mrmickfran
Member
Okami <3
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Is there a consensus on best looking Playstation 2 game?
- Thread starter facetheslayer92
- Start date
To Far Away Times
Member
If we are counting ports, then it has to be Street Fighter III: Third Strike.
DrunkShogun
Member
Was the first thought I had. Such a strong art direction and easily stands out even now.
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
Yes, Black was a revelation on its release.
Popsickles
Member
I think Black had pretty impressive graphics for the time, some nice destruction too
https://youtu.be/g0gs5Er3gMU
Edit - beaten
https://youtu.be/g0gs5Er3gMU
Edit - beaten
kristianity77
Member
Has there been a mention of ghosthunter yet? If not, shame on GAF! That game looked incredible for the PS2.
-MD-
Member
Musky_Cheese
Banned
God of war 2.
Oachkatzlschwoaf
Member
4 pages and not a single picture of GT4? Come on!
RedRedSuit
Member
Just to expand on MGS2's unique visual qualities a bit, since it's a somewhat non-obvious choice (and among the oldest, from 2001).
Even mundane shots show rather shocking detail for the day, if you explore the game. You can see individual magazine covers, and the area really looks like a soldier rec lounge. The soldier's radio the soldier will actually pick up and use to make reports and call in reinforcements. His weapon may be subtly different from other soldiers'. Aiming at various parts of his body will yield specific animations and behavior way beyond what any other game would worry about.
(May have to click?)
This shows another very detailed area; note detailed console textures, individual attachments on soldier guns, and a parrot and cage:
The first, or among the first, game(s) to have no separation between cut scenes and gameplay visuals. Nothing was pre-rendered, and often you'd come back from a movie only to be able to use binoculars to look at the same stuff you just saw, but in more detail and at your own pace. Note, also, the smooth, high-poly-count faces on humans throughout (compare to Final Fantasy, God of War).
Parrot cage from earlier:
Character faces were real smooth and highly detailed looking, not blocky, and this wasn't just in cut scenes. Animations of faces were somehow comparable to many modern games (not sure how that can be). In fact some recent games like Horizon shoot for much more ambitious realism with facial animations and end up being distractingly worse.
(Click?)
During action moments, often some very cool camera angles would seamlessly pop up, while showing off nice image quality and nice clean shadows. Also I recall being smacked in the face by how good the Harrier looked; game wasn't afraid to put it right next to the camera in the boss fight scene!
Mundane areas, like an industrial plant, would build up over time to some beautiful moments (and again, a cut scene would always lead to gameplay in the same setting soon enough).
I don't know if I've made my case with these (and I tried not to cheat), but particularly on a CRT (or HD TV and an HD remaster) the game's level of detail and clean look led to an uncanny feeling of "being there," sort of like one could smell the sea air or feel the cold wind outside a strut or damp of the sediment pool building.
Even mundane shots show rather shocking detail for the day, if you explore the game. You can see individual magazine covers, and the area really looks like a soldier rec lounge. The soldier's radio the soldier will actually pick up and use to make reports and call in reinforcements. His weapon may be subtly different from other soldiers'. Aiming at various parts of his body will yield specific animations and behavior way beyond what any other game would worry about.
(May have to click?)
This shows another very detailed area; note detailed console textures, individual attachments on soldier guns, and a parrot and cage:
The first, or among the first, game(s) to have no separation between cut scenes and gameplay visuals. Nothing was pre-rendered, and often you'd come back from a movie only to be able to use binoculars to look at the same stuff you just saw, but in more detail and at your own pace. Note, also, the smooth, high-poly-count faces on humans throughout (compare to Final Fantasy, God of War).
Parrot cage from earlier:
Character faces were real smooth and highly detailed looking, not blocky, and this wasn't just in cut scenes. Animations of faces were somehow comparable to many modern games (not sure how that can be). In fact some recent games like Horizon shoot for much more ambitious realism with facial animations and end up being distractingly worse.
(Click?)
During action moments, often some very cool camera angles would seamlessly pop up, while showing off nice image quality and nice clean shadows. Also I recall being smacked in the face by how good the Harrier looked; game wasn't afraid to put it right next to the camera in the boss fight scene!
Mundane areas, like an industrial plant, would build up over time to some beautiful moments (and again, a cut scene would always lead to gameplay in the same setting soon enough).
I don't know if I've made my case with these (and I tried not to cheat), but particularly on a CRT (or HD TV and an HD remaster) the game's level of detail and clean look led to an uncanny feeling of "being there," sort of like one could smell the sea air or feel the cold wind outside a strut or damp of the sediment pool building.
Palette Swap
Member
Okami, FFXII and DQ8 are my favorite looking games by far.
From a technical standpoint, Black always seemed very impressive to me.
(For some reason, I first wrote Killzone while thinking of Black, no idea why I associate the two games)
From a technical standpoint, Black always seemed very impressive to me.
(For some reason, I first wrote Killzone while thinking of Black, no idea why I associate the two games)
Shambalakan
Member
Gran Turismo 4 and God of War II for me.
Really miss Grand Canyon track...
Really miss Grand Canyon track...
RedRedSuit
Member
Gran Turismo 4 and God of War II for me.
Really miss Grand Canyon track...
Looks good. I imagine same thing looked stunning in replay mode at 30fps with heat haze effects, car models out of this world, etc.
PdotMichael
Banned
Gran Turismo 4 and God of War II for me.
Really miss Grand Canyon track...
People on track, running to the side.
It was sure visually the best track at that time.
RedRedSuit
Member
Well, GT4 is amazing, but it's cars and tracks.
God of War II is stunning, yes, but its stunningness comes from the epic scale of things you see. If one chooses to focus on little details or closeup fidelity, it isn't that great. (Note that's not a criticism.)
That is to say, there are games that excel in their own ways that aren't huge and epic like God but are impressive nonetheless in their own ways.
I've been touting MGS2, but look at, say, Wind Waker on GameCube. It's no God of War technically, but at the same time it's so damned beautiful. Or Resident a Evil 4 won't feature, like, a gleaming animated colossus of Rhodes chasing after you, or some huge metal steeds, but on the other hand HOLY SHIT at those insane reanimator monsters, or the grossness of the "sprouting" inner parasites that pop out of already unnervingly-real angry villagers.
God of War II from a technical standpoint. With bumped resolution it could be a launch PS3 game and not many people would bat an eye.
When it comes to attention to detail, MGS 2&3 come first, but it's more due to Kojima's craziness that all those shticks with melting ice cubes got into the game. Nevertheless, it's also a technical achievement worth noting.
When it comes to attention to detail, MGS 2&3 come first, but it's more due to Kojima's craziness that all those shticks with melting ice cubes got into the game. Nevertheless, it's also a technical achievement worth noting.
RedRedSuit
Member
Few people played it, I think. I certainly skipped it. Seeing some videos in action here, it's definitely impressive. Looks like CoD4 a generation early.
No screen tearing in the PAL version.
stenbumling
Unconfirmed Member
Out of what I played, probably God of War II or FFXII.
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
What's a texturezilla?
This is probably just me but I hate how old games look upressed on emulators. They weren't meant to be seen this way. It's unnatural.
"Best looking" is a pretty vague and subjective field. I think We Love Katamari looks the best- but it's just weird polygonal knick knacks.
Silent Hill 3
Shadow Of The Colossus
Okami
MGS 3
Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts had some good looking moments.
But remember, no matter how good a PS2 game is in the end it looks like a PS2 game, which is something to be avoided, right? -_-
Silent Hill 3
Shadow Of The Colossus
Okami
MGS 3
Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts had some good looking moments.
But remember, no matter how good a PS2 game is in the end it looks like a PS2 game, which is something to be avoided, right? -_-
These were posted in an old screenshot thread. Emulator shots, but demonstrative of the fact that the only thing holding back FFXII was the 480i resolution.
Incredible.
Was thinking GT3, somehow forgot about GT4. Those videos... Seriously doesn't feel like it's two generations old for its genre against most other game genres on PS2 versus their PS3 or 4 counterparts. GT4 looks like it was massively ahead of its time in terms of fidelity and really looking like it's closely related to what we see today, just lacking better textures and higher poly counts, but pretty close otherwise.
M
Macapala
Unconfirmed Member
It doesn't get better than this:
Snow White and the Seven Clever Boys
It is 100% real-time. All cutscenes are real-time and this scene even varies between different versions.
The exact games I was going to and in that order.
Pyramid head
Banned
Silent Hill 3. GoW 2 looks nice, but it looks very much like a PS2 game. SH3 manages to look way better, technically and artisticly, than any of it's sequels did on much more powerful hardware, including the 'HD remaster' of itself.
My initial thought was God of War 2, but Transformers Armada: Prelude to Energon is worth mentioning, too.
Yep. Transformers looks pretty spectacular for a PS2 game considering what it's trying to do. Huge outdoor environments with rich foliage and a distance LoD that looks more or less on par with what you'd expect from a 360 title. The specular sheen on the character models is a pretty nice effect too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC0_ylWrOB8
MatrixMan.EXE
Member
Okami , God of War II or Final Fantasy XII