Last time you were impressed by graphics?

[Sam Warrior]

Enslaved Odyssey to the west made me go ooo pretty a couple of times, mostly because it was green and nice looking post apocalypse rather than dull brown.

Edit: also I agree with the glasses guy who posted second. Every time I get new new glasses its like wow I can see again, thats nice.

 

[Yopaz]

The Last Story. It's not the amazing looking game, but it's how it uses its limited hardware that impresses me. It looks beautiful, but that is helped by the environment of the game I guess.

 

[ZippyPizzahead]

Crysis in 2007 (I built a new PC for this, spent about 550? on a graphics card or thereabouts)
Witcher 2 and Battlefield 3 in 2011 (upgraded a few components, also got a new graphics card especially for BF3)

I'm still waiting for a game or some games that'll make me spend money on a completely new PC, you hear that NVIDIA/Intel?

Oh yeah btw., a Zelda game as played on the Wii with only SD output and played on a PC in glorious HD (Dolphin Emu):

Zelda game.
ZELDA GAME!?
That, sir, is SUPER SMASH BROTHERS BRAWL.

 

[Stainlesssteele4]

Probably Metro 2033 on my new graphics card.
It was enough to make me play through the game again.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Final Fantasy X. Mostly because I went from have the gameplay look better than the former's cutscenes.

So this:

Looks horrible compared to this

Only time I've every really been stunned by graphics.

 

[Johny64]

For artistic direction, I would say either Borderlands or Skyward Sword. But for mimicking real-life, Battlefield 3 wins.

 

[hazabaza1]

Checking out Mass Effect 2 for the first time on an HDTV.
HOLY SHIT GRUNT'S SCALES HAVE DEPTH

 

[elvor0]

Wait.... what... you can play Zelda on PC now?

OT: The last time I was impressed by graphics was when I got Red Dead Redemption. That game was stunning.

Yeah, using the Dolphin Emulator you could for a few years now, but need a somewhat strong PC (especially CPU): http://dolphin-emulator.com/

There's a thread with lots of Screenshots and describing how you can do it here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=395121

Wait.... what... you can play Zelda on PC now?

You can, but then you would be considered a pirate. So, it depends on how you feel about doing illegal things.

Emulation is completely legal and not "piracy" in any way, sort or form.

I may have to dust off my wiimote and sensor now purely because that looks totally sweet, HD skyward sword here I come!

OT: Kingdoms of Alumar, the game itself was a bit lack luster, but it looked beautiful, given everything had been individually designed and crafted, wondering around was the thing that kept me going in that game.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Gears Of War
And ever since it's all looked the same to me.

 

[Redingold]

I recently picked up Half-Life 2 again, and even 8 years after its release, it still looks good. I was impressed by how it managed to avoid looking too outdated.

 

[Terramax]

Myst IV: Revelations blew me away back in the day. OH! And Far Cry 2!

Aesthetically, Psychonauts and Mushihimesama Futari.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

You can, but then you would be considered a pirate. So, it depends on how you feel about doing illegal things.

I'm not a pirate - I buy all my wii games before I emulate 'em. Same with ps2 games.

That's fine, I mentioned in a later post after that one that the only legal way was if you owned the console and the games you plan on emulating. If it was legal to do it without owning the game, Nintendo wouldn't mention it under their legal section of their FAQ page.

 

[ElPatron]

On the PC: Crysis
On consoles: God Of War on the PS2
On portable consoles: Metal Gear Peace Walker

Impressed me how they managed to make such a beautiful game for the PSP.

Battlefield 3? Anyone? Anyone at all? No?

Disregarding the fact that it didn't bring anything new to the table, wasn't really that impressing.

 

[FolkLikePanda]

Gears of War, when it first came out I was about 12 and I went round my friends house and we played it and I couldn't get over how cool the graphics looked and awesomely gory it was, for the time anyway.

 

[ElPatron]

really?
so pushing physics and destructible environments isn't anything new?
Aside from that the lighting effects are stunning, theres no other game out there which is a better showcase for dx11 technology.

>the lighting effects are stunning

So you mean the bloom that hurts my eyes? Everyone knows true OPERATORS wear sunglasses, I don't know why do I have to get glare all over my screen.

>destructible environments

Nothing exactly new.

>better showcase for dx11 technology

The thing is... it's not any more impressive than DX10

Crysis pushed the limits and set a standard for the industry. What we see now is just "natural evolution". Nothing groundbreaking at all.

Yeah, me is mad that DICE promised a true BF2 sequel and instead made a DX11 showcase/MW clone.

 

[not_you]

I, like the thread starter, was thrilled by AC1... It was the first HD game I had ever played and, it basically took my breath away... Standing atop the tallest building in Acre... or W/e the first city was... THAT was amazing...

Now-a-days... It's harder to find something that is as awe-inspiring... Although I believe it's because HD has become the norm, therefore it's not as impressive as it originally was... Wait for uHD to come out, THEN you'll have the same shock factor that came with this generation of gaming... (at least for graphic capability anyway)

 

[Hazy992]

Crysis 2 on 360. srsly. When I was playing it I couldn't get over how pretty the game looked, and couldn't believe it was on 360. That's why I think that while the next gen should improve graphics, it's far from the most important factor. If the next Xbox is as good as a decent gaming PC that's good enough for me.

 

[BushMonstar]

Aesthetics wise, I'd have to say Pikmin. But we are talking about the last time I was impressed by the aesthetics (Graphics), and the whole style of Pikmin just managed to amaze me. How seamlessly all of the unrealistic animals and predators blended with the photo textures; It all worked shockingly well.