cause 2 which needs some compromises, Bulletstorm can run really well in 1080p S3D on a single GTX 560 Ti and a GTX 590 can drive 3D Vision Surround so the experience is fluid.  Although it appears that the game could have been optimized for the actual gameplay better, the effects are still very good and the gore and blood-splatter is right in your face, adding to the overall experience.  5760×1080 Surround across 3 screens in S3D is possible from a performance standpoint with a GTX 590 – and by a stretch, a pair of overclocked GTX 560 Tis should be able to handle the game fluidly if you make a few compromises to the settings.

 

Duke Nukem Forever

Very few if any compromises are necessary with Duke Nukem Forever; only the post-processing effects (which are iffy anyway) are disabled for 3D Vision. For this evaluation, Duke Nukem Forever was played on a GTX 580 for the first play through in both 2D and 3D at maximum details. For the second play through and screenshot harvest, the GTX 560 Ti was the weapon of choice and for 3D Vision Surround, GTX 560 Ti SLI along with the then newly released 275.33 WHQL drivers, which included the 3D profiles for this game and the 3D Vision drivers

It also runs well on low to medium systems and upper-midrange PCs can handle it with all in-game settings fully maxed out at 1920×1080 resolution and even in 3D Vision! Generally, the minimum frame rate for the review PC (i7-920/GTX 560 Ti) as measured by Fraps stayed above 60 frames per second – or 30 FPS for 3D Vision – it is a very fluid first person shooter experience.

it is designed to run well on a Nvidia 8800 GTS so it will be absolutely fluid on a GTX 560 Ti – even playing fully maxed out at 1920×1080 with 3D Vision as we did. We started out by playing with a GTX 580 but soon realized it was completely overkill for Duke Nukem Forever

With 3D Vision, the post processing effects are turned off and it gives the best visual experience even over playing in 2D unlike some 3D Vision games like Bulletstorm where the stereo 3D (S3D) implementation is confusing and only gets worse in 3-panel Surround. The added illusion of 3D “depth” actually helps with the jumping and aiming – unlike with other new games (like Alice: Madness Returns where it helps to turn 3D ‘off’ to complete long jumping sequences).

Duke Nukem Forever is only enhanced by 3D Vision. There are no downsides to playing this game whatsoever in S3D and in fact there are advantages to aiming and visualization of your targets. The way enemies shoot back is more intense and you may find yourself flinching at time – much more so than just playing it in the traditional manner. Duke Nukem Forever gets two big thumbs up from this reviewer on the implementation of 3D Vision and also 3D Vision Surround – which is just “more is better” – the widescreen view adds to the game although fortunately most of the action takes place right in front of you.

The game itself is a fair shooter and perhaps deserves a bit more respect than the original reviews gave it.  We do look forward to further adventures of the Duke as the franchise develops and we hope they continue to optimize it as well for 3D gaming.

 

Alice: Madness Returns

For some games, the player may have to adjust or disable some settings and perhaps use Nvidia’s supplied crosshairs for the best experience. Nvidia even offers suggestions on-screen as your game loads.  Unfortunately, a few of these compromises are necessary with Alice: Madness Returns; the post-processing effects are disabled for 3D Vision and motion blur must be off. Even so, it is difficult to make some jumps because of the depth but especially because of the keyboard/mouse imprecise controls.  This editor often switched 3D Vision on and off in some areas.

For this article, Alice: Madness Returns was played Core i7-920/GTX 580 for the first play through in both 2D and 3D at maximum details, with 3D Vision switched off for the really long jumping sequences. For the second play-through and screenshot harvest, the GTX 560 Ti was the weapon of choice and for 3D Vision Surround, GTX 560 Ti SLI along with the then latest 275.33 WHQL drivers, which include the 3D profiles for this game and the 3D Vision drivers

Some of the best part of the 3D experience in Alice: Madness Returns centers around the incredible detail in each level.  You get to experience Alice’s double and triple jumps that generate flowers and butterflies that fly off deep into the screen; her dodging animations look great in 3D – even dying and disintegrating into butterflies takes away some of the sting of having to restart from a checkpoint.

With each different and changing level, objects continue to move interestingly in a 3-dimensional space.   PhysX effects are rendered particularly well with 3D Vision

Alice: Madness Returns is quite stable and reasonably bug free and it also runs well on low to medium systems and relatively high-end PCs can handle it with all in-game settings fully maxed out at 1920×1080 resolution and even in 3D Vision! Generally, the minimum frame rate for the review PC (i7-920/GTX 560 Ti) as measured by Fraps stayed above 60 frames per second – or 30 FPS for 3D Vision – it is a very fluid shooter experience with PhysX on medium and settings maxed out.

Dungeon Siege III

This game is definitely the best looking of its genre – a top-down action-RPG in the mold of Neverwinter Nights II.  Unlike Neverwinter Nights II, the 3D experience adds to the game’s experience.  Unlike NWN 2, unfortunately the game lacks in just about every other aspect being quite an ordinary game, apparently dumbed-down for consoles and apparently not up to the standard of the earlier series.

However, the look of Dungeon Siege III is one designed for S3D.  It is about a 15 hour experience that looks quite good in S3D but must be adjusted or out of the box, the experience is somewhat tiring.  A rather generic story and lack of a real party detract although combat looks good in 2D and even better with 3D Vision.

The best part of this game is picking up cool weapons and armor and upgrading your character into a near-invincible god.  The worst part is having only one companion and having to wait to be resurrected as there are no healing potions and a lot of the joy of the micro-management built into RPGs has been stripped out of the game.

To its credit, in many other games, some effects are rendered without full 3D information.  Worst in this kind of game, are heads-up displays (HUDs), dialog boxes and crosshair sights for targeting. If this happens, items like these appear at the wrong depth relative to other items in the game and it can be quite disconcerting and/or distracting as in Neverwinter Nights II or even its predecessor Dungeon Siege II.  Not so with Dungeon Siege III which gives the best 3D experience for its kind of game.

 

Crysis 2 DX11

In this editor’s opinion, playing Crysis 2 with 3D Vision is done very well and gives probably the best overall 3D Vision experience without relying on pop-outs and it does it conservatively so that the player can play for many hours at a time without getting tired.  Playing Crysis 2 in 3D vision helps to immerse the player into the game more than playing in regular 2D.

The effects are not flashy and rarely does anything pop out toward the player.  However, the default depth is intelligently chosen and it appears that it may even help with judging aiming; it is that accurate.

The CryTek developers have minimized any 2D distractions and one can concentrate on the action without being aware that he is even playing in 3D – it is that immersive.  And of course, the graphics are outstanding anyway in DX11 with the high resolution texture pack.  Only motion blur – which is done very well in Crysis 2 – seems to benefit by being on ‘low’ with 3D Vision and you can choose for yourself what level of Processing Effects you wish.

When Crysis 2 first came out, it was only fair for 3D Vision and it would not work at all in DX11 for this editor and for many other players.  A beta driver from Nvidia shortly addressed this issue and changed Crysis 2 from fair to 3D Vision “Ready”.  It’s amazing to see what a single driver release can do for 3D Vision and it pays to have the latest (even beta) drivers installed.

The only issue with Crysis 2 is the steep hardware requirements necessary to run it at maximum details and also in 3D Vision.  A GTX 590 or GTX 570 SLI appears to be necessary to give the minimum 60fps (30fps per eye) for a fluid S3D experience.  And you can forget about 3D Vision Surround unless you are willing to compromise with settings – even with GTX 580 SLI.  Perhaps Tri- or Quad-SLI would be sufficient.  The good thing about playing games in 2D and then upgrading to 3D Vision, means that your old library of favorite games reopens to you and you can enjoy the experience again but in 3D.

Super Street Fighter IV Arcade edition

As with the rest of the Street Fighter series, it features 3D backgrounds with characters played on a 2D plane.  It has been developed particularly with S3D (stereoscopic 3D) in mind as a 3D Version has been developed just for the Nintendo 3DS.  Unfortunately, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition was only rated as “Fair” for Nvidia’s 3D Vision.  That means that you had to dial some settings down and even with the last WHQL 275.50 drivers, it is better to play in regular 2D.

However, everything all changed for the better with the latest betas from Nvidia’s 3D Vision driver team, R280.19 and the subsequent WHQL 280.26.  Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition is now rated at the highest level of compatibility with S3D – 3D Vision Ready.  That means that you can now crank up the settings to the absolute maximum if your card can handle it.

Now you can max every setting including some really off-the-wall 16xQ AA setting in 3D and have the framerates completely locked at 60FPS (by the 3D Vision driver).  We played with a GTX 580 and it appears that a GTX 560 can also max out this game.

This is the classic fighting game for PC and the addition of intelligently done S3D for 3D Vision elevates it way over the 2D version and increases the excitement of playing the game and thus increases its immersion many fold.

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Sold thumbs up on the implementation of 3D Vision for Super Street Fighter IV Arcade edition!

Eighty other games

Check out our desktop and our Steam game folder at the height of our 3D Vision evaluation.  There are far more games that we tried that we installed and uninstalled as our 500GB hard disk drive was simply too small to hold all of the games that we tested.  And of course, many games that we tried were either too old to work well at any modern resolution and looked awful; or were OpenGL-based and unsupported.  In fact, some games were so difficult to configure and work around (Thief: Deadly Shadows) that we simply gave up on trying the experience in S3D although Widescreen Gaming Forum offers many clues how to proceed.

However, there were so many games in our library that did work, that a 1-2 month projected investigation turned into nearly six months.

Here is another look at a different time with the Steam games library open:

It is really difficult to cover all of these great games in 3D Vision.  Besides the six games mentioned earlier, the ones that really stick out in this editor’s mind as being spectacular in 3D and better than 2D would certainly include Just Cause 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum.  Both games take real advantage of the strengths of 3D Vision to provide a better experience than any 2D setup, plus Just Cause 2 is absolutely stunning for its super-widescreen (5760×1080) panoramic aerial views over Panau in stereoscopic 3D.  Nothing in 2D even comes close to this kind of exciting and immersive game-playing experience!  Let’s take a look at some of the older games we revisited in S3D.

There is no way that we could forget to mention that all the Unreal Engine games – from Unreal II all the way to the latest v3.5 for Duke Nukem, Bulletstorm and Alice: Madness Returns – look generally very good and perform well with 3D Vision.  Generally with a little tweaking, these games provide a much more immersive experience over playing in regular 2D.  Valve’s Source engine games – from Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines and Half-Life 2 onward through Left 4 Dead series also look and also run very well with 3D Vision even in 5760×1080 3D Vision Surround!

«1. Introduction2. The 3D Vision movement3. Producing the illusion of depth4. History of Stereoscopic 3D5. How 3D Vision works6. ABT's Interview with Jon Peddie7. HW requirements for S3D/3D Vision8. 3D Vision Performance9. 120Hz Displays vs. 120Hz displays - advantages for 2D gaming?10. Unboxing the ASUS 3D Vision Bundle11. 3D Vision active shutter glasses12. Installing 3D Vision13. First Impressions14. Potential issues with 3D and 3D Vision15. PC Games in 3D Vision16. Eighty Older games17. 3D Vision Surround (5760x1080)18. The Verdict19. View All»