Best Game visuals…

Zelda: Wind Waker on the GameCube

I know this was a controversial game among Zelda fans but thanks to it’s art style and the fact that it wasn’t trying to out do other games of the time visually it’s not immediately pigeon holed into a set generation of games console.

Kids looking at screen shots of that game for the 1st time in ten years or so will not immediately go "Wow, look at those shitty old graphics"

MGS1 textures were super low quality by todays standard but at the time remember thinking this was the best looking game ever, everything was consistent in the art direction (And no I don’t mean everything was gray :) ). On the modern front would have to go along with Shadow of the Colossus the attention to lighting and atmospheric effects are a sight to behold.

But what do I know I am still impressed by any games that have real looking grass and spend a good minute going "oooh it moves" or "oooow butterflies".

Ico still looks lovely and Paper Mario 2 on the GC, I bet that wont age that badly.

If you have good consistent art direction then you can shove all the shaders and fancy crap up your bottom.

Probably not "the strongest game visually" but one that had a big impact on me, Viewtiful Joe. This game engaged me from the first time I saw it, its distinctive but familiar look would be great as a cartoon, its just a shame that the average game is so far removed from 2d platformers at this stage that the game didnt sell as well as it should have.

Oh and Freespace 2 from way back, its the only spaceship game I have ever played that didnt feel empty. Even comparing it to recent title’s like X3 that use many of the same features this game just has more personality. Visually I think this game was very well directed and managed quite a few great cinematic moments.

Diablo II

For 2 reasons.
1) It was the first game where I saw cinematics of such quality. Looking at them today, they still hold up and look amazing.
2) The in-game character customisation was great. The character genuinely looked like they were wearing the equipment you gave them, and there was a vast quantity of equipment you could give, especially when you gave them some of the ‘special’ equipment in the game.

A few off the top of my head, in no particular order, without reasons :) – sorry will edit later…

Limbo Game
Darwinia & Rez & Geometry Wars Evolved
Little Big Planet
Alien Hominid
LocoRoco
God of War 1 & II
Half Life 2
Wik & the Fable of Souls
Oddworld series
Ico & Shadow
Viewtiful Joe

Yoshi’s Island for the SNES was probably the first game that stuck in my head in terms of originality and design. It was just so warped and really broke from the clean lines of the previous games.

Second for Freespace, the two most memorable bits for me was the last level of the first game where you’re in the wormhole with the huge cruiser and have to zip around it Star Wars style disabling their engines and things. Second was in Freespace 2 I think where, after a rather long mission, you’re just about to warp out but you suddently get an" unidentified signal" warning and a massive ship appears right beside you and catches you in its engine wash.

Scale. That was a word you became familiar with in that game. ;)

XIII too, first cell shaded game I played through and although the novelty began to wear thin and take away from it somewhat it still looked pretty awesome.

Diablo II
[/quote:fea0cdc676]

get out.

i really liked the graphics for jet set radio for the dreamcast. i’m not sure but i think that game was the first to use cel-shading.

WCW Thunder made a big impression on me. At the time, I couldn’t imagine a game being better than it. Gotta miss that innocence..

Final Fantasy VII had very detailed textures. Even though it was all pre-rendered, it came across as being really advanced. Then you had the FMVs that were just beyond anything ever seen. You could say Resident Evil II did something similar with its backgrounds.

The Bouncer was the first game I ever saw on the Playstation 2. Tekken Tag was the first game I ever played on it. Both games seemed to be so ahead of their time. (Of course The Bouncer was actually one of the worst games ever.)

I’m looking forward to Splinter Cell: Conviction in terms of graphics. It looks pretty off the hook.

Yoshis Island, pure genius. The Last Ninja, Shadow of the Beast and Donkey Kong Country are worth a mention also.

hehe:

Turrican
R-Type
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayhem_in_Monsterland – Just posting a link as most of ye won’t know it – this was on a C64 remember.
Command & Conquer – Attention to detail.
Last Ninja
Unreal & Unreal Tournament – These are works of art.
Ground Control – Attention to detail.
Half Life

I’d have to go with Brendan on this one and say the Wind Waker, genius graphics, and so many little details even in it’s cartoony style. I’m personally really looking forward to Team Fortress 2, I love the graphics style they’ve taken for that one.

1) Wolfenstein 3D.

At the time, a real-time 3D ( ok – 2.5D ) game was unheard of! It was the first game that made Amiga / ST owners a bit envious.

2) Doom

When this came out, the jump in visuals was so high that people swore that games couldn’t get any more realistic looking!

3) Gran Turismo 1 ( on Playstation 1 )

The first time I saw real-time reflections being used in a game.

I can’t remember seeing any other game visuals that really jumped out – most other games visuals were evolutionary, rather than revolutionary.

What about the worst visuals ever – Wii Sports / Mii’s. Talk about taking a step back several years!!! Great family gameplay, sh1t graphics.

Mal

Diablo II[/quote:06bda2a0ce]
get out.[/quote:06bda2a0ce]

Maybe I should have said Smartbomb…the game Europe missed. What a classic!

Gran Turismo (PS1)

Resident Evil (Remake, Zero & 4) (GC)

Best graphics I’ve seen so far: Gears of War (360)

Diablo II[/quote:964f1e2769]
get out.[/quote:964f1e2769]

Maybe I should have said Smartbomb…the game Europe missed. What a classic![/quote:964f1e2769]

Classic game, get on eBay before it goes the way of Radiant Silvergun!!!

Speaking of Radiant Silvergun, that reminds me of the awesome Ikaruga. While most of these games are usually visually stimulating due to the sheer number of in game objects on screen, Ikaruga went one step further by its use of the black and white polarities making you concentrate even more on what was going on. From a visual point of view however it looked awesome on both the DC and Gamecube, definitely worth picking up if you own either of those consoles.

Okami, XIII, Psychonauts for originality

For sheer awe when I turned them on…eh…FFVIII, FFX, Wipeout on the PSP, Gears, Gran Turismo etc etc!