Support NeoGAF

[Alphagear]

Probably been discussed a dozen times but what game was graphically ahead of the competition during it's release. Excluding Crysis of course which is probably THE ultimate game ahead of it's time.

Yes it's an Arcade game but for me personally it is Scud Race. Game released in 1996 during the 32/64-bit era.

Not until the DC/PS2/GC/Xbox era did we see this graphical fidelity.

 

[Sosokrates]

Remember me
It used material based shaders a lot, which is a big reason games looked a lot better on PS4/X1 compared to the 360/PS3.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Blade: The Edge of Darkness comes to mind. Pretty good lightning and dynamic shadows for it's time.

Also any game developed by id Software in the 90s.

 

[Dry_Kill_Logic_87]

coming from PS3 generation where you had games with blurry textures and then you get Killzone SF as PS4 launch game.
that's a big jump if you ask me. one thing I liked about PS4 generation was that games looked clean with no textures that would bother me.
another one would be Uncharted 4. game from 2016. are there games today that look better ?

 

[SEGA_2012]

Shenmue.
Virtua Fighter 3.

 

[Perrott]

Star Wars: Battlefront (2015)

 

[crozier]

Escape from Butcher Bay

 

[Shai-Tan]

innovation in graphics is mostly incremental so there isn’t going to be much. Everything I could think of I went and looked at other games that came out the same year and there are multiple titles that were in the same ballpark

 

[stranno]

Scud Race is certainly among the best, it is amazing the leap that happened between Daytona USA (March 1994) and Scud Race (December 1996). But every Model board was way ahead of its time.

I love this technical demo, Into the Shadows by Triton.



It was released to the public on September 1995, which is: one month before Hexen and almost a year before Quake. The animation quality is just unreal.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/BekA

 

[Eimran]

Metal Gear Solid 3

 

[Fart Knight]

REmake

 

[0neAnd0nly]

In my life? Mario 64 has to be a contender for the greater picture.

But my #1 will forever be this:



Killzone 2 From e3 2007.

For those not familiar with PS back then. In 2005 Sony showed off a KZ2 trailer that looked PHENOMENAL. New CEO Jack Tretton mistakenly said at the time in an interview post conference that it was in game footage. This ended up not being true. There are several accounts of what happened, but I believe officially he said later in a separate interview he thought they were referring to Resistance (iirc), and confused the titles.

This was one of many PR hits the ps3 took early in its cycle. People mocked Sony for this, saying it would never be possible.

Guerilla took that personal.

In 2007, news broke that they had finished KZ2 and the graphics would be earth changing. Much skepticism occurred, naturally, culminating to a secret pre-event that was invite only before e3 2007, and didn’t allowed recording.

Now, flash back to message boards at the time. I frequented the official PS boards mainly. The hype was brewing. N4G, a website at the time that was heavily Xbox skewed (in modern gen that has virtually flipped) was flooded with leaks and news. The official PS forums - I remember the official thread getting massive, and finally a grainy sneaky recording came out showing a brief bit of the rag doll mechanics in a Helghast being shot.

Holy. Crap.

E3 2007 was, IMO, the turning point for Sony. Their conference came with massive hype, trailer after trailer and industry speak. Then… the last segment came. “We have one more thing”…

Then the trailer starts… which starts off the same way as the CGI trailer from years earlier. And then what we saw afterwards became a major gear in turning Sony in the direction that has led them back to the forefront today.

That was the first of 2 major “mic drops” from Sony (the no DRM e3 being second) and my favorite e3 of all time. I will never forget the applause at the Sony conference afterwards and how much the talk shifted regarding what the ps3 was capable of following.

Epic.

So yeah, KZ2 is mine. Still my favorite shooter of all time.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Probably not the most popular choice but Infamous Second Son on OG PS4 felt like true next-gen when it was first released.

 

[rofif]

Probably not the most popular choice but Infamous Second Son on OG PS4 felt like true next-gen when it was first released.

I just replayed it. Aside from pretty low city LOD, it looks fantastic 4k60

 

[Randall365]

Rise of the Robots

 

[Magic Carpet]

I remember The Journeyman Project was so graphically advanced no computer could on the market was able to play it. They eventually put out a turbo version years later that maybe 1 percent of the home computers could handle it.

 

[BusierDonkey]

Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast outright shit on the arcade games of the time.

Gran Turismo 3 was a massive leap in visuals over any other racer on the market and even GT4 wasn't quite as good looking.

Rogue Squadron II on Gamecube was bananas for a launch title. People were comparing it favorably to the movies.

 

[Emet_bp]

Deffinitely Gran Turismo 3. Was far ahead of it's time.

 

[M1chl]

Killzone Shadow Fall and Second Son. It felt that after that rest of the industry played catch up

 

[12Goblins]

I remember seeing goldeneye 64 at best buy when i was 10 years old, seeing the bullet holes in the wall and the way enemies reacted to being shot thinking that these graphics would never be surpassed

 

[Alphagear]

I remember seeing goldeneye 64 at best buy when i was 10 years old, seeing the bullet holes in the wall and the way enemies reacted to being shot thinking that these graphics would never be surpassed

Yes I remember that fondly too.

I had a PS1 at the time and went to a friends house to play on his N64. Man was I jealous seeing Mario 64 then Goldeneye.

 

[MastAndo]

Donkey Kong Country and Soul Calibur come to mind.

 

[Markio128]

Half Life 2 springs to mind.

 

[Edder1]

Resident Evil 4 was ahead of anything on PS2 and GameCube. The facial animation and detail was almost a whole generation ahead of other games on those consoles.

Cold Fear is another title that looks insane for a PS2 game.

 

[Topher]

Ultima 6: False Prophet

This opening scene cinematic was mindblowing at the time.



Also....

 

[IDKFA]

Half Life 2

It wowed me in 2004.

 

[ChiefDada]

Fight Night Round 3.

No HUD made it even better.

 

[Dr Bass]

Daytona USA arcade.

 

[Topher]

Half Life 2

It wowed me in 2004.

And it still looks good today. I don't know of many games that have aged as well as Half-life 2.

 

[Dream-Knife]

HL: Alyx
Mario 64

 

[Kokoloko85]

Virtua Fighter 2
Mario 64
Shen Mue
MGS 2
TLOU

 

[bender]

Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions for the XBox

 

[Lux R7]

Ryse probably

 

[ZehDon]

Doom 3 was, for its day, an entire generation head.

It launched the same year as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas:

And Halo 2:

And Half-Life 2:

And for all the incredibly impressive feats that they each brought to the table, nothing blew me away like seeing Doom 3 in action for the first time:

The lighting, textures and shading were just that far ahead. You needed a monster PC to see it - or a friend with one, like I had - but there was simply nothing else on that level.

 

[DonJuanSchlong]

Gears of War 360, Killzone, Superman 64. They made you say wow at the time.

 

[Warablo]

Believe it or not, but Battlefield 1.

Forgot about AC: Unity

 

[DonJuanSchlong]

Also Red Faction. I remember getting a disc when I was younger with the demo from PC Gamer magazine. Being able to shoot through walls or the ground to build your own tunnels, etc. It was crazy.

 

[Solarstrike]

M.A.C.H 3, 1983

 

[Sosokrates]

Probably not the most popular choice but Infamous Second Son on OG PS4 felt like true next-gen when it was first released.

Still looks great, the lighting and materials are very good.

 

[bender]

Doom 3 was, for its day, an entire generation head.

It launched the same year as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas:

And Halo 2:

And Half-Life 2:

And for all the incredibly impressive feats that they each brought to the table, nothing blew me away like seeing Doom 3 in action for the first time:

The lighting, textures and shading were just that far ahead. You needed a monster PC to see it - or a friend with one, like I had - but there was simply nothing else on that level.

While Doom 3 is a looker, those aren't great comparisons when you consider the size and scope of the game worlds.

 

[EverydayBeast]

The order 1886 there is no better example.

 

[Pagusas]

Jurassic Park Trespasser.

frickin crisis before crisis, all the way back in 1997!

there wasn’t a consumer PC that could run it well on release.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Ryse: Son of Rome.

 

[Putonahappyface]

 

[Alphagear]

M.A.C.H 3, 1983

That was released in 1983?

Damn that is impressive.

 

[JusticeForAll]

Half Life 2: physics.
Severance Blade of Darkness: shadows.
The Order 1886

 

[Catphish]

Flight Sim 2020 is literally ahead of its time, since no consumer-level rig exists that can run it full-out at 4k60.

Red Dead Redemption 2 comes to mind as well. Graphically, that game is a work of art.

 

[Solarstrike]

That was released in 1983?

Damn that is impressive.

Yes. Seeing it in motion for the first time was an other-worldly experience. It was light years ahead of anything out at the time. The "sit-down" version was the most immersive.

 

[bitbydeath]

Mortal Kombat character models still look good to this day.

 

[01011001]

Remember me
It used material based shaders a lot, which is a big reason games looked a lot better on PS4/X1 compared to the 360/PS3.

also Remember Me had really meticulously handled reflections. they mixed basic cube maps, planar reflections and render to texture in such an effective way it looked just so damn cohesive at almost all times.
I think I read a whole article like 10 years ago where they interviewed the devs on the reflections in particular