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The most technically-advanced game for each year

rashbeep

Banned
Before you stop and say "such and such game deserves year XXXX" maybe actually list the reasons that game is more TECHNICALLY advanced?

There are far too many "this is the best looking console game of year X so it should win!" But I don't think this is about the best looking games, but rather the most technically advanced. That's why Crysis was chosen for every year it was released. CryEngine is just that damn good.

And also, there's a pretty clear reason why PC games are being chosen. It's not bias. You have to make too many technical compromises to get games playable on console hardware. That's why you might think GTAV is a great achievement for PS3 hardware, but if it came out on PC in the same year, it wouldn't seem like a technical achievement at all. The improvements on the PC version won't make it a contender for 2015 either.



An Unreal Engine 3 game over Metro? What in the actual fuck? Metro was insane. It still is insane.

I think he meant God of War, but your point still stands.
 

FLAguy954

Junior Member
I always thought Crysis 2 had perfectly fine animation
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I might have to run through Crysis 2 again with Maldo's textures, so fucking impressive (plus I got it for free on here from a Gaffer).
 

Synth

Member
characters were traditionally animated instead of being sprite based or 3D cgi, so low frame-rate is tolerable.

but in 1995 there were no alternatives.

There was no similar fighter with traditionally animated characters, except Vampire Savior 2 years later, but in lower res. Skullgirls would arrive 15 years later to bridge that gap with full framerate and in HD.

Alright... you realise you're arguing this over this?

Seriously?

Sega Rally not only looked better than other games at the time, but introduced different surfaces affecting the cars handling. It's a very easy win for that year.
 
Pretty solid list OP. The PC really is where graphics technologies are being created, so the list is easily justified.

I will say that Driveclub probably deserves a contending recommendation given it's implementation of G.I and it's weather system that I still don't even see PC games aspiring to just yet.

And it's not to necessarily discredit games like GOW3, given than Sony Santa Monica made the breakthroughs necessary to get MLAA running ridiculously well on the Cell architecture, and instantly pushed GOW3 to mind blowing status for many. That CG look, triple buffered smoothness, and well implemented per object motion blur blew me away.

But anyone trying to just arbitrarily lump console games into the equation will have an uphill batt accomplishments made on a console are there to capitalize on so little, where as on PC it's to explore what's possible. So they're already approaching the technology from different mind sets. I don't think anyone's arguing that console developers aren't talented. They just don't necessarily belong in this thread.
 
Great list.
Only thing I really disagree with is Arma 2. Should have been KZ or UC2.
I also think GOW3 looks better than anything else released that year but I don't know how it stacks up on just a technical front.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I think MGS2 deserves a shoutout for 2001.

It had real time light shadows, water effects on the camera lens, steam that bursted out of pipes when shot, FUNCTIONING MIRRORS, guards that reacted with different animations dependong on where they were shot, pretty good AI, and slippery bird poop.

Does anyone else agree? Great thread btw op the 1970s stuff is fascinating.

edit: oh and mgs2 ran at a rock hard 60fps with few exceptions
 
Lol, whatever you say. Many on this board know who you are and that you're known for defending this franchise to hell and back. Hell, you just blatantly lied about how well the game runs. So you keep on making embarrassing excuses.

And please, how long I played it for means nothing. Whether I've watched it being played for 2 hours, or watched 10 seconds of the video I just posted, either way I objectively see how poorly the game runs. No amount of first-hand experience can change that. Unless you're suggesting that the games performance gets better the more you play?

That is a quite incredible accusation considering you do exactly the same with Driveclub.

Something about glass houses and throwing stones...
 

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
I disagree with 1999 and 2000.

I would put Shenmue over Outcast and Dead or Alive 2 over Giants: Citizen Kabuto.

Totally agreed here, though I'm not familiar with Outcast, the graphics look like an N64 title (those blurry textures) and the animation is laughable. Shenmue was in a league of its own that year, IMO.
 
Glad others are pointing out the omission of Elite (1984) and Frontier: Elite II (1993). Those were crazy games back then and the tech that made that possible is still crazy today. It was funny seeing people think planet travel shown in No Man's Sky trailers was a bunch of hot air when we had this in 1993: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt29cTOWgzI
 

DevilFox

Member
The list isn't bad but there are some titles that deserve a place AT LEAST in the contender section, like the mentioned Driveclub for 2014 or God of War 3 and Killzone 2 that were crazy in their year of release, even more if we take into account the hardware. Damn, Kratos's head was more rounded than 47's in Hitman Absolution lol!
 

Shion

Member
I agree with almost everything in the OP.

These would be my only changes:
1997: Harley Davidson & LA Riders -> Virtua Striker 2 / Time Crisis 2
1999: Outcast -> Shenmue
2000: Giants: Citizen Kabuto -> Dead or Alive 2
2001: Return to Castle Wolfenstein -> Rogue Leader
2005: FEAR -> Project Gotham Racing 3
 

SystemUser

Member
Street Fighter 2 for the SNES falls into Virtua Racing's year.

Seriously?


Yeah, Street Fighter 2 on the SNES is fun but how could it be the most technologically advanced game of that year when it wasn't even the most technologically advance Street Fighter 2 game that year?
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Nice work.

Though I must say, System Shock was doing more than enough in 1994, to deserve a spot on this list.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Great OP but Mario 64 should be the entry for 1996 and GoW3 was a beast in 2010.

Uncharted and Killzone should absolutely be contenders for 2009 as well.
 

benzy

Member
FPS impacts how impressive the appearance of your game is. If Driveclub were 60fps, they would have to drop a lot of what makes it so visually impressive.

Be right back, going to go take pictures of a realistic scene from Unreal 4. It might run at 1fps or so in-game, but so what.

If you want to play the "if" game, if DC was on PC you could no doubt get the same visuals at 60fps with even better image quality provided you have the hardware. Just because a game is on a closed platform limitation doesn't make it unimpressive. DC is also locked at 30fps with no drops, so the game has to be running somewhere above 30fps anyway.

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Original Gears of War was on PC.

The Gears of War mentioned in the OP is on 360. By the next year when the PC version released it was destroyed by Crysis.
 

Synth

Member
I guess OP doesn't like Nintendo nor Sony lol..

What year's do you think he's overlooked them for?

I can kinda see 2014 with Driveclub (even if I don't agree personally)... but I'd love to hear what year you think Nintendo should have won.
 

Sölf

Member
Out of interest, because I have absolutley no idea about technical stuff, what about MMOs for this list because of their technical stuff (would be more true for the older ones). Would they hold any form of candle against the competition? And if not, why not exactly?
 

ItsTheNew

I believe any game made before 1997 is "essentially cave man art."
No infamous second son for 2013? Game was a looker and had excellent AA And particle effects.

Edit: Ah damn I meant 2014!
 

DevilFox

Member
Does Hitman absolution Agent 47 bald head have tessellation? That would be weird if it managed to be rounder.

On PC I'm sure it does and 47's head is as rounded as Kratos' BUT the first uses raw power and a has quite a heavy impact on performance, the second uses MLAA that gives great results while asking for less resources. In my opinion we should give more credits to these methods rather than throwing the most resource-demanding games in the list.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
No infamous second son for 2013? Game was a looker and had excellent AA And particle effects.

It came out in 2014, though I personally would place it above Unity as I can't separate Unity from it's myriad of technical problems. Yes it was stunning but it ran at the same framerate as a PowerPoint Presentation
 
No infamous second son for 2013? Game was a looker and had excellent AA And particle effects.

Infamous Second Son was 2014. And even in 2013 it would have been topped by Killzone: Shadowfall

It came out in 2014, though I personally would place it above Unity as I can't separate Unity from it's myriad of technical problems. Yes it was stunning but it ran at the same framerate as a PowerPoint Presentation

The game was poorly optimized for consoles but that doesn't completely invalidate the tech behind it. Unity has some of the most impressive technical features and visuals seen this generation so far, so while it runs like dogshit on PS4 and XB1, it is indeed extremely impressive on a high end PC.
 
No infamous second son for 2013? Game was a looker and had excellent AA And particle effects.

I think most of the stuff on PS4 and above will probably be non contenders. The hardware just isn't very capable in comparison. If a company really pushes technology in a certain direction, (which I personally feel Driveclub accomplished), I could see it, but sheer image quality and framerate? Nah. PS4 is drastically under powered compared to modern PC's.

Now PS3 and 360 were a different story, when they first dropped, they had arguably more power than a typical good pc.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
No infamous second son for 2013? Game was a looker and had excellent AA And particle effects.
That's pretty much all it seemed to have besides the PBR and reflective streets, the world didn't feel very alive at all. Was very disappointed.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Infamous Second Son was 2014. And even in 2013 it would have been topped by Killzone: Shadowfall



The game was poorly optimized for consoles but that doesn't completely invalidate the tech behind it. Unity has some of the most impressive technical features and visuals seen this generation so far, so while it runs like dogshit on PS4 and XB1, it is indeed extremely impressive on a high end PC.

Be that as it may, I played the game on a console that was a year old and should have been more than capable of playing a stable version of the game with it's graphical features more or less present. That makes the game in general technically unimpressive to me.
 

DevilFox

Member
The game was poorly optimized for consoles but that doesn't completely invalidate the tech behind it. Unity has some of the most impressive technical features and visuals seen this generation so far, so while it runs like dogshit on PS4 and XB1, it is indeed extremely impressive on a high end PC.

While true, performance should not be ignored (not bugs, performance issues due to bad coding and stuff), otherwise I'd say that even more games are missing from the list, starting with the mess that was Gran Turismo 5 in 2010.
 
Be that as it may, I played the game on a console that was a year old and should have been more than capable of playing a stable version of the game with it's graphical features more or less present. That makes the game in general technically unimpressive to me.

See but this isn't a thread about most technically impressive on fixed hardware. If the PC is part of this equation then all gloves are off lol.
 

Shadoken

Member
I think most of the stuff on PS4 and above will probably be non contenders. The hardware just isn't very capable in comparison. If a company really pushes technology in a certain direction, (which I personally feel Driveclub accomplished), I could see it, but sheer image quality and framerate? Nah. PS4 is drastically under powered compared to modern PC's.

Now PS3 and 360 were a different story, when they first dropped, they had arguably more power than a typical good pc.

This ... Early PS2-gen and early Ps3/360 gen were the only real time consoles could challenge PCs.
 

derExperte

Member
Very interesting selection and contenders, well done.

A remark on 1993, though: while there is no doubt on the technical significance of Daytona, Ridge Racer and Virtua Fighter, Doom should have been at least a contender. There was also Strike Commander on PC, by the way.

Yep, a list like this just doesn't work without at least mentioning Doom for '93, it was one of the biggest jumps ahead ever. And +1 for Strike Commander, crazy good looking.

I would also add Wing Commander '90 and Comanche '92.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
See but this isn't a thread about most technically impressive on fixed hardware. If the PC is part of this equation then all gloves are off lol.

I know the OP mentioned something along these lines, but I still think these 'rules' should be a but more open to interpretation.
 
Be that as it may, I played the game on a console that was a year old and should have been more than capable of playing a stable version of the game with it's graphical features more or less present. That makes the game in general technically unimpressive to me.

While true, performance should not be ignored (not bugs, performance issues due to bad coding and stuff), otherwise I'd say that even more games are missing from the list, starting with the mess that was Gran Turismo 5 in 2010.

I guess, maybe I misunderstood the thread then.

There should be a clarification if we're simply talking about what games contain the most impressive technical features and systems, irregardless of performance, or if we're looking for the most "well rounded" games, ones that have quite a bit going on but also run solidly across all systems.

There's a whole lot of variables here though so I don't know if it's possible to come to a consensus. What platforms do we take into consideration? What's acceptable performance? How do we decide which game is more "technically advanced" when you have one that APPEARS better visually but runs like ass, vs one that maybe is less complex but is a smooth 60 fps.

I don't think we'll ever get agreement.
 
So from the OP, it seems this is "what were the prettiest/best looking games" list rather than "what were the most technically advanced(as in work done under the hood) games" list.
 
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