Games which use and support NVIDIA PhysX | Updated

Alice: Madness Returns

Alice: Madness Returns by American James McGee is a game which needs a little bit of explanation. To start from the very beginning, American McGee was working at id Software where he was working at such games as Doom. When he moved to Electronic Arts, in 1998 he was able to propose the creation of a game known as American McGee’s Alice.

The game was a weird (American McGee was always a little bit eccentric) twist of the widely known story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In this story, Alice was responsible for a fire which destroyed her home and killed both her parents and older sister.

The situation left a visible mark on Alice mind. Hence, as both an orphan and a person with a strong survival guilt she was sent to the asylum. Ten years after the fire, the now teen Alice is summoned by White Rabbit to the Wonderland. Wonderland is not a happy place but a twisted reflection of Alice’s mind. Full of monsters and dangers, the environment took a lot of its elements straight out from the horror genre.

Image credit: Spicy Horse Games

The game was a great success, so a few years later the sequel was created. Hence, Alice: Madness Returns was created and the fans went crazy. Even though Alice was able to take on the Red Queen, her mind is still not at peace. Now 19 years old Alice was still released from the asylum and is currently living in London under the counsel of a doctor and psychiatrist, Dr. Angus Bumby. Soon the Wonderland called to her once again.

Alice appeared in much more peaceful wonderland learning that there was a new ruler. Someone much more sinister and powerful than Queen of Hearts. Capable of destroying the entire Wonderland and in the result, Alice mind. Over the course of the game, a player is going to learn even more about dark secrets of Alice’s past. You are going to learn what really happened on that night when Alice parents and sister died in the fire.

Anyway, Alice: Madness Returns is a game which can be called a mix of both survival horror and a platformer. Hence, the Phys engine is widely utilized. Each jump needs to be carefully calculated if you want to make it work. Furthermore, Alice has a power of shrinking which she can utilize. When she is small, the environment and by extension Alice body, are going to behave differently.

A good example of a proper use of the PhysX language is the Cardbridge level which is widely considered the most beautiful area in the game. Alice lands on a bridge made from big cards high in the sky. The cards are constantly moving, flying through the clouds and reacting when you touch them. You are going to love this. If you are looking for a beautiful, interesting psychological horror then you are really going to love this. Especially if you take into consideration that it is a really cheap game right now.

Mirror's Edge

Mirror’s Edge can be considered the primary example of a proper use of the PhysX engine. You are Faith Connors, a young woman who is responsible for relaying information without the notice of the government.

Why?

Because you live in a anti-utopian city where everything is controlled by the regime. Unfortunately, Faith cannot engage the entire government in battle. Hence, in order to avoid detection, she moves across roofs of the city, utilizing parkour abilities. Just imagine how hard it can be to implement the realistic parkour in a game.

However, thanks to the Nvidia PhysX engine it was possible. Many different aspects are going to influence the fact if the jump is going to be successful or if we are going to fall down and die. One of the most important aspects which you need to keep in mind is the momentum.

Image credit: EA Digital Illusions CE

With each jump and when she’s running, Faith is going to gain more and more speed. Proper reactions are going to allow you to preserve momentum, even during long and hard jumps. You need to learn how to use this well in order to be able to make a series of quick jumps between long gaps.

If you are going to lose the momentum even for a second, then the jump is possibly not going to be long enough. While the system is relatively easy to grasp, you still need to learn how Faith behaves and how to use environment for your own advantage.

Thanks to PhysX the mechanics of parkour are so great and realistic. Furthermore, as the game is already a few years old, it is also very cheap.

As it can be seen, the game is not only about graphics, music, gameplay etc. The proper engine which is going to emulate the real-life physics is also important. Without PhysX all walls would be destroyed in exactly the same way, each jump in the game would look exactly the same and the character body would always behave in a scripted way.

If you do not believe, then simply check and compare games from eighteen years ago with modern titles. PhysX gives much more possibilities.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

We think that we do not need to describe this game to you but we are going to do it anyway. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was the best game released in 2015. Furthermore, it can be considered one of the best games in the history of PC and consoles as well.

The game was based on books written by Andrzej Sapkowski, very popular in Poland. CD Project Red studio appeared literally out of nowhere (at least for most of the world). Thanks to the way in which they treat fans and the game it was developing, CD Project Red is loved as much as Blizzard or Square Enix.

Image credit: CD PROJEKT RED

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is, by popular vote, the best game of the trilogy and it is taking absolutely the best aspects from PhysX. The engine is used to emulate the behavior of the horse on which you are going to travel.

Furthermore, the proper use of this engine can be seen during battles with enemies (especially human ones). Each strike of the sword, dodge, miss, parry etc. has a powerful impact. For example, if you are going to dodge the enemy attack, then the enemy is going to need a few moments to stop the attack which gives you a chance to retaliate.

You will be amazed by how the game world reacts to certain actions. Together with an interesting plot which is going to provide you with much more than fifty hours of gameplay, you are not going to regret buying this game. Furthermore, it should be noted that CD Project Red decided to provide players with a quite few DLCs for free. No wonder that people love them.