When you play enough games, most widely-used commercial engines tend to have a 'feel'. For example, I am fairly confident I could pick engines out of a line-up consisting of Unity, Unreal, Source, CryEngine and RAGE (Rockstar's engine).
I used to be a game reviewer, for about 80% of the games on the market you're right. However, some just make it all their own and it can be on a per game basis. Diakatana was obviously a Quake II engine game, Anachranox was not. The engine was so heavily modified and doing things no one thought an FPS engine could do, everyone I talked to was surprised when they found out it was Quake II.
> For example, I am fairly confident I could pick engines out of a line-up consisting of Unity, Unreal, Source, CryEngine and RAGE (Rockstar's engine).
For some, but not for all. There are lots of games that you cannot feel the engine in. Most people would not be able to tell that Titanfall is Source for instance.
I agree. Its interesting though: Most engines do have small 'tells' that a seasoned gamer can identify, usually related to subtle movement physics differences when it comes to jumping and strafing, and also FOV settings could sometimes be a give away.
Back in the Unreal Tournament 2k3-2k4 days, I could always pick out any game made with the Unreal engine, same with GoldSource and Source... kinda scuked. I do hope that doesn't start happening here.
