E3 Graphical Showcases: List Off Which Impressed You the Most!

[curryking1]

So, of all the E3 games shown, which graphics did you find the most impressive? This is not a technical debate so there is no need to argue polygons this or vertices that, simply which games looked the best to you. To look good, games need to have smooth edges, fluidity, cinematic flair, believable lighting and shadowing and satisfying special effects; simply put a game just needs to look good, regardless of how many shader operations ran through the character's nose hairs.

I'm not sure if there were a lot of tech demos being shown, but I'm going to try and keep my list to what is real time, likely very close to it, or shown as a playable game, so if there were any demonstrations that you do not feel should be placed among realtime stuff, don't include it in your lists please!

These are my picks, in a particular order (as opposed to being in no particular order lol)...


12. Afrika (just because of all the animals on the screen at once and how natural the animal motion was, good stuff)
11. Gears of War (great graphics, but I didn't see a lot of potential for interacting with the environment, not that I factored that in)
10. The Getaway (great look of London, characters looked sweet)
9. Halo 3
8. Heavenly Sword (I'll put this one up higher when they show a really large scale battle)
7. Crysis
6. Project Assassin

5. MGS4 (not the number one in sharpest backgrounds or environment textures, but the overall quality is absolutely stunning, amazing character models too, lots of ppl shown at one time as well, just so much great about this one)

4. Naughty Dog Game (very sharp visuals and detail, Naughty Dog really is a
great developer)

3. Eight Days (looked very cinematic, excellent overall look, I hope the final product looks that good, I loved the car chase scene and the shootouts)

2. Lair (that trailer blew me away, I would never have imagined something so close to movie CG quality so soon)

1. FF XIII (I personally feel this game simply mopped the floor with it's graphics, such amazing quality, just wow)


As you can see I haven't looked much into the 360 side of games but the consensus is the best graphics on that console are coming from Halo 3 and Gears of War. Too Human and Mass Effect look very nice as well, probably just slightly below the quality of Gears of War I would say.

The hardest choice to make on my list I think was between Crysis and MGS4 for me. Crysis looks excellent with all it's DX 10 glory, but for me I appreciate the quality of the MGS4 visuals much better. MGS4's graphics are just so consistent across the board in the sense that everything from that game looks like it is from the same world, same universe, and MGS4's stuff just fits so well together (also the lighting on Meryl's hair won a lot of bonus points with me haha, very nice lighting). Another one I found hard to choose on was b/w Naughty Dog's game and Eight Days.

Now thinking this over again, I'm not even sure where to put MGS4. Thinking in different ways, I might've put this game in first, second, third, or fourth as well.

The only game that I can see ripping all of these games apart is (DMC4 may look really good, but I doubt it could wreck FF XIII graphically)... dun dun dun....





Gran Turismo 5!!!!!! I have my bets on Polyphony to deliver the goods lol, and by goods, I mean GOODS! I honestly think it will just obliterate everything and be the PS3's official graphical showcase.

I didn't make a poll because I know for a fact I would miss some games and the poll would just become useless...

P.S. If any of you are wondering why I put Halo 3 so low, it's because I don't expect to see close ups of MC all the time to show off his shiny armour details. Games like UT 2003 have been doing this little trick since a long time ago where you can zoom in super close to something and get all these fine details, but as soon as you zoom out not even a very far distant, all that intricate detail is lost.

[TEEDA]

I' ll make a Top 5 fir each platform :


PS3

1_ Heavenly Sword
2_ Resistance fall of men
3_ Final Fantasy XIII and FF versus FXIII
4_ Eight Days
5_ Naughty dog's project.

Ps2

God Of War II

Xbox360

1_Halo 3
2_Lost Planet
3_ Gears of War
4_ too human
5_ Splinter cell 4

PC


Crisis

WII

1_ RedSteel
2_ Mario Galaxy
3_ Zelda : twilight princess
4_ Metroid prime3
5_TOny Hawk.

[venomv]

I one I think looked the best was Afrika, maybe that Heavy Rain or whatever, but I havn't seen it in motion.

[curryking1]

O crap, I forgot about Lost Planet, I would've put that right up above either The Getaway or Gears of War on my list.

Nice list btw Teeda.

EDIT:

Maybe I should be adding in Warhawk in there too somewhere. I just saw a pretty impressive gameplay video of it (much more impressive than the wobbling in the E3 demo lol).

Here is the linky...

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=10607&type=wmv

Credit to doggychow14 of TXB forums.

IMPORTANTER EDIT NUMBER 2!!!!

Oh my lord, I think this just deserves an honourable mention. The game looks good too, so it fits in this thread. Metal Gear fans, please watch this Smash Bros Brawl trailer from E3, you will enjoy it very much. Your surprise comes last at the end!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnTTvhKvz7E

[bigwig]

umm fxiii, nd game, mgs4, lair, hs, halo 3, crysis, vf 5 impressed me most...although foremost was fxiii

[makeitlookreal]

I have seen some examples of good graphics, but nothing that brings it all together!

For example,

1) The Tiger Woods demo had the most realistic SKIN and CHARACTER of any game so far. However, it had no background to demonstrate, nothing else going on, and so fourth. So it had a great looking character, but a poor looking background.

2) The Eight Days footage had a GREAT background, great explosions, and in many ways looked like something I would consider truly "next-gen". However, the characters UNLIKE the Tiger Woods demo (or as I shall say again the characters in FIGHTNIGHT) looked VERY PATHETIC. They had plastic like skin which was disgusting.

3) The game AFRIKA looked good in many ways, but it was all very jungle like and all the characters were animals. It looked GREAT, but simply is probably not my style of game even though I am an animal lover.

---

However, I am disapointed at many games this year.

1) TEKKEN is downright HORRIBLE! It looks like a really good PS2 game, but not realistic or next-gen AT ALL.

2) The pics from Motorstorm that I have seen so far look HORRIBLE compared to what we were allowed to see last year at E3. The images are super blurry, fuzzy, and very UNREALISTIC! It is not very detailed, and really let me down tremendously.

3) Many of the other games demonstrated did not look very realistic or may have had very good backgrounds, but the characters were lacking in quality.

4) Additionally, we really did not get a really good look at many games in the short clips Sony provided.

5) What we need is an index of high defination clips that are of higher resolution we can download. I have tried to find the highest resolution clips of each game, but I am having problems making 100% accurate judgements when I know for a fact I am not seeing what many saw at E3 due to not being there in person and my clips being lower resolution.

[OmniStalgic]

U forgot Resistance-go to the offiical website and watch in it 720p-Yeah...and some of us doubted Insomniac!

[cpiasminc]

I one I think looked the best was Afrika, maybe that Heavy Rain or whatever, but I havn't seen it in motion.
http://www.quanticdream.com/pages/frameset_index.php?lg=us

The entry at the top should be for "The Casting" video. Looks pretty good, but the setup is pretty small (there's only one character in a very confined area, and maybe two or 3 pieces of dynamic geometry including the character, so I'd wager that there's a lot of precalc). I credit a lot more to their content and artistry than anything else.

[Infernal]

My top 5...
5. Eight Days looked incredible but doesn't look like my kind of game.
4. Heavenly Sword looks amazing and since theres going to be over 1000 characters on screen at once...
3. Lair looked insanely realistic (well however realistic dragons can look)
2. MGS4 still looks incredible and still better than every game except...
1. FFXIII was BY FAR the best looking game at the show.

[koldfuzion]

Sticking with PS3 since I've mostly paid attention to it, but honourable mentions for Gears of War and Halo.

I'll also break mine out for fav demos vs. "real games"

"Demos/Trailers"
1. MGS4 (I still haven't seen actual gameplay footage)
2. Afrika
3. Heavy Rain
4. Naughty Dog (close call on the category here)
6. Lair (looks great, but will believe it when I see it)
7. FF XIII (ditto--also not a huge fan of the series, so not my #1)
8. Tiger Woods - great stuff, but I'll believe it when I see 18 holes thrown in with his head.

Games.

1. Heavenly Sword -- looks absolutely gorgeous, and can't argue with God of War like game mechanics.
2. Assassin's Creed (haven't seen the footage but the eyes on reports are insane). Big PoP fan, excited for this one.
3. Warhawk
4. Motorstorm, looks gorgeous AND fun
5. Eight Days for Realistic Physics (may also belong in category above but I am pretty confident it's a build on the physics demos).
6. Special Honorable "Most Fun with Physics": Full Auto 2. Has anyone seen that trailer? Crazy! Not quite MILR level realistic, but some crazy shit and damage, fire, explosions and flying buses put to good fun use.

I also have to agree with Curry and throw in an honorable mention for Smash Bros Brawl. Looks hysterical and pretty too.

[OmniStalgic]

Heavenly Sword and Assassin's Creed top out my list...Oh yeah and of course FFXlll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fazares]

i agree with the majority but...why didnt anyone cite hot shots golf ps3?...it looked like real cg quality stuff...or wardevil....?

[Effulgence]

i agree with the majority but...why didnt anyone cite hot shots golf ps3?...it looked like real cg quality stuff...or wardevil....?

Hot Shots Golf's graphical style doesnt really require great graphics. Wardevil probably doesnt get attention because last year they released a video of a Wardevil short film and played it off as part of the game.

[cliffbo]

3) The game AFRIKA looked good in many ways, but it was all very jungle like and all the characters were animals. It looked GREAT, but simply is probably not my style of game even though I am an animal lover.

Makitlookreal have you ever considered that perhaps you just like moaning! everything you complain about has to do with graphics and how real they look. but the one game that you could consider photorealstic you have to say you don't like. I'll say it straight because others beat about the bush and please take note: you really irritate me.

[nwo504]

mgs4
Heavy rain
FF13
Heavenly Sword
Tiger Woods

[Infernal]

Someone had to say it there Cliff, its been long enough.

[cliffbo]

Heavenly Sword and Assassin's Creed top out my list...Oh yeah and of course FFXlll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ditto :) and i want to know more about Afrika

[jutsu]

MGS4
FFXIII
Gears of War (i know it's not ps3, but still pretty nice)
Assassin's Creed
Heavenly Sword
Resistence

[dork]

KILLZONE! Oh wait...

[woundingchaney]

Crysis
Gear of War
Mass Effect
FFXIII
Heavenly Sword
MGS/HALO (not gameplay lose points, lol)


Too Human wins most dissapointing of show alongside Tekken although Too Human was a complete and utter let down.

[CreativeWriter]

Assasin's Creed looks the most like a game to me at this point (besides maybe Heavenly Sword, which isn't really my kind of game... still haven't finished God of War), and what I've seen looks amazing. FFXIII was excellent, but I wonder how much was cg... Even then, it may be a turn-based entry in the series, and if that's the case then those pre-canned animations are less impressive (doesn't mean I won't eat it up when it comes out). MGS4 looks fabulous as expected, can't wait to see gameplay. I'm not a fan of fighters (besides Mortal Kombat I guess, though I buy that to play single-player typically) so I don't really care about Tekken's lack of polish. Of the other clips I think Lair will end up as the most visually impressive.

[Fazares]

Hot Shots Golf's graphical style doesnt really require great graphics. Wardevil probably doesnt get attention because last year they released a video of a Wardevil short film and played it off as part of the game.
it has great graphics even if it wouldnt require them...go check the vid at gamespot....:happy:

[yoshaw]

In order of blowing me away, literally

Note: That I'm only comparing exclusives because they really take advantage of their respective platform!

PLAYSTATION 3
MGS4 and FFXIII (a tie on my "NO.1 most awesome game' that dropped my jaws!)
Assassins Creed
L.A.I.R
Heavy Rain
War Devil Enigma (playing on RTE1080)
Virtua Fighter 5
Naughty Dog game
8 Days
Heavenly Sword

Xbox360
Mass Effect
Lost Planet
Halo3
Gears of War(they need to stabilize the framerate asap)

PC
Crysis

[Infernal]

BTW what does LAIR stand for now that they added the .'s?

[Nameless]

I'm only listing games that were playable or definately realtime visuals...

Crysis - Dammit I have to buy a new Graphics Card...
Heavenly sword - this game deserves it's props! Who said we would not see God Of War at the PS3 launch ;-)
Assassin Creed - Next gen visuals & animation!
Gears of War - Makes the 360 purchase worth while
Mass effect - Action RPG look out
MGS4 - Overall presentation beats everything, waiting on the HD version of trailer.
Resistance - Just another FPS, but it looks nice...
Rainbow 6 Vegas - What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas baby!
Splinter Cell 4 - Looks like a high res version of the current engine with additional effects and shaders, but still impressive.
If you notice many games are missing (i.e. FFXIII, Eight Days, Getaway,Bioshock,Halo 3, etc.) the games are not playable or we saw a very short realtime trailer. (MGS4 gets a pass, because we all know Kojima will deliver!)

[LaLiLuLeLo]

How metal gear solid 4 couldn't be at the top of everyone's list purely befuddles me.
anyway.

1-MGS4 (that's realtime bitches!)
2-Heavenly Sword (looks great, and that's live action gameplay, great presentation)
3-FF13- While very pretty and exciting this was a mix of CG and Real Time, keep that in mind. I find it odd of square to even bother with CG considering how good the in game graphics look already.
4-Everything else just about tied for 4th place
5-and Tekken 6 is dead last, which is a shame cuz I love tekken ever since I was ten years old.