[Mefustae]

I'd say Doom3, easily...

HL2 was a great game with great graphics and a great engine, but take away the revolutionary physics, and you're left with a average sequel with default graphics that don't really set it apart from the pack...

Far Cry was also a great game with great graphics, but - as is mentioned several times - they went for a 'comic-y' look for their graphics, but it nonetheless looks quite nice...

Halo 2, well, i've never particularly like the Halo series, and i fail to see the point in pitting it against PC games where they clearly have the edge over an average console game...it could have been un-bloody-real had Microsoft not whored it on the XBox, but alas; until an incarnation on the PC bringing with it the bells and whistles to go along with it, Halo 2 shall remain in graphical mediocrity in my eyes...

And finally, Doom 3; she had all the grace, style, and scares a mindless shoot-'em-up should have, nothing more, nothing less. People may ***** about the repetitive game style leading to unneccisarily dark graphics, but the game is meant to be a mindless repedetive shooter, akin to the great Dooms of old...indeed, a great step forward in graphical cosmetics. If you could get the physics/water-effects/bloom of HL2 with the cosmetic look of D3, and the story of...well...a good story; which seems to be a hard ask in todays world of Sequels, remakes, and cliched premises, you'd have yourself one *****in' game...

[redsniper]

I think they each manage to do one thing just right and the rest is just decent. Far Cry has the best vegetation, HL2 has the best water and shaders, and Doom 3 has the best shadows, even if there are too many of them.

[WeatherOp]

The only one I have played is Halo 2, and it bores me just like the first one. Graphics are nothin wonderful ether, with some bad texturing.

[Jetmech Jr.]

Doom 3.

[CP5670]

I think they each manage to do one thing just right and the rest is just decent. Far Cry has the best vegetation, HL2 has the best water and shaders, and Doom 3 has the best shadows, even if there are too many of them.

I thought Far Cry had great indoor areas too and was quite comparable to Doom 3 in that respect. The geometry was less detailed but it used significantly higher resolution textures than D3.

HL2 was a strange game in terms of its graphics. The character models/animations and water effects are very impressive and easily the best of any game out there, but everything else looks quite outdated, with little detail in the levels and hardly any lighting to speak of (which is even apparent in the left side of that screenshot). It's basically how games looked like a few years ago, except with next generation NPCs and water.

Anyway, SCCT is a bit superior to all of them, with the exception of the bug eyed Sam Fisher. They really screwed up his face in this game.

[Jetmech Jr.]

I thought the Doom 3 character faces were MUCH better than those in Half Life 2.

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by Turnsky
i dunno, i'd say Halo 2, because not only did it look pretty, but it had a cinematic feel to it, one that either HL2, D3 or Far Cry have failed to reproduce, that said, all of the others have their memorable moments, too.

note: the latter three games are either coming, or are on the Xbox, post screenies and see which ones survived the console porting

Wish granted.

Half-Life 2 (Xbox)

Best of all, no Steam!

Doom 3 (Xbox)

Mmmmm... Co-op...

Far Cry Instincts (Xbox)

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Deepblue


Wish granted.

Half-Life 2 (Xbox)

Best of all, no Steam!

That's not xbox; that's a beta shot of the PC version (from several years ago no less), they removed that enemy as it was quite **** to play against.  If gamespot have it in their HL2 xbox section, they must be fannying about with a lack of real media.

AFAIK the HL2 xbox version is pretty much the same as PC, but with reduced texture resolution.

[Fineus]

Originally posted by Jetmech Jr.
I thought the Doom 3 character faces were MUCH better than those in Half Life 2.

That rather depends.. Shortly after D3 was released someone released a mod to upgrade the detail on all the main charachters/enemies heads - the difference is quite noticable.

But are we taking mods into account here? I mean HL2 has no automatic HDR blooming enabled - but you can download a mod to get it running. Or should we take each game at stock value, as it was published?

As an aside, Doom 3 has by far the best lighting system of them all. As I recall it calculates everything on a per pixel basis - where other games use maps it acurately works out all the lights in real time.

At least I think that's what it does

[aldo_14]

Aye.  IIRC, Doom3 is so dark because it was too (computationally) expensive to calculate all the shadows from a uniform / many light source/s.   So they cut down the number of light source.

[Ransom]

I'm pretty sure it was just dark because it's a horror game. In the map editor there's a type of light you can use called ambient lights - they don't cast shadows. If you wanted a bright area, that's what you'd use.

[aldo_14]

That's sort of what i mean; ambient doesn't cast shadows because of the workload had it done so.  Of course, some of the darkness was atmospheric; but IMO some would also be necessitated.

[Fineus]

Sometimes it seemed to handle bright areas quite well.. Hell, Mars and the UAC complex when you first arrive (and everything is brightly lit and nothing has gone wrong yet) all look fine.

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by aldo_14


That's not xbox; that's a beta shot of the PC version (from several years ago no less), they removed that enemy as it was quite **** to play against.  If gamespot have it in their HL2 xbox section, they must be fannying about with a lack of real media.

AFAIK the HL2 xbox version is pretty much the same as PC, but with reduced texture resolution.

Hmmm, I can't seem to find screenshots of the Xbox version on the internet. I do remember seeing a screenshot in a mag a while back though.

On the other hand, Far Cry Instincts looks very nice.

[Carl]

I've played both Doom 3 and Half Life 2 on my PC both cranked up to full, and i gotta say, HL2 looks so much better than Doom 3 i can't believe people are even arguing about it.

[NGTM-1R]

D3 has its strengths...but the character models and such are just ****. I literally winced when I saw the PC's face.

HL2's environments are closer to photorealistic; Doom 3's are a little more cartoon-y, IMO.

[Unknown Target]

I'd have to say Doom 3. Half Life 2 was too bright and cartoony, while Halo 2...well, if it was on the computer with a higher res, I'd vote for it, but as is it's too low res for me. Doom 3 also has way better lighting and shadows

[Mongoose]

I haven't played any of these games, but I do know a game that would get my vote (besides FS2_Open, of course ):  Myst IV.  It may not compare technically to these games due to much of its scenery being prerendered, but I've never seen another game that's so photorealistic and stunningly beautiful.  I truly felt that I was walking through those Ages instead of clicking through them.

[aldo_14]

Pre-rendered doesn't count.

[Ransom]

Originally posted by Mongoose
I haven't played any of these games, but I do know a game that would get my vote (besides FS2_Open, of course ):  Myst IV.  It may not compare technically to these games due to much of its scenery being prerendered, but I've never seen another game that's so photorealistic and stunningly beautiful.  I truly felt that I was walking through those Ages instead of clicking through them.

Mm. It's a pity Myst 5 is going to be the last one.