Games with the most jaw dropping graphics?

Many games have good graphics however the impressive eye candy usually comes in the form of cutscenes, replays, epic boss battles. Actual gameplay graphics are usually just "good".
From what I've played:
God of War 3 looks awesome during the boss battles, but during the time when Kratos is walking around slashing minions, it's noting really that impressive. Yes the graphics are nice, but nothing to drool over. Check out MassEffect 2. Now that's a game where the actual gameplay graphics are as good as the cutscenes. Gran Turismo 5, again the gameplay graphics are just as great as the replays. However, I can't stress enough how essential it is for you to get a steering wheel. I'm using the Logitech Driving Force GT and I can't see myself playing racing games without it. I'm not really big into sport games but I've played MLB10, gameplay looked great.

So for the sake of impressive graphics, my suggestion is to get games where the actual "GamePlay" graphics will leave you mesmerized.

Other note worthy games
Call of Duty Black Ops
Uncharted 2
Red Dead Redemption.
 
[quote name='nbballard']I've played a ton of games on my 61in 1080 Samsung. Hands down, prettiest game on the PS3 is Castlevania:LoS.[/QUOTE]

I see I see. I say I have a 60" so you say you have 61" touche sir, touche!
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']I see I see. I say I have a 60" so you say you have 61" touche sir, touche![/QUOTE]
That extra inch makes all the detail shine through. I'm surprised you can even read the menu. :)
 
[quote name='nbballard']That extra inch makes all the detail shine through. I'm surprised you can even read the menu. :)[/QUOTE]

Hehehe we wanted something even bigger but we could not find anything in a reasonable price range. As it is we spent $1,400 but got a 4 year warranty. Not bad for a TV that is only a few months old and rated in the 90/100 and 4 and 1/2 out of 5's everywhere I look. Meanwhile if we got a TV that was 70" or bigger(we were hoping for 80+!)it was either well over $2,000 or it was a projector TV which means big, bulky and replacing bulbs....and hell that $2000 was without a warranty which adds another $300! It is crazy how the price jumps after 60" its like paying $100-$200 for every inch you add!
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Hehehe we wanted something even bigger but we could not find anything in a reasonable price range. As it is we spent $1,400 but got a 4 year warranty. Not bad for a TV that is only a few months old and rated in the 90/100 and 4 and 1/2 out of 5's everywhere I look. Meanwhile if we got a TV that was 70" or bigger(we were hoping for 80+!)it was either well over $2,000 or it was a projector TV which means big, bulky and replacing bulbs....and hell that $2000 was without a warranty which adds another $300! It is crazy how the price jumps after 60" its like paying $100-$200 for every inch you add![/QUOTE]

Getting off topic- That's a great price. Is it 3D capable? I bought mine a few years ago when the "3D gaming ready" label started showing up on the box because I wanted to be ready. Now the model i have isn't supported by any of the 3D hardware on the market.

I think I paid about the same and I haven't had any bulb problems so far (fingers crossed). It's nice, but because it's a DLP it runs dark and sometimes I have to adjust the settings when playing games like Dead Space, or if all the sudden I find myself in a cave or something.

I'd love to replace it with a real 3D tv, but my wife won't let me for a while. Also, I don't know what i'd do with the old one- can't exactly move it into one of the bedrooms or something.
 
My votes: Uncharted 2, God of War 3 and Castlevania LOS. These three are very pretty, great games and very polished all around. And as far as GoW3 not having great "gameplay graphics", I disagree. The special effects, scale of the battles and 60 fps gameplay are more than enough to overcome some technical shortcomings.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']So I finally upgraded my older small 720p tv to a nice big 60 inch 1080p Samsung with all that other big techy Jazz. It should be here in a few days so I want to order a game off amazon in the mean time to really take advantage of the TV. I already own the two Uncharted games and just replayed them in the last month or two or I would just use one of them. Same with the R&C series.

Anyone have any other recommendations? I was thinking about getting that new Naruto game since it looks like a knock out, but I do not want to pony up $50 for the game ;) Blur and Split Second are pretty cheap now and seem like pretty good options, but unless they are really wacky and over the top and more kart like I am not the biggest racing game fan.

Anyone have any suggestions for a game preferably in the no more then $30 range to take the new TV for a test run ;) Thanks![/QUOTE]
If you had a 720p TV than you already witnessed HD awesomeness in regards to gaming.. Most games are 720p or below, with some exclusions of course that are not particularly superior in 1080p. In other words, you didn't miss anything if you played all the highlight games of this generation already.
 
[quote name='nbballard']Getting off topic- That's a great price. Is it 3D capable? I bought mine a few years ago when the "3D gaming ready" label started showing up on the box because I wanted to be ready. Now the model i have isn't supported by any of the 3D hardware on the market.

I think I paid about the same and I haven't had any bulb problems so far (fingers crossed). It's nice, but because it's a DLP it runs dark and sometimes I have to adjust the settings when playing games like Dead Space, or if all the sudden I find myself in a cave or something.

I'd love to replace it with a real 3D tv, but my wife won't let me for a while. Also, I don't know what i'd do with the old one- can't exactly move it into one of the bedrooms or something.[/QUOTE]

Nah its not 3D. I could not see paying the extra cash for 3D. We go to costco every weeekend and sometimes I try out the display 3D TVs and I just do not see the point. This is the one I bought
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036WT3ZM

If you have had your TV for a few years not had to replace a bulb you are lucky. My inlaws have a projector TV and had to replace one at around the 2 year mark and it cost them a few hundred bucks. Those bulbs combined with the bulk factor just make them not worth it IMO.

@bazylik - Yeah 780p is close to the same and most people(myself included)either cant tell the difference or hardly can at all. The difference is less the whole 1080p thing and more getting a TV with better color quality and jumping 25-28 inches in screen size. THAT makes a huge difference.

Edit- BTW I think I am cheaping out on this one! I plan on giving flower a run through and playing Darksider which I had put off anyways. In the meantime I will watch for Castlevania LoS on sale for sub $25 since you guys all seem to say its a great game to give the TV a run!
 
[quote name='Brainberry']Killzone2+3, God Of War 3, Uncharted 2, MGS4, Heavy Rain and (IMO)Demons Souls was beautiful.[/QUOTE]

i concur. this man knows his stuff. U2 & KZ3 are the gold tiers.
 
[quote name='wrencrest']My votes: Uncharted 2, God of War 3 and Castlevania LOS. These three are very pretty, great games and very polished all around. And as far as GoW3 not having great "gameplay graphics", I disagree. The special effects, scale of the battles and 60 fps gameplay are more than enough to overcome some technical shortcomings.[/QUOTE]

I don't think anyone said anything about the gameplay graphics, I'm mostly taking about the some of the surrounding scenery and character models. The best part of the game is the first 30 minutes, I'm afraid the graphics(and game itself, while I'm at it) blew it's load way too early, so to speak. The whole thing was hyped up so much for such a long period of time that I couldn't help but be majorly disappointed... And that coming from someone who is a big fan of the first two.

I can, however, agree on Castlevania. There were times that I was in awe of the surrounding elements and areas. In my honest opinion, Lords of Shadow did much better by the GoW formula than GoW III did - and had the better graphics between the two. Enslaved looks pretty good as well, and while Heavy Rain had good graphics, they weren't of notable status.
 
We need another thread like this for sound design. Finished Killzone 2 this weekend and i was really impressed with the surround sound in it.

Likewise- Uncharted had a way of actually making me feel the concussion grenades. It was kind of creepy.
 
[quote name='nbballard']We need another thread like this for sound design. Finished Killzone 2 this weekend and i was really impressed with the surround sound in it.

Likewise- Uncharted had a way of actually making me feel the concussion grenades. It was kind of creepy.[/QUOTE]

I think the origional Bioshock and Dead Space are the two games that impressed me the most with sound...and hell I did not even have surround sound at the time!
 
I don't think anyone said anything about the gameplay graphics,
Click to expand...

From the last page: "Many games have good graphics however the impressive eye candy usually comes in the form of cutscenes, replays, epic boss battles. Actual gameplay graphics are usually just "good"."

I was actually more impressed with GOWIII than I thought I would be, the way the camera will fly out 200 feet from Kratos and then zoom back in so that you're seeing the friggin' pores on his skin is very impressive to me... a game thathandles both small scale and large scale details is something you don't see very often. I don't agree that the game blew its visual flair in the first thirty minutes... I'll agree that climbing Mt. Olympus with a bunch of Titans wasn't an event that was consistently matched in scale throughout the entire game, but the same can be said for the first two games which opened with some spectacular intro levels then brought you down a peg to battling regular sized baddies through tall empty buildings.

I think there's alot of good looking games out there, but I think its hard to find a game that gives you the "package deal." Alot of games excel at some visual element but sacrifice others along the way: Gears showcases some really impressive bump mapping but abuses it to the degree that Dominic's face looks like a cracked desert floor. Oblivion has some very impressive landscapes but all the females look like they're senior citizens and everyone has cold dead eyes throughout. Enslaved has great animations and facial expressions, but there's slowdown, flat textures and the environments have a very over-saturated look to them (its like they created a whole new monster in their fight against the "shades of brown" aesthetic)

Its hard to find a game that gives you a consistently impressive visual experience... as far as open world games go I would tie it between Assassin's Creed II and RDR, for the more linear experience I would give the nod to Uncharted 2.
 
[quote name='Ilikecoldbeverages']From the last page: "Many games have good graphics however the impressive eye candy usually comes in the form of cutscenes, replays, epic boss battles. Actual gameplay graphics are usually just "good"."

I was actually more impressed with GOWIII than I thought I would be, the way the camera will fly out 200 feet from Kratos and then zoom back in so that you're seeing the friggin' pores on his skin is very impressive to me... a game thathandles both small scale and large scale details is something you don't see very often. I don't agree that the game blew its visual flair in the first thirty minutes... I'll agree that climbing Mt. Olympus with a bunch of Titans wasn't an event that was consistently matched in scale throughout the entire game, but the same can be said for the first two games which opened with some spectacular intro levels then brought you down a peg to battling regular sized baddies through tall empty buildings.

I think there's alot of good looking games out there, but I think its hard to find a game that gives you the "package deal." Alot of games excel at some visual element but sacrifice others along the way: Gears showcases some really impressive bump mapping but abuses it to the degree that Dominic's face looks like a cracked desert floor. Oblivion has some very impressive landscapes but all the females look like they're senior citizens and everyone has cold dead eyes throughout. Enslaved has great animations and facial expressions, but there's slowdown, flat textures and the environments have a very over-saturated look to them (its like they created a whole new monster in their fight against the "shades of brown" aesthetic)

Its hard to find a game that gives you a consistently impressive visual experience... as far as open world games go I would tie it between Assassin's Creed II and RDR, for the more linear experience I would give the nod to Uncharted 2.[/QUOTE]

I meant I didn't think anyone said anything about the gameplay graphics in GoW III. I mostly said that because I thought you were debating with me about my issues with that particular game. To me, the devs didn't give it the full effort that they should have. Sure, parts of the game looked top-notch, but there were other parts that just looked sloppy or unfinished. For example, if you look around Tartarus for a few seconds(especially off the cliffs) you'll notice some heavy pixelated surroundings and backdrops. A lot of the character models looked horrendous, with the climax of Pandora's model looking like she was made out of metal with a gallon of hair gel in her hair. They spent a lot of time on Kratos and seemingly overlooked a lot of other main characters. And what the hell was up with Kratos' purple Gollum hands when he picked up Hera's cup/goblet? Freakin' weird.

My main gripe with the game itself is they just didn't do anything different. They did the same exact thing that had already been done TWICE.
Begin at full power and seem unstoppable, lose all of it, go to hell, fight your way out, do the same old thing gaining new abilities, and unleash rage.
It'd been a "rinse and repeat" scenario for 2 games already, why couldn't they really spice it up? I mean, they were working on it for about 3 years, why not bring some new mechanics and change up the formula a bit? Why stick to the same basic plot? I felt like they really should have been able to wow me, but they failed. I mean, it took me 7 hours to bet the game on normal on my first playthrough. 7 hours! I even got plenty of orbs to upgrade everything and found all of the eyes/horns/feathers/treasures... So many people wine about that in games, but I don't think I've heard anyone even mention that part. Coming into last year, almost anyone would have told you that GotY was theirs to lose last year, and that they did. I know on my list, it was number 10. The experience was just a disappointment to me.

Sorry for the rant, it just really irks me that so many people think this game is all that and a bag of chips... Almost as much as all the CoD fanboys. :lol: And, for the record, I'm not a graphics whore. They're nice and all but a winning formula is a winning formula, no matter how pretty it looks. I'll give anything a chance, and I still even pull out the old SNES every once in a while. :)
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']I think the origional Bioshock and Dead Space are the two games that impressed me the most with sound...and hell I did not even have surround sound at the time![/QUOTE]

Definitely agreed with you there on Bioshock and Dead Space.
 
[quote name='TctclMvPhase']Wipeout HD[/QUOTE]
I went back to Wipeout after playing Split/Second and Burnout one night with a guest and was shocked at how it looked. Graphically it was still pretty, but I didn't feel like it had any sense of movement or speed.

I had started it up as a "show piece" kind of thing for one of my friends and I think he thought i was crazy.
 
Mixer236 - Both I and Ilikecolebeverages were referring to a post on the last page by D Icon. He was talking about GoW3 when he mentioned gameplay graphics. Dont worry about it, we all have opinions. While I agree with Ilike about GoW3 graphics, I dont think either of us will fault you for thinking it wasnt as great. I think we can all agree it has some spectacular graphics and effects a lot of times though.

Oh and I dont necessarily have to have the best graphics to love a game. I loved playing 3d dot heroes and cant wait to go back and finish it. Great graphics just add to a great game, but it doesnt make a great game. And I may be a God of War "fanboy" becuase I love the story. I think Greek and Roman Gods are some of the coolest mythology and stories around. Its all about what interests you that makes a game better I guess.

For sound design, I still havent played a better game that Dead Space. And the little I played of the demo for DS2, I thinik it may be better since the graphics have also been improved.
 
[quote name='wrencrest']Mixer236 - Both I and Ilikecolebeverages were referring to a post on the last page by D Icon. He was talking about GoW3 when he mentioned gameplay graphics. Dont worry about it, we all have opinions. While I agree with Ilike about GoW3 graphics, I dont think either of us will fault you for thinking it wasnt as great. I think we can all agree it has some spectacular graphics and effects a lot of times though.

Oh and I dont necessarily have to have the best graphics to love a game. I loved playing 3d dot heroes and cant wait to go back and finish it. Great graphics just add to a great game, but it doesnt make a great game. And I may be a God of War "fanboy" becuase I love the story. I think Greek and Roman Gods are some of the coolest mythology and stories around. Its all about what interests you that makes a game better I guess.

For sound design, I still havent played a better game that Dead Space. And the little I played of the demo for DS2, I thinik it may be better since the graphics have also been improved.[/QUOTE]

I'm (was?) a GoW fanboy too(played all of the games), but I think III is my least favorite. I mean, I just finished Ghost of Sparta and I enjoyed it just as much, if not more. I know I'm just nitpicking on the graphics and such, but I can't help it seeing how I was expecting my mind to be blown for over a year and it just didn't happen.
 
I have to say I am really surprised that no one said the R&C series! I got the TV today and hooked it up and went upstairs to get Darksiders and while looking for it ran across the two R&C games. I recalled how amazing they looked and ended up playing them instead. Have to say that while they are not the most technical of games they are still among the most impressive for their style.

I have played 2 or 3 hours on the new TV using R&C and I am just blown away. My wife is sitting here playing Deathspank next to me on it right now and while graphically its not that much different its still hella different and amazing playing on something this big ;)
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']I have to say I am really surprised that no one said the R&C series! I got the TV today and hooked it up and went upstairs to get Darksiders and while looking for it ran across the two R&C games. I recalled how amazing they looked and ended up playing them instead. Have to say that while they are not the most technical of games they are still among the most impressive for their style.

I have played 2 or 3 hours on the new TV using R&C and I am just blown away. My wife is sitting here playing Deathspank next to me on it right now and while graphically its not that much different its still hella different and amazing playing on something this big ;)[/QUOTE]

Ahhh... You're making me want to go out and upgrade my TV. :)
 
[quote name='Mixer236']Ahhh... You're making me want to go out and upgrade my TV. :)[/QUOTE]

It is really awsome. Scott Pilgrim in the movie is the size of my freaking torso! Clank was the size of a toaster! My wife is watching youtube on it right now having a pug on TV bark to get our pug IRL going and the pug on the TV is the size of our Pug IRL! SO FREAKING AWESOME!
 
Graphics in R&C are great, but I guess I never think of those as "pretty" or "jaw dropping" because I think of it as a Saturday morning cartoon. Great games though.

Just Cause is a great game and a lot of fun too. Biggest game world to date, but the character models and such arent great.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']It is really awsome. Scott Pilgrim in the movie is the size of my freaking torso! Clank was the size of a toaster! My wife is watching youtube on it right now having a pug on TV bark to get our pug IRL going and the pug on the TV is the size of our Pug IRL! SO FREAKING AWESOME![/QUOTE]
my same thoughts when I hooked up my 112". First thing my friend says is "put on some porn man!!"

I haven't had that tv hooked up in a month since we moved.....oh this 32" lcd is killing me right now. Can barely play Penny arcade games cause the text is so small.

EDIT: also I thought Pure had the most square mileage in a game? JC2 beat them out?? that's BIG then!!!
 
[quote name='shadowkast']EDIT: also I thought Pure had the most square mileage in a game? JC2 beat them out?? that's BIG then!!![/QUOTE]

I believe you're thinking of Fuel, which held a Guinness record for largest game world or something similar, at least for a while. I'm not sure if Just Cause 2 is bigger than it, but either way, Elder Scrolls II still beats both of them with its absurdly large world. Supposedly it took weeks in real time to walk across it.

It definitely was not as pretty as Just Cause 2, though. :)
 
[quote name='shadowkast']my same thoughts when I hooked up my 112". First thing my friend says is "put on some porn man!!"

I haven't had that tv hooked up in a month since we moved.....oh this 32" lcd is killing me right now. Can barely play Penny arcade games cause the text is so small.

EDIT: also I thought Pure had the most square mileage in a game? JC2 beat them out?? that's BIG then!!![/QUOTE]

Heh I had to put porn on within the first 20 mins or so! Was pretty damn sweet, I joked to my wife now her boobs do not just look as big as yours they really are as big as yours! Only problem is the only porn I had sitting on my TV was old gritty quality standard def. I need to transfer something HD to it! Its the way man was meant to watch porn. Now we just need the right kinnect app and the future is truly realized.

Anyways I am stressing again that R&C is really overlooked in this conversation. As I said earlier its not the best technically but ascetically it is really up there. I keep hoping we get an Okami HD remake, that would look godly.
 
[quote name='whoknows']Castlevania Lords of Shadow looks very nice.

Also a great game.[/QUOTE]

This

and also FFXIII graphics outside of cutscenes are kind of mediocre, the game looks good to be sure but the environment is so static and repetitive within levels that you might as well look at a jpg.

Id say Uncharted 2 and Castlevania Lords of Shadow are the two best looking games ive seen on the system.

Gran Turismo is pretty good too in the replay modes... dunno that I would show it off on regular racing, its still pretty good but not as impressive imo outside of the replay mode it would be hard to say it looks better than NFS HP
 
Uncharted 2, God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII, Killzone 2, Killzone 3, Marvel vs Capcom 3, Flower, Mirror's Edge, Two Worlds II, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and so on and so forth..
 
[quote name='metaly']I believe you're thinking of Fuel, which held a Guinness record for largest game world or something similar, at least for a while. I'm not sure if Just Cause 2 is bigger than it, but either way, Elder Scrolls II still beats both of them with its absurdly large world. Supposedly it took weeks in real time to walk across it.

It definitely was not as pretty as Just Cause 2, though. :)[/QUOTE]Fuel, yeah, your right. I unlocked maybe 20-25% of the areas and was like "there's no way I'll ever finish this!"

[quote name='MSI Magus']Heh I had to put porn on within the first 20 mins or so! Was pretty damn sweet, I joked to my wife now her boobs do not just look as big as yours they really are as big as yours! Only problem is the only porn I had sitting on my TV was old gritty quality standard def. I need to transfer something HD to it! Its the way man was meant to watch porn. Now we just need the right kinnect app and the future is truly realized.

Anyways I am stressing again that R&C is really overlooked in this conversation. As I said earlier its not the best technically but ascetically it is really up there. I keep hoping we get an Okami HD remake, that would look godly.[/QUOTE]HA. Again, mine is a projector so the inner kid in us 30 yr olds came out: We were making shadow puppets on the "actors" saying 'it's like we're IN the movie!!!!'


I dunno about mirror's edge. I loved the game and thought it looked good. It's been a few years since I played it but didn't it lack textures for the most part?
 
I wasn't so keen on Killzone 2 in the visual department. The quality of realism in the graphics is unsurpassed but nearly everything was shades of gray and low light. The environments were really boring to me, too. I sincerely hope that Killzone 3 rectifies that.

Uncharted 2 doesn't have quite that same quality of realism but more than makes up for it with its immensely beautiful scenery and dynamic action sequences. I was also blown away by
the game's depiction of Tibet. I've spent a good amount of time in Qinghai, Tibet, and the Himalayas, and when I played Uncharted 2 I felt like I was transported right back there!

I agree that Ratchet & Clank is overlooked. Its art direction is astonishingly good--everything just seems to emanate life and character.

I'm also a fan of the Assassin's Creed series' visuals. It's proof that painstaking attention to historic detail can go a long way.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Heh I had to put porn on within the first 20 mins or so![/QUOTE]

[quote name='MSI Magus']ascetically[/QUOTE]


It must be frustrating to be watching that stuff but not be able to fully enjoy it, no?

(j/k I know that was probably a typo, but I couldn't resist... look up "ascetic" if you don't already know what it means)
 
[quote name='CENNY']It must be frustrating to be watching that stuff but not be able to fully enjoy it, no?

(j/k I know that was probably a typo, but I couldn't resist... look up "ascetic" if you don't already know what it means)[/QUOTE]

Hehe good catch.
 
Been playing through Killzone 3, it's definitely worth the mentions it's been getting. Way better than it's last iteration in the graphics department.
 
[quote name='Mixer236']Been playing through Killzone 3, it's definitely worth the mentions it's been getting. Way better than it's last iteration in the graphics department.[/QUOTE]

Why does the water look weird? I played the demo and it looks whack to me. Or am I crazy?
 
[quote name='Scorch']red dead redemption is not a pretty game on ps3.[/QUOTE]
:whistle2:s You forgot the imo part of your sentence there, since I found RDR to be quite stunning, especially the weather effects.:D
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']:whistle2:s You forgot the imo part of your sentence there, since I found RDR to be quite stunning, especially the weather effects.:D[/QUOTE]

I agree, Scorch's statement needs to be qualified. I've got the game on 360 and PS3, and while it clearly (and inexplicably) looks better on the former console, that's not to say that it suddenly looks anything less than amazing on the latter.
 
[quote name='wrencrest']Why does the water look weird? I played the demo and it looks whack to me. Or am I crazy?[/QUOTE]

No, you're totally right! I remember now having a wtf moment when I got to my first water part because it's just off... It's kind of crazy that they didn't get the water right because the rest of the game looks pretty good.
 
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