Top 5 Most Successful Graphic Engines

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Legendary graphics from legendary times

Graphics are an important part of a video game, because no matter how good the gameplay is and how deep the storyline is, it’s better if it looks good too. But many of the developers don’t start developing a game by creating their own engine because it takes more times and of course, why would you waste time with originality when someone else did a good graphic engine and they’re selling it? Throughout the gaming history, some graphic engines became quite famous, being used for a lot of first class games. But which ones are the most successful? Keep reading to find out.

5. Aurora

The Aurora Engine isn’t really that famous, but it’s the engine that gave life to some of the most amazing games ever released, all RPGs. Bioware created the engine to use it for Neverwinter Nights, and we all know how that turned out. NWN is one of the best RPGs out there no doubt about that and Aurora really helped it. Featuring a classic top-down view, the effects, shadows and animation was really above it’s time. Knights of the Old Republic 1&2 used an upgraded version of this engine too, called Odyssey Engine. Also, CD Projekt heavily modified it and used it in The Witcher.

Some of the games that used it: Neverwinter Nights + Expansions, Neverwinter Nights 2 (updated version called Electron Engine), Knights of the Old Republic 1&2, The Witcher

4. id Tech 3

The 3rd edition of the notorious game engine was developed by id Software for Quake 3, but at the time it looked so good, that many other developers bought it for their own games. id Tech 3 came with a lot of improvements and a greater detail level and fancy textures, but it’s greatest achievement was the animation capabilities. The models were now formed from 3 different parts “glued” together, used of course for the animation of the human/creature bodies.

Some of the games that used it: the first ever Call of Duty, Return to the Castle Wolfenstein, Star Wars Jedi Academy/Jedi Knight Outcast II and Medal of Honor Allied Assault + the two expansion packs (Spearhead and Breakthrough)

3. Source

The Source Engine is already a legend amongst the gamers.  Valve originally created Source Engine for Half Life 2, but then used it for all their games to this day. It was so advanced for its time that it was on the cover on every PC gaming magazine when it came out, after 5 years of development and postponing. The engine is capable of rendering amazing shadows and effects and  the latest versions offer HDR and all kind of new age effects. The perfect word to describe it would be revolutionary. Not to mention that it was used in Vampire the Masquerade – Bloodlines, one of the best games of all time.

Some of the games that used it: Half Life 2 + Ep1&2, Left 4 Dead 1&2(to be released), VtM – Bloodlines, Team Fortress 2, Portal, Counter Strike Source

2. Unreal Engine 2

The second version of the Unreal Engine is definitely the most successful engine of the last generation of video games. A humongous number of classics used it, simple because it was almost perfect. It worked for everything, from FPS to MMORPG. Epic games created it for Unreal 2 The Awakening, a game that received many prizes for most astonishing graphics of 2003, but a lot of other games used it to obtain fame: Lineage 2, the whole Splinter Cell series and SWAT 4 are just some of the masterpieces that used it.

Some of the games that used it: Unreal Tournament 2003/2004, Unreal 2 The Awakening, Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell Double Agent/Pandora Tomorrow/Chaos Theory, Lineage 2, Men of Valor, Brother in Arms – Road to Hill 30, Postal 2, America’s Army etc…

1. Unreal Engine 3

Well well… I highly doubt that there’s anyone in this world who doesn’t know about Unreal Engine 3. Epic Games made this awesome piece of engineering for their third installment of the Unreal Tournament saga, but that was just the beginning. Since then, more than fifty games used it, lots of them being AAA titles such as Bioshock, Batman Arkham Asylum or Gears of War. It’s the most popular graphic engine of our time, and probably the first choice of every developer. It looks amazing, it’s optimized for older graphic cards, it’s high-end, it’s all you need. Unreal Engine 4 is on it’s way, and we can only hope it’s going to live up to its predecessors.

Some of the games that used it: Unreal Tournament 3, Bioshock 1 and soon 2, Gears of War 1&2, Mass Effect 1&2, Mirror’s Edge, Tom Clancy’s Endwar, X-men Origins Wolverine, Section 8 and so on.

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