There’s a certain game that came out recently which is kind of a big deal. Said title would be Starfield. Unless you’ve been living in a log cabin in the remotest of woods with zero access to the internet for the last three decades, you’ll know this is the first new IP from Bethesda Game Studios in 25 years.
It’s also categorically the biggest title to launch on Xbox Game Pass this year, and the most important game for Xbox Series X since 2021’s Halo Infinite.
In our Starfield review, our writer Roland described the epic intergalactic adventure as “the apex of Bethesda’s open-world games and a killer Xbox Series X and PC game.” Thanks to Game Pass Ultimate, subscribers to Microsoft’s top-tier service can also enjoy Starfield on one of the best gaming PCs or best gaming laptops.
Let me be clear, though: I’m not here to add my two cents to the critical consensus surrounding Starfield.
Holy hell does Starfield look ludicrously good on the LG G3 OLED TV.
Whether I think Bethesda’s ambitious open-world is the best thing since sliced space bread or the biggest sci-fi abomination this side of John Travolta’s ghastly 2000 Battlefield Earth reboot doesn’t really matter.
What I am here to tell you is this: holy hell does it ever look ludicrously good on the LG G3 OLED TV.
Up until a few days ago, I would have happily told you the LG C2 OLED is the best TV I’ve ever owned. It’s little wonder we currently rank it as the best TV for most people here at Tom’s Guide. This is a truly wonderful television.
And you know what? The G3 OLED stomps the shizzle out of the C2.
The future of OLED
I recently put myself in the poor house forever by purchasing the 77-inch version of this astonishingly good LG G3 OLED, which currently retails for $4,499 / £4,299. My maxed out credit card is gonna hate me for a looooong ol’ time.
Hitting a peak HDR brightness of 1,361 nits, it’s the second brightest OLED TV we’ve ever tested — that’s just a teeny fraction dimmer than the superb Samsung S95C, which can reach 1,369 nits.
Depending on what type of content you’re watching, the G3 is also up to 70% brighter than its little brother (the still awesome LG OLED C3), based on our testing results.
I’ve played Starfield on both last year’s LG C2 and this year’s G3 over the past week, and there’s just no contest in my eyes. The G3 represents the biggest annual jump in brightness between two LG OLED models I’ve ever seen, and that’s all thanks to Micro Lens Array (MLA) tech.
The G3 represents the biggest annual jump in brightness between two LG OLED models I’ve ever seen.
I’ll try not to overly bore you with screen specifics, but MLA is LG’s answer to the quantum dot tech Samsung has been rolling out with its QD-OLEDs over the last year or so.
Thanks to billions of convex lenses that are placed above the G3’s panel, the company’s latest premium TV is able to get significantly brighter than any other OLED the South Korean firm has ever produced.
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I can honestly say that after only a week’s usage, the G3’s brightness-boosting MLA features have blown my (now incredibly poor) socks off. The pictures it produces are so much more punchy and vivid than my C2 — which I’m now going to have to flog — it’s a legit night and day difference.
Starfield looks utterly incredible on the LG G3 OLED. When you first take to the stars after blasting off the game’s opening mining colony, then suddenly see the contrast between the surface of a blindingly bright moon and the endless, inky gloom of space, it’s a gobsmacking moment.
I’ll go one further: it’s the single most impressive image I’ve ever seen an OLED TV produce. And I’ve been buying these ‘organic light-emitting diodes’ since 2015.
(Star)field of Dreams
The scenes Starfield so regularly serves players up are often perfect for showing the strength of OLED as a display technology. The infinite blacks of the cosmos being pierced by millions of glistening stars shows off the sort of contrast the best LED TVs can’t get anywhere near.
Combine this with the added pop the G3 gives to bright setpieces — like the many battles your hero encounters on planet surfaces that are so bright, I found myself squinting on more than one occasion — and the searing results are enough to give your pupils sunburn.
Play Starfield on the LG G3 OLED, and I promise you it’s an experience your peepers will cherish for years.
I am seriously saying most gamers should go out and sink over four grand on a TV, though? Of course not. I bought one because I’m A) obsessed with owning the best OLED TVs, and B) I’m bad with money and probably shouldn’t be let within several country miles of a credit.
Nevertheless, playing Starfield on the LG G3 OLED, purely from a visual perspective, could well be the most visually-arousing experience of this A/V nerd’s existence.
