Tomb Raider engine to power Deus Ex 3
by Ross Miller 
{ Dec 3rd 2007 at 3:51PM }
Adding itself to the rather small list of next-gen titles not using Epic's Unreal Engine, Eidos Montreal studio head Stephane D'Astous has confirmed to Develop that Deus Ex 3 will use fellow Eidos developer Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider engine to render its presumably post-apocalyptic environments. Said D'Astous, "We chose the Crystal engine because we plan to help develop this engine more and then share it back with the rest of the company, the other Eidos studios."The other in-house engine D'Astous considered was IO Interactive, who are responsible for the Hitman franchise and Kane & Lynch, the title currently vying for "Most Controversial Game of the Year" award. The original Deus Ex was designed by Warren Spector and Harvey Smith; although Spector is busy at Disney, perhaps the now out-of-work Smith can find a way to contribute to the new game (or, as Ludwig would put it, repent for Invisible War).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gonk @ Dec 3rd 2007 3:55PM
eidos being cheap, what a surprise
Kye, NDF - Fearless Leader @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:36PM
You win an internet for consistently funny first posts.
hvnlysoldr @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:46PM
An internets just ain't worth like it used to be... I mean Congratulations buddy!
Grey Fox @ Dec 3rd 2007 3:58PM
That's an interesting choice to be sure.
Poisoned Al @ Dec 3rd 2007 8:29PM
Is "interesting" code for "stupid?"
Moofree @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:02PM
"We chose the Crystal engine because Diamonds were too expensive"
Cabal @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:03PM
They should have gone with the IO Engine out of those two.
ymmv @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:09PM
Hmm... I hope they do a lot of work on that engine because Tomb Raider Legend on the Xbox 360 was a very mediocre looking game when it was released last year. I've been playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on the PS3 the last few days and that game certainly upped the ante graphicswise. It's one of the best looking games to be released on a console and very, very far ahead of TR:L. Crystal Dynamics have their work cut out for them.
cxm @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:13PM
what do you expect? Uncharted is a PS3 exclusive, meaning they can design it with a single hardware spec in mind, while TRL is a cross platform title...oh, and IT'S A YEAR OLD.
DBuck_Eye @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:48PM
There's no way Kane + Lynch can beat out Manhunt 2 for the "Most Controversial Game of the Year" award. Manhunt 2 was blown way too far out of proportion.
ssuk @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:25PM
Notice how... Days after a GameSpot editor is fired, Edios news goes through the roof. Sorry to keep bringing up this sorted affair, but it's just an interesting observation to point out.
Jeff @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:13PM
Please don't ban me for saying this... but this is old news. Nothing to do with coming out cuz of the gamespot dilemma =P
LaughingTarget @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:35PM
This just in - Deus Ex 3 is a game where you run around, jump on things and fight an impossible camera. No FPS elements in sight.
Jonah Falcon @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:44PM
The first Deus Ex game used Unreal because of its ability to do wide open environments. (sigh) Use Unreal... the second one had claustrophobic levels because of the engine.
ravuya @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:20PM
The second one used Unreal as well.
propanol @ Dec 4th 2007 1:09PM
Not quite. The second one used Unreal Engine 2 with a completely rewritten renderer, which was the source of most of their troubles. Developer confessions from after Ion Storm shut down have pretty much confirmed that they were starstruck with their accomplishment in integrating real-time shadows in the engine, without realizing the restrictions it would put on them until it was too late.
Ghen @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:47PM
side note, kinda funny that anything could be neck and neck with Manhunt on controversy this year!
Chris @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:47PM
I'd rather choose between Intel Havok engine, valves Steam or Epics unreal.
FidliousWong @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:41PM
So what you're saying is that you'd rather choose between physics, content delivery, or an actuall 3D engine...
Most people tend to prefer having all three in one project. Break that mold!
Jeff @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:19PM
What a joke! Let's use our crappy, ugly engine because it's cheap. People will eat this up anyway, it says "Deux Ex" on it.
Not that I will purchase (note: purchase) an Eidos game until this GameSpot shit gets sorted out, either way.
DemonGSides @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:42PM
Deus*
ThornedVenom @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:26PM
Deuce*
GaryM @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:02PM
People are too hung up on engines these days.
James @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:04PM
Yeah bad choice. At least it will probably run on the Wii =p. I could never get into the first Deus EX and the graphics were never 'great'. The character design and animation was poor. I got into Deus EX 2 more but most hardcore players said it was a step back. If they go for decent graphics, tight gameplay and story I'm all for it. Can they top Mass Effect though?
BananaBoat @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:34PM
"Can they top mass effect though?"
I really hope you are joking, because Mass Effect had the buggiest graphics of any game this year. Noone should be aspiring to that poor a level of quality control.
Mostly because Eidos is making DX3, I won't be buying it. I'll rent it if it's not terrible though.
gonk @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:59PM
he meant the story i think
yeah i hope they can remove all the loading pauses for mass effect 2, they happen like every 100 yards around the citadel. make the game 2 discs if you need to, jeez
BananaBoat @ Dec 3rd 2007 7:52PM
I especially love the part of Mass Effect where you get off the elevator and it loads, then you run for a few steps and it loads again. No idea what the name of the area was, but it was in the citadel somewhere. Loading screens wasn't what I meant by graphical glitches though. In Mass Effect, the framerate is terrible at times, and textures pop in and out at random all throughout the game.
DX3 should aspire to more (graphically) than Mass Effect did.
gonk @ Dec 3rd 2007 9:13PM
it got choppy framerate a few times for me, but it was pretty rare
maybe it's because they're using the ut3 engine? it's probably too late to switch to a different engine for ME2 though :( and I'm not sure if a different one would handle the game better
BananaBoat @ Dec 3rd 2007 11:56PM
I don't think it was the Unreal Engine's fault, since the texture problems weren't there in Gears. Honestly I think it was them trying to get the game out too early. There are atleast 20 places in the game where it's easy to document the texture loading problems, and I can't imagine that their quality control guys didn't notice them, which makes me assume that they just didn't have the time to correct it. The FPS issues were rare, but the texture problem was EVERYWHERE in the game. Then there are a few other bugs (getting stuck, gun not firing etc) that I don't think they could have missed, but probably didn't have the time to fix. I know that has nothing to do with DX3, but this comments section is dead already anyway. When people are talking about Mass Effect in a thread about your game, you should probably know that noone is that interested (Eidos..take note)
Zach S @ Dec 4th 2007 12:14AM
All I can say is, good thing they have a good engine to base off of! Of course they're not just gonna use the engine as it is - they're going to, as they said, improve upon it and fit it to the game. Seeing as Legends had great lighting, water, physics, character models, etc. etc. I can see how this could be a good choice to use to expand upon. Let's just hope they don't get lazy with it!
machewchew @ Dec 4th 2007 12:54AM
Now's the time for you gamers to put your money where your damned mouths are.
Jeff said he's not buying an Eidos game until the Gamespot thing gets worked out. Who else is with him?
Hadrian @ Dec 5th 2007 3:33PM
I hope the engine gets improved upon because it does have potential but I prefer they take all the time they need to build a new engine based on the opportunities the new consoles offer. I liked Tomb Raider:Legends but I didn't care too much for Tomb Raider:Anniversary cause I felt it wasn't as polished as Legends and overall looked like slightly improved PS2/XBOX games on the 360.