This answer seems very complicated for me. For example, one of the highest demanding games out for pc right now is battlefield 4. But battlefield 3, not so much. What makes battlefield 4 so much more demanding than battlefield 3? I'm looking for details and a rather deep explanation. Don't just say "cuz the graphics are better". And for example, diablo 3 suffers from EXTREME video lag when fighting multiple elite mobs. It eats up even the most expensive of graphics cards, but the graphics in this game look like they were made by fisher price. So what is the science behind all this?
What makes certain video games more resource demanding than others?
Guest
It doesn't always have to be the " quality of the graphics " ( look at minecraft for example )… But the better the quality the more demand… Also consider… Objects and the total number of objects… Example a flat 2d tree… Now have a 3d tree with 800 leaves, now picture this tree with 800 leaves and all the leaves are swaying in the breeze…( that's a lot of graphic information )
Now also picture distance… If all the game is drawing just a farm house ( no big demand )… Now picture drawing that farm house and everything for 2 miles around it…( more graphic information )
Now picture random moving objects…( npc and or other players )
If the other players are all standing still and the npc are just standing there ( no big demand ), Now picture 10 npc and 5 players in battle… All of this random graphic information…
Now toss all of his together… A tree with 800 leaves swaying in the breeze in front of a farm house ( where you can see everything for 2 miles around ) and a major battle is taking place…
Another thing that can be demanding… Scripted objects. ( aside from npc )… Doors that open… Windows that open… Birds flying around… The sound of your footsteps… Objects that you interact with or objects that move on their own… They all have programs in them… These programs are what give them action / reaction.
So-o-o-o-o… More stuff… More demand…
Aerialnine
Metro 2033 is the hardest to run at its maximum settings. Here's a comparative benchmark in which it, BF3 and Crysis 2 all get similar framerates, but Metro isn't even on its highest settings.
Andrew
People are more interested in the latest version.
Jeffrey