The original God of War was an amazing looking game when it first hit in 2004, so imagine just how much better the sequel is when we say it makes the debut look… well, like a debut. To this day, most would consider God of War II to be among an extremely small number of games that could vie for best looking game on a system that regularly cranked out visuals some felt it never could. It absolutely trounces most other efforts in terms of scale, in visual polish and texture detail, and even more amazingly it runs fantastically despite all the whiz-bang visuals being pumped out by the PS2. Easily one of the most impressive accomplishments on a system rife with them.
Arguably, though, what makes God of War II work even better than its predecessor already chosen for the original version of this list is the sense of scale. The first time you stumble upon the Steeds of Time, it’s a truly jaw-dropping sight… and then you realize they arethe level. Be impressed. Be very impressed.
Though Square proved they had the development chops to knock out a killer RPG (we did, after all, give Final Fantasy X love in our original roundup), it wasn’t until they’d dabbled in a massively multiplayer online version of things that the scale and scope really got blown out. Final Fantasy XII does epic like few games on the PS2, offering a massive world that is new and diverse, but has multiple callbacks to the Ivalice found in Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story — even going so far as to link the games if you read deeply enough into the lore. Great characters, a lengthy story and a battle system… well, fortunately we’re commending the visuals here rather than the more arguable parts of the game.
Complaints about the gambits aside, the game’s ability to deliver a world that was one part Star Wars (oh, c’mon, the influence was pretty undeniable) and plenty more parts classic Square JRPG goodness, and it made for a mix that really did redefine the idea of a complete world to explore. Oh, and it did a pretty great job of looking great while it did it.
We’re starting to sense something of a pattern here, and we’re guessing we’re not the only ones. For a system that was deemed to be the least powerful of the three on the market at the close of the last generation, the PS2 sure seemed to have the whole idea of scale down pat. With its lonely, blown-out look and crumbling ruins, there was no doubt that ICO would be on our list years ago, but the sequel takes that same aesthetic and expands upon it by filling a bigger, more open world with absolutely towering beasts that are literal level-sized boss fights. The visual splendor that Team ICO has created with their second game is nothing short of jaw dropping even all these years later in the era of HDTVs. That’s one hell of an accomplishment.
At the risk of undermining the whole focus of this showcase, though, we really have to give credit to Shadow of the Colossus’ complete re-imagining of the idea of levels. Using a unique and ever-changing cast of colossi, the bosses became the “stages” (for lack of a better word), and no game before or since has really been able to match that sense of wonder, exploration and discovery.
Sony Europe’s Cambridge Studio is many things; workhorse for third party assistance in special situations, the go-to home for quirky, offbeat characters in games like Primal and MediEvil, and one of the most talented R&D departments in Sony’s arsenal. The level of tech know-how has benefitted plenty of Sony’s games, but it really came to a head on the PS2 with the release of the moody, intensely atmospheric and absolutely gorgeous Ghosthunter. Though the game itself had some issues, a lack of visual pop certainly wasn’t one of them, with some seriously impressive lighting effects and texture work that made the most of the hardware it was running on. Still to this day one of the most disarmingly pretty technical showstoppers on the diminutive black brick.
Released here in the States without the support of Sony (instead,Namco picked up the publishing tab), Ghosthunter was oddly ignored by the home base despite being damned purdy. If you can find a copy of the game, fire it up and check out the lighting in swampy area seen below. Then remember it’s running on hardware that’s now 10 years old.
Many (rightly) complain about the death of 2D graphics. Even before we moved to HD resolutions, game creators were lamenting the time and effort needed to crank out hand-drawn visuals that would satisfy the polygon- and texture-hungry masses in the same way it used to back during the 8- and 16-bit eras. Thankfully, not everyone had given up on realizing that sprites could still look incredible, as the multi-jointed ones in Vanillaware’s Norse-themed action RPG proved.
Almost ridiculously lush and teeming with movement, Odin Sphere’s world was a living, breathing painting come to life with massive boss fights and rich, detailed locales. If you’ve ever wondered what the future of 2D graphics will look like, just use this game as your jumping off point. The amount of love and effort poured into the visuals alone make this an extremely tantalizing game.
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