Last time you were impressed by graphics?

[Cowabungaa]

Battlefield 3 really.

Why? Not because of it's art direction, because that's actually a step back from Bad Company 2, but BF3 really upped the ante not just with silly polygon counts, but also lighting, particle effects and animations. Those things matter so much, but people who rage against graphics being too important seem to forget about those things quite often.

Witcher 2.

It made me want to hug my monitor.

I would've said that, but then I remembered the stiff and unnatural character animations. The Witcher 2 made me remember that "graphics" means a lot more than pretty textures. It's still gorgeous though.

What's the deal with games not having colours this generation?

There is no deal with it. Honestly it's an overblown complaint, there's only a small portion of, coincidentally also extremely popular, games that really have a drab colour scheme. Most of them belong to one particular genre, the modern warfare shooter one, and for a few, like Gears of War, it's just part of the setting and art direction.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I was impressed by 3 games that at the time gave my computer a run for its money.

Streets of Sim City (1997)

Unreal 2: The Awakening (2003)

Crysis (2007)

All three at the time received complaints as being unplayable to the average consumer grade computer. Graphics were just too strong. Pretty amazing how far we have come in just 10 years.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

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):

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.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I've never played a game only for its graphics; I find that very silly.

And can't say it was ever a reason I wanted to show a friend a game.

That being said, the best graphics I have seen of late, I would have to say Mass Effect 3.

Before that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

 

[DeltaEdge]

What was the last game where you were genuinely impressed by the graphics? - to the point where they were almost the main reason you enjoyed the game (or reason you started playing in the first place). Or that they made you want to show the game to a friend.

This will sound kind of weird and cynical, but...every single time I get new glasses. Seriously.

(All you glasses wearing types out there, I know you know this is true!)

You are so right! I just got my glasses a few months back. I didn't think the tv that's just a few feet on front of me could be so much clearer! I remember playing Disgaea 4 in HD for the first time in the living room and thinking it looked nice, but then putting on my glasses and thinking, "WOAAAH, I can see everything..."
Other than that, I guess graphically I was the most impressed by TLoZ:TP. I just thought it was the most amazing thing ever and that it had a great aesthetic too.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

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.

 

[NathLines]

There's really only 2 games that have impressed me when it comes to graphics: The Witcher 2 and Transformers War for Cybertron. The Witcher 2 because of ALL THE FUCKING COLORS MMMMM~. And War for Cybertron never ceases to amaze me. Every time I look at the enviroment, my jaw drops a bit in awe. I can't wrap my head around the idea that someone has spent time making all that.

 

[cahtush]

SHOGUN 2: Total War
Just the scale of the battles... You can zoom in and see the individual sodiers fight.
And they look amazing too.

 

[mental_looney]

Shrug mass effect staring up at palaven burning was an impressive shot, but that's probably more in style and aesthetics matter than pure processing power, if it's just shinyness then I dunno...

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Killzone 2 still looks amazing to me, probably the best looking console game i've seen.
BF3 looked pretty nice and had some cool bloom and other stuff (although that doesn't necessarily make for a good game)
Skyrim with alot of mods looks frikkin amazing.
And most recently Mass Effect 3 has some pretty awesome skyboxes.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I think the last game that really impressed me was FarCry 2 running on max settings at 1920x1080. Despite all it's gameplay flaws, it's a very beautiful game.

Crysis and Crysis: Warhead were pretty damn good too, but I wasn't so impressed with Crysis 2.

Skyrim is fairly nice, but the textures are quite blurry in places, so it's not totally a "Wow!" moment game for me.

The trailers for FarCry 3 are looking fairly good so far... I'm hoping that the PC version of it is up-to-scratch and not too console-portish, as the first Farcry was incredible on PC at the time, hell, it still looks damn good even now when you max it out.

 

[Busard]

Hmmm...well lately on the indie side majorly: Journey (dem cloth effects errywhere !) and Bastion. These last two count more as aesthetics/art direction than graphics though. Even Dear Esther, while boring it may be, had some gorgeous vistas and pushed the source engine to the limits

On the big industry side: Witcher 2 looked pretty awesome. Also as pure graphics went, Battlefield 3 on mah PC was pretty sweet. Skyrim is nice but I wouldn't call myself "impressed" over it, but it's still very cool. Oh, and Uncharted 3 that I saw my teacher play was darn nice

 

[Zipa]

Battlefield 3 (on pc, console doesn't do it justice) the effects are amazing. I saw a truck get blown up by a rpg and i Just sat and watched the explosion and the fire and smoke effects, it looked bloody fantastic.

 

[Nadia Gezichtboek]

This will sound kind of weird and cynical, but...every single time I get new glasses. Seriously.

(All you glasses wearing types out there, I know you know this is true!)

Soo True!

And the last time was with Mass Effect 3 and The Journey.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

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

Actually you are only partly right, there is only one way that it is legal. If you own the console and game that you are planning use in the emulator.

Besides, it is using copyrighted material without consent of the company. People might throw out that some games can't really be bought anymore through the company or retail channels, so it is okay. But considering Nintendo games, it really isn't the case anymore since they have been re-releasing through their virtual console marketplace.

 

[Richardplex]

I bought FF13 on day 1. I'm *still* waiting to stop being blown away every time I watch it. I mean, hate on it all you want, but damn it looks gorgeous.

 

[minimacker]

2003 with Silent Storm.

Jesus motherhumping christ, dat physics engine for the time.

 

[dontlooknow]

Abso-bloody-lutley! It must be something magic they put on them in the opticians - it's like having the whole world in super HD-o-vision.

On a similar note, I've noticed that having slightly dirty glasses prompts horrible flash-backs of Battlefield 3.

And to wander on topic, I played MGS 3 again the other day on the PS2: those graphics are staggering.