Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Best Technical Achievement games ever

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Best Technical Achievement games ever

    This is for the games that raised the bar of gaming in terms of what it showed and how much your jaw dropped when you saw these games. Explain why you thought these games were so much better then anything else and how much your jaw dropped when you saw them. It's a personal thing, some games looked fantastic but are fairly weak when it comes to gameplay but if it pushed the limits further then anything else before it then don't be afraided to list it.

    Anyway my Top Five...

    1 - Daytona USA - Sega - Arcade (Jaw drop rating : On the floor)

    It wasn't the first textured racing game (that went to Ridge Racer) but it probably was the best executed arcade racing game even to this day. The graphics were stunning, large textured mapped graphics, 40 textured mapped cars (note to developers : When doing a racing game remember to add lots of cars...), it moved sublimely even down to the polygon trees. The music was amazing (hey I love Blue Skies) and the handling and racing was first class. I spent over ?100 on one day on this in multiplayer mode in the trocadero when they have 8 machines linked up. It was gaming heaven.

    2 - Drivers Eyes - Namco - Arcade (Jaw drop rating : Wooooh!)

    Nowdays it looks a bit rubbish but a three screen 3D Racing game back in the early 90s was amazing compared to all the sprite based racers out there. Although it chugged along it was the closest thing you could get to racing in a real F1 car. During the following years there was a ding dong battle of F1 Racing games between Sega and Namco before F1 games became Passe and they went into street car racing... Anyway blast from the past, I remember it well, I just wish I could play it again.

    3 - Virtua Fighter 3 - Sega - Arcade (Jaw drop rating : Oh baby)

    I remember seeing the Aoi dance demostration and the Dural demo and thinking that realistic gaming is nearly here, sadly we are still waiting but Dead or Alive 3 and VF4 shows it's nearly here but not on this generation of consoles. I hope that VF5 comes out and blows gaming out of the water again (just like VF1, VF2, VF3 all did... VF4 is a great game but it didn't really set the world alight with it's technically abilities of the PS2 or Naomi boards..)

    4 - Urusei Yatsura - Game Arts - Mega CD (Jaw drop rating : Oh wow, this is the best anime game ever (still think that today...))

    When people think of the Mega CD people think of crappy FMV, crappy games with CD sound tracks and fairly poor games generally. This game (along with games like Popfulmail, Silpheed, Shadowrun, Lunar - Silver Star Story, Yumimimix and others) showed how the Mega CD could be used to great effect. It was a point and click like adventure game where you pressed a button to change what you wanted to do, pick up, talk, etc and you clicked an area or person you wanted to interact with. This game impressed me as one it had a serious amount of full screen (thats full screen) anime (thats drawn japanese animation, none of this grainy FMV here), there is just under an hours worth. Every character speaks with not a spot of text anywhere outside the menu screen and there are several easter eggs (including three playable games hidden within). Even if you don't speak a word of Japanese you couldn't fail to be impressed with this game, it really made the PC Engine CD-ROM look like a cheapy add on...

    5 - Ridge Racer - Namco - Playstation (Jaw dropping rating : Wow, how they do that).

    CEX, late 1994, Playstation in and it was this or VF on the Saturn. This won and people spent vast sums of money buying a Playstation (just under ?1000 or all their collection plus lots of money) and this (?100 or around 10 PC Engine games...). It shifted the goalposts of home gaming and brought arcade perfect gaming closer to home, it looked amazing, played amazing and amazingly loaded completely into the PSX memory...

    There are several games like Knightlore, Ant Attack, 3D Monster Maze, Space Harrier, Out-Run that just miss the cut but I had to choose just 5...

    So what are your top five.

    #2
    Probably the most jaw dropping experience I had was with Doom. I downloaded a copy using my work's 'amazing' 9600 bps modem and installed it on the local 386 50mhz, thinking 'it'll never work'.

    But by bugger it did and it absolutely flew. A few of us stayed behind to play it. We finally shuffled off home 2.00pm (on a Monday night).

    A couple of months later, work bought a 486 66DX and we never looked back. Although Carmacks engines would become much more complex, the original Doom engine was a work of complete genius. The fact that he blatantly refused to patent the code is another feather in his cap.

    I'll think of another four later.

    Comment


      #3
      Wave Race: I recently mentioned this is another thread, and the gorgeous water effects have yet to be equalled. Yeah, they might have looked more organic, but the whole feeling of real, moving water hasn't been beat yet.

      Comment


        #4
        1. Ridge Racer (PlayStation) - made me realise that arcades would shortly become obsolete. The most technically impressive launch title of all time.
        2. Virtua Fighter (Arcade) - I was going to go for Virtua Racing, but there had been pseudo-3D racers for some time before it. VF, on the other hand, entered a market dominated by SFII and Mortal Kombat, and looked like it came from another world.
        3. Doom (PC) - I can't leave it out. The graphics/speed have been mentioned elsewhere, so I'll mention the sound instead - absolutely terrifying, especially with headphones on.
        4. Donkey Kong Country (SNES) - remember, this almost single-handedly prolonged the SNES' lifespan by two years. It looked absolutely amazing when it came out.
        5. Xenon II (Amiga) - mainly for the 'Bomb the Bass' sountrack, which was superb.

        But then this list could be subject to massive changes if I thought about it some more

        Comment


          #5
          I'm just going to go with the most recent one:

          Burnout 3 on PS2 - there is no way in Hell that's running on a PS2, not a ****ing chance. When you see it, you'll know what I mean, it's a technically incredible achievement.

          Comment


            #6
            Donkey Kong Country - didnt know tha Snes had such a colourful palette. And impressive sound chip.

            Biohazard remake - again graphical achivement.

            VF 2 cos it made 3d fighter look possible and impressive. The model 1 arcade board of the original was pap!!

            Chrono trigger - Made me believe RPG's were fun. Also its was very refined in my opinion

            112
            Last edited by 112; 07-07-2004, 15:38.

            Comment


              #7
              Perfect Dark has single-handedly kept my N64 in it's same spot under my biggest TV since almost getting teh boot in early 2000 - long may it remain.

              From a technical view I was initially let down by PD, although things started to shine after around 40hrs of gametime - I don't think things would improve that much if you had it on a DC, apart from the framerate of course.

              Conkers Bad Fur Day is also a fantastic example, it may slow down a bit but some of the effects are jaw-dropping, especially when you take into consideration that it didn't use the expansion pak.

              Comment


                #8
                Gran Turismo - Japanese version

                The best racing simulator created, yes indeed at the time - awesome graphics, a breakthrough for PS1 tech, most realistic physics ever just pure racing/gaming heaven - must of played at least 8hrs a day solid for months until it was completed

                Loaded it up again a fwks back, it still is darn impressive, car detail/ simulated reflection, suspension, physics etc - was totally draw dropping back then and still is - oh and it had the best racing soundtracks ever for a racer, perfect racing tunes with some jazz fusions - which prompted me to buy the OST for it, hehe its great racing in PGR 2 with them tunes!

                Comment


                  #9
                  And the nominess are...

                  Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)
                  Even though this game was 4 years and two hardware generations old when I first experienced it in 2002, RS still made me gasp with it's amazingly complex graphics, bravado soundtrack & unforgettable boss battles. The fact that it was running on a humble Saturn made it's technical achievements all the more spectacular.

                  Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation)
                  Again, I'm picking this because of how well the hardware was used. Like Radiant Silvergun, this is a game that uses the hardware's ability to the absolute max. The detailed graphics were probably the best thing around on any format at the time of it's release, and just about every trick the PS is capable of is probably in the game. It's very hard to fault on a techical level, and some of the touches like Psycho Mantis reading your memory cards was legendary. The use of the (still quite new and underused at the time) DualShock's vibration function was also superb.

                  Sega Rally (Saturn)
                  Arcade SRC is probably the game that kick-started the trend of having real life officially-licensed cars in driving games, and is another that I find hard to criticise, even today. When you considering the difference in power and architecture between the coin-op and Saturn hardware, the conversion was amazing. Not only did it look remarkably similar to the arcade game, but it also captured the gameplay feel beautifully despite having digital controls and no force feedback. The extra content in the SS game was also outstanding.

                  Super Mario 64 (Nintendo64)
                  There had been many 3D games before this, but none had used 3D graphics as well as SM64 did. That, coupled with the seamless use of analogue control made for a genuine gameplay breakthrough where you now actually had to play in 3 dimensions. SM64 also looked truly spectacular. It was far and away the best looking game around at the time of it's release, and the special effects like the mirror reflections, ripples, flames and metallic effects were just the icing on the cake. Probably the best videogame in the World.

                  Hard Drivin' (Arcade)
                  It's probably rubbish now, but I used to love this coin-op. It's strive for realism is what made it unique. The screen was huge and positioned quite far away to simulate a real driving position well, and the angular VR-style graphics were a hoot. The physics and force feedback were also convincing, plus having to use the clutch and turn a key to start was just class.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Shadow of the Beast.
                    It was and to it's credit, still is gobsmackingly beautiful with some great music too and crazy levels of parallax scrolling.

                    Doom was pretty fantastic when it first came out too.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Shadow of the Beast.
                      It was and to it's credit, still is gobsmackingly beautiful with some great music too and crazy levels of parallax scrolling.
                      Can anyone remember the story that came in the instruction manual for that game? After reading that, and then starting to play the game, it felt incredibly atmospheric. Watching the sun set as you walked left for miles to get to that really scary cave...

                      Comment


                        #12
                        - Gunstar Heroes, Ridge Racer (arcade), Space Harrier (arcade), Radiant Silvegun, Soul Calibur, Shadow of the Beast...

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Thats six... and reasons? (Well for Gunstar Heroes and Soul Caliber as the others have been done...)

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Gunstar Heroes - for all its mode 7-like effects (see the seven forces and the bosses at levels 3 and 6), its pace and the number of sprites that are sometimes displayed on a single screen. Seems to me it's an obvious technichal achievement

                            Soul Calibur - I forgot to mention I was thinking of the DC version. 5 or 6 years after its release it's still as impressive in the graphic department. What more could you expect from the new gen versions by comparison ?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Here's a nice combination from when I was a kid and working in a games shop whilst in uni - and in no particular order

                              Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
                              I just couldnt get my head around just how Rare managed to pull this off. The graphics were unlike anything I had seen up to that point on the SNES and the game itself was stellar stuff. The new image of DK was a massive step and it has obviously paid off rather well seeing as though it is still being used til today

                              Killer Instinct (SNES)
                              Pretty much had the same affect on me as DKC, but my first ever impression of the game was when I saw it on Bad Influence on ITV - they had a small preview of the Arcade version at the end of the show during the credits, I still bloody remember everything about it! The combo system was heavily emphasised throughout the game and it worked a treat

                              Super Mario 64
                              Got the HK version on day one and my brother and I was just lost for words. We just sat there running around the castle grounds - looking, up, down, left, right, jumping everywhere, in awe of the controller and the responses it was creating from my fat Italian friend. Unbelievable stuff and I'll go as far as saying the greatest launch title of all-time.

                              Soul Calibur (DC)
                              I was working for a major importer during the DC era and remember the day we got this in. We had various DC test areas and tended to just give everything a wee go on the Jap machine hooked upto the 22" flat screen Diamondtron monitor we had. To this day I dont think I've ever seen such clean/crisp graphics, absolutely jaw dropping stuff, even by todays standards. I remember when CEX Retro was running it on VGA when SC2 was released and most of the people coming in genuinely thinking it was the sequel! If this were a launch title I firmly believe the DC would have had a much different story to tell today.

                              and for the fifth title....er, I'll be cheeky and say take your pick from Shenmue, Ridge Racer, Daytona and Ocarina of Time.
                              Last edited by turq; 15-07-2004, 16:04.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X