CoverArt Comparision: Bayonetta/Vanquish

It did take a moment for me to realize the guy wasn't laying on his back shooting, but sliding.
To me though, the cover is appealing in the sense of the ammount of detail they put into the suit. I mean, look at the mastercheif armor from the box art of of any halo and then look at vanquish. worlds different, atleast to me.

I like both but I think Bayonetta was about the character and so much of her character was in her face which is obscured in the Japanese version.
The look of the second cover better suits the character and game.

While the first has a more classic pose it those not convey enough.

As for the third cover too shocking to the eye even though it shows her playful side

I will agree that Brad does have a point. The problem I have with the Vanquish cover though, is the coloring. I don't feel like there's too much color contrast so to me, the cover looks a little blurred together since nothing really "pops out". If I was scanning a rack of video games, and I had no prior knowledge of Vanquish, I might not even notice the game.

I guess that's why I like the Japanese Bayonetta cover, since Bayonetta and the title contrast nicely with the blue background. Though, the alternative cover has quite a bit of contrast as well, I think is a little...excessive? >_>

I think we need more painted covers. Just look at the awful cover used for Mount and Blade (Sorry don't know how linking works here): http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/1309/92939399197frontwd2.jpg versus the game artist that they had the full use of, Ganbat: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4438701149_606156ff57.jpg

Should have been a no brainer. As for the 3rd bayonetta cover, It was done by Adam Hughes (which I saw leaked long before it was published) and I think he nailed the feel of the game/character. In a world of brown games and "gritty" over-detailed covers, a big block of pink broken up by that black will really turn some heads and dominate the shelf.

Why does America always get the crappy cover art?

I agree with David. A game's cover holds some weight when sitting on a shelf. I love Mass Effect 2, but the cover was horrid! I really like what Sega is gonna do with the Yakuza 4 cover.

You know I might start blowing up and switching all my covers because these are just so cool. On Gamefaqs they, more often then not, have all the different cover images and I always like the Japanese or European better then American. The effect is the same as the painter Drew Struzan. When Drew paints covers for music, film, anything really. He captures what that thing is. Look at Indiana Jones or Blade Runner. Japanese covers seem to do this same thing for me I mean just look at Ico or Breath of Fire V. When I saw the American cover of Ico I was dumb struck it was so bad. Some covers get it right however. Lke Halo Reach or the GTA games.

With the Bayonetta art, I do like how the Japanese cover kept the "mysteriousness" of Bayonetta. It makes you wonder "Whoa, what's this woman about?" so it kinda draws you in. But the American art is really "Oh, what's with this lady trying to kick me in the face?" and it takes away the mystery of who she is. If they wanted to show who she is the American cover could at least capture her more playful yet violent side.

And for Vanquish I wish they could actually show where he is and what he's shooting at. It just shows him sliding(laying down) and shooting. I know he's the focus of the game but it'd be cool see him in a clearer environment while fighting enemies. Like, shooting and boost punching enemies in the face. Or even show him facing one on one with bigger enemies or more ferocious enemies. If war has accelerated, you gotta show how action packed it is.

I really love this series of posts. There have been several occasions where I've seen box art for a game and wondered why they went for that look...and not something else. I have never seen the Japanese cover for Bayonetta and I gotta say...I wish I had the chance of buying that instead of the American one.

I agree; the Japanese cover is much better looking.

Honestly, there are a lot of game covers that look the same. There's a lot of black/white/red color palettes and an occasional grey/blue. And I totally agree with specdotsign about the ME2 cover. It was absolutely horrible.

I think that developers need to start asking their designers to take risks to really make the covers unique. Often times, a cover would look better as a poster than a game cover; the reduced size tends to make a lot of the covers not as effective if they were blown up.

Personally, I'd love to see more illustrators do game covers instead of just having an in-game model rendered on the front cover.

Cover art comparison series has always been one of my favorites. It really is intriguing to see what we could have gotten instead, be it bad or good.

The only real issue I have with the Vanquish cover is the lack of contrast. The background steely blue blends too much with the character's suit, so it doesn't really create much visual excitement. Of course that's exactly what you get in game too, so I can understand the concept.

"But recently while talking to Brad, he voiced his opinion that it’s that great." Did you mean "NOT that great"? Since the next point that comes up is that it sort of gives people the wrong idea about the cover and not exactly knowing that he's doing a power slide? I'm not trying to say I don't think the cover art is cool, because I do like the design of the armor (except for the few misplaced greens, but maybe that's just me), just wondering if that was just a small error.

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