To what extent can further technological innovation be delivered on the current generation of console hardware? Sony stood up to be counted at E3 2018 with a series of superb gameplay reveals – and taking centre-stage was Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part 2. On the surface, it looks as great as you might expect. From its detailed characters to its lush environments, it’s clear that the game is shaping up well – but if you look closer, there are some remarkable new technologies on display. From our perspective, animation and interaction are two key areas set to separate this game from its rivals.
What’s immediately apparent is that there’s a fluidity to the animation quite unlike anything on the market, to the point where some don’t even believe that the demo is authentic in-game action. Of course, Naughty Dog has a rich history in pushing back the boundaries in this respect, with the expertly crafted blending and transitions seen in both the Uncharted titles and The Last of Us, but clearly, this latest E3 reveal is on a whole new level – and it’s all down to a new animation technology known as motion matching.
“It’s this crazy science fiction stuff where you take just hundreds and hundreds of animations of like walking forward and turning or whatever, and you put them in this huge bucket, and then based on what the player is trying to do or what an NPC is trying to do, it pulls from that bucket, sometimes two or three different animations, and blends them together to make this totally seamless thing,” co-game director Anthony Newman told IGN.
Source: Eurogamer Tech Analysis: How The Last of Us 2 pushes realism to the next level