Graphics do not define a project's overall quality, but they play a significant role in deciding whether a game endures the test of time. Strangely enough, a visually unappealing PlayStation 2 title might be harder to stomach than early NES releases. The switch from 2D to 3D remains the biggest leap the industry has ever experienced, and the seventh generation further upped the ante by introducing HD. While games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Forza Horizon 3 would never have been possible on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, the current generation did not coincide with an especially dramatic improvement in the presentation of AAA games. Obviously, the differences are still discernible, but it was a small step forward rather than an enthusiastic jump.
How many people completely avoided The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker due to its art style? Gameplay will always be king, but graphics should not be openly dismissed. Great visuals can save a mediocre game, while terrible ones can drag an otherwise decent experience into the trash bin. Even if the PlayStation 4's increase in quality was not too pronounced, a couple of PlayStation 3 blockbusters are laughable by today's standards. More importantly, the passage of time occasionally has nothing to do with ugly visuals; in some cases, they were lame right from the get-go.
Even as we approach the end of the eighth generation, there remains a handful of PlayStation 3 titles which are stunning. Here are 15 old PlayStation 3 games that still look amazing (and 15 fans forgot looked bad)!
30 Amazing: God Of War III
God of War is synonymous with gorgeous visuals, and there has yet to be an entry which fails to look the part. When it comes to first-party exclusives, Sony seldom drops the ball, and most of the PlayStation 3's line-up has aged quite well. Bringing Kratos' original trilogy to a close, God of War III takes players on a grim odyssey across Earth and Olympus. Due to being a completely linear experience, Santa Monica could focus on creating majestic levels rather than immersive maps.
29 Not: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Due to opting for a handheld visual style that has seldom been attempted by anyone else in the industry, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days deserves a pass for taking a risk. Sadly, the same cannot be said about its predecessor. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men earns points for ambition, but the graphics are nothing more than a poor man's Grand The Auto III, and Rockstar's release is hardly beyond reproach. If it were not for the unpredictable framerate, IO Interactive's shooter might have just avoided a mention, but Kane & Lynch: Dead Men frequently slows down to a crawl.
28 Amazing: Killzone 3
Sony never quite succeeded in squashing Halo, but graphics was the one area Killzone always came out on top. Killzone 3 has its fair share of problems, but Guerrilla Games squeezed every drop of power out of the PlayStation 3. Set in primarily volatile environments, Killzone 3 would have served perfectly as a tech demo for a new piece of hardware, but this was released during the console's last couple of years. While there were better-looking shooters on PC, Killzone 3 marked a turning point for home consoles. Suddenly, PlayStation games could go toe-to-toe with the master race.
27 Not: Terminator Salvation
Wait, does this dumpster fire of a licensed game have any fans? This is a safe space, so please feel free to unburden yourself of any dark and depressing secrets. Based on the worst movie in a franchise that includes Terminator Genisys, Terminator Salvation's video game exists solely to allow the source material to seem competent by comparison. Perhaps stretching to find something positive to say about this bland soulless shooter, critics mainly cited the visuals to be passable, but Terminator Salvation has only worsened with age.
26 Amazing: The Last Of Us
Naughty Dog ranks among the industry's top studios, so a certain degree of polish is always expected. The Last of Us served as the PlayStation 3's swan song, and the console went out in style! Admittedly, the remaster took away a bit of the original's shine, but 2013's survival-horror game was nothing short of a marvel. Sony's decision to go with cell processing made the PlayStation 3 a notoriously frustrating device for developers to work with; however, first-party studios knew exactly how to get the most out of the hardware.
25 Not: The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
Frequently defying expectations, Telltale Games deliver fantastic licensed games that even improve upon the source material. Be it the graphic novel, TV show, or video game series; The Walking Dead is a name that means something to a lot of people. Published during a period when AMC's zombie franchise was not consistently treading water, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct garnered near-universal disdain from critics. Every single part of the game received a thorough licking, but the graphics fared worse than most other features. Survival Instinct would have failed to impress in 2006, let alone 2013!
24 Amazing: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
As long as Ubisoft sell a functioning product, Assassin's Creed rarely fails to be a visual delight. Following the disappointing third entry, expectations were not particularly high for 2013's pirate-themed sequel. Despite earning a number for its title, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is closer to a spin-off than a typical mainline game in the series. Set in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy, Black Flag pushed Ubisoft's open-world games to the next level. The open sea is a blast to explore, while the graphics have not lost their edge.
23 Not: Hyperdimension Neptunia
Unless Square Enix is involved, JRPGs tend to be a console generation behind the norm. Often constructed on a limited budget, studios are left with little choice but to prioritize the design of the characters above the environments. The very definition of a niche product, Hyperdimension Neptunia boasts an endearing cast and a battle system with far more depth than first meets the eye. Even though the goddesses look fine, Nep-Nep and company's adventures boil down to trudging through the same low-texture areas across nearly the entire series!
22 Amazing: Gran Turismo 6
In recent years, racing fans have been spoiled for choice! Forza Motorsport 7, DiRT 4, and Need for Speed Payback all lay claim to being among the most visually stupefying games on the market. Up until the PlayStation 2, Gran Turismo was the racer to beat, but Polyphony Digital's franchise lost quite a bit of steam during the seventh generation. Shaking things up by opting for a more realistic art style, Gran Turismo 6 looks just as good as the sports car featured in its campaign. Nowadays, photo-realistic visuals are the standard, but this was actually quite a substantial departure for Sony's brand.
21 Not: Game Of Thrones
Atlus' RPG might be featured for this entry's photo, but think out of it as a stand-in for every adaptation based on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Telltale's Game of Thrones was also marred by technical glitches and flat textures, but the writing was marginally better than 2012's RPG. Merging HBO's franchise with Dragon Age's combat. Atlus' Game of Thrones wastes an adequate storyline on boring gameplay, stiff animation, and an absurdly cheap-looking interpretation of Westeros.
20 Amazing: Beyond: Two Souls
David Cage aspires to be a filmmaker. Simply trying any of his games should present a more than convincing enough argument, but Beyond: Two Souls even premiered at a film festival. An interactive drama starring Ellen Page as an alien clumsily mimicking Ellen Page's strange human behavior, Quantic Dream employed motion-capture technology to fully translate the cast's performances into Beyond: Two Souls. Lacking gameplay and hindered by a rather strange narrative structure, Quantic Dream's "game" is a pretty mess, but a mess nonetheless. Regardless, the visuals deserve an Oscar.
19 Not: Last Rebellion
Idea Factory might recycle textures more than Hollywood recycles blockbusters, but Hyperdimension Neptunia's characters pick up the slack for the JRPG's disappointing visuals. Last Rebellion does not even possess an average battle system to distract from the PlayStation 2 visuals and insomnia-curing storyline. Serving as a rare example of a publisher actively apologizing for distributing an underbaked title, NIS' president explained they were left with no choice but to publish Last Rebellion, but the marketing team was effectively told to take the day off.
18 Amazing: Grand Theft Auto V
When it comes to graphics, Grand Theft Auto is a weird franchise to discuss. Without exception, Rockstar Games' iconic property never fails to test the technological limits of the era. Grand Theft Auto III and IV took realism to a whole new level, but they have not aged particularly well. Frankly, the latter started to show wear and tear before the last generation even ended. Grand Theft Auto V blows its predecessor out of the water! What Rockstar managed to accomplish with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 was nothing short of extraordinary!
17 Not: Spider-Man 3
In hindsight, Spider-Man 3 was set up to fail. Weighed down by the bog-standard nonsense associated with any licensed game, Treyarch also faced the arduous task of succeeding arguably the wall-crawler's greatest video game adaptation to date. Oh, is that still not enough pressure? Okay, Activision also decided to publish Spider-Man 3 on both sixth and seventh generation consoles, so the action-adventure game marked Peter Parker's PlayStation 3 debut. While better received than the outdated alternative, Spider-Man 3 was marred by glitches and New York felt like an empty husk of a city.
16 Amazing: Journey
Published exclusively on the PlayStation 3, thatgamecompany surprised the world with 2012's Journey. With such a universal and weighty title, only something special would have lived up to expectations. Over the last decade, the indie scene has benefitted from the introduction of multiple platforms which accept projects from nearly anyone. In this regard, Steam is priceless. Journey helped introduce many gamers to this less-publicized side of the industry, and thatgamecompany's success should be partly credited to the stunning visuals which compare favorably to any AAA title.
15 Not: Hellboy: The Science Of Evil
Hellboy: The Science of Evil is an adaptation of Guillermo del Toro's 2004 comic book film. Some of you might be wondering: why was this published on the PlayStation 3? Surely, any interest in an adaptation would have faded by 2008. Well, it so happened that Del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army was set to hit theatres, prompting Konami to slap together a tie-in game based on the original film. Showing an admirable dedication to authenticity, Hellboy: The Science of Evil could even pass for a 2004 game.
14 Amazing: Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch
Based on a Nintendo DS JRPG, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch brought together the creative forces of Level-5 and Studio Ghibli. Chiefly known for Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King and Dark Chronicle, Level-5's impressive track-record features many JRPGs with stylized and timeless graphics. Studio Ghibli's addition merely turned Ni No Kuni into an anime, and the results speak for themselves. Wrath of the White Witch possesses more charm in a single frame than most titles can muster in a full campaign. Gorgeous graphics depend on more than just a high pixel count.
13 Not: Turok
The weirdest fact about Turok is that it was published by Disney Interactive Studios. During the same year that Disney published Pixar's WALL-E, Mickey Mouse also blessed the world with a blurry shooter about blasting dinosaurs in the face and Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Barring little relation to the previous five Turok games, 2008's release functioned adequately enough as a multiplayer FPS, but the single-player content struggled to measure up to even the worst Call of Duty. Occasionally, an impressive T-Rex would bring Turok to life, but the flat environmental textures were too steep of a hurdle to overcome.
12 Amazing: Final Fantasy XIII
Square Enix split its fanbase right down the middle with Final Fantasy XIII. Whether loved or hated, Lightning's trilogy never fails to trigger a passionate reaction out of gamers. Boasting a complex battle-system which is often labeled as self-playing, Final Fantasy XIII's graphics were the sole aspect of the JRPG to warrant widespread praise from pretty much everyone. Even if the lack of interactivity makes the environments seem closer to a painting than a living world, there is no denying that Square Enix crafted a gorgeous product.
11 Not: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Published two years after its predecessor, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 merely sought to refine the thrilling tactical gunplay that worked so flawlessly in 2006's original. For the most part, Ubisoft succeeded in crafting a respectable sequel; however, certain players believed the graphics were downgraded from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas. A case can definitely be made against Ubisoft's sequel, but it was more akin to a sideways move than a noteworthy step back. Either way, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2's visuals fall short when compared to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Crysis.