Are graphics ever truly outdated?

A perfect fit

I kind of see a valid point in that idea that graphics are better as a style than a tech demo of realism. Its true, if you have something like windwaker or Okami it never truly dies are feels too wrong, worst case scenario is its resolution could use a bump up. Meanwhile Heavy Rain, Crysis, and others are already showing in their age, and some people are totally intolerable to the very early blocky 3D stuff that was trying to take itself seriously like Tomb Raider and Metal Gear Solid. I also can't help but remember a time in which I spoke of Modern Warfare 2 as the best looking 3rd party game at one time, and before the PS3 life cycle was even over I was asking myself what I was possibly thinking because even slightly better COD games were from then on always behind the typical point. Still it only takes the right kind of game to totally change my mind on how I view the more "serious" stuff. Likewise I think maybe a couple artsy games slip up more than they're supposed to, take the old Sly Cooper stuff for example with their robotic mouths, off settling animations, and the low poly looking environments. I also never understood how Borderlands got praised for such a terribly textured world (oh and there's the constant pop-ins). Naturally of course Borderlands and Sly Cooper will age better than say Half-Life 1 has, but its still not perfect and I'd argue some other serious stuff subjectively beats it. I almost feel like a few dated styles end up falling into their own special feel.

Personally one of my favorite examples is from early 2000's stuff, especially on the PC where textures first started coming up as more than flat but as too artificial to be taken seriously. Back then it was also before modern settings had much of a following, so a lot of it was taken place under interesting settings and often cool sci-fi places. Doom 3 (and the very similar looking Alpha prime) probably was one of the best of this type, capturing a very interesting use of lighting, imaginative settings, some solid texture work, and yet models that looked like they walked out of a budget CGI movie. A budget CGI movie I would totally watch and probably enjoy! I love the older CGI styles for some reason, maybe its my love of the old DKC cartoon and Beast Wars, or maybe its because my more late childhood timing which had plenty of Jimmy Neutron, or of course Doom 3 could in itself simply be nostalgic. Either way I just love it for whatever reason. Oh and did I mention the decals? Yeah you could take those strange plastic fleshy models and poke strange metalic looking holes in them with your gun and they'd loosely ragdoll around, it was weird but made the style all the more interesting in retrospect. I spoke with someone recently who on a similar note spoke of nostalgic praises for PS1 and N64 graphics, loving the blocky low resolution and texture wrap nature of those games. I've found people gushing over how revolutionary a game used to be, despite its current age. Whether its only nostalgia, or its a truly interesting look into subjective graphical perception, I feel this was a neat topic to discuss at some point. I'm just a bit tired of only old school 2D and sprite stuff taking all the credit, its really not the only thing that can be enjoyed from older times.

Look at this game's dumb low poly glossed textures... its kind of neat in a weird way

I believe sometimes the aesthetics, visuals, or glitches themselves may in some way add up to a game's own unique style, and it really makes me question when and how a game ever really looks dated in a purely bad way. I can even see styles and feelings come out of more recent stuff. Uncharted tried to be all serious and real, but its goofy physics, flashy items, and super clean corpses make for a strange system that stands out despite how aged the actual engine is at this point. On a similar note I always thought Killzone 2's engine was not just better for its physics and high end quality, but I saw obvious spots where it deviated for realism to have an exaggerated dark tone or glowy sci-fi asthetics... and I guess its worth noting like Uncharted the guns and objects of interest had this strange but appealing gamey flash and you could practically form a battlefield of glitter with dropped weapons. Also I loved Killzone 1 and 2's grainy filter thing, I don't totally understand why it was there but I loved it anyways. Then there's that rushed Unreal 3 engine look some games have, which when done wrong bugs me, but its a style worth mentioning regardless. It has this strange artificially jagged look around random models, strange slime textures that never follow through right, and those physics that are like a wonkier version of Dark Souls' ragdolls (which itself might be worthy of this discussion). Looking down the line, I wouldn't be surprised if we managed to see more recent games become some sort of dated "style" somewhere down the line. Yet these "dated" visuals form almost their own look, unique to the time and date, triggering a sense of nostalgia or strange satisfaction from fans that revisit them and embrace their limitations.

Of course I'm not saying there's anything wrong with an art style that is intentionally unique and unreal. I'll truly stand by those as the better looking games, even if there are exceptions as I mentioned in the beginning. Timesplitters 2 still holds up well today, Ratchet & Clank HD holds up better than Killzone 1 HD, and my favorite visuals on any game on current gen so far is Mario Kart 8. Art wins out over a serious art style, and as we have games like The Order clamp down on cheesy parts showing through I'm wondering if even serious directions will keep a quirky charm like the early 2000s stuff did. Still I feel it was worth discussing that I and a few others out there aren't exactly turned off by older ideas of realism. Sometimes low poly, goofy physics & interface bits, or serious expressions reduced to plastic textures and glitchy ragdolls make for just as good of a time as a trip into Windwaker, and I'll sure as hell take it over Borderlands which still doesn't look quite right to me.

You'll never lose your visual charm to me Alpha prime