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[chronic_archaic]

343i's art style is underwhelming compared to Bungie. Sure, visually H4 was great, however the art direction leaved a lot to be desired.

Maybe. I don't know - I always thought H4 had this very modern look. Not for everyone possibly but the amount of brightness in the visuals and abstractness of the forerunners made it stand out for me.

 

[Champion]

Uncharted 4.

 

[Omni]

What? Was technically and visually stunning on 360 and on Xbox One can hold up against new games. Probably best looking game in the series.

Have you even looked at Halo 4 recently?

The art direction is all over the place. One of the ugliest games I've ever played. Bland oranges, dull greens... Smudged dirt skyboxes. And that's even before you get to the absolutely atrocious redesigns that 343i included to separate itself from Bungie for no reason

Halo 5 was definitely an improvement however

 

[Memento]

Uncharted 4.

In what universe?

 

[Spyder_Monkey]

Crysis

 

[Nielm]

Max Payne 3

 

[miller.skippins]

In what universe?

In the Xbox universe. Not enough muscles on the characters.

/S

 

[pretty done]

Guilty Gear Xrd

Wish SNK had their games looking that good :/

 

[M3d10n]

Jett Rocket has fully normal mapped 3D platforming levels at 60fps with stereoscopic 3D running on the 3DS. But the main character looks like it came straight from a cheap kids snack TV ad.

I'd love to see Shin'en tech expertise being used with top grade art assets and direction someday.

 

[dogen]

Crysis 2 and 3.

Crysis 1 is way worse though. Consoles at least forced them to focus resources on where they're most important.

 

[Goldboy]

I don't know about "terrible," but The Order 1886's art direction did nothing for me at all, despite how technically great the game looked.

 

[Ryouji Gunblade]

Halo 4 and 5, because most of their various Covenant species designs suck.

4 had the pastel Spartan armor, and 5 has bland warzone buildings.

 

[BotoxAgent]

Fallout and Elder Scrolls

 

[Tyaren]

Uncharted 4.

Guilty Gear Xrd

The Order 1886

I knew I was going to enter this thread and shaking my head. :/
Come on guys, these are technically and stylistically beautiful, well-rounded games. Super talented people put a lot of heart and work in those.

 

[True Fire]

ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat was the first DS game on a 2 gigabit card. And it was ugly as hell.

 

[Burbeting]

Twilight Princess. While the game is technically well done (especially hd version), the bland art style has aged it terribly.

Wind Waker has aged much better, in comparison. Skyward Sword will age more gracefully too.

 

[Breakage]

Ninja Gaiden II. Most of the enemy designs and locations look like shit.

 

[endlessflood]

As technically accomplished they were, the Marathons were ugly as sin. Especially compared to the cohesive vision in Doom.

That's a very interesting example. I was a huge fan of the Marathon games, but you're right, the art style there was just enough to serve the game (and no more). It was the story, atmosphere, and actual combat that I loved.

 

[Gator86]

Kameo
Fable
Oblivion
Sunset Overdrive

Get the entire fuck out. SO is gorgeous and has an amazing art style and sense of style.

 

[cryptosporidium]

Dishonored

 

[SystemBug]

Get the entire fuck out. SO is gorgeous and has an amazing art style and sense of style.

I know! The game celebrates art so much. You see it on buildings, you see it everywhere!

Dishonored

another terrible post

 

[99Luffy]

Every Team Ninja game.

 

[Atom Heart Mother]

Dishonored

huh

 

[WhiskerFrisker]

This thread is going to turn into a lame attempt to troll certain games.

 

[pixelation]

Twilight Princess. While the game is technically well done (especially hd version), the bland art style has aged it terribly.

Wind Waker has aged much better, in comparison. Skyward Sword will age more gracefully too.

I think TTP is the ugliest (official) Zelda game ever.

 

[godeveau]

Western C-RPG in general. KOTOR and Dragon Age Origin comes to mind.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Dishonored

you got that shit 100% backwards

 

[Dinjoralo]

GTA IV. The stuff they were doing with tech back then was impressive, but it just looks plain ugly.

 

[Mass Effect]

Pretty much every 3d Rare game. Their art direction has always been pretty awful.

Conker? Star Fox Adventures? Banjo Nuts & Bolts?

Dishonored

nuh uh

 

[Rodney McKay]

Western C-RPG in general. KOTOR and Dragon Age Origin comes to mind.

Dragon Age Origins was definitely not a technically impressive game, especially with it coming out 2 years after Mass Effect 1.
Dragon Age 2 (for as much as I didn't like it) at least gave the game a more distinctive art-style, but again, it wasn't technically impressive.

 

[Svejk]

Borderlands
....sorry, guys. Celshaded art doesn't click for me when I think of a fps game.

 

[Oersted]

Anything Shinen tbh

The exception of the rule. Granted, a bit cheated cause its a license game, but still.

 

[Golden_Pigeon]

Saint Row. It was amazing to play «HD gta» but omg that art direction...

 

[13ruce]

GTA IV is a grey mess.
GTA V luckily fixed that.

 

[lvl99 Pixel]

This thread is going to turn into a lame attempt to troll certain games.

going to? it became that right off the bat

 

[Jawbreaker]

Hard to say. Most technically impressive titles also have the luxury of devs employing competent artists able to craft a coherent art direction that, while not always appealing to everyone, captures the intended look/feel rather well. I wouldn't call that "terrible," rather, not to my taste. I'm struggling to think of an example that was poorly executed. It's likely I've just avoided the more obvious cases.

 

[Mass Effect]

Anything Shinen tbh

Hey man, Nanostray looked cool.

 

[orborborb]

Doom, Quake 2, Everquest, World of Warcraft, The Witcher 3, and Horizon Zero Dawn

Disagree about Marathon (well except for the alien spacecraft textures in Durandal) and Crysis 2 (it looked great before they patched in a bunch of ugly contrast and saturation boosting postprocessing)

 

[WhiskerFrisker]

going to? it became that right off the bat

You're right. I was being generous.

Doom, Quake 2, World of Warcraft, The Witcher 3, and Horizon Zero Dawn

Disagree about Marathon and Crysis (2 especially looked great especially before they patched in a bunch of black crush)

Case in point. Like how?

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Gonna have to echo Twilight Princess. Looked really good for a Gamecube/Early Wii game, went for pseudo-realism and aged terribly because of it. The NPC designs look hideous and Link's outfit looks even goofier than usual.

If they went for a more realistic approach again I think it'd look a lot better, but the art style in TP was bland at best and ugly at worst.

Spoiler

I like TP by the way

 

[Mass Effect]

GTA IV. The stuff they were doing with tech back then was impressive, but it just looks plain ugly.

This is a good choice.

Borderlands
....sorry, guys. Celshaded art doesn't click for me when I think of a fps game.

Borderlands isn't really technically impressive.

Also, if you don't like how the finished game looked, you should have seen it before.

The exception of the rule. Granted, a bit cheated cause its a license game, but still.

 

[Nachtfalke]

So many games on PS3 and Xbox 360 using Unreal Engine 3 are ugly as hell due their terrible art style. It was technically a good engine but dear good many of the core assets of games using it are so ugly. Unreal Tournament 3 is another good example.

 

[Ricerocket]

Doom, Quake 2, Everquest, World of Warcraft, The Witcher 3, and Horizon Zero Dawn

Disagree about Marathon (well except for the alien spacecraft textures in Durandal) and Crysis 2 (it looked great before they patched in a bunch of ugly contrast and saturation boosting postprocessing)

wtf? Those are all like my favorites of games back in the days rofl. Including Witcher 3 now, don't have ps3 to experience Horizon but since it's on the list, feels like I'd like that game. I just don't see a pattern between all of them to see how they're bad.

 

[CitizenCope]

The Metal Gear series and all that green tone to everything. Couldn't stand it.

 

[lvl99 Pixel]

Doom, Quake 2, Everquest, World of Warcraft, The Witcher 3, and Horizon Zero Dawn

listing a bunch of games that were some of the best looking in their genres visually? id like to hear why you think theyre "terrible"

 

[@MUWANdo]

First thing to come to mind for some reason is Flink on the Mega Drive. I always thought this game looked really amazing graphically but the style is hideous. The game is also not good.

If this is your standard for ugly then don't ever play another European-made platformer because the general standard is way, way lower.

 

[Platy]

This thread is going to turn into a lame attempt to troll certain games.

Worst part is that most aren't even technical impressive

 

[K.Sabot]

Perfect Dark Zero at launch.

 

[ffejeromdiks]

What? The Art in Gears was amazing at the time. And still is today.


Art does not mean colorful.

Sorry bud, the Gears art design has never been good.

 

[Leafhopper]

Many a GBA game that was trying some new artstyle but ran like a dream.