Rogue Keeper on 28/10/2008 at 14:15
Quote Posted by vurt
Theif Dark Shadows
You mean Deadly Project!
Matthew on 28/10/2008 at 14:18
No, he means the Metal Shadow!
vurt on 28/10/2008 at 14:27
Quote Posted by BR796164
You mean Deadly Project!
Hehe, oops. Fixed :P
Muzman on 28/10/2008 at 14:29
Aren't you console fellas forgetting Ico and Shadow of the Collossus? Definitely high water marks for doing a lot with a little anyway.
The more I think about it Stalker is shaping up to be an all time classic for me, image wise (Clear Sky sits nearby yet to be installed). A truly startling piece of work, if for nothing else than how un-game-like it looks.
Crysis (from the demo impression anyway) could certainly do the same sort of things, but the design doesn't back it up. Half Life 2 is scenic, but it's all for show.
Stalker's naturalism, at this generation's graphics (which I find all the more remarkable), is second to none (I can be convinced otherwise). It's one thing to set a stage and make a big CoD show that you visit briefly and are impressed. It's another to make a place that changes around you while you stand still.
Light, colour and form are hard enough in a fixed environment and you regularly see hiccups of mismatched lighting and rendering of models and terrain even now. These guys are playing with dynamic rain, fog, shadow, HDR, moving light, light changing colour and intensity. And it holds wonderfully.
Then there's the design; the unique naturalistic sci-fi that you almost never see. Most naturalistic games are set in the present and fairly bland on purpose, then there's sci-fi ish games with their whacky armour and Star-Trek suits, crazy guns and architecture. Not that's there's anything wrong with that, it's just usually obvious. Stalker is dead in the middle, which is arguably the scariests place to stand, design wise. You'd swear the suits they're wearing exist, but they don't. They look like subtle advancements of stuff that's available now, with a bit of a Zone twist to the designs.
And then there's the fully sci-fi things -animals, places- which they've managed to make look like they belong there as well.
It's one thing to design a whole world or to recreate the existing one, but to mix and match like this and not have some incongruous looking stuff, in a open sort of game with such a level of detail. Well, as you can see, it impresses me a whole lot. The unity of renderer, design and architecture on display there is slightly mind blowing.
Anyway, what else?... Bioshock's pretty good. The size and bland layout of many levels was a bit disappointing, but it's pretty good looking and consistent. Plus I like Mecha Deco already, so there's that.
I've never had it but UT3 is kinda amazing from the videos. Just about any vaguely scenic angle in any level seemed like you could screen-grab it and it would look like some bizarro sci-fi concept art from a few years ago (just keep away from the horridly plastic wrapped surfaces everywhere).
I'll have to think a bit more about some oldies.
EvaUnit02 on 28/10/2008 at 14:42
Quote Posted by Muzman
Aren't you console fellas forgetting Ico and Shadow of the Collossus? Definitely high water marks for doing a lot with a little anyway.
I've only played up to the first save point on the former and haven't gotten around to buying the latter yet.
Fragony on 28/10/2008 at 14:56
Consoles, ps2 version of Okami which is a masterpiece in every way, runner up Killer7 for the cube, I simply adore cell shading. PC, of course games look better these days but nothing has made the impression Sacrifice did, compared to other games the graphics were insane. It still looks fantastic even today because of the amazing artwork. Runner-up, Shogun: Total War, watching your army's march and fight, the sheer scope of it all blew me away.
Hesche on 28/10/2008 at 15:26
I was very impressed by Blade Runner from Westwood Studios when it came out. I didn´t own a computer back then, just saw it on a friends PC and after only having played Test Drive 1 and Hopper on my dad´s 086 which did cost a fortune back in the late 80ies I was just amazed at how realistic a game could look in comparison. The time span inbetween Hopper and Bladerunner was filled with jealousy at my neighbours Amiga 800 and totally awesome looking games like Wings of Fury, Rick Dangerous 1+2, POW, Giana Sisters.
The first game I bought for my own PC was SWAT 3. Man that game looked so great. Since then I really had some moments of sheer amazement and a feeling of "Being there" (which weren´t carried by graphics solely, but yeah, they played an important role) with Gothic 2 (and to some extend 3), Mafia, Max Payne 1+2, Riddick EfBB, The Witcher and STALKER.
Honorable mentions to Far Cry totally failing to impress my girlfriend. I was trying to convince her not to spend money on holiday trips since we have tropical islands on a PC SCREEN FOR FREE.
Rogue Keeper on 28/10/2008 at 16:13
Quote Posted by Hesche
Blade Runner from Westwood Studios
It's funny they have bragged with their unique voxel technology like if it was some kind of prospective asset, in time when gamers were increasingly 3Dfx crazy.
But you're right, the motion capture videos were so ahead of time (still are pretty to look at), pity the ingame character voxel models are so grainy.
Ulukai on 28/10/2008 at 17:43
Quote Posted by Garrettwannabe
Unreal one and two were good when they came out..
Scratch that. Unreal I was awesome at the time. The first time I emerged from the darkness and peered over the precipice at NyLeve's falls was truly memorable.
Unreal II: Captain Jugs looked pretty much like any other game using the new engine when it was released, and I spit on it from a great height.
One of the most impressive things I've seen recently is
Pure on 360, but I haven't had much chance to sample anything else lately so I'm probably easily pleased at this moment in time.
Jason Moyer on 28/10/2008 at 19:31
Mass Effect is pretty stunning. I think Bioware's more recent titles, like Valve's more recent titles, have a much more natural look than most games. I guess a big part of that is down to animation and lighting, which are my biggest gripes with otherwise decent looking games like COD4 or Oblivion/Fallout 3.
