Extra Sauce
Member
The absolute worst:
Mass Effect 2.
I still don't know what those red lines are supposed to be.
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Games that tastelessly overuse graphical gimmicks
- Thread starter lazygecko
- Start date
I still don't know what those red lines are supposed to be.
The Amiga version, yes. It comes with a pair of glasses that play off the Pulfrich effect. They're not particularly useful nor is the effect convincing.
A better, more mind blowing use of Parallax came from Shadow of the Beast 4 years earlier. Even though that was a crappy game (Jim Power plays better IMO), the visual component of the game was outstanding and is the main reason the game is still remembered today.
Does bloom in Oblivion count?
That screen is in the OP.
SerTapTap
Member
It's a real shame there's no option to turn it off, the game really does look way better otherwise (arguably the ambient occlusion is also bad. It's not exactly fitting to say the least)
FlashFlooder
Member
Seeing as that exact pic was used in the OP, I'm going to go with yes.Does bloom in Oblivion count?
For me it's the wet shiny surfaces. Only game I've ever see it's really work was Infanmous PS4
the most confusing thing about this is that the amiga jim power game has all the layers moving normally. the snes game's vomit-inducing cylinder world wrap-around effect was specifically added in where it wasn't before. how did that happen
there's a level like this in pulseman too and i don't think i've ever made it through that one without screwing up somewhere along the way because i rush to get it over with as fast as possible :U
zephervack
Member
Extra Sauce
Member
Wait, in addition to scrolling way too fast... it's going in the wrong direction?!
Maybe? awful choice, was it ever modded out the PC version?
I thought about that but it makes no sense.
Still you are probably right.
Ultra Numb
Member
Wind Waker HD has some pretty nasty bloom. At least it has selfies.
Isn't those WW HD shots from the initial reveal? I heard something about the bloom being toned down a bit for the final version of the game. From the shots I've seen, the bloom doesn't look as bad as in those shots.
It's as if someone put in a negative value instead of positive for the scrolling speeds on the two back layers, and just said "fuck it, close enough" and never fixed it.
I forgot about that. Especially Europeans were batshit crazy about parallax backgrounds. Not just on the SNES but pretty much any 16-bit system. Backgrounds were usually moving a lot faster than Japanese and American games because WOW LOOK AT ALL THOSE SCROLLING CLOUD LAYERS!
Wind Waker HD has some pretty nasty bloom. At least it has selfies.
And overuse of cel-shading
Seven Force
Banned
Yep. One of the reasons I can't stand SCIV now. It's neat to look at the first go around, but a shallow annoyance pretty much every other playthrough.
Polioliolio
Member
The SNES and Genesis versions are fucked. One of the background layers scrolls the wrong direction in both ports. The Amiga version doesn't do this.
Wind Waker HD has some pretty nasty bloom. At least it has selfies.
Wind Waker HD hasn't looked like that since the initial reveal. The bloom was toned down by release.
zephervack
Member
I think Half-Life 2 was one of the very first showcases of the effect, but this was patched in later with The Lost Coast.
I find this kind of weird since Half-Life 2 is otherwise very restrained with its use of tech gimmicks like normals/speculars so the artists and designers at least had some tact in that regard.
Honestly, the new Zelda looks like crap. What's with these filters? Is that foggy effect supposed to represent smoke from the fire? Why is there so much bloom and flare? Not a fan of the artstyle either, the root thingies at the bottom on the enemy look bad. Are those shadows painted on?
What is with the whiteness?
Kind of hilarious for a first post, considering no one has actually played or seen enough of the game to come to these conclusions
Corronchilejano
Member
I actually enjoyed the mode 7 part in Contra 3. I wondered why they didn't add them in the GBA version, but then again, it was a horribly gutted and put together version.
SomedayTheFire
Member
I knew the thread would be completely shat on after the first post. You can't really say anything bad about that games graphics according to some people.
D'oh! The one image that wouldn't load!
CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls
Banned
That's not necessarily overused or tasteless, just an annoyance.
Again another feature taken from films, this being a false error generated from the camera lens and is a real scenario.
It can be ok when subtlety done (order 1886/Metal Gear) and not over done (Lords of the fallen/Alien Isolation/Daylight) and can help edge aliasing alittle.
digitalrelic
Banned
What about Perfect Dark Zero's obsession with making everything look like shiny plastic?
Contra 3 is a pretty gross overrated game. The overhead stages in Super C are so much better.
DOWN
Banned
To be fair, those were basically loading screens, which you can never skip until they are done in any game with the same format of hidden loading. And the effects were fine, blending the franchise's heavy graphic novel inspirations with harsh underground filmmaking.
DaciaJC
Gold Member
All of the examples I was thinking of mentioned by the end of the first page, very good.
TheMoon
Member
With Zelda games we love to complain about pre-release images as if they represent the final game because reasons.
That's more of a shortcut or alternative animation style than a gimmick.
You see the veins on the back of your eye where the cornea is, not the ones that wrap around front.
So you should see a faint lattice of veins all across your vision.
judging the new zelda is premature, sure, but the last zelda (also cel shaded) had strange bloom effects.
no bro, you're wrong, battlefield 3 your playing as a soldier with a go pro on his helmet
I think Kane & Lynch 2 gets a pass because it is very consciously going for the online cam footage aeshetic. I think it was very interesting how it pulled that off.
Now, the day I start seeing chromatic abberation applied to medieval fantasy games is the day I start truly weeping.
That's what you end up with when you overemphasize normal maps.
It's really bad in Contra 3 because the difference in game design makes such a sudden and jarring change. In the previous Contra games with different level perspectives it at least still controlled practically the same. The fact that you have to wander around the map searching for that last enemy to kill in order to move on also completely ruins the pacing.
Now, the day I start seeing chromatic abberation applied to medieval fantasy games is the day I start truly weeping.
What about Perfect Dark Zero's obsession with making everything look like shiny plastic?
That's what you end up with when you overemphasize normal maps.
It's really bad in Contra 3 because the difference in game design makes such a sudden and jarring change. In the previous Contra games with different level perspectives it at least still controlled practically the same. The fact that you have to wander around the map searching for that last enemy to kill in order to move on also completely ruins the pacing.
Yes, this one. Wet surfaces that look like they were doused in hectolitres of baby oil, ridiculous. For some reason it was ebeverywhere a while ago.
Yeah Battlefield, we get it, the GoPro on the soldier's head is dirty as fuck.
All FPS games that do this need to add the face wipe mechanic from Metro Last Light. If it were real life and my mask was filthy dirty and obstructing my vision, I would wipe it off.
Violence Jack
Member
Madworld. The black & white comic book style made some execution moves and enemies hard to see at times. Adding to that the blood splattering on the screen.
Yeah Battlefield, we get it, the GoPro on the soldier's head is dirty as fuck.
Oddly enough, I really like this effect in Battlefield. Maybe it's because I wear glasses and my vision can look like that in the right conditions (especially so when I was a manual laborer), so it adds a bit of realism for me.
Lord_Byron28
Member
Zelda was still over a year away from completion when we saw those images and has only been viewed over a stream which isn't an accurate way to judge any title.
Ol No Bones
Banned
I literally can't watch this.
gigantor21
Member
Yeah Battlefield, we get it, the GoPro on the soldier's head is dirty as fuck. Very realistic and cinematic.
(Although it looked kinda cool and not overused yet when Battlefield 3 was the only one using the effect)
Fuck this shit, and the dirt/watersplash nonsense in Tomb Raider 2013 along with it.
Smearing stuff onto the screen during action bits isn't "immersive", it's distracting and annoying. I died several times in TR because I couldn't see what was going on during that part where you get caught by the river. Thank God you can turn it off on PC.