iCEnhancer is a graphical mod for Grand Theft Auto 4 which sharply increases the quality of the graphics of the game to a level that can only be called “photo-realistic”. I normally don’t rave on graphics, but I was blown away by the quality of the graphics and had to look twice at more than one of them to make sure that they weren’t photos. They’re not. Screencaps after the jump so you can see for yourself.
When I first played Final Fantasy 8, the graphics were gorgeous and beautiful in the 3D renders of the world map. When I played Vagrant Story, the quality of the graphics were incredible. They’re still impressive but are incredibly lacking compared to what modern gaming is capable of several years later.
When I got my PS2, the first game I played was Metal Gear Solid 2, the detail on Raiden’s hair and Snake’s badass beard, glass bottles smashing to bits on impact with bullets, gas extinguishers spraying CO2 everywhere, all with zero lag and jerkiness. They only got better in the future.
Though non-static objects such as deck chairs and pedestrians still look gamey, the rest of the game with this mod looks absolutely beautiful and gives us a crystal-clear look at what the graphic potential of PCs and perhaps Generation 8 consoles can accomplish now and in the future.
Setting up the mod takes a long time and it’s easy to screw up, but if you love graphics and have a high-end PC, it’s worth all the time it takes and then some. This is officially the standard for PC graphics in the near future that want a level of realism. We do play games to escape from reality, but they’re slowly getting to where they’ll be too realistic.
Andy Codina
I just read about this and was a bit questionable with what it may bring to the PC gamer’s end. Maintaining a high end rig is not only a daunting task, but its very costly. I wonder how mid-high end PC rigs can handle this stuff. My GTX580 which did not only cost me money to buy, but is still costing me money to just run it would probably even fail at maxed graphics with this game, so this would mean another upgrade! gosh!!!
Rian Quenlin
PCs made for modern gaming need a high-quality cooling system in order to function at 100% at all times. Unfortunately I don’t hear about those in the news often, it’s always about how many polygons and calculations per second something can render.
Some enthusiasts actually cool their PCs with liquid nitrogen, crazy huh?
Andy Codina
Yeah, I’m also in that gig. Though I don’t cool my rig with liquid Nitrogen, that would be costly. I have a modded water cooler that goes to the north bridge, south bridge and RAMs with water blocks. Still working on modding it to cater my GPU, though I’m not having any problems with heating on my GPU atm. Its a MSI GTX580 Twin Frozer – cheapest brand you can buy, same power, best cooling!
Though I really doubt that the sheer power of any video card out there today can handle the graphics of these new games like the Ultra graphic setting on Battle field 3, heck L.A. Noire is busy overheating consoles as we speak,(still waiting for it to be released on PC) and now this? Seriously? iCEhenhancer? Rockstar is really playing with this game a lot! Its like a test run for what is to come for GTA 5 and it’s pacing the requirements for gaming PCs even higher – faster.
Nowadays, when you buy the latest high-end GPU, processor, mobo or any PC spec, in just a few months you’ll find yourself hanging on an outdated rig. Very costly!