IGN's "Best looking games on PS2"
- Thread starter London Geezer
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DuckThor Evil
Legend
It's quite good list, I personally don't think that MGS 3 deserves that 2nd spot, Tekken 5 should be on the list and maybe Ace Combat 5, but it's decent list overall.
I was actually quite happy that (surprise surprise) ICO made it to the list, considering it's an old game going against the big-numbers kind of lookers... Says something about the art in that game...
Shadow of the Colossus can't come soon enough.
Shadow of the Colossus can't come soon enough.
Nick Laslett
Regular
Here my response I posted at GAF:
I can't believe FFX made this list. The game looked graphically weak even when it was first released!
I'm also surprised they kept MGS2 on the list.
What was the point of having both Jak3 and R&C. They should have gone for just one. I would have included Jak3, great animation, lots of geometry, draw distance, high frame rate, 480p, consistent art direction.
I'm surprised Silent Hill 3 is missing. This game had great art direction.
Also surprised about Burnout 3, which is an amazing game technically on the PS2.
ZOE2 has great effects and loads of polys, but the environments are so bland.
Onimusha 3 is good but no graphics powerhouse.
Here's my list:
10.Soul Calibur 2 (not seen Tekken 5 yet)
9. God of War
8. Ico
7. Jak 3
6. Primal
5. ZOE2
4. Silent Hill 3
3. Burnout 3
2. GT4
1. MGS3
Why:
10. God of War
Framerate, 480p, geometry, textures, animation, streaming.
9. Soul Calibur 2 (not seen Tekken 5 yet)
Framerate, 480p, animation, art direction, effects.
8. Ico
Art direction, lighting
7. Jak 3
Framerate, animation, 480p, geometry, draw distance, streaming.
6. Primal
Art direction, textures, lighting, 480p, draw distance, streaming.
5. ZOE2
Effects, geometry, framerate (480p using Blaze VGA hack.).
4. Silent Hill 3
Art direction, textures, lighting (480p using Blaze VGA hack.).
3. Burnout 3
Framerate, 480p, geometry, effects, physics.
2. GT4
Framerate, physics, art direction, lighting, 480p, geometry.
1. MGS3
Textures, art direction, lighting, effects, framerate (480p using Blaze VGA hack.).
Framerate = Does the game run at 60fps. How smooth is the framerate, does it fluctuate.
480p = Does the game use a full height back buffer and output a 480 line progressive scan image. This effects image stability, clarity and vibrancy.
Art Direction = Character design, location design, palette choices.
Textures = Quality of textures, variety of textures, application.
Lighting = Light sources, shadowing
Geometry = Polygons on screen, complexity of models, environment
Effects = Fire, water, smoke, explosions, particles, filters, etc
Animation = Character animation, how smooth.
Physics = Does the game use real time physics to change what you see on display.
Streaming = How does the game load, does it stream the data as you play with no levels.
I can't believe FFX made this list. The game looked graphically weak even when it was first released!
I'm also surprised they kept MGS2 on the list.
What was the point of having both Jak3 and R&C. They should have gone for just one. I would have included Jak3, great animation, lots of geometry, draw distance, high frame rate, 480p, consistent art direction.
I'm surprised Silent Hill 3 is missing. This game had great art direction.
Also surprised about Burnout 3, which is an amazing game technically on the PS2.
ZOE2 has great effects and loads of polys, but the environments are so bland.
Onimusha 3 is good but no graphics powerhouse.
Here's my list:
10.Soul Calibur 2 (not seen Tekken 5 yet)
9. God of War
8. Ico
7. Jak 3
6. Primal
5. ZOE2
4. Silent Hill 3
3. Burnout 3
2. GT4
1. MGS3
Why:
10. God of War
Framerate, 480p, geometry, textures, animation, streaming.
9. Soul Calibur 2 (not seen Tekken 5 yet)
Framerate, 480p, animation, art direction, effects.
8. Ico
Art direction, lighting
7. Jak 3
Framerate, animation, 480p, geometry, draw distance, streaming.
6. Primal
Art direction, textures, lighting, 480p, draw distance, streaming.
5. ZOE2
Effects, geometry, framerate (480p using Blaze VGA hack.).
4. Silent Hill 3
Art direction, textures, lighting (480p using Blaze VGA hack.).
3. Burnout 3
Framerate, 480p, geometry, effects, physics.
2. GT4
Framerate, physics, art direction, lighting, 480p, geometry.
1. MGS3
Textures, art direction, lighting, effects, framerate (480p using Blaze VGA hack.).
Framerate = Does the game run at 60fps. How smooth is the framerate, does it fluctuate.
480p = Does the game use a full height back buffer and output a 480 line progressive scan image. This effects image stability, clarity and vibrancy.
Art Direction = Character design, location design, palette choices.
Textures = Quality of textures, variety of textures, application.
Lighting = Light sources, shadowing
Geometry = Polygons on screen, complexity of models, environment
Effects = Fire, water, smoke, explosions, particles, filters, etc
Animation = Character animation, how smooth.
Physics = Does the game use real time physics to change what you see on display.
Streaming = How does the game load, does it stream the data as you play with no levels.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Nick Laslett said:
God of War's framerate fluctuates quite often, not so much during battles, but it does it quite often. It doesn't really spoil the experience though.
Nick Laslett said:
Primal ahead of God of War and Jak3?!! Mmm...
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Hmm Ghost Hunter might also earn a spot on that list.
mckmas8808
Legend
randycat99
Veteran
...and in at #856, Green Army Men by 3D0! 
(I just had to get a dig in on the absolute most horrid game I've personally seen on PS2...ok, maybe the first Max Payne might be close)
(I just had to get a dig in on the absolute most horrid game I've personally seen on PS2...ok, maybe the first Max Payne might be close)
Iron Tiger
Regular
I think it's BS to disqualify Rez for being cross-platform (way after the DC), but include MGS2.
And as much as I appreciate the lighting and animation of Ico, the resolution really knocks it down a few points. The pixels are fatter than my fingers on my HDTV.
And as much as I appreciate the lighting and animation of Ico, the resolution really knocks it down a few points. The pixels are fatter than my fingers on my HDTV.
ShootMyMonkey
Veteran
Well, if I were to rate it on a purely technical standpoint, I'd not be all that surprised, but in a top ten, I still would have put it at the bottom of that 10 just because a lot of more recent titles are all the more impressive. Facial animation on low-poly that actually looks better than awful is a really really difficult thing to do and requires some pretty complex skeletal hierarchies. I also wouldn't be surprised if they built a portion of their animation system around morph targets. The funny thing, though, is that the facial animation in the CG cutscenes seems less impressive to me. Obviously, with the "low-poly" versions, you couldn't do much, but with those "medium-poly" versions they saved for specific in-engine cinematics, it was fairly impressive. I don't know if this is a result of staffing or just an XSI quirk.
I wouldn't be surprised, though, if IGN just gave it points for the whole stylistic change and effort to make the game more "interactive-movie-like" that gave it visual points. From FFX onwards, people have come to expect this style of all forthcoming Final Fantasies, and that kinda says something to its credit as an individual game in the series. Whether that's a good or bad direction is another matter, though.
Surprisingly, I find myself agreeing with an article from IGN...
I would swap Tekken 5 with FFX, though. While artistically good, technically speaking FFX was full of little rendering glitches, from characters poping up, to unstable/shaky models during cutscenes.
I would swap Tekken 5 with FFX, though. While artistically good, technically speaking FFX was full of little rendering glitches, from characters poping up, to unstable/shaky models during cutscenes.
They're different games from different developers. Jak 3 is from Naughty Dog and Up Your Arsenal is from Insomniac. MGS2 and MGS3 is weirder, but I can understand that choice too. MGS2 is still one of the best-looking PS2 games. Gran Turismo 3, for instance, hasn't aged as well. All in my opinion, anyway.Nick Laslett said:
gleemax said:
Despite being from different developers, the original Ratchet & Clank shared a lot with the engine from the original Jak & Daxter. While Insomniac did little with the engine from there up to R&C3, Naughty Dog squeezed quite a bit more out of it, which is why Jak 2 and 3 look so different; better (more geometry, more textures, more particles).
I haven't seen R&C3 yet, but I can't imagine it to be that impressive that I would actually put it on the top 10. Perhaps 3 years ago, but not after seeing how much Naughty Dog were able to get more out of their engine in the same genre.
I don't know how FFX got in. The jaggies are so fierce I cut myself on them and the shimmer broke my eyes so now I need glasses! The models are low poly except on a few main chars, the shadows are basic dark circles. Apart from the art direction and bizarre creature designs there's not a lot going for FFX in the visuals department.
What MUST be included in the top ten IMO is Champions of Norrath. It's rendered at 60 fps, full screen 2x Antialiased, with large amounts of bumpmapping, reflection mapping, multiple stencil shadows per creature, dynamic lighting, particle overkill, high-poly, and with great art direction to boot. You can't ask for more from a current gen game on any platform. The only slight weakness to CON was frame drops and redraw glitches primarily because of the switch to dual layer DVD when pressed where development was on single layer disks.
I haven't seen any other game on PS2 that has the same detail of lighting, texturing and modelling and I can't for the life of me see why it didn't make the top ten.
What MUST be included in the top ten IMO is Champions of Norrath. It's rendered at 60 fps, full screen 2x Antialiased, with large amounts of bumpmapping, reflection mapping, multiple stencil shadows per creature, dynamic lighting, particle overkill, high-poly, and with great art direction to boot. You can't ask for more from a current gen game on any platform. The only slight weakness to CON was frame drops and redraw glitches primarily because of the switch to dual layer DVD when pressed where development was on single layer disks.
I haven't seen any other game on PS2 that has the same detail of lighting, texturing and modelling and I can't for the life of me see why it didn't make the top ten.
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