Best Looking PS2 Games

[Anim8rDude Anim8rDude]

@Anim8rDude Most of us will only be able to post emulator footage.
I guess we should try using very vanilla settings, or the software renderer, and integer scaling is probably nice too.

Hopefully these are fine.

I think my comments came off as a bit harsh. Truth is PS2 has a lot of great games with great art direction, & they all deserved to be loved in HD. I've just spent way too much time tinkering with silly PS2 video stuff...

Dragon Quest is a pretty nice looking game, & these screenshots are nice. It's weird, because this looks exactly like what you would see when hooking up your PS2 via component to a modern TV.

 

[Mopeybloke]

I think my comments came off as a bit harsh. Truth is PS2 has a lot of great games with great art direction, & they all deserved to be loved in HD. I've just spent way too much time tinkering with silly PS2 video stuff...

Dragon Quest is a pretty nice looking game, & these screenshots are nice. It's weird, because this looks exactly like what you would see when hooking up your PS2 via component to a modern TV.

For this game, true. However, the emulator improves certain games substantially. PCSX2 has a setting called anti-blur, which skips the process of converting the image to analogue. On real hardware, this process makes certain games very blurry. Some companies seem to completely avoid it though.

Edit: I ain't turning it off though. Just imagine I have one of those modded PS2's that intercepts the images directly digital.

 

[Skeleben]

Haven City from Jak 2 & 3 is genuinely such an awesome looking main location to set your game in. That giant main tower looming over the city is so atmospheric I love it. All of the Jak games have really strong artistic direction imo

 

[Anim8rDude Anim8rDude]

For this game, true. However, the emulator improves certain games substantially. PCSX2 has a setting called anti-blur, which skips the process of converting the image to analogue. On real hardware, this process makes certain games very blurry. Some companies seem to completely avoid it though.

People never mention this anywhere (or don't experiment), but via GSM (homebrew program) if you force 480i, even when your game is already 480i, you can disable the blur/flicker filter for basically every game. Already by doing that you can make games look quite a bit better on actual console.
This should be a rule of thumb!

I think even Dragon Quest VIII can potentially looks better on PS2 than the raw pics you shared

 

[FTLOTG]

Cold Winter, a first person shooter with lots of physics and interactivity. Visuals are good but the environments are densely packed, there's tons of gore and tons of physics objects.

Watch coldwinter1min | Streamable

Watch "coldwinter1min" on Streamable.

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[Mopeybloke]

@FTLOTG Those tracer and particle effects when you shoot the SPAS look a lot like F.E.A.R.

 

[FTLOTG]

@FTLOTG Those tracer and particle effects when you shoot the SPAS look a lot like F.E.A.R.

Came out right around the same time. Transformers Armada is another excellent looking game on the console, especially for its massive levels full of foliage. Physics driven gameplay as well.

 

[thanonyx thanonyx]

Valkyrie Profile 2 looks absolutely stunning not to mention the music sounds amazing and it has a great story to boot.

It's just a creative arts trifecta of a game.

 

[Deleted member 257420]

All of them because the PS2 is a lovely console < 3

 

[PrismRed]

I'm not a graphics guy but 3 titles stood out that made me went "damn this shit looks next gen" at the time.

Black
Final Fantasy XII
Transformers Armada as mentioned above.

 

[Jambhala]

@Anim8rDude Most of us will only be able to post emulator footage.
I guess we should try using very vanilla settings, or the software renderer, and integer scaling is probably nice too.

Hopefully these are fine.

Just started playing some more DQ8 with no upscaling, it's wild how good it looks. Everything is super crisp and high fidelity. Way better than I remember it being. The only downside is there's a lot of grinding lmao.

 

[Fray Guillermo]

Back then I always thought FF12 looked really nice, or at least the FMVs seemed to for the time

 

[RetroCasual]

If you go for top games of the system, there are a lot of titles that can stand currently good even without the need of graphics improvements from amazing emulators like PCSX2.
Just thinking a little and trying to not repeat what other buddies have said before (sorry if so) I can tell you some of them:

God Of War 1 & 2
Gran Turismo 4
Burnout 3 TakeDown
NBA Street V2 & V3
SSX 3
Prince Of Persia Trilogy
OutRun 2006 Coast To Coast
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution
Dragon Ball Z Budokai & Budokai Tenkaichi series
Tekken 5
Urban Reign
Soul Calibur 2 & 3
Time Crisis 2 & 3
Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3
Castlevania Curse Of Darkness
Gradius V...

They all still look crisp and clear, not to mention that also hold up in gameplay terms... So yeah, PS2 deserves its place between retro gaming glory without any doubt.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Good looking as in "pretty art style" or "the most realistic looking"?

I don't mind realism but I also agree that it doesn't make something intrinsically better graphically.

 

[Letule]

Gran Turismo 4, still great and beautiful today

View attachment 51830View attachment 51831

Tourist Trophy also looks just as good as GT4.

 

[Action_Hank]

Well, the girls of course!

 

[legsrjust4show]

Came out right around the same time. Transformers Armada is another excellent looking game on the console, especially for its massive levels full of foliage. Physics driven gameplay as well.

View attachment 52645

This is an interesting one because the art style itself isn't that impressive compared to some of the other games posted, but the sheer scale and amount of stuff going on at once is really surprising to see on a PS2 game.

It feels way more like something for the original Xbox, which is impressive because the PS2 was sooooooooo weak compared to that and even the GameCube. The thought they could get this working on there without it dropping down to like 12 FPS like other PS2 games like Shadow of the Colossus did is a technical achievement.

 

[Retro Doomer]

Rygar I loved the Graphics as a kid
and Probably Final Fantasy X it was like a movie for me back than.
And Wrc Rally Evolved
and Wipeout Fusion

 

[Pokenami's icon Pokenami Pokenami]

For me it's FFX and SSX Tricky

 

[Burzuru]

they don't make them like they used to...

 

[Amakuchi]

Some folks already mentioned the ones I had in mind, but Trapt definitely should be added, since it had really solid visuals (even the PS1 games looked really good imo)

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

Giving a shout out to Soul Reaver 2 as I've seen it yet to be mentioned.

 

[Your_Homie_Gale]

I saw Tekken 5 mentioned but I think Tag Tournament 1 and 4 deserve to be mentioned as well. 4 had the environments and stages that look beautiful to this day like the beach stage, airport stage, skyscraper stage, and the dojo stage. Tag Tournament 1 on the PS2 is also a huge graphical upgrade from its arcade counterpart which should be noted as well. Despite coming out in 2000 I think it holds up rather well.