Abyssal Pixels: Good Graphics Aren’t Special Anymore

As I’m sitting here, I have a raging fever and a questionable amount of bodily fluids dripping down my (well groomed) mustache  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I’m sick as a dog. Not the type of sick you get from people that think fetus murder is hilarious and 9/11 was just a day off. I’m talking about a good old snot filled nose, gravel-like throat infection and so many tissues it would make a 12 year old boy that just discovered masturbation jealous. But I’m here to fulfill a duty to you wonderful people and I will discuss some gaming topics now. While sneezing all over this campus PC’s keyboard. They deserve it.

We all have fond memories of “the good old days”. For most of us, this is the PS2-era where the console took over our homes and our hearts. Do you also remember when you discovered a game with awesome graphics? Graphics so good that you could not believe your eyes? Most of us will laugh at the graphics that games had in the past now because of how old and shitty they actually looked (go play one of the games that you thought had amazing graphics and laugh at yourself for ever thinking it). But something has happened these past few years that baffles me. Graphics are not that big of a deal anymore.

A few years ago when consoles starting coming out with their early games and the MasterRace didn’t have cutting edge PC’s without blowing a college fund, graphics still mattered somewhat. I remember experiencing the first Saint’s Row on an HDTV and I nearly had an accident in my pants it was so good. Mostly because all my PC’s sucked graphics wise and I never experienced visuals so smooth and crisp in my life. There was also the time when the first Crysis came out and everyone was blown away by how good the game looked. In the subsequent years that followed we found games growing in graphical prowess and impact. It became common for every game that releases to have great graphics. It happened so much that we just kinda got used to it after a while.

Nowadays if a game has amazing visuals, nobody really cares. Review boxes won’t even mention if a game had good graphics. It’s not really a valid selling point anymore for game advertisers. It’s just expected. But God forbid if a game has shoddy visuals. I remember there were people bashing Spec-Ops The Line for having mediocre graphics and refused to play it (on second thought, they were the lucky ones… the horror). Spec-Ops didn’t have the best graphics in the world, but it certainly wasn’t bad. Hell, if someone saw the graphics a mere 5 years ago then they would have been blown the fuck away.

Graphics don’t make a game as we all know, but sometimes it is nice to have good looking visuals especially if a developer took extra care in making it memorable. I don’t know about you, but I’m thankful for that. I’ve noticed the majority of gamers aren’t really that bothered with good graphics anymore and it’s just something that is supposed to be there. I’ve heard of gamers saying that Sniper Ghost Warrior 2′s graphics aren’t good at all. A statement I strongly disagree with because the visuals are beautiful compared to other shooters.

We have become tame and conditioned. Games with great visuals release so often that we can’t help but get used it after a while. This can be seen as a positive thing as well because games are now expected to have good visuals no matter what. No half-assing it like Blackwater (that horrible piece of garbage) did or putting no effort into making your game look nice even if it isn’t that big of a requirement. Hell, even the pixel art in indie games have stepped it up a notch (heh) in an attempt to make a game look prettier. It’s a system that works for the most part.

Graphics still wow me from time to time, but I’m more conditioned towards it than I was in the past when I thought GTA San Andreas had the best looking visuals of all time.

OF ALL TIME.