Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Big surprise, folks! Well, actually it might be. There were a lot of pretty games this year. If only for their art style. Downloadable games like Flower and Lost Winds: Winter of the Melodias look great even if they don’t have the same complex graphical power behind them compared to games like Assassin’s Creed II or Modern Warfare 2. But nothing took everybody’s collective breath away as much as Uncharted 2 this year. The game is an absolute delight to look at. Naughty Dog was able to cram as much beauty into their gem of a sequel as they did action.
The best part, though, is that Uncharted 2 isn’t just a great looking game, it also looks great in an impressive number of locales. From the familiar jungle, to icy mountains, and a cursed paradise, Nathan Drake takes you to new gorgeous locations all the time to make sure you haven’t seen it all. Couple all that with solid animation, fluid cutscenes, and a practically nonstop framerate, the visuals in Uncharted 2 draw you into the experience and never let you back out. An easy win for this category in my books.
Runner Up: Flower
Tags: Best Visual Experience, Ethos' Picks 2009, Uncharted 2
Can I suggest that next year you split this category into two categories; Best Graphics (technical) and Best Graphics (art style)? Both you and Oliver list the technically superb Uncharted 2 as winner of this category, but both of your runners up consist of games that are more artistically impressive than technically impressive, making the comparisson apples and oranges …
I finally got a copy of Uncharted 2 a few days ago (for free, no less :D). Can’t wait to break it out and give it a shot, especially considering how good Uncharted 1 looked. I expect U2 to be 2 years better, both graphically and in terms of gameplay.
@SN – I’d call that coincidental. Flower got second place purely because Uncharted had more variety. I’d be more than willing to place a stylistic game above a technically proficient game. I’d say that Shadow of the Colossus is STILL one of the most visually appealing experiences in gaming and it wasn’t a visual technical marvel even when it came out.
The comparison isn’t apples and oranges but rather who made the best apple and orange pie.*
*This only works if you pretend that apple and orange pie would taste good.
Well obviously you should do whatever you like, I just thought it would make it easier to draw a distinction between games if they were judged on the same basis.
For sure. I just prefer to have the entire visual experience be a single package. Best of both worlds. But there’s a lot of time to mull it over before the 2010 awards!