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[casablanca]

TLOU2

 

[SF Kosmo]

Stardust on the Amiga by Bloodhouse (later they merged with Terramarque into Housemarque)

Very clear precursor to Iridion on GBA as well.

 

[SkeletonQuays]

Chronicles of Riddic: Escape from Butcher Bay. Godddaaaaaammmmnnnnnn this blew me away. This masterpiece was on the OG xbox!

 

[GrayDock]

Batman Return of the Joker it was like impossible on NES, but it's there.

 

[MOTM]

Dead or Alive 3 on the OG Xbox

 

[StateofMajora]

Resident evil 4 gamecube. Except texture resolution lol.

Btw, crysis definitely was impressive for how much was on screen but some things like lightning, model poly count and texture resolution were definitely not ahead of their time.

 

[Josemayuste]

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

 

[StateofMajora]

Chronicles of Riddic: Escape from Butcher Bay. Godddaaaaaammmmnnnnnn this blew me away. This masterpiece was on the OG xbox!

Definitely the lighting and textures were state of the art but poly counts were pretty bad. Look at his arm, it looks like a wood plank.

 

[Toots]

I don't want to browse the 8 bit and 16 bit eras, so, after that, some that come at mind are:

Silent Hill 2. Incredible lighting and shadows, nearly photorealistic textures at times, even some multipass shader effects. High polygon models. Impressive 3d fog (never saw a better one).

Are you talking about the PC version?
Because the only "photorealistic" stuff i remember of my ps2 playthrough is Eddy's barfing sound

 

[SkeletonQuays]

Definitely the lighting and textures were state of the art but poly counts were pretty bad. Look at his arm, it looks like a wood plank.

For sure, but compared to everything else that was out at the time it blew my damn mind.

 

[Diddy X]

Killzone 2 looked one whole gen ahead, eventhough it was a worse game it put Halo 3 to shame in the graphical aspect, good thing is later they put more effort in making Halo Reach look better.

 

[StateofMajora]

For sure, but compared to everything else that was out at the time it blew my damn mind.

I mean in comparison to other games the poly counts were not good but definitely the lighting and textures were ahead of almost everything else.

 

[StateofMajora]

Killzone 2 looked one whole gen ahead, eventhough it was a worse game it put Halo 3 to shame in the graphical aspect, good thing is later they put more effort in making Halo Reach look better.

Killzone 2 was so far ahead of its time that the sequel looks worse xD

 

[gatti-man]

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.

Kz2 was a goat title for me. Not only jaw dropping graphics but unique shooter gameplay and amazing mp. Loved that game.

 

[Toots]

If you want stone cold to play another shitty plateformer at Royal Rumble tonight just give me a HELL YEAH

Anyway, my graphically ahead for the time game was Alien Soldier on genesis because i could use it to shut those bratty snes kids up. Unrivalled on 16bits consoles, just like Steve Austin at Wrestlemania

 

[SliChillax]

Driveclub

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

SMB3 :NES
Shinobi 3 :Genesis
Ghouls 'n Ghosts :Genesis
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts :SNES
Super Metroid :SNES
Legendary Axe :TG16
Magician Lord :Neo Geo
SM64 n64
DOOM n64
Soul Calibur Dreamcast
GOW2 PS2
Ninja Gaiden :Xbox
Rouge Leader :GameCube
Gears 3 :XB360
Killzone 2|3 PS3
Uncharted 2 PS3
GOW 3 PS3
Dragons Crown PS3
Killer Instinct :Xbo X
Loz BOTW :Switch|Wii U
TLOU 2 PS4 Pro
The Order PS4
GOW PS4 Pro
Killzone SF PS4
Demon's Souls PS5
R&C RA PS5

 

[Turk1993]

PGR4 on XBOX 360

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Ultima Underworld. 1992

The game window was small, but it was a full 3D world much more complex than Wolfenstein or Doom. Different terrain, angles/slopes, vertical gameplay, water, lots of different textures and some in faked in lighting to make some areas brighter than others. Igniting a torch would make things brighter or darker.

 

[speckz]

Half-Life 1.

 

[Umbasaborne]

Conker live and reloaded looked like an early 360 game when it launched on the original xbox. Rare were experts at pushing hardware to its fullest capabilities, as they would again prove 4 years later with the release of banjo nuts and bolts, a game that was gorgeous and very dense with detail

 

[Umbasaborne]

It's more than just a look for me, the sound in Killzone is really great and Second Son had physics in a way, which really made it way more fun. Like jumping 100m to the air and then just strike the earth and shit flying everywhere, it felt really good. Also those were my first games on PS4 and since it was really dry at the beginning, I played them quite a lot.

I mean I was waiting for experience like Second Son basically for whole gen, until CONTROL. So for me last gen was probably one of the worst eras of gaming, because we were promised quite a lot and getting almost nothing from it. Let's say that you saw these games and you were like well maybe not you, but me

Man! I can't wait for what devs can do more if launch games looks and plays like that.

And well... almost NOTHING.

Obviously there were other great gems, like Mad Max, Forza Horizon 2, 3 and etc. Lot of good games, but certainly those two games promised something which we really didn't get. So I hope that my choice makes more sense.

I started replaying shadow fall on the ps5, its stuck at 1080p, but it runs at 60 fps. It still looks really nice!

 

[Spukc]

Crysis 2

 

[chixdiggit]

Half Life Alyx. 2 years old and still not matched.

 

[joedan]

Donkey Kong Country.

 

[93xfan]

MGS2
Soul Calibur
Battlefield 4 on console

 

[Phoebe Buffay]

Pretty much everything I've played on dreamcast. This console was way ahead of its time. Shenmue was like some kind of magic, I used to play N64 games, in which the characters had cube hands and stuff.. when I first saw that level of details in shenmue, the faces, expressions, textures... the hands with each fingers and even the palm lines... Jesus, that was freaking mind blowing.

 

[manfestival]

Absolutely love this thread. So much nostalgia. There are so many titles in here that I agree with. Halo was such an impressive title on release. Soul Calibur I had on my launch Dreamcast and it was so amazing. Motorstorm blew me away when I saw it in an EB Games kiosk at the mall on launch. Doom 3/Escape From Butcher Bay both games I saw in gaming magazines and I frothed at the mouth to play them but my PC wasn't nearly good enough to run them. I love that Ground Control was mentioned in here.

Max Payne is one that aged horrifically but that game was a visual beast at the time.

Sacrifice blew me away

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

The Order 1886.

The game is incredible until this day.

 

[MikeM]

Dead Space 2. Still play it and i’m always amazed just how good it looks.

 

[GametimeUK]

I've got some low resolution GIFs of the rain in Driveclub that will blow your mind.

 

[StateofMajora]

PGR4 on XBOX 360

Yeah, this is a good one. Remains undefeated for the 7th generation of consoles.

Pgr3 still looks good too, has a bit of a brighter look to it. Just lower resolution and without some of the lighting/weather. Damn MS for dropping Bizarre.

 

[Icymanipulator]

MGS: Snake Eater on PS2

 

[93xfan]

Some 16 but games that come to mind:

F-Zero
Donkey Kong Country

 

[SafeOrAlone]

Chronicles of Riddick perhaps?

 

[Elder Legend]

My personal opinion

- Gears of War 2006 (Xbox 360)
- Half Life 2 (PC)
- DOOM 3 (PC)
- Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)
- Halo Combat Evolved (Xbox)
- Splinter Cell (Xbox)
- Killzone 2 (PS3)
- Final Fantasy X (PS2)

 

[Trogdor1123]

Vector man was pretty awesome, donkey kong country too.

Street fighter alpha on snes was a miracle too

The old pc game Comanche blew me away at the time

 

[onQ123]

Pit Fighter lol

 

[BreakOut]

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.

Oh man I forgot about this game, I think I got it on PlayStation 3 right before the PS4 came out and because of that never played or finished it really. I just remember playing the very very beginning I should go back to this. Was there any good?

 

[rapid32.5]

When Konami had Wizardry skills maxed out.

 

[Sneakysnake]

Im gunna name 2.
Vectorman and Sonic Adventure

 

[Diddy X]

Didn't know PGR4 looked that good.

 

[poppabk]

Magic Carpet

I can't remember the name of the first flight simulator that used voxels instead of untextured polygons, but it blew me away at the time.
Edit: Apparently it was Commanche, shit looked insane at the time.

Great moments in PC gaming: Being blown away by voxels in Comanche

Those were the days.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Shifty]

Zone of the Enders 2


Coming off of ZoE1 and the rest of my PS2 library, this was revolutionary. Not to mention that it still holds up after 3 remasters!

Genji: Dawn of the Samurai


Before it became the PS3 Giant Enemy Crab game, Genji was a gorgeous PS2 hack and slash. Effects everywhere, high-res model work, and a well-executed aesthetic. Top stuff.

 

[StateofMajora]

Didn't know PGR4 looked that good.

Right? Game almost passes for an 8th gen game aside from the resolution/fps.

Of course being 30fps had a lot to do with the visuals (worked for driveclub too) but even so it was a huge graphical achievement. Has MSAA too.

 

[SA91387]

I want to say the original Farcry and im pretty sure if i remember right that Doom 3 came out and there was not a graphics card avaialbe at the time to run the game at its ultra settings

 

[Elginer]

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.

Kill zone 2 blew my fucking mind! I hope Sony comes back to that franchise.

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

The order 1886 there is no better example.

Facts…looks like a PS5 game tbh…

 

[Sega Orphan]

It's crazy that Ryse was a launch game for Xbox One. It still held up to the end of the generation as one of the better looking games.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

As usual for these topics, people lose the plot and post games that they liked or are advanced compared to its predecessor. The topic is about which game left a graphical mark at the time as Crysis did.

- Silent Hill 2 was never considered a graphics powerhouse. It looked miles better than the first but its not a graphical benchmark...at all.
- Turok....what has Turok done better than Goldeneye?
- Sacrifice... I played this day one, the world is intriguing but to say this is next gen graphics that pushed the envelope, game looked weak even on release but it was a creepy story.
- Dead Space 2 .... Its just another TPS, what is so graphically amazing about it in that period beside the fact you just remember it as a great horror game? Its was never pushing unseen graphics like Crysis.

I can go on forever with other examples. IMO as far as memmory serves, these games were "WOW" at the time and considered the best of its time that everyone needed to catch up to:

- Unreal 1
- Outcast 1
- Gears of War 1
- Mario 64
- Gran Turismo 3
- The Order 1886 still looks insane today. If you have it, use photo mode and zoom into some far off place away from your character and it will be perfectly modeled.