I Love Art

Being as intellectual as I am, I have long since realized that graphics do not make a game. Back in the C64-days, there were games that looked awesome, but at the same time sucked. There is no doubt, however, that nice-looking graphics are a great way to enhance a great experience. Neither is there any doubt, that good graphics necessarily have much to do with resolution of textures and amounts of normal-maps. Good graphics, I guess, are graphics that suit the feeling and mood of the game, and makes the player feel like a part of the adventure.

As everybody knows, the best realistic-style graphics, ever seen in a game, are those of Capcom's Resident Evil Zero for the GameCube. Of course, the comparison with RE0 to most other games is not fair, since RE0 uses pre-rendered backgrounds. Make no mistake, however - Resident Evil Zero is the best looking game of its type ever.

Since you are so horribly persistent on knowing what the prettiest not pre-rendered game of all time is, then you just need to add four to the title, and you'll end up with Resident Evil 4.
There's no need to fool yourself in this matter.

Resident Evil 4 has the most solid feel to its characters, like, ever. Also, the game includes numerous areas, especially in the castle, that made me say out loud: "This place looks neat", every time I entered a room.

"These games are not art", I can hear all the bad boys thinking. "Where is ICO? Where is Shadow of the Collossus? By the way, did you know that the plural of Colossus is 'Colossi'? I'm gonna use that word in all my sentences from now on". Well ain't that something! First of all, a game needs something called a frame rate to be considered a game - otherwise, like Shadow of the Coloussus, you are just a picture, not an actual game. Second, you need something called gameplay to be considered a game - otherwise, like ICO, you are just a picture, not an actual game.
"Fine, fine. RE0 and RE4 do look nice - but those games are in 3d. Everybody knows that real games don't need all those dimensions". I hear you, don't worry. The best looking game of all time is, of course, none other than Street Fighter III, goes without saying. With animations that make the player drop his jaw every time Ryu kicks someone in the face, you just can't go wrong. How will they ever improve on those graphics?

Still not satisfied? Very well, I do have one award left; the award for the best-looking game with funky graphics. You already know the answer - it is of course Nintendo's Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Just look at all those funky Dry Bones. Outstanding!

That's it. I'm sure the whole world can agree that these four games have the best graphics ever. If you wonder what happened to Vagrant Story, see the above reason for why ICO was disqualified.

^_^