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End of a generation: what is the best looking game of the PS3/360 era?

E

egocrata

Banned
This Christmas, instead of grabbing the new consoles, I am hoarding all the old-gen games that I should have played when they came out but failed to do so. As I go through some of the games I missed, I could´t help to be really impressed with the visuals that the PS3/360 were able to put out during these past few years.

So know that we are wrapping up this gen, it is time for a recap: what are the most impressive looking games we get on 360 and PS3? Let´s have two categories, one from a technical perspective (res, framerate, effects, etc) and another on general accomplishment, combining artistic and tech values.

My picks:

  • Pure tech: Crysis 2. It looks incredible at times - and the frame rate is impressively stable.
  • General accomplishment: to this day, I still think Mirror´s Edge looks stunning. Frostbite is a great engine (EDIT: WRONG. It is on the Unreal 3 engine. Wow), but the art design is just perfect.
 
A

Aim_Ed

Member
General accomplishment: The Witcher 2, I have no idea how they got it to look so good on a last gen console.
 
P

Psycho_Mantis

Banned
ajplvk.gif
 
V

vio

Member
GTA V, it makes most of the non open world games look bad. Great art, and tech is amazing. Draw distance, amount of details, animation, lighting etc.
 
T

Thickstone

Member
Mirror's edge runs on the Unreal 3 engine IIRC which makes it even more stunning. (not a fan of U3 tbh)

Ps3: Beyond 2 Souls
Xbox 360: Gears of War 3

Honorable mentions: Last of Us, Alan Wake, Final Fantasy XIII, Heavy Rain
 
A

AJLma

Member
Pure Tech: I feel like The Last of Us is really the only answer to this question
General accomplishment: The world of GTA5, unbelievable that they pulled that off on X360 and PS3
 
Revolutionary

Revolutionary

Member
Beyond: Two Souls.
Probably 'cheating' because it renders in 2.35:1, but it is an absolutely amazing looking game. Felt like a PS4 preview at times.
 
J

Jasper Avenue

Member
I think it would have to be something on the PS3.

- Last of Us (my choice)
- God of War: Ascension
- Uncharted 3 (except for the strange face changes)

The Witcher 2 on the 360 also looked pretty damn nice.
 
P

pretty done

Member
Uncharted 2/3 probably. The Last of Us just doesn't look as impressive overall, too many hideous textures and jaggies.

edit: These GTA V mentions are blowing my mind. Average graphics, terrible framerate, terrible popin. Nooooooooope
 
Acquiescence

Acquiescence

Member
I think Uncharted 3 is a better looking game than TLoU personally.

Actually, scratch Uncharted 3, Beyond : Two Souls is the best looking game of its gen. Not a particularly good game, but boy is it a looker.
 
O

oldmario

Member
Revolutionary said:
Beyond: Two Souls.
Probably 'cheating' because it renders in 16:9, but it is an absolutely amazing looking game. Felt like a PS4 preview at times.
Click to expand...

all games this gen rendered in 16:9, aspect ratio on beyond is just covered up by 2 black bars, people with cfw can remove them if they want, the game just has them for more of an artistic look
 
M

Mononoke

Banned
Beyond Two Souls for sure. Those saying the Last Of Us, there were Jaggies + muddy textures in that game. The art design was great, but it looked pretty bad at times if you were on a 50 inch 1080p TV. Beyond Two Souls looked flat out amazing.

To be fair, we are comparing two different games. The Last Of Us had more open levels, and had more gameplay elements to it. So it's hard comparing the two 1:1. But if we are going purely on technical graphics, Beyond was better.
 
S

Skid 4 Dead

Member
Beyond Two Souls
The Last of Us
Halo 4
Mirror's Edge
God of War III


Azula said:
Beyond Two Souls for sure. Those saying the Last Of Us, there were Jaggies + muddy textures in that game. The art design was great, but it looked pretty bad at times if you were on a 50 inch 1080p TV. Beyond Two Souls looked flat out amazing.
Click to expand...

That's just about every game last gen.
 
J

jgmo870

Banned
It's a side-scroller but Puppeteer looks damn good in motion because of the animations and lighting. It looks better to me than most PS4/XB1 games.
 
M

Marjar

Banned
Gonna give shout outs to Halo 4.

Said what you want about the game, but it really is amazing how good looking the game is on such old hardware.
 
E

excaliburps

Press - MP1st.com
I'd say, God of War III, The Last of Us and Uncharted 3.

God of War III's Titan and boss fights were the first instances this past gen that made me go "whoa" and just admire the graphical leap we've had since the start of videogames.

The Last of Us for pure artistic style and how everything seemed alive.

Uncharted since it's possibly the only game on a CD this generation that never loaded levels and looked gorgeous. This proves Naughty Dog has some magical juju. Read that again. Uncharted games don't load...at least until the initial long one.
 
SpartanN92

SpartanN92

Banned
PS3:
Uncharted 3, GT6 and Last of Us

360:
Halo Reach, Halo 4, Gears of War 3 and Forza Horizon

Multiplat: GTA V, Bioshock Infinite
 
Revolutionary

Revolutionary

Member
oldmario said:
all games this gen rendered in 16:9, aspect ratio on beyond is just covered up by 2 black bars, people with cfw can remove them if they want, the game just has them for more of an artistic look
Click to expand...
Wow, I did not know that. Thought they did it to push performance/visuals because the game looks incredible.
 
T

Toxi

Banned
The Last of Us on PS3 and Halo 4 on the 360 are the best I've personally seen.

They're both dwarfed by a number of PC titles, of course. ;)
 
M

MadScientist

Banned
A lot of mentions of TLOU here. I have not played it yet, but from what I have seen it looks beautiful. However, it plays a lot slower than your average shooter, which makes it easier to achieve great visuals.
 
T

tookhster

Member
Beyond Two Souls, no contest. Even though it was a mediocre game IMO it is by far the best looking console game of last gen. I couldn't believe how many times I was thinking in my head, "I can't believe I'm playing right now!" I didn't do that for pretty much any other game last gen.
 
M

MormaPope

Banned
GTA V is impressive for the scale and lighting, but a lot of other things sorta make it really uneven visually. Max Payne 3 has much better image quality and looks better in every way compared to GTA V.

That reminds me, Max Payne 3 looks incredible.
 
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