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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
Ravenprose said:Light gun games have never been all that popular on home consoles. So this is kind of a new thing, I suppose.
I'm trying to think of an example of a system where a light gun or on rails game came away with a "best visuals" on the system award. I cannot think of one.
Even on rails games like Starfox weren't better looking than other games. Was Panza Dragoon better looking than other Xbox games?
bugsonglass said:i'd like to see the graphical detail if someone were to shoot just as the reticule is placed in that screenshot
?
I remember, at the time, being very impressed with the graphics of HOTD2 on the Dreamcast, but it was in line with the other games on the console (not beter or worse).
gamingeek said:
Even on rails games like Starfox weren't better looking than other games. Was Panza Dragoon better looking than other Xbox games?
That was pretty close to launch and it was noted that it looked amazing at the time.
IGN: "the best looking game on Xbox. That's not up for debate. Watch the game in motion and you'll see that Orta takes Xbox graphics to a whole new level."
Gamespot: "In fact, it's hard to imagine such an impressive-looking game appearing anywhere other than on the Xbox. Technically, the game's silky smooth frame rate and highly detailed, meticulously animated characters are undeniably impressive, as are the sweeping and richly colored environments."
1UP: "jawdropping organic techno-fantasy aesthetics"
Oh man, thanks for the flashbacks, Operation Wolf and Lethal Enforcers. I used to love that stuff.
Yeah Panza Orta looked good but wasn't the best looking Xbox game so how much did its on rails nature help it? I also think there is a difference between being a sky based on rails game which funnels you forward incessently and a lightgun shooter where you rotate and go around the same area.
So what are the benefits of being an on rails game?
The argument would usually be that the system doesn't have to render what the camera has passed. But if you've been playing modern Wii lightgun games that doesn't hold true as you frequently go back through the environment, the camera turns, you move through it and the environment exists just as it would in any FPS or 3rd person camera game. The environment is rendered and exists there. It's not like Starfox where you move past a point and are only seeing what is right in front of you.
Visual calling doesn't work that fast, you can see in games like Overlord Dark Legend and COD WaW, games which try to use visual calling, its too slow and that is why you get pop up an texture pop in.
So I guess the other benefit is enemy spawning which they can hide behind the camera, you can tell because it very occasionally glitches in Overkill and you can see the enemy pop up just in front of you.
But other games can use the same trick, spawning enemies outside of your viewpoint.
The biggest advantage of these games IMO is the camera, which is directed like a movie and so can frame the action in exactly the way the developers want.
darthhomer said:HOTD 3 still looked pretty decent last I checked.
Check again. 
It looked great when it came out in the arcades. Arcade games>console games. 
Whenever there is a great looking lightgun shooter for the Wii, you hear people saying that its only because its on rails. It's not a claim I completely disagree with but it got me wondering; what light gun shooters of the past have distinguished themselves graphically, over and above other titles on the same hardware?
I can't really think of any. Most of the light gun games I'm familiar with are Dreamcast era games and I can name many other DC that had better visuals.