This thread is the love child of this and this thread. Tell me which games made the most out the hardware they were built on.

And let me end potential arguments right away: The term "best looking" is being used loosely - I'm not making this about art design only. Performance should be treated as equally important, because it's objectively not good for a game's graphics, the showcase of a game engine, to have a major negative impact on how the game itself plays.

Or you can refuse to read the OP. In which case, you are doing a very bad job right now.

PS3 - The Last of Us
360 - Halo 4
PSV - KZ: Mercenary
WiiU - SM3DW

Made the most out of the hardware: (Without performance compromises)

Wii: Jett Rocket
360: Halo 4
PS3: God of War Ascension

Wii U/PS4/Xbone are too young for anything to really push their limits yet.

PS3: The last of us or Uncharted 2.
Xbox 360: Forza 4.
Wii: Mario Galaxy 2.

PS1-FF9

PS2-Shadow of collosus

PS3-Last of US

PS4-Killzone Shadowfall

XBOX- Halo 2

XB360- Gears of War judgement

Xbone- Ryse

Game Cube- Resident evil 4

Wii- Super MArio Galaxy 2

WiiU- Super Mario 3D world

/thread

I'd like to present Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies as the best-looking game on 3DS. It doesn't have to do a lot, rendering only a single room and a handful of character models at a time, but that doesn't negatively impact the gameplay in any way. That's what the game is all about. And it does its job wonderfully, with great character designs and very smooth animations.

I'd say wait to declare a winner on PS3/360 until after Metal Gear V comes out... that game looks better than pretty much anything current- or last-gen.

I never understood why people rate Galaxy 2 over 1 graphically. 

Not only do I see no improvement, I actually see small steps backwards in terms of interesting backdrops, texture design, effects per scene, and overall polish.

PS4 - Killzone: Shadowfall
X1 - Ryse
Wii U - SM3DW

PS3 - God of War III / Ascension
360 - Gears of War: Judgment
Wii - Super Mario Galaxy 2

PS2 - God of War II
Xbox - Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Gamecube - Resident Evil 4

PSP - God of War: Ghost of Sparta
PSV - Killzone: Mercenary

I liked galaxy 2 graphics. Unlike others I usually dont pay too much attention to texture design or pop up. If the overall experience is stunning then I am fine.