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In the world of video games, especially for enthusiasts and collectors, the quality of a games cover art is subject to debate. Many argue that the west is terrible at designing quality cover art, oftentimes painting a game as little more than a childish form of entertainment rather than a legitmate mature entertainment medium [before you go nuts and start the 'games as art' debate', keep reading because that is not what this post is about]. In a lot of cases, I would say that cover art is sometimes one of the strongest factors in the argument against the legitmacy of games. What do I mean exactly? Well it is hard to take something seriously when the packaging looks like this:
Granted, Duke Nukem isn't meant to be taken seriously, it is meant to be commentary on action movie cliche but is this the best they could come up with? It seriously looks like he is smothering a stripper with his ass while a nuclear explosion is devastating Las Vegas in the background! Unfortunately, it is the company's desperate desire to appeal to the lowest common denominator that gets us crap like this instead of something a little bit more respectable. Perhaps i'm in the minority here but I would feel a lot more comfortable buying a game with art like this:
But I digress. This article started as a cover art retrospective but I eventually altered it in the hopes of doing something a bit more topical. While Japan has pretty consistently had a real knack for delivering strong cover art for their games, the US has been hit or miss for the most part. What boggles the mind even further is how often great games end up with terrible cover art. While many would consider this to not be a big deal, cover art is often the first thing that consumers are exposed to. It is a key touchpoint for marketing teams to consider and in a lot of cases, I feel that is handled incorrectly or at least without consideration for the loyal, die hard fans of the series or developer. So now I present to you my top 5 GREAT games with AWFUL cover art: (for the sake of keeping this relevant, I narrowed my search to games released this console generation):
| Released in late 2010 on the PC, 'Amnesia: the Dark Descent' is a game that was well received pretty much across the board. By putting players in the shoes of a defenseless character and then throwing him into horrifying scenarios in the bowels of a dark castle, the game was able to create a sense of foreboding that is rare in gaming. Unfortunately, when the game saw it's first retail release in February of 2011, it was pushed out the door with cliche, terrible cover art. Looking at this cover art, the first thing I think of is a tragic love story. The rose in the pool of water may be evocative of an important story element in the game but it doesn't communicate anything relevant to a person who just happens to see it on a shelf. It's flat, uninteresting, and completely uninspired. |
 | The success and relevance of a game series like Yakuza is up for debate when it comes to the North American market but cover art is an aspect that the series had nailed up until the release of 'Yakuza 3'. With Yakuza making it's retail debut on the PS3, you would think that Sega might actually do their best to market the game properly in the NA market. If this truly god awful cover art is any indication at all, Sega must have shoved this package out the door for fear that their fans would strike them down with a vengeance. Sorry Sega but I am pretty sure the die hard fans of this series would have been willing to wait a bit longer to get a game with some packaging that was indicative of the game itself. |
 | Bayonetta is by far the most complex and forward thinking third-person action game since the original 'Devil May Cry' but that didn't stop Sega from dropping the bomb on it's cover art. What I find the most offensive is the complete disregard for all of the wonderful 'Bayonetta' art that was ignored in favor of this garbage. Rather than design something clean, colorful, and devilishly suggestive or crude, Sega went with downright ugly. What i'm sure was a decision that was made to avoid "offending the sheltered, western consumer" resulted in art that simply couldn't do the game justice. |
 | Admittedly, Valve is without a doubt one of this industries leading developers. Their knowledge and mastery of game design and storytelling can't be questioned yet somehow, their ability to design attractive cover art and packaging for their products is shameful. When Left 4 Dead's marketing campaign started, this image was considered stylish and clever but when I saw that this was the actual cover art, I was very disappointed. I once considered this to be one of the more attractive cover arts that Valve released but when 'Left 4 Dead 2' released with an almost identical cover, I changed my mind. This art is something that I feel should have been used for marketing purposes and advertisements but has no place on the cover of the actual packaging. With 'Left 4 Dead 2' continuing this style, I shudder to think of what the Left 4 Dead 3 art would look like. |
 | With last month's critically acclaimed 'Portal 2', Valve released one of their most ambitious and easily one of their best products to date. With the retail release of Portal 1 sporting a decent, minimalistic cover art, I was sure that Valve would produce a clean, attractive cover to match that of the game. What we got was a busy mess that focused on an aspect of the game that clearly isn't the games main focus. For a game with such a clean aesthetic and identifiable style, i'm a little insulted by package with practically no traces of these. In the course of doing some research, I stumbled across a little article over at 1up.com that highlighted all of the wonderful alternative cover art that never came to be. In fact, I would say all 25 of these alternatives are better than the final product. Sorry Valve, I love the game but I ABHOR the cover. |
Comments
13 years, 7 months ago
Well to be honest, Amnesia is a bland, boring, and overall an empty game. Yakuza 3 and Portal 2 are the only ugly ones from above. Can't say much seeing how I find most of the games mentioned lacking in content. Portal 2 cover should have been the same as the cover art for the GI issue for its announcement. Shame.
13 years, 7 months ago
Ah... yes, the Yakuza 3 cover.
Didn't look like Kazuma appreciated it either.
That cover for Amnesia didn't look too bad.
The retail cover for it was worse, I think.
Small mistake, Nick:
I think you meant Sega instead of Capcom for the Bayonetta entry?
13 years, 7 months ago
Hey Nick, dude, Bayonetta was made by SEGA no Capcom! Brad surely will kill you for that mistake XD hahahahaha nice post!
13 years, 7 months ago
My thoughts:
Duke Nukem - really weak cover "art", considering the art of Borderlands cover and the old Duke Nukem 3D cover...
Amnesia - A wierd choice of art for that cover, they should have gone with something to do with the castle and fear. The art they chose would, as you said, fit a Film Noir story or romance story better.
Yakuza 3 - Extremly bland cover art. Feels like they run out of time to do a decent cover...
I guess they thought "oh no! a cigarette smoking guy can't be the cover, or we will be sued".
The Japanese cover was very stylish btw.
Bayonetta - wierd pose, and doesn't convey the games very noticable sexy style choice at all.
Left 4 Dead - I kind of like it actually, atleast it tries to be more than a group pose shot of the 4 protagonists standing about, but I wonder what they will do with a possible 4th game?
They've allready used the 4 fingers in the first cover.
Portal 2 - Portal 1 had a great cover art, so this one feels very out of place.
They should have come up with a new minimalistic cover style.
13 years, 7 months ago
I imagine Sega had something to do with Bayonetta.
From their point of view, Co-Op probably was a center focus for Portal 2. I say this from their prospective of testing the thing to death, and probably single play was ready long before Co-Op was. Needless to say co-op is probably the strong point gamewise, not narrative wise.
Looking at some of the covers, not all of them are really that good to me. Some covers look like it's software rather than a game and while that may be awesome for those who know about the game, it could be passed up by an average person. Selling points being Co-Op and Portals, many covers are missing one or the other. I think I had more fun with Co-Op than the campaign, which I think is what they wanted to convey, especially those who didn't know that it was in there but knew about Portal 1. Be honest, if you hear there is a Portal 2, you think it's single player only, and its going to be the same game again.
As for Duke Nukem, ya the cover could be better, but then again no other cover is like that. Going through my short stack of video games, Operation of Darkness probably has what most covers try to convey. It's pretty generic looking but does what it does, after all your not going to post your game box on your wall like a poster.
13 years, 7 months ago
Calm yourselves folks, I was mistyped with the whole Capcom thing. It's been fixed.
13 years, 7 months ago
Obviously, these are our own opinions, but I disagreed with some of your choices. The only one it think is outright bad is Yakuza 3, which looks more like a 10 year old's first attempt with Photoshop than a professional cover design. Portal 2 and Bayonetta were less than average, for similar reasons that you pointed out. Bayonetta was disappointingly the better of the two, considering Valve's high standards.
That being said, I really liked Left 4 Dead's cover. I'll admit I'm a fan of minimalistic art, but I think it establishes what the game is really about with simple images and colors. There's the putrid green that wraps around the idea of an infection, red smears for that suggest blood / violence, and the zombie hand spread in the air. I certainly felt excited for what the game entailed when I saw it for the first time. You said you liked Portal's art, but why didn't you like L4D's? They are both in the minimalist category I think...
On Amnesia, I can't really put in a valid opinion because I haven't played more than twenty minutes of the game, but I don't think it looks bad from a "passerby" perspective. Bland? Maybe a little bit. However, that rose does entice my interest a little bit and I'd like to find out more. Overall though, yes, it could be better.
13 years, 7 months ago
I actually really like the Portal 2 cover art, and I didn't like any of the ones on the 1up article. Maybe I've just seen the actual cover art so many times I can't accept any others, but honestly when it was first announced and people were complaining and tossing out alternatives I liked this one too.
13 years, 7 months ago
Just be glad game cover art hasn't devolved to the level of scifi/fantasy book covers. If you're looking for a good laugh: http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/ (be vigilant though, some covers may be nsfw)
13 years, 7 months ago
It seems Nick himself has change his picture logo in a form on his new face that is looking at you.
13 years, 7 months ago
Ehh i can agree with you for the most part....EXCEPT left 4 dead...i think they did a good simple cover. the symbolization is key. 4 survivors. zombies. thats all the game is.
13 years, 7 months ago
*dons art nerd glasses*
In all honesty I wish you would have put down some real reasons why these covers fail on a visual level. No offense, but the reasoning behind some of these is a bit glib. For some of the artwork it seems obvious why it's garbage (Yakuza half-face cover) but for some of these they're either perfectly workable or probably superior to the alternative. In either case I think that if some of these covers were more literal or busy then we'd be arguing how it's cliche or doesn't read well on the shelf.
The Amnesia cover for instance. It's a stark, readable image that frankly stands out from the noise of the rest of the covers just in this article. From twenty paces, packaging (this goes for games, books, and canned peas) is ONLY concerned with differentiating itself from the rest of the items on the shelf, all other concerns are addressed later once it has the consumer's attention. Since most videogame covers go the bright, vibrant, detail-laden, tits-in-your-face, "we all have ADD" route, this dark, simple cover featuring mainly a shaft of light really stands out. With the hook in our lips we step closer and see... a rose? In water? Why is it there? Does it have something to do with the story? What's this game about..... that's what a GOOD cover does. It represents the tone of the work while remaining mysterious enough to make you want to know more. Instead you write here that it's terrible... why? uninspired, cliche? What if instead they had the monster right on the tin? Would another videogame cover with another monster somehow be LESS cliche?
I think I can make my point best by recalling another 4pp cover comparison where you guys dealt with the different versions of the Heavy Rain covers. I'm not sure who was writing, but I remember that the INFERIOR cover was the one that displayed the characters in your standard movie-montage style cover, while the SUPERIOR cover was the one that featured a stark image of a piece of origami in the rain set against a black background... In all the ways that matter, the superior Heavy Rain cover shares the visual elements of the amnesia cover; Simple, stark, mysterious and inviting inquiry. If you tell someone the story on the cover, there's no reason to buy the book.
The exact same thing can be said for the left4dead cover. Left4dead and Dead Rising both share a similar setting and tone; irreverent zombie apocalypse. Tell me it wasn't a good idea to go with a graphic, flat-colour, easily readable cover to set itself apart from Dead Rising's literal "hey here's some zombies" cover. You can instantly tell them apart, and for me at least the L4D cover comes off as more sophisticated. First rule of design; when the market zigs, you zag.
I'm not just saying this for business reasons either. As an artist I can identify with and appreciate more a simple image done well rather than a cluttered, over-rendered mess like the dead-rising cover.
For the Bayonetta cover I think it's just a case of
13 years, 7 months ago
Even though I agree the Duke Nukem cover art sucks, isn't that something Duke Nukem would do? Smother a stripper with his ass as an explosion blows up Las Vegas?
13 years, 7 months ago
The Dukenukem cover seems entirely appropriate for a game that is going after the same market as Bulletstorm. It's going for the silly 13 year old in all of us that want to jiggly physics and hear a lot of terrible dick jokes and just shoot things for 5 hours. The immature art work is perfect for that.
Eh, I don't mind the Bayonetta work either. I could just be blinded by love for that perfect game, but eh. If they removed the hairsleeves it would be much better, but I just focus on her face and impossibly long legs.
the L4D art is basic and barebones, not insulting, but the fact that L4D2 uses kinda the same art is perfect since that game is a ripoff that uses pretty much everything from the first, and adds maybe a new dimension or two
13 years, 7 months ago
I honestly find nothing wrong with these covers. Yeah, I could imagine some as being a lot more extraordinary, but they still look cool in my opinion. As long as we all understand that it's the game that really matters, then it's all good. =)
13 years, 7 months ago
Yakuza 3 cover:
O__O
13 years, 7 months ago
whenever i'm looking around in a store for a game it's usually always a jumbled mess of weird covers. appealing covers seem to be uncommon
13 years, 7 months ago
I don't think these covers are "ugly." They could be better, yes, but they are pretty decent.
13 years, 7 months ago
Absolutely agree with the Portal 2 cover art. When I picked it up in stores, I literally did a double-table when I saw the cover art. I actually started questioning the quality of the game based on the clearly co-op inspired cover art. Honestly.. I'm thinking Valve needs to make some better choices.
13 years, 7 months ago
First off, I have to point out that the sickening emphasis Valve has been placing on Coop lately pisses me off. There had better not been Coop in ANY form of a direct Half Life title in the future or I'm done with them. That aside, in regards to the Portal 2 cover art, I think 16 and 22 would have been the best to go with from the batch of alternatives on 1up.
I don't see much wrong in way with the Bayonetta cover art. It's a not bad pose, and it's not in your face about her character's sex appeal.
If you're a consumer and you found and are considering buy a copy of Amnesia at a retailer, then you're doing something wrong.
I don't have much to say about Yakuza 3 as I could never get that series to 'click'. However I do feel they could have either gone for a more stylized than half a guys face staring blankly with a red backdrop.
13 years, 7 months ago
That Amnesia cover is MUCH better than it's retail version. Other than that, nice post Nick. That Yakuza cover is very absurd too.
13 years, 7 months ago
I feel you on Portal 2 Nick, with Left 4 Dead and Portal 1 looking so stylish they really dropped the ball on this one.
13 years, 7 months ago
The thing I never get for the Portal 2 cover, is why the hell did the two robots put the portals there? I know it would look a bit weird for someone knew if there was just one colour portal on the screen, but if you think about in terms of the game, it doesn't really make sense. Unless they've just invented a horizontal infinite loop, but whatever.
That Ico box art has to be the worst box art I've ever seen though, THANKFULLY us lot in the PAL countries got a much better one, albeit still not great.
13 years, 7 months ago
I still think that the worst coverart i have seen is the DJ Hero 2 coverart.
The problem i find with it is that the coverart for the first DJ Hero was so good because it captured the fun and creativeness of the actual game. But then with DJ Hero 2 it just showed the DJ turntable with the large "DJ Hero 2" title on a plain white background. This just made it look boring although the actual game itself was all about being fun and creating art (Music) which i just feel that they had in the fist one and was non existent in the second
13 years, 7 months ago
I dont know about the rest, but i also found the portal two cover a bit of a let down
13 years, 7 months ago
I agree whole heartedly with the portal 2 cover one, but can't fully side with Nick on the Amnesia cover. The only thing I didn't like about the cover is how they show you the main grunt type monster on the back of the box. The main draw of amnesia isn't just the lack of combat, but also the mystery about what exactly you're hiding from. Itd be like if we all had a good look at what "The thing" was before we could even see the movie.
13 years, 7 months ago
Weird. I expected terrible cover art from a Valve game, but not from Left 4 Dead and Portal 2.
*cough*theorangebox*cough*
13 years, 7 months ago
man i look at the portal two cover and i just cringe
i mean its just so different from the first one its just over complicated
and with the Amnesia cover it seems nice but it looks just a poor quaillity image.
13 years, 6 months ago
i really like the amnesia cover, never played the game though. The others are meh(Bayo/L4D) to bad looking(Duke/Yak3/Portal2).
13 years, 6 months ago
for a few of these games i really did judge them by the cover and wound up regretting that i didn't play them sooner