Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader

A Gamecube launch game that still looks better than most Wii games. I also still have a blast playing the second to last level with hundreds of Tie Fighters swarming you.

yes rogue squadron 2, thats the game i got with my gamecube and that game was amazing and still amazes me both with its ridiculously good graphics and great gameplay. too bad the sequal wasn't as good.

Easy: Super Smash Bros. Melee

Uh, people who are saying anything in VII looked better than anything in VIII or IX it's been way too long since you played that game.  It's absolutely hideos.  Even the FMV in VII is blocky.  Outside of combat the characters were expressionless legos.  They were horrible characters made up of squares and triangles.  Inside of combat they were just made of more squares and triangles. 

On topic:

If nothing last gen impresses you still then you have no appreciation for art at all.  Honestly I'm still waiting for something this gen to impress me.

Last gaming console machines games that blew me away would have to be Metroid Prime, Halo 2, and Wind Waker.......

graphics:

Beyond Good and Evil
Pikmin 1 and 2
Ikaruga
Metroid Prime

innovation/gameplay:

Gladius
Animal Crossing

God of War 2, oh so pretty.

The CGI sequences in the Final Fantasy games from 7 on up are always impressive to watch, with FF8's intro being one of the best intro sequences ever.

And, of course, Shadow of the Colossus. Best. Game. Evar.

And I can't wait to see what Team Ico has up their sleeve.  A next-gen Shadow of the Colossus... *drools*

True, Metroid Prime 3 did have some really creative use of Bloom Lighting.  Heavenly Sword has some really creative use of Bloom Lighting as well.  Still, realism doesn't interest me much.  I'm much more interested in something like Super Mario Galaxy visually.  Super Smash Bros. Brawl has some pretty neat artwork too with it's mixture of different art styles but in general it strives for realism.

There are also a lot of other games with the potential to impress me artistically like No More Heroes, NiGHTS, Ratchet and Clank Future, LBP, and others.  They just aren't out yet.  I suppose it would have been more accurate of me to say I'm still waiting for something is generation to impress me artistically as much as things last generation did.  Last gen was a huge leap for artistic gaming.  Most things this gen are artistically just continuing along the same lines established last gen without anything standing out or blowing me away as much as those games in my post above did.