My last post on the subject of graphics: Memory is a funny thing. Just like I thought that Super Mario 64 looked better than it really did, people remember games like Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted 1, and other games as being better than they really are. I guess it's because our standards were different at the time (sorta like only remembering the good about a girl you broke up with but forgetting all of the bad things that made you hate her). GeoW3 looks great. The problem it has, like Cliffy B once said, is that it has to compete with the memory of GeoW1 and 2. Nostalgia is a strange beast.
When I first played Gears 2, I was underwhelmed. I wasn't instantly blown away like I was with Gears 1. For a moment, I thought the graphics were actually worse than Gears of War 1! Before Gears 1, my standard wasn't that high. When Gears 1 came out, it blew everything else in the market out of the water to the point where there was really no comparison. I had the same thing happen when I played Banjo Kazooie after playing Super Mario 64. Yeah, BK was better graphically than SM64 but they couldn't replicate that sense of "WOW" that SM64 had. Games that break new ground are always remembered a little differently. Now that the standard is set, we've become harder and harder to impress. Maybe we've become a little desensitized or even jaded.
When the inevitable Gears 1-3 comparison videos come out, we'll see how much the game has progressed. Until then, I'll just look forward to the awesome game we'll be getting later this year. Besides, there's more to Gears than a pretty face, right?
