Black Ops: Declassified isn’t as ugly as it was in Gamescom – dev

By: Moses Abaortae

  |   October 5th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Robert Huebner, the head of Nihilistic studios, has assured gamers that the PlayStation Vita game has undergone a number of major upgrades in terms of visuals and is more Call of Duty-like.

Sony is looking to garner as much support it can for the Vita, which, although Sony admits is doing rather well by their standards, is still struggling on the sales front in the eyes of analysts and pretty much everyone else who doesn’t work for Sony.

That being said, the console has seen massive spikes following the release of a number of titles both in Japan and other regions as well. However, the lack of consistency on the release front means that there is no sustained growth with the sales figures chart of the Vita looking very similar to those portraying stock prices.

Sony’s strategy involves ensuring that there is a steady flow of content available for the console, which in turn will boost sales attracting both consumers and developers who will want to create games for the platform as well.

Part of this strategy is bringing triple-A titles to the console. Mortal Kombat, FIFA and Uncharted: Golden Abyss as well as the recent gem of game, LittleBigPlanet for the Vita, have all been released to increase in the console’s sales.

Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation, Killzone: Mercenary and Tearaway are set for release over the course of the next few months. However, all eyes will be set on Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified for the Vita. The first game from the record breaking franchise for console, Declassified did not make the best of impressions when it was shown off at Gamescom earlier on in the year.

Critics and fans were appalled by the horrible visuals and the lack lustre sound and nothing stood out about the game. However, Robert Huebner, the head of Nihilistic Games, in a recent interview with the PlayStation Blog, explained that the game had come a long way since its reveal.

He said, “Gamescom seems so long ago. I think the most noticeable thing is a significant visual upgrade; a richer colour palette, more detailed models, and better lighting overall. Also we implemented an entirely new animation blending system that allows us to capture a lot of nuanced animation that Call of Duty players are accustomed to.”

However, without any screenshots or demos to demonstrate the improvements it is difficult to pass any judgements at this time. It seems one can only sit and wait for the developers to show off their latest game, which incidentally is not being developed by Activision or any of its studios. In fact, Activision is only on-board as a publisher and to oversee the narrative of the storyline.