Best graphics in 2009

[Scott_Arm]

Why would you evaluate how good a game looks in still pics, since a lot of effects can only be perceived in motion and you play the game in motion.

 

[specwarGP2]

60 fps

But SP is 60fps about 50% it seems to me, so what does that matter?

 

[djskribbles]

Going by the thread title which specifically asks, "Best graphics in 2009" -- IMHO -- framerate (and even scale to a certain extent) is irrelevant. To me, "the best graphics" means the best image quality that is displayed on screen. If there was a game that ran at sub-30fps but looked the most impressive, I would say that was the game with the best graphics. I think framerate would be considered if the question was, what is the most technically impressive game, because there are several aspects that contribute to making a game technically impressive.

With that said, that's just my opinion and I respect the opinions of others as I know this is a very subjective topic in more ways than one.

 

[semitope]

Why would you evaluate how good a game looks in still pics, since a lot of effects can only be perceived in motion and you play the game in motion.

Its the purest form for the point I was trying to make. I'm not sure how to explain it much better really; unless you are one of those sensitive to fps I don't see how framerate can become an element in you determination of a games graphics. Its simply a gameplay and technical point, not an excuse.

 

[PARANOiA]

That's a bit of a silly argument, don't you think? If they made Killzone 3 running at 4fps, but 1080p, would it be better graphically than KZ2? Of course not.

 

[Acert93]

That's a bit of a silly argument, don't you think? If they made Killzone 3 running at 4fps, but 1080p, would it be better graphically than KZ2? Of course not.

1fpm (frame per minute) is best, you know, because it only matters what is on screen. I mean, graphics are only still frames. How the screen moves in motion is irrelevant unless, you know, you may be sensitive to movement.

 

[semitope]

Now you 2 are just being unreasonable. 30fps vs 60fps is irrelevant in this

 

[L. Scofield]

60fps is not graphics, its a gameplay feature so sorry if thats important to you.

I know that's spam, but damn, it deserves it

 

[PARANOiA]

Now you 2 are just being unreasonable. 30fps vs 60fps is irrelevant in this

But that's not what you said - you said framerate doesn't matter since it's a gameplay feature.

If 30fps is the limit, do games that are 30fps with slowdown count? What about a constant low-20's? Or 15? It's a slippery slope, and many, many gamers care about a steady and high framerate as much as bling-factor.

 

[semitope]

But that's not what you said - you said framerate doesn't matter since it's a gameplay feature.

If 30fps is the limit, do games that are 30fps with slowdown count? What about a constant low-20's? Or 15? It's a slippery slope, and many, many gamers care about a steady and high framerate as much as bling-factor.

a game running at 1fps with graphics at the level of the best CG would look better than a 60fps game with UC2 graphics; the question is best graphics plain and simple. I didnt want to humour the guys going into extreme framerates because I thought it was pointless to start down that road but what i said is what I think. 60fps doesn't get you looking like a game that has better Image quality plain and simple. Framerate is gameplay and between 30fps and 60fps its very subjective

The underlined part means what? steady and high fps (gameplay) vs bling-factor (graphics)

I know that's spam, but damn, it deserves it

That is a pity frown

 

[Mobius1aic]

Text adventure games use terms that describe a place with more beauty than any 3D graphics could ever reach

 

[Scott_Arm]

a game running at 1fps with graphics at the level of the best CG would look better than a 60fps game with UC2 graphics; the question is best graphics plain and simple. I didnt want to humour the guys going into extreme framerates because I thought it was pointless to start down that road but what i said is what I think. 60fps doesn't get you looking like a game that has better Image quality plain and simple. Framerate is gameplay and between 30fps and 60fps its very subjective

The underlined part means what? steady and high fps (gameplay) vs bling-factor (graphics)

That is a pity frown

What about animation? Animation is part of the visual experience, and it is impacted by frame rate. I'm sorry, but frame rate is part of what you're seeing on screen. You can't judge a games visuals from still shots alone

Anyway, obviously we're aren't going to change each others minds, and this argument has happened a billion times on this forum.

 

[Mobius1aic]

Between KZ2 and UC2 I'll go with KZ2 because:

- UC2 had a weird shadow mapping issue that is most noticeable during the train level. You notice it a fair distance from where the camera is but for me I couldn't help but notice it. I think it was just ND's way of controlling where it came into play in order to not overload the GPU. The normal player wouldn't have noticed, but damn I did.

However, I certainly consider UC2 the better game. KZ2's aiming controls felt very wonky.

 

[Billy Idol]

Judging character models, my vote would go to Batman: AA ... I think that Joker (especially his face/head) looks (sur)real at times, really impressing and astounding (usually I think that human characters look really off)!

 

[Billy Idol]

What about animation? Animation is part of the visual experience, and it is impacted by frame rate.

But is animation automatically linked to framerate?

I don't think so, because for instance the animations of the foes in KZ2 (~30fps) easily excells the animations of the foes in MW2 (~60 fps) .
(in my opinion of course )

For me it seems to be contradicting, because a game with 60fps has less resources available to spend for animations (of course if we are considering here in this thread a limited platform and not PCs...)

 

[djskribbles]

That's a bit of a silly argument, don't you think? If they made Killzone 3 running at 4fps, but 1080p, would it be better graphically than KZ2? Of course not.

If you're referring to me, you're going a bit too far to prove your point. Any game is made so it's at least playable. To simplify my point, if KZ2 ran at 1080p at 30fps, IMHO, it would look better than KZ2 at 720p running at 60fps, assuming everything else was the same like lighting etc.

 

[Phil]

IMHO, framerate and graphics do belong in the same sentence and a game that sacrifices graphics for framerate should not be excluded from a "best graphics" discussion. To simplify the argument, if a game that run at 30 fps at X amount of things going on, texture budges - the whole lot and another game with identical art-direction but ran at 60 fps but with half of X, I would probably give the award to the latter, 60 fps game.

Of course, we don't have an ideal world and there's no equal playing field in that sense. Some games end up sacrificing more to achieve 60 fps, like for instance resolution or less things going on on screen, while others make other sacrifices like framerate to achieve nicer visuals. Then you have games that benefit from higher framerates more so than others.

 

[Richard]

To all:

This is not a thread for discussing the technical merits of framerates, the subjective responses to various framerate thresholds or to otherwise compare framerates in games other than a simple "I prefer x's graphics over y's because x runs fast and y does not".

Like shifty and alex already mentioned, this thread is by its inherent nature a place to post each one's subjective opinion of their best looking game. Bringing technical discussions here is not helpful: create a new thread for that topic if one doesn't yet exist. I direct anyone that wishes to discuss framerates vis-a-vis graphics to this thread for instance.

Thank you.

 

[(((interference)))]

I was most impressed by KZ2 this year, then probably DIRT 2 - was shocked to find that it looked so much better than the heavyweights like Forza 3 or GT5 (except in car detail of course).

I haven't played UC2 yet but from everything i've looked at, I would put KZ2 on top. If mainly because UC2 is sort of cartoony while KZ2 is hyper realistic and really immerses you in the universe, it definitely induces suspension of disbelief for longer than KZ2

 

[function]

Is it too early to say Halo: Reach?