A Brief History of Graphics (56Kers banned! 100 images, 10+MB)

[3D_Mind]

So, we spend way too much on video cards and other upgrades just to turn on Soft Shadows in F.E.A.R. and then complain that it still does not improve the image that much.

So I thought it would be a great idea to look back on how PC graphics have evolved over the last 15 years.

I have taken the 2 best looking games from each year and provided 3 screen shots of each (based on the responses from a thread I started over at Futuremark). I have tried to use representative, in game shots (no Pre-Rendered stuff) that showcase the best that game has to offer. Note: this list is subjective, feel free to suggest other games to showcase the best PC graphics of each year, or any other way to improve the list. So, enough text, on to the screen shots, enjoy! 8)

1990:

------Game 1: Wing Commander:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/649444.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/649446.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/649447.jpg

------Game 2: Quest for Glory II: Trial By Fire:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/932336747-00.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/932336783-00.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/932336822-00.jpg

1991:

------Game 1: Ultima Underworld - The Stygian Abyss:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/news2002060401.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/under3.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/under4.jpg

------Game 2: Red Baron:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/t1_redbaron.png
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/Dynamix_redbaron1.png
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/old_games_rb1.jpg

1992:

------Game 1: Wolfenstein 3-D:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/shot2.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/shot3.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/shot4.jpg

------Game 2: Ultima Underworld II - Labyrinth Of Worlds
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/967450277-00.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/967450438-00.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/967449940-00.jpg

1993:

------Game 1: Doom:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/doom-screenshots-7.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/1017396287-00.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/1017395421-00.jpg

------Game 2: Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/1053171744-00.jpeg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/1053171557-00.jpeg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/1053171476-00.jpeg

1994:

------Game 1: Magic Carpet:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/943799665-00.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/943799590-00.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/943799489-00.jpg

------Game 2: Marathon:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/Marathon_Infinity11.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/Marathon_Infinity15.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/Marathon_Infinity17.jpg

1995:

------Game 1: Mech Warrior 2:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/PVR_06.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/mech3lg.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/page1.jpg

------Game 2: Descent:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/pd11.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/pd7.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/pd4.jpg

1996:

------Game 1: Quake
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/1022015463-00.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/Quake_1_screenshot_320x200_e1m3.png
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/941661402-00.jpg

------Game 2: Jane's ATF: NATO Fighters:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/atfnato_screen001.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/atfnato_screen003.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/atfnato_screen004.jpg

1997:

------Game 1: Tomb Raider 2: The Dagger of Xian:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/274655.jpeg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/274667.jpeg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/168775.jpeg

------Game 2: Quake 2:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/98189.jpeg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/189321.jpeg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/189366.jpeg

1998:

------Game 1: Half Life:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/halflifenew010.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/halflifenew006.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/halflifenew001.jpg

------Game 2: Falcon 4.0:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/falconfour5.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/falconfour4.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/falconfour3.jpg

1999:

------Game 1: Unreal Tournament:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/Untourn2.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/unrealt006.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/unrealt004.jpg
------Game 2: Outcast:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/outcast017.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/outcastd001.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/outcastd002.jpg

2000:

------Game 1: Giants Citizen Kabuto:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/giants021.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/giants009.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/giants002.jpg
------Game 2: Combat Flight Simulator 2: WWII Pacific Theater:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/cfs2002.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/cfs2012.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/cfs2006.jpg

2001:

------Game 1: Max Payne:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/maxpayne002.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/maxpayne005.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/maxpayne07-06003.jpg
------Game 2: Black & White:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/bw001.jpeg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/BWday8002.jpeg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/BWdayfin002.jpeg

2002:

------Game 1: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/morrowind_051502_006.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/morrowind_051002_006.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/morrowind_051002_005.jpg
------Game 2: Unreal Tournament 2003
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/ut2003_092502_05.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/ut2003_092502_13.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/ut2003_092502_02.jpg

2003:

------Game 1: Unreal II: The Awakening:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/unreal2_012903_023.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/Grid.JPG
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/Drake.jpg
------Game 2: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/splintercell_021803_28.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/splintercell_021803_25.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/splintercell_021803_20.jpg

2004:

------Game 1: Far Cry:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/farcry_031904_002.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/farcry_031904_000.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/farcry_031104_002.jpg
------Game 2: Chronicals of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/the-chronicles-of-riddick-escape-from-butcher-bay-developers-cut-20041214042210570.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/the-chronicles-of-riddick-escape-from-butcher-bay-developers-cut-20041214042206055.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/the-chronicles-of-riddick-escape-from-butcher-bay-developers-cut-20041119062012049.jpg

2005:

------Game 1: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/tom-clancys-splinter-cell-chaos-theory-20050302043952598.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/tom-clancys-splinter-cell-chaos-theory-20050225002903768.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/new-chaos-theory-levels-revealed-20050512000738631.jpg
------Game 2: Nexus: The Jupiter Incident:
1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/nexus-the-jupiter-incident-20050321064244479.jpg
2
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/nexus-the-jupiter-incident-20041020024005420.jpg
3
http://www.bjorn3d.com/photos/data/511/nexus-the-jupiter-incident-20041020024026107.jpg

[werty316]

Very nicely done 3D_Mind this brings back alot of memories of some great games. Great job.

[3D_Mind]

Thanks! It took about a total of 10 hours to assemble. :shock:

I wanted to see if for myself and also thought it would be interesting to see how far we have advanced even in just 15 years.

[XJnine]

Great list although I'm suprised Doom3 didn't make the cut.

[Gray]

Sweet ****, I played like 1/2 of those, I mean from the top of the list all the way down!

Your first one Wing commander! My friend gave me that on 7 floppy disks and on my 486DX 40MHz it took almost 4 hours to install.
But my bro brought home the Pentium 1 and I started the install, went out for a smoke came back in and it was done. I used a stopwatch and I was only gone 13 min! lmao.

Red Baron: Spent hours man; loved that game! played with the keyboard allways.

Wolf 3-D, Well I'm only the biggest fan there is of anything Wolf!
HOURS SPENT!

DOOM. Same thing man! HOURS SPENT!

Marathon: Looks cool. Never even saw it.

Mech Warrior 2: Aside from anythign Wolfenstein this hasd to be my faverate game of all time! Joystic and only at my friends house for the first year on his P-90MHz with 96MB of ram.
That was a great system.

Quake: well what can I say, Voodoo2 Baby This looked AWSOME!

Laura croft, good in bed maby, never liked those games @ all.

Quake 2: 2X the goodness!

Half Life: Wow played a lot of late nights withis one (usually a little ummm pissed. :) )

Falcon 4.0: I played Falcon 1.0 on my friends 386 16MHz on turbo! 8MHz when not.

Unreal Tournament: Played a bit allways won so I gave it up.
lol. was ok. got board of it.

Flight Sim: Never bought a joystick untill about a year and a half ago, a good one too!. Still I never use it.

Max Payne: Good graphics cool game. Played at a friends, P-4 I think, 1.6GHz with SDRAM! (not even ddr, goddamn future shop)

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: You chould know my take on this....
Ruins your life cus game is so long and addictive! lol. LOTSA HOURS SPENT ON THIS.

UT 2K3: Not realy a fan.

Unreal II: Did not even know it existed. lol. It must have sneaked under the radar when I was playing Morrowind.

Far Cry: I have to get that back from my friend, One day I will finish it, once I have Shader Model 3.0.

Nexus: The Jupiter Incident: Wow I will have to look into that.

Great Memories. Not that It matters nut I thought I would at least wright a decent responce.

PS... What you said it took to post this was way to long, glad you are getting faster :) Keep it up.....

PSS... Where in the hell is Wolfenstein, and Wolfenstein ET??? No Quake 3 Engine at all? Owch. That hurt.

[3D_Mind]

Doom 3 was a close contender for 2004, and I may still change it if it can be shown to look better then Far Cry or Chronicals of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. This is also true of any other year or game, just post some screens, state your case and I can edit it.

Grey:
Nice memories of gaming there, I have only been a PC gamer since 2000, so I am quite out of touch any farther back. Maybe I should get older games and see what all the fuss is about.

Unreal II is rather good, but not great, it is worth a play through or two, can be had for $10 now.

Nexus is also good, the GFX are the best there is for a 3D space combat game, and the story is interesting. Rather tedious in micromanagment, but the battles are engaging.
/Grey

If anyone wants to contest the selections, please do so, I am sure this is not the final word on GFX quality! :D