Best looking game to date

Original Unreal was breathtaking. The only thing with the same wow factor now IMO is Farcry and Oblivion.
 
Really its hard to say, but my nod would have to go with HL2. Everything is just so damn well done. Even with the fake HDR, with EP1 and now EP2 nothing looks and runs as good as the Source engine. Vavle did such a great job on the engine.
 
I was never so shocked with how well a game looked then Quake2, then Doom3 came along and blew me away as well, the shock factor wasn't there but I do believe Doom3 took me into a place I never had been in a game and that was true environmental involvement, constantly watching walls moving, realizing a place is extremely dark and trying to trip on my own feet

I'd have to say Quake2 was my favorite graphical, 2nd to Doom3.
 
thabub said:
Original Unreal was breathtaking. The only thing with the same wow factor now IMO is Farcry and Oblivion.
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Yep, Unreal is on the top of my list too. Even nearly a decade later (it was released way back in 1998), it still manages to look amazing. It might not have the sheer polygon counts and shader effects that today's games have, but everything is done so perfectly that it creates a beautiful experience no matter what year you are looking at it. No two levels look identical, and it really creates the experience that you are traveling across a planet.

The same would have to go with World of Warcraft. Nothing fancy technologically, but damn if that isn't one of the most beautiful worlds i've ever laid eyes on. The rich, colorful textures, gorgeous world design, and organic look makes it come alive. The gameplay on the other hand... not so perfect :p

And of course, I must mention HL2. I would rate it as still the best looking "realistic" game out there. No one has even come CLOSE to the character models/facial expressions that Valve has put into the game. They don't look like plastic, and their faces move with frightening realism. They don't look like robots, and they don't look like they are covered in Vaseline either.
 
oblivion has decent graphics but its LOD is a crushing blow from keeping me imersed in it.

even with all the player made fixes tword the LOD it still looks like crap to me and stands out like a sore thumb.

i honestly couldnt belive the game shipped looking like that it actually made me chuckle at how bad the LOD looked
 
Come on guys, lets bring it back to the roots... the best looking game of all time is...

PONG!!
 
FARCRY-Gotta love the lush outdoors... So pretty.. :)

UNREAL- I got scared playing this game because it seemed so unreal... Great graphics

HALF LIFE wasn't breathtaking but the art/physics was done right
 
Graphically, I still think Half-Life 2 is the best. There are other games like F.E.A.R. that have better shadowing, but a lot of the environs (especially the tenant building hallways) in Half-Life 2 look VERY realistic, but still run at max FPS on a normal system, too. Framerate really helps with realism in my opinion.
Beyond HL2, Far Cry with everything cranked is a beautiful game, too. It has it's pitfalls, but it's still a great looking game. The distant views are still unmatched in any other game, IMO.
The Doom engine based games look good, but there's just something very "un-natural" about them. Everything just looks like a plastic model that's well animated, while the HL2 environs and objects have a more realistic look to them. F.E.A.R. is kind of a mix of HL2 and Doom. Some things look VERY real, but other things (again) look like a plastic figure that was animated.
 
I would say. The preview for HL2: EP 2 looks fantastic. As well as crysis.
 
Marvelous said:
FARCRY-Gotta love the lush outdoors... So pretty.. :)
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QFT. The only game I've seen so far that truly tops FC's lushness is Crysis...it's own semi-sequel. The only problem I have is that it has HDR which means I can't run AA with it:(

But I also give mucho props to Oblivion...photo-realism at its BEST. That is, until Crysis comes around...
 
Fight Night round 3.

If you play this at someone's house on the big screen (xbox360)

You'd almost think you were watching pay-per-view.
 
^ Wow I'm surprised that no one else mentioned that. The game is pretty much the closest to photo-realism that we have right now. However, graphically speaking, the game doesn't consist of much except the character models and actual ring that they fight in, so it's not like there is much of an environment to render. All the detail is in the character models.
 
Darakian said:
I'l agree with half life 2. Most any game that does not cover the game world in plastic should be given a medal though :rolleyes:
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i totally agree with that... i hate the plastic looking doom 3 engine... prey and all those other games that use the same or around the same engine.... HL2 is the best one due to overall graphics/art/lighting and such
 
I don't understand why there's so much negativity to the Doom III engine.

I was playing through Prey a while back and when I got the game loaded up on my old CRT (rather than my Dell 24" LCD) the game looked AMAZING. I'd have to give Prey my vote for the best graphics I've ever seen in a game (although the gameplay itself was only meh).

While the Half Life 2 engine is quite spectacular (especially for outdoor brightly lit environments), I think the Doom III engine nails the dark interiors incredibly so incredibly well that I have to give it my vote :) The key to getting the most out of the engine is to play it in a dark room on a CRT... it looks fugly on an LCD IMO.
 
PKFGimpy said:
I don't understand why there's so much negativity to the Doom III engine.

I was playing through Prey a while back and when I got the game loaded up on my old CRT (rather than my Dell 24" LCD) the game looked AMAZING. I'd have to give Prey my vote for the best graphics I've ever seen in a game (although the gameplay itself was only meh).

While the Half Life 2 engine is quite spectacular (especially for outdoor brightly lit environments), I think the Doom III engine nails the dark interiors incredibly so incredibly well that I have to give it my vote :) The key to getting the most out of the engine is to play it in a dark room on a CRT... it looks fugly on an LCD IMO.
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i also agree that it looks great... but it does have a very platic wrapped look to it... thats why i think HL2 wins over doom3
 
atherton213 said:
i also agree that it looks great... but it does have a very platic wrapped look to it... thats why i think HL2 wins over doom3
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For me, things just look "fake." It's almost like comparing the new Star Wars movies to Lord of the Rings. Similar idea, but one blends everything in realistically and the other just looks very artificial and plastic. Shadows and extra animation frames don't keep everything in Doom from looking plastic and angular. FEAR takes the same idea and does it a little better, but it, too gives everything an artificial "plastic" look. Everything looks like a world of animated action figures and playsets instead of something real.
HL2 and Far Cry go ever so slightly in a more animated direction and I think it looks much better and seamless than the Doom games.
Crysis on the other hand, looks broderline photo-realisitc.
Oblivion looks wonderful, too...but unless you have some crazy set-up, hi-res w/ max details is a slideshow. Framerate is a major factor in a good looking game. Otherwise, they could make everything photo-realistic...yet less than a frame per second. That doesn't count.
 
irrational really wowed me with swat 4. the attention to detail by the level designers made the levels look so great. it may not be the best looking game but the levels are some of the most believable environments ive experienced in a game.

also irrational is using the same engine for bioshock. cant wait for that
 
The engines mentioned all have different strengths and weaknesses so I'm not going to pick which is the better engine, I like certain things about each.

In terms of an overall graphical experience, taking into consideration everything, character models, textures, animations, etc., I'd have to go with Half-Life 2. It's bested by many other games in a variety of different areas, but the total package makes up for any shortcomings.

When considering what game has given me the most "wow moments", as in "damn this is a cool looking area/setpiece" I'd have to give the nod to Prey. On the whole that game wasn't the greatest, a fun little diversion, but there were certain areas that just looked incredible. Surreal moments like watching the plane go down in the alien ship/planet or finding a school bus fused with the ship's organic matter. Probably the coolest thing I've seen in a game is that fast spinning portal that had the electricity jumping all around it along with the glowing particles floating through the air.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory looks damn nice in parts, but you spend 90% of the game in nightvision so you don't really notice how incredible it looks most of the time which is really kind of sad.

F.E.A.R. has the best "special effects": sparks and bullet trails, smoke and destruction, it really draws you into the combat. It's hard to go back to the combat in other games once you've seen the fireworks display that is F.E.A.R. And that's not even mentioning the superior AI.

Doom 3 was very nice for it's time, as was FarCry. Other honorable mentions go to Oblvion, Condemened, and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.
 
Well it's not out yet, but I have a feeling that HL2: Episode 2, is going to give anything on the market a run for its money.
 
Domingo said:
For me, things just look "fake." It's almost like comparing the new Star Wars movies to Lord of the Rings...
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LOL, I feel the same way about LOR as I do the travesty of the last 3 Star Wars films. Only that LOR had Ian, the only bright point in those dull films.

Far Cry definitely deserves some props. I am actually replaying D3 right now and the acrimony heaped on it is unwarranted. Still the reason why HL2 kicks its ass visually has nothing to do with the engines but that D3 art direction falls on its face with its human textures and models that tend to look cartoonish compared to HL2 which nails a gritty, realistic feel. Also the superior facial animation don't hurt either. So far HL2 and the following episodes are the high bar. Q4 is still planful to look at as D3 looks better than it did and Prey was cool but didn't really take anything to a the next level.

Honestly I don't see another game knocking HL2 off the top rung till Crysis comes out.
 
Luthorcrow said:
LOL, I feel the same way about LOR as I do the travesty of the last 3 Star Wars films. Only that LOR had Ian, the only bright point in those dull films.

Far Cry definitely deserves some props. I am actually replaying D3 right now and the acrimony heaped on it is unwarranted. Still the reason why HL2 kicks its ass visually has nothing to do with the engines but that D3 art direction falls on its face with its human textures and models that tend to look cartoonish compared to HL2 which nails a gritty, realistic feel. Also the superior facial animation don't hurt either. So far HL2 and the following episodes are the high bar. Q4 is still planful to look at as D3 looks better than it did and Prey was cool but didn't really take anything to a the next level.

Honestly I don't see another game knocking HL2 off the top rung till Crysis comes out.
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Um... people... are we all forgetting about Unreal Engine 3?
 
zamardii said:
Um... people... are we all forgetting about Unreal Engine 3?
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Still looks like plastic to me. Honestly crysis (while it looks stunning) does not interest me as there is little that lends itself as art (at least that I have seen). All I have seen of crysis is lush jungles, people, and cars. Nothing new or interesting to look at just more "Ya that tree looks a lot better this time round and those clouds are pretty cool".
HL2 was a shocker from the instant you saw an alien vehical (I think the strider was the first). That mixed with the setting of an eastern european landscape made for a very nice visual integration.
If games are going to keep pushing the graphical envelope I want to care what I about what I am looking at.
 
Magester said:
Today I was playing Oblivion on maxed settings aweing at the graphics of this game and came to think what do you think is the best looking game made to date? I dont own a xbox 360 and have been out of the console/PC loop lately mainly due to my unhealthy WoW addiction, and from what I have seen PS3 has some great things in store for gamers. What are your thoughts?
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Best looking games I've played were Oblivion, F.E.A.R., Half Life 2, Call of Duty 2, Doom 3, Prey, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Far Cry.
Upcoming games, that look absolutely awesome: Crysis and UT 2007.
 
Darakian said:
Still looks like plastic to me. Honestly crysis (while it looks stunning) does not interest me as there is little that lends itself as art (at least that I have seen). All I have seen of crysis is lush jungles, people, and cars. Nothing new or interesting to look at just more "Ya that tree looks a lot better this time round and those clouds are pretty cool".
HL2 was a shocker from the instant you saw an alien vehical (I think the strider was the first). That mixed with the setting of an eastern european landscape made for a very nice visual integration.
If games are going to keep pushing the graphical envelope I want to care what I about what I am looking at.
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It's not about whats new and interesting, it's about what looks good.

Whether or not you care about what you're looking at is more to do with the plot, the story and the character development.

Combined I think the overall goal is immersion and that needs a good balance, but when judging purely graphics I think that needs to be done on purely its own merits, in this respect Crysis looks awesome!
 
Frosteh said:
It's not about whats new and interesting, it's about what looks good.

Whether or not you care about what you're looking at is more to do with the plot, the story and the character development.

Combined I think the overall goal is immersion and that needs a good balance, but when judging purely graphics I think that needs to be done on purely its own merits, in this respect Crysis looks awesome!
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That's one of the reasons I selected Far Cry in my reply, otherwise I would never choose it. Graphics wise, the game is very impressive, but the story was terrible. The voice actors seem like pornstars that were trying to make something legit. Hopefully, in Crysis, we won't see the same mistakes.
 
I'd have to agree there, visually very stunning, the gameplay/plot for me was pretty poor.

The fact that even when in easy mode your enemies STILL take half a clip to kill was my main gripe with FarCry
 
LOL, I feel the same way about LOR as I do the travesty of the last 3 Star Wars films. Only that LOR had Ian, the only bright point in those dull films.
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I was just speaking from a visual standpoint. I think the LOTR movies did a 10X better job of blending reality with computer animation. the new Star Wars movies looked like a TV newsperson doing the weather report. Everything looked obviously blue-screened. I think they had too much that wasn't real, so a real person or object stood out too much. I think the LOTR movies did a good job of taking something that was a CGI object and inserting it onto a real set and making it look natural.
I won't make this into a discussion of the movies and how good they are/aren't...but I was just speaking visually.

Unreal Engine 3? Looks like it's gonna rock. It's not Crysis, but it looks great :)
 
Frosteh said:
The fact that even when in easy mode your enemies STILL take half a clip to kill was my main gripe with FarCry
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Um, if you aimed at their chest yeah, most of them were wearing body armor you know. If you aimed at their head they went down to pretty quick.
 
ManCannon said:
Um, if you aimed at their chest yeah, most of them were wearing body armor you know. If you aimed at their head they went down to pretty quick.
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I was thinking the same thing - headshot = almost insta-kill. The only things that really sucked were those uber-mutants that were kind of like the cyberdemons from Doom. Those things SUCKED. The last few levels of Far Cry were insanely hard because of those guys.
 
zamardii said:
Um... people... are we all forgetting about Unreal Engine 3?
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Actually yes I did but I still don't think it will unset the Crytek team. It will be a step up from the D3/Q4 style game and UT2007 will be a feast for the eyes but Crysis simply takes it to a whole another level.


Frosteh said:
I'd have to agree there, visually very stunning, the gameplay/plot for me was pretty poor.

The fact that even when in easy mode your enemies STILL take half a clip to kill was my main gripe with FarCry
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I want the crack you are smoking! Yes the plot sucked pig balls, nor argument but Far Cry was the best shooter of 2004 hands down. While D3 and HL2 both looked good and HL2 took the story and art direction to a new level both games were easy even on hard. HL2 could be beat with a water bird clicking the mouse button.

You actually had to think ahead and think on your feet with Far Cry. That said, as long you used cover even the harder levels were do able as the AI never seemed to learn the lesson of not exposing themselves while you had cover. But flat out the game play not the graphics is what made Far Cry a classic. That is also why Crysis has the potential to be a truly great game. If it was just going to look pretty I wouldn't be as excited.

Speaking of which I think the from an art direction point of view, Bioshock might take that prize visually. Another game I am very excited about.
 
On another note, I would vote Rumble Roses as having the best looking character models. :D
 
Okami (PS2)

If you haven't seen this game in motion yet, check it out. Simply stunning.

The game is like Zelda OoT (or just about any Nintendo game for that matter)in that it holds your hand for far far to long, but I'm enjoying it so far.

On the PC side, Oblivion for me. Quarls texture pack really makes that game shine.
 
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