Older games that aged well. (strictly talking about graphics)

[OtherSideofSky]

Most sprite games still look fine, but everyone else has already said that.

My pick is going to have to be Zone of the Enders 2. The art design was really solid and it managed to get some surprising performance out of the PS2 hardware. Even the slowdown when you fry a million little enemy with a burst of homing lasers comes off looking like a stylistic decision instead of a frame rate problem.

 

[Phisi]

Crysis They kinda sacrificed being able to run it for lots of shiny stuff that now we can all see and appreciate. DEFCON still looks great and so do other sprite based games where design is most important (Terraria falls into this category I would say) than graphics. That also woks for many other games. I think CoD1 and CS Condition Zero still look fine.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Omega Boost on the PS1 still holds up remarkably well, despite being a 3D game on the original Playstation. Really cool lighting and particle effects in that one.


Also, X-Wing Alliance is still quite pretty, especially with the XWA Upgrade Project models added in -- and Morrowind looks good enough vanilla, but with the right mods, looks better than Skyrim in a lot of ways. And to whoever said KoTOR has aged well: right on, man. Technically, it's nothing too impressive, but that game has some of the best art direction I've ever seen; an absolutely beautiful game.

 

[predatorpulse7]

It's still sorta funny how Half Life 2 manages to create characters that feel a lot more alive and have a lot more emotions than, say, The Witcher 2, one of the most graphically advanced games we have.

I'd have to disagree. Half Life 2 did faces VERY WELL(still the best facial movement I've seen to this day), especially the emotions and that's where it surpassed Witcher 2 but the W2(like W1) has created some very memorable protagonists. It's one of the few games where I actually think what effects my choices will have later on and which characters do I care more about. In Half Life 2(and the series overall), the only real interesting characters, that stand out for me is Alyx and perhaps G-Man. Freeman is a non-entity, he doesn't speak, we barely see him. The real interesting thing in the Half Life series is the world.

 

[marcooos]

Halo:CE has aged really really well and so has the POP: Sands of time

 

[OtherSideofSky]

Most sprite games still look fine, but everyone else has already said that.

My pick is going to have to be Zone of the Enders 2. The art design was really solid and it managed to get some surprising performance out of the PS2 hardware. Even the slowdown when you fry a million little enemy with a burst of homing lasers comes off looking like a stylistic decision instead of a frame rate problem.

I always thought it was a stylistic choice
Well cell shading games usually get away with their graphic anyway, but the style in ZOE2 is still something of its own.
On topic: zelda wind waker probably. haah fond memories.

I think what really makes ZOE2 stand out is that it isn't exclusively cell-shaded. A lot of the backgrounds and environments aren't and that creates an effect I think more games should experiment with.

I'll definitely agree with you about Wind Waker, my only graphical complaint with that game, even today, is that I'm not terribly fond of how it handles water. Gameplay wise it's another story (the dungeons are great, but the huge map just ends up feeling empty and their really isn't anything terribly interesting or meaningful to discover). I just gave up when I got to hunting for the Triforce pieces (a tedium matched in my experience only by those runes you have to set near the end of Eternal Darkness) and just borrowed a friend's save to play the final dungeon.

Rayman 2 also holds up surprisingly well, although its definitely gotten a bit rough around the edges by modern standards. I find that the excellent art design still manages to keep my immersion despite the N64-era 3D models.

 

[ResonanceSD]

I don't know if Superman 64 is either the best, or the worst example for this. It was never good to begin with, but it's held it's position without sliding down the list.

 

[Ando85]

I don't know if Superman 64 is either the best, or the worst example for this. It was never good to begin with, but it's held it's position without sliding down the list.

Don't get me wrong. This game is horrible, but I did have a little ounce of fun flying aimlessly around the city for a few minutes. Superman 64 seems to be mentioned almost every time people are talking about the worst games of all time. I have seen worse.

 

[HotelManagerRoyOats]

shenmue for the dreamcast.

 

[Nudu]

Wind Waker as aged pretty well due to the cell-shaded style.

 

[Bostur]

Warcraft 3 still looks amazing except for the cutscenes, they look pixelated on a big display.

WoW doesn't really count because they have gradually updated the engine and the graphics, but if it had been available in its original form it would probably still look nice.

I also like the visuals of the remake of Pirates!

Spoiler

Being a little mischievous I'd like to say the original Infocom adventures. Text tend to age nicely from a graphical perspective. ;-)