The term “next gen” has been thrown around for years now, but every so often, a game comes around that truly defines it. This has been happening in every console era, but particularly from the mid-2000s onward, as that is when some serious graphical leaps started happening in the 3D world.
These are the games that had people caring little about the gameplay, and rather just marveling at what the on-screen product looked like.
We’re going to check out some graphical wonders that run on older consoles and hold up incredibly well.
10 The Last Of Us
The Beauty In The End Times
It’s wild to think about The Last of Us as a game from multiple generations ago, but yet, it was released in 2013, towards the end of the PS3’s lifespan. It set a standard on that console that truly gave us a preview of what the new generation would have in store in terms of graphic quality.
It was amazing, from being able to see every emotion in Joel and Ellie’s faces to the incredible character animations and sprawling scenery. It felt like playing through a movie, and it makes sense why this has become the most notable video game adaptation to a TV project ever. Even a decade-plus later, the fact that this ran on the PS3 is a staggering achievement that caused all other studios to rethink what could be done with a console, and it inspired countless games after it.
9 Assassin’s Creed
The First Of Its Name
Assassin’s Creed was an amazing-looking game when it came out in 2007, but it still is a hell of a looker today. The contained nature of the first game really let Ubisoft pump the graphics up to their max, and in 2007, there was no better-looking game out there.
Everything looked stunningly realistic, from the city to explore to the characters, and the overall visual style of the game was incredibly impressive to see. Today, the game is still a looker, as it was one of those games that people coined next-gen at a time when the PS3 was in its relative infancy. It set a standard for a series that would consistently wow with graphics throughout the years. The fact that it runs on a PS3 is really a technical marvel for the time, and it’s still gorgeous to look at and explore to this day.
8 Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
Fear The Light
The image above is of a title from the original Xbox. Not the Xbox 360, not the Xbox One, the very first. It was 2002, and graphics were only beginning to leap. Then, along came Splinter Cell, and it was honestly jaw-dropping. The lighting was absolutely incredible to witness, and how it affected gameplay was brilliant in a way that other stealth games at the time just plain weren’t capable of.
Seeing the game today, I still don’t think a title has a better lighting system than the original three Splinter Cell games. Hell, even the later games like Splinter Cell: Blacklist don’t look as good. I don’t know what they did to get this effect in 2002, but it still looks absolutely incredible today.
The character models also looked like real people, faces aside, and that wasn’t something easily done in that era either. The fact that this runs on one of the original “next-gen” systems is still one of gaming’s most memorable achievements.
7 Resident Evil 4
Horrifyingly Pretty
Resident Evil 4 was the shining achievement of the GameCube, and it was a hell of a graphical achievement for a system that really was not known for next-gen graphics. The fidelity was nuts, and the crispness of every character model in the game and how detailed the game world looked was simply a standard setter when it comes to the video game industry.
It was the first time a survival horror game really had graphics that could stand up next to big-budget games like Final Fantasy, and it really showed that now all genres should be put on notice. You could easily jump back into the original Resident Evil 4 these days and be wowed, from character animations to the lighting, and amazing enemy design that still feels as real and terrifying as it did back in 2005.
The Old Snake Looks New
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is an incredible-looking game. That image above is from the in-game engine, which stays the same through cutscenes and gameplay. It is unbelievable looking for a game that came out in 2008, and it looks as good as many games that come out today. For the PS3, Konami went crazy here and produced a game that could stand toe to toe with just about any game out there on a graphical scale.
Its art style is still apparent, and yet everything looks so realistic, sharp, and detailed. Though Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain would be an undeniably better-looking game, it somehow lacked the cinematic flair that made Metal Gear Solid 4 feel so truly next-gen. The only way to play the game these days is on PS3, and doing so would probably feel jarring if not for the incredible visual display you’re in for if you choose to do that.
Snake arguably never looked better than he did in his final chapter, bosses were over the top in their detail, and set pieces were never close to as visually exciting as they were here.
5 Max Payne 3
Shedding The Surreal For The Real
Opinions are mixed on Max Payne 3, but I think it’s one of the best third-person shooters ever made. When it comes to graphics, this game was breathtaking looking for a game in 2012. It was a preview of what Rockstar would eventually unleash with GTA V, and Max never looked better. His face told a story more than the words he was saying. There was something about the faces in this game that looked as good as anything that comes out today.
On top of that, I think the effects in this game are incredible. During firefights, sparks will fly, papers will get blown into the air from thrown grenades, and all kinds of explosions all bring this chaotic story to life. From the gritty streets of New York to the sun-soaked warzones you’ll find as Max tries to lie low in Brazil, this game is an amazing achievement for the PS3 and Xbox 360.
I challenge you to find a better-looking action game today. It’s a game you can fire up now and not even register that it was made in an era where the concept of VR was still thought of as something only possible far into the future.
4 Gears Of War
The New Age
Gears of War was a striking game when it was released in 2006. The gameplay was great, but visually, it ushered in a new era of gaming. Yes, the mid to late 2000s grey color palette might be present here, but other than that, it was and still is a stunning game to look at. It manages to look incredibly realistic while maintaining a unique art style as well, and that’s not something that’s easy to do.
If you fire up the original game today, there are plenty of moments where you could confuse it for a game that came out just a few years ago. It was years ahead of its time from a graphics and gameplay perspective, and even at the beginning of the Xbox 360’s lifespan, it was a title that still is looked at as one of the finest-looking titles of its generation.
3 Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner
Mech Anime On the PS2
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is one of those games that just yells in your face, “This is the future!” I remember playing it and thinking this is what all games would look like from 2003 on. Strangely, that was not really the case. This game for the PS2 absolutely blew away the competition. It didn’t get a ton of fanfare, but it was a great sequel to an underrated series, and it’s seriously one of the prettiest-looking games you can play.
Everything has this metallic luster to it that just jumps off the screen. It looks like a game that could’ve come out recently, and even the HD edition doesn’t do all that much, as the game was already that fantastic-looking in the first place.
2 Halo 4
Master Chief Like Never Before
Halo 4 is one of the best-looking first-person shooters of all time. In a genre that was dominated by Call of Duty at the time in terms of graphics, Halo 4 unleashed an absolute tour de force from a visual standpoint, adding an incredible level of quality to a game series brimming with it.
Master Chief’s armor just burst off the screen in cutscenes, and the game world was incredibly realistic-looking in a way that previous games in the series never really achieved. Weapons, armor, and especially enemies now had insane levels of detail that made fighting them more intimidating than ever before. I think Halo 4 had a better look to it than subsequent entries because it was still distinctly its own with its art style, and despite releasing in 2012, you can throw this game on today and be convinced it’s a title on current-gen consoles.
1 Grand Theft Auto 5
Cinema Comes To The Console
-
- Released
- September 17, 2013
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Engine
- Rockstar Advanced Game Engine
- Cross-Platform Play
- no
- Cross Save
- yes
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- PC Release Date
- April 14, 2015
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- March 15, 2022
- PS5 Release Date
- March 15, 2022
- How Long To Beat
- 32 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 84 GB (July 2023)
- Metascore
- 81
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Grand Theft Auto V has been relevant for over a decade now, but it came out at the tail end of the Xbox 360, PS3 Era. This is to say, we had a game out two console generations ago that still looks significantly better than the majority of the triple-A titles that are released today. That’s not even an exaggeration, as GTA V looked like a movie come to life, with incredible mocap performances, and visual fidelity that was far beyond its years.
There is just a sheen of “next-gen” over this game that I feel like you’ll be able to show to someone in 20 years and have them believe the game could’ve been a recent release. It pushed that console generation to its absolute max and delivered an all-time game in the process.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
