What games have your favorite graphics/art-design?

[pelham123]

Visuals play a large part of why I love games. Especially if the art style stands out from the crowd. I love when the art dept. goes out of their way to create little details. Some examples...

Tales of Phantasia (SNES version) Love the backgrounds and SD character sprites of the original.









Seiken Densetsu 3 - I just finished this during the week, stunning graphics, so much animation.









Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo - Best sprite work of any Castlevania I reckon, my favourite of the series.







Front Mission (SNES version) I love the Amano portraits especially, but the whole game has this gritty, cyberpunk feel to it. I missed that in the sequels.











Yoshi's Island - This one still makes my jaw drop.







Guess I better put in some 3-D.

Jet Set Radio - Definitely my favourite stage. Made all the better when Supa Brutha comes on.



Honorable mentions. Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, Abe's Odyssey on the PSX, REZ, even Half-Life 2 goes the extra mile, the environments are amazingly textured and very much their own. Oh yeah, and this:

[c0r33]

I cant believe no one has mentioned these guys yet



I've loved every game they have put out so far. I think they have done a great job on all of them. the best part is you can take one look at any of there games and say "this is made by the guys who did alien hominid or castle crashers". They have done such a great job distinguishing them selves from everyone else.

[t0yrobo]

Rez HD: just look at it.


Pac-Man: Championship Edition: Classic Pixel in HD is a pure beauty in my eyes.

Yes. Great examples for what I want to say too. Rez brought the whole retro blown out vector look into mainstream cool territory (even though it took awhile), and imo PacMan CE is the best game to use that style. It's fits the game perfectly, and the extra little effects look great. Now I gotta think for a bit to come up with games that haven't been posted yet .

[Weekend_Warrior]

Gears of War

[DerekG52]

Off top of my head, Crysis and Borderlands.

[sevin0seven]

here some more of my favorite ones:

Chrono Trigger: One of the most beautiful 16-bit graphics put together. (Also one of the best RPG ever of course).






Final Fantasy 6 (aka 3 in US): Same as above of what can be said about it.






Super Metroid: 24 megs of Pure goodness.


Sonic 2 (bonus round): The first time i saw this... (for a kid).


Super Mario World (Bowser showdown): Still awesome fighting Bowser at the end of this level when he flies through the screen. 16 bit at it's best.


TMNT: Turtles in time (Boss fight):

[CRTGAMER]

You know I would mention this one. Art and a very decent game.
Along with Shadow of the Colossus, earlier game by same developer, ICO.

Some ICO links at my review of this great game.
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 75#p226475

Time to play later, so much scenery to enjoy.

[CRTGAMER]

In a different perspective, I consider Dreamcast game Flogian Bros Art. In a sense, the voice characterization.
Capturing mood of a bygone era of slapstick Bugs Bunny or Abbot and Costello with snappy monolog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3s33AeU ... re=related

[Gamerforlife]

Some of mine have already been mentioned

Ico
Jet Grind Radio/Jet Set Radio Future
Shinobi(Hotsuma's long red scarf and just the badassness of the tate cutscenes)
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Okami
Castle Crashers
Final Fantasy 13(It's one of the most gorgeous games this gen)
Valkyria Chronicles
The Adventures of Batman and Robin(S-NES)
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Viva Pinata(Very unique style, the visual nuances of each pinata is very impressive)
Mega Man X series(always liked the anime, cyber punk look over that of the classic MM series)
Earthworm Jim series
Aladdin(Sega Genesis)
Marvel Super Heroes and all of the versus games(Capcom did an amazing job bringing this Marvel characters to life in video game form)
Darkstalkers(some of the best character designs ever)
Space Channel 5
Rez

Oh god, there's probably others I could think of given enough time

[(-_-)]

I just thought about some ps3 ones. I really like Valkyria Chronicles as well as Uncharted and Killzone. The watercolour painting effect over Valkyria, and Uncharted 2 was just gorgeous. Everything had so much colour and an intense variety. Killzone 2 just looked amazing. The lighting affects were great and everything looked appropriately dirty, grimy, and metallic. The upcoming 3d dot game heros is fantastic as well. 3 dimensional pixel art graphics with modern graphical effects like blur and lens flares.