Not exactly cutting edge graphics, but still visually appealing games

[The Wooster]

Eternal Sonata. Terrible and pretentious story, gameplay was good enough to get me through the game, but man I really enjoyed how bright, vibrant, and clear that game was. Great colors, loved the cell shading, good textures.

I'd say the biggest problem with the story is that it wasn't pretentious enough. It was grade school shit, a typical evil empire story. The parts about Chopin were awesome. Pretty game though.

I'd say Yakuza and Yakuza 2 for the ps2. It really makes me sad they didn't make them for the ps3. The recreation of Tokyo is stunningly realistic and acurate, you'll be amazed at how the little dollar stores (yen stores?) are literally packed with shit, or how the streets are all neon soaked, crowded carnivals of moochers, punters, muggers etc. It's a gorgeous game, shame about the jaggies.

 

[The_Deleted]

Vib Ribbon.
Bastard hard but effective graphics and fun to play.
Wish I still had my copy.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

I think a lot of Unreal 3 games look friggin' ugly, with all that blur and "wax" look that it gives things...but they are still getting some great looking games out with that thing.

 

[yourkie1921]

No more heroes
psychonauts

 

[ReverseEngineered]

Wii Sports. That was probably the best video game to ever come out for the Wii, and despite the simple graphics (which often had newcomers immediately writing it off), it was amazingly welcoming and addictive for non-gamers. It's too bad the whole "gameplay over graphics" thing didn't last long, but kudos to Nintendo for trying.

 

[Connor Lonske]

half life 2 and all the episodes.Its last gen,but it is funner than halo 3 off line.

 

[haruvister]

Another World, the spiritual prequel to Flashback. It was 2D and practically monochrome, but unique in its day.

And personally I think the art design on World of Warcraft is wonderful. But maybe that's just me.

 

[stinkypitz]

castle crashers. I love the art style and humor in that game.

 

[Crunchy English]

Castle Crashers makes me think of Boom Blox. That game looked so adorable it causes "awww"'s at 50 paces. When I played it the first time, I was the only man in the room. Those little rectangles had the girls squealing for hours.

 

[meatloaf231]

Well, Psychonauts is up there, and World of Warcraft has a strong, prominent style, but Castle Crashers gets my vote.

 

[tobyornottoby]

The Wii is becoming a bit of a master at this type of thing... there's the obvious ones like MP3...

Sorry but I still have to say MP3... woah! In that skyworld, I've spent 5 minutes extra every room just looking around ^^

games from Rare are still looking good I think. Jetforce Gemini springs to mind...

Also any 2D/sprite game, they don't age that much

 

[Bagaloo]

I always found the very first Oddworld: Abe's Oddesy (apologies if I spelt that wrong) to be a very visually pleasing game, in the sense that the environments and enemies really portrayed the grittyness of Oddworld.

On a side note, the gameplay was also really good, its one of my favourite games from childhood

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Wasn't part of Nintendo's motivation (outside profit) for not worrying about increasing processing power was to motivate developers to innovate in ways that, y'know, appealed to people besides hardcore gamers? A striking visual style and aesthetic goes a long way if a company takes the time to really push themselves.

Anywho, I miss the artwork from old VGA adventure games. Monkey Island 2, King's Quest V & 6...all of them had great watercolor and oil paintings that the player marched around.

 

[tk1989]

While this could be good, we might see some games come along with pretty graphics but suck so bad in the gameplay department

There are plenty of those games anyway. Assassin's Creed being a major culprit for my money.

Meh, i enjoyed assassins creed (for most of it). Didn't really see what the fuss was about, at least its trying to be different.

 

[Good morning blues]

It wasn't steady for the entire game, but Anachronox's art direction in several locations (especially The Bricks) was sublime, even though it was running on the Quake II engine in 2001 (or so).

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Call of Cthlulu: Dark Corners Of The Earth. They did a really good job at capturing the weird architecture and creatures of Lovecraft's novels. The way you start hallucinating when you start going mad is awesome too.

 

[Aries_Split]

ICO.



Psychonauts.


MGS3.

 

[blank0000]

I'm finding that as the technology improves, graphical ascetic quality is slowly becoming a bigger focus then "OMG IT SO REALISTIC!" It's hard to notice with the common ultrrealistic = brown formula that makes making a game that much easier. But look around at some of the other things poping up and every so often you'll be surprised.

 

[shatnershaman]

GTA has never really looked good but is fun.