What game is considered to have the best graphics as of yet?

[MrWizzard]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
Best is a subjective term.

The scenery in Oblivion looks nice, but I don't think much of the character models, artistically speaking. Same goes for GoW - I don't like the character designs, due to the style. R6: Vegas had more realistic looking characters, but otherwise it's not outstanding.

Crysis looks great. The only weak point I see are the character models again. The proportions look off - leg and arm lengths are not right. The faces look quite good though.

Mods fix the bodies and some face mods make them look better too.

EDIT: Check back here in like 10 hours I'll show some screens for Oblivion with all those mods running. See my lower post

 

[Smilin]

Released games:
Oblivion - best outdoor and possibly overall.
Quake 4 - best indoor. skyboxes suck
FEAR - great indoor. great particles
Flight Sim X - God help your poor dual core computer

HL2 is very immersive but has good, not great graphics. HDR is nice, shadows are weak.

Up and coming:
Crysis - nuff said.
UT2007 - Gears of War was using this engine
ETQW - First game ever with no texture repetition.

 

[brikis98]

From games that have been released thus far:

Best overall: Oblivion with mods; the game, at times, is simply stunning. Screenshots do it no justice. Although not necessarily #1 in any specific category, it does just about everything extremely well, esp. with the multitude of mods: great character models, great HDR, the biggest, most fully realized game world i've ever seen, tremendous detail, superb textures, and so on. However, you need a very high powered machine to appreciate it.
Best character/facial animations: Half Life 2
Best HDR: Half Life 2: Episode 1 (although Oblivion is very close behind)
Best shadows: FEAR (shoot a lamp and watch the shadows change as it swings... wow); Doom 3 engine is good too
Best particle/blur/slowmo effects: FEAR
Best physics: Half Life 2
Best performing engine: Half Life 2 (can run on OLD machines and still look damn good)

 

[imported_Imp]

Gotta say Oblivion. The first game I ever used HDR in, and it blew me away as I played it for about a week on a 9600gt at crap settings. Turning up the settings for the first time left me in awe for days. Oh, and did I mention the grass in Oblivion? Again, the first I've ever seen dirt and fields actually look alive instead of just a green/brown/khaki/ass coloured ground.

I've yet to see anything surpass it in terms of art and 'beauty'. Most FPS games are set in crap city and don't have to chance or even right to use happy, artful textures. I'm still amazed by HDR so anything that has it is enough for me to say wow (i.e. Quake 4?, Stalker, HL2 Episode 1).

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: clamum

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: schneiderguy
HL2 still has the best character models and faces ive seen (especially with the high res texture pack)

oblivion with mods probably wins the other categories though

Hl2 is a creeky old engine without dynamic shadows or lighting

the *only* thing Source has going for it are the character models ... the Valve artists ARE talented ... but the Source lighting *sucks* ... the 'flashlight' is a joke

Good things about Source:

HDR rendering
Excellent animation
Modified Havok 2 real-time physics engine (vehicle physics including torque, power, gears, tire material, suspension)
Dynamic audio system (Doppler effect, directional sound, sounds from far away lack high frequency, see DoD: S)
Very scalable and modular
Full range of facial movements
Lip-sync which works with facial expressionals

If that engine sucks, well, I don't know what to tell ya.

so what?

*every* other new engines has all that old stuff ... *plus*

they have dynamic lighting and shadows and more

... the HL2 flashlight is a big *joke*

... and the Modern Engines don't have the sucky sssssSSStutter that plagues the HL2 engine
:thumbsdown:

yep ... Source Engine sucks ... in a comparison

 

[dguy6789]

As of right now, 4/11/07, Gears of War has better graphics than any game across any platform. Unreal Tournament 3 will take that title when it launches. Crysis will in all probability take the title from UT3.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I vote for oblivion with the texture mods for best overall graphics, but the Doom 3 engine provides the only lighting / shadow effects that I really like. I disable shadows in all games but doom 3 based games. I also disable HDR in all games, for I do not like it.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
I vote for oblivion with the texture mods for best overall graphics, but the Doom 3 engine provides the only lighting / shadow effects that I really like. I disable shadows in all games but doom 3 based games. I also disable HDR in all games, for I do not like it.

you musta loved PREY ... the best D3 can do ... so far
:thumbsup:

STALKER shadows and lighting are *also* very good

i really like Oblivion's indoor lighting and interactive shadows

 

[Budr]

Originally posted by: apoppin

so what?

*every* other new engines has all that old stuff ... *plus*

they have dynamic lighting and shadows and more

... the HL2 flashlight is a big *joke*

... and the Modern Engines don't have the sucky sssssSSStutter that plagues the HL2 engine
:thumbsdown:

yep ... Source Engine sucks ... in a comparison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_engine#Dynamic_lighting_and_shadowing_2

Hopefully, the flashlight should be getting fixed

 

[apoppin]

that's what i hear ... i AM looking forward to the 'makeover'

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Originally posted by: apoppin
so what?

*every* other new engines has all that old stuff ... *plus*

they have dynamic lighting and shadows and more

... the HL2 flashlight is a big *joke*

... and the Modern Engines don't have the sucky sssssSSStutter that plagues the HL2 engine
:thumbsdown:

yep ... Source Engine sucks ... in a comparison

Dynamic lighting is overrated. FEAR has some of the best dynamic lighting I've seen in a game but that didn't keep it from being one of the ugliest games I've ever played. Pure engine power means nothing when you don't have any artists competent enough to make soemthing outside of the typical concrete warehouse theme.

 

[Linux23]

How about some screenies of Oblivion with the upgraded textures?

 

[MrWizzard]

Originally posted by: CP5670
I don't understand why so many people like Oblivion's graphics either. I don't actually have the game, but in all the screenshots I've seen even with the mods installed, at its best it looks like Far Cry with the extended content pack (which is still very good, but FC came out two years earlier). Is there something I'm missing?

This is better than farcry to me...

Wood Town
Wall
That may be to much for her to handle.
Powned
The nice path
So nice

But that's just me. Yea I know I should have turned AA on...

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: HamburgerBoy

Originally posted by: apoppin
so what?

*every* other new engines has all that old stuff ... *plus*

they have dynamic lighting and shadows and more

... the HL2 flashlight is a big *joke*

... and the Modern Engines don't have the sucky sssssSSStutter that plagues the HL2 engine
:thumbsdown:

yep ... Source Engine sucks ... in a comparison

Dynamic lighting is overrated. FEAR has some of the best dynamic lighting I've seen in a game but that didn't keep it from being one of the ugliest games I've ever played. Pure engine power means nothing when you don't have any artists competent enough to make soemthing outside of the typical concrete warehouse theme.

absolutely right

i already differentiated between the talented artists at Valve's work and that sucky old Source Engine

But then the Dynamic Lighting in STALKER is put to GREAT use ... i *loved* fighting in pitch-black conditions with occasional illumination from the lightening and shooting at enemy NPCs by their muzzle flashes
. . . also the creepy indoor of the poltergeist lab was certainly enhanced by the interactive lighting and shadows ...
... and that STALKER flashlight is something to die for in a Source game
:shocked:

:laugh:

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: CP5670
I don't understand why so many people like Oblivion's graphics either. I don't actually have the game, but in all the screenshots I've seen even with the mods installed, at its best it looks like Far Cry with the extended content pack (which is still very good, but FC came out two years earlier). Is there something I'm missing?

yes ... get the game

screenies do it no justice

and the texture mods elevate it way beyond FC ... the Shadows and lighting are exceptional

HL2 is *fUgly* in comparison

If the textures are detailed, they should appear that way in screenshots. You know of any that show this? Most of the screenshots I've seen people post around here have a mix of really good and really bad textures, which is basically just what you get with FC's content update.

As for HL2, anything looks good in comparison to that, so that's not saying much.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: CP5670
I don't understand why so many people like Oblivion's graphics either. I don't actually have the game, but in all the screenshots I've seen even with the mods installed, at its best it looks like Far Cry with the extended content pack (which is still very good, but FC came out two years earlier). Is there something I'm missing?

This is better than farcry to me...

Wood Town
Wall
That may be to much for her to handle.
Powned
The nice path
So nice

But that's just me. Yea I know I should have turned AA on...

The scenery looks impressive, but even the improved character meshes I've seen are flat out ugly. They look like freaks.

I've made a female body mesh that looks much better than that (around 4000 quads).

 

[MrWizzard]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: CP5670
I don't understand why so many people like Oblivion's graphics either. I don't actually have the game, but in all the screenshots I've seen even with the mods installed, at its best it looks like Far Cry with the extended content pack (which is still very good, but FC came out two years earlier). Is there something I'm missing?

This is better than farcry to me...

Wood Town
Wall
That may be to much for her to handle.
Powned
The nice path
So nice

But that's just me. Yea I know I should have turned AA on...

The scenery looks impressive, but even the improved character meshes I've seen are flat out ugly. They look like freaks.

I've made a female body mesh that looks much better than that (around 4000 quads).

I wouldn't call them freaks though, wait what game did you say had good character models?

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: CP5670
I don't understand why so many people like Oblivion's graphics either. I don't actually have the game, but in all the screenshots I've seen even with the mods installed, at its best it looks like Far Cry with the extended content pack (which is still very good, but FC came out two years earlier). Is there something I'm missing?

This is better than farcry to me...

Wood Town
Wall
That may be to much for her to handle.
Powned
The nice path
So nice

But that's just me. Yea I know I should have turned AA on...

Well, this is a good example of what I was talking about. Take the first of those, for example. The rock textures look great, but the wood and ground textures aren't quite so hot and the geometry also looks simplistic in many places. Although that may have more to do with the level design than the graphics engine.

Far Cry looks pretty similar in the outdoor areas, as long as you have the content update and use the "cold" rendering style instead of the somewhat cartoony looking default one. I would take some screens for comparison but I don't have it installed right now.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: CP5670
I don't understand why so many people like Oblivion's graphics either. I don't actually have the game, but in all the screenshots I've seen even with the mods installed, at its best it looks like Far Cry with the extended content pack (which is still very good, but FC came out two years earlier). Is there something I'm missing?

This is better than farcry to me...

Wood Town
Wall
That may be to much for her to handle.
Powned
The nice path
So nice

But that's just me. Yea I know I should have turned AA on...

The scenery looks impressive, but even the improved character meshes I've seen are flat out ugly. They look like freaks.

I've made a female body mesh that looks much better than that (around 4000 quads).

I wouldn't call them freaks though, wait what game did you say had good character models?

The games that I've seen with the best (most realistic) character models:

R6: Vegas
HL2 (Alex and Barney mainly, the others, ehhh)
Resident Evil 4 (Just the main characters)
Quake 4

edit: Oh, let's not forget Riddick: EfBB

 

[MrWizzard]

Originally posted by: CP5670

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: CP5670
I don't understand why so many people like Oblivion's graphics either. I don't actually have the game, but in all the screenshots I've seen even with the mods installed, at its best it looks like Far Cry with the extended content pack (which is still very good, but FC came out two years earlier). Is there something I'm missing?

This is better than farcry to me...

Wood Town
Wall
That may be to much for her to handle.
Powned
The nice path
So nice

But that's just me. Yea I know I should have turned AA on...

Well, this is a good example of what I was talking about. Take the first of those, for example. The rock textures look great, but the wood and ground textures aren't quite so hot and the geometry also looks simplistic in many places. Although that may have more to do with the level design than the graphics engine.

Far Cry looks pretty similar in the outdoor areas, as long as you have the content update and use the "cold" rendering style instead of the somewhat cartoony looking default one. I would take some screens for comparison but I don't have it installed right now.

You have a point, I did notice that when I took them, they do look the best I have seen in any game when I actually walk up to them, but in the distance they are too blured. However this game lets you go anywhere with no load times, which farcry did not do, you could but it was not populated so you knew you were straying off the level "path", you know. Farcry was a very good looking game but so is oblivion.

 

[MrWizzard]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: CP5670
I don't understand why so many people like Oblivion's graphics either. I don't actually have the game, but in all the screenshots I've seen even with the mods installed, at its best it looks like Far Cry with the extended content pack (which is still very good, but FC came out two years earlier). Is there something I'm missing?

This is better than farcry to me...

Wood Town
Wall
That may be to much for her to handle.
Powned
The nice path
So nice

But that's just me. Yea I know I should have turned AA on...

The scenery looks impressive, but even the improved character meshes I've seen are flat out ugly. They look like freaks.

I've made a female body mesh that looks much better than that (around 4000 quads).

I wouldn't call them freaks though, wait what game did you say had good character models?

The games that I've seen with the best (most realistic) character models:

R6: Vegas
HL2 (Alex and Barney mainly, the others, ehhh)
Resident Evil 4 (Just the main characters)
Quake 4

edit: Oh, let's not forget Riddick: EfBB

Ok yea they have better character models, but I think they would actually be a little out of place in Oblivion, I think Oblivion is going for more of the fantasy feel.

 

[Sunner]

I must say that I never did like the character models in Oblivion.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but I really don't like them for some reason.

As for this Far Cry content pack, is it that AMD-64 only pack? Or have a missed something?
Think I'm gonna play through FC again now that I have a brand new computer, would be nice to get some new graphics with that, but if it's AMD-64 only, meh, stupid marketing bullshit.

 

[StevenNevets]

Oblivion looks the best with mods but graphical mods is kind of a cheap way to boost graphics (winner should be the best base-game)

 

[TheenDer]

Ummm....I actually think Company of Heroes has the best overall graphics.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: HamburgerBoy

Originally posted by: apoppin
so what?

*every* other new engines has all that old stuff ... *plus*

they have dynamic lighting and shadows and more

... the HL2 flashlight is a big *joke*

... and the Modern Engines don't have the sucky sssssSSStutter that plagues the HL2 engine
:thumbsdown:

yep ... Source Engine sucks ... in a comparison

Dynamic lighting is overrated. FEAR has some of the best dynamic lighting I've seen in a game but that didn't keep it from being one of the ugliest games I've ever played. Pure engine power means nothing when you don't have any artists competent enough to make soemthing outside of the typical concrete warehouse theme.

I disagree. Dynamic lighting in Q4 drenches the senses. It's like listening to a speaker phone then switching to Surround Sound. Screenshots don't do it justice. You appreciate it when playing.

I will agree that poor artistry can ruin anything though.