Does Unreal Still Look Unreal? Not Anymore!

By Marcus Yam
published

Yes, this is an actual PC game screenshot.

With the rapid pace of hardware and software advancement, games keep looking better and better.

There's no question that games from previous decades look like silly puppet shows compared to what we get to see from Crysis, especially in light of this fantasy mod.

It's startling, then, to look back on this cover of Next-Generation magazine and see it declare that, "Yes, this is an actual PC game screenshot."

I still remember picking this issue up from my mailbox and marveling at Unreal's texturing and colored lighting. Oh, to see that game again through eyes from 1997.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
76 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ksa-_-jed
    Yes, this is an actual PC game screenshot. good to know :)
    Reply
  • dEAne
    I know this will happen.
    Reply
  • mjello
    It seems something is missing in this piece of news...
    Reply
  • johnyeah
    While graphics seems to be ever improving, but it's seems like the development with game UI and gameplay have been stagnating. It's just a really biased opinion of mine, but that's what I think the developers should be working on.
    Reply
  • Kelavarus
    Haha. I don't play my old games anymore because I still have the memory that they have incredible graphics. Going back and playing them never seems to do them justice.
    Reply
  • Those were good days. Ya know, when games still had colored anything, lol.
    Reply
  • N.Broekhuijsen
    Yes, this is an actual PC game screenshot.
    Indeed I am surprised. I didn't know it was possible to produce anything that ugly!
    Reply
  • snqwerty
    For me unreal was one of the first Glide based games I played, and I still remember the first time I went outside the ship and looked down into a canyon, the view of the birds underneath and the music that joined it still rings in my head.

    I'll probably will not play this scene again, but in those days, it was real Unreal.
    Reply
  • Lmeow
    Wow! Textures!
    Reply
  • liquidsnake718
    Haha, this is a funny and sarcastic article, sometimes its good to hav"ice-breaker" articles or news clips like these in order to instill a more fun and reminiscent atmosphere since toms always refers to the past.
    Reply