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[kokujin]

Castlevania Lords of Shadow of course. Few games are even close.It's just artwork in motion

Well it was a slideshow.

 

[John Rabbit]

OUTLAND

PS: Outland in general is criminally overlooked by way to many people. In terms of art style the game is ridiculously good.

PPS: REZ Art Style wise looks crazy good in HD. Makes everything look like real vector graphics. I'd go so far as to say it looks better than it's spiritual successor Eden.

I actually wrote a fairly in-depth look at the art style for Outland, it was so immediately striking and the visual cues were familiar to me right away.

 

[NBtoaster]

Crysis 2

(not the best screen)

 

[dralla]

I've always loved the way RE4 looked, Wii version specifically

 

[Vanillalite]

I actually wrote a fairly in-depth look at the art style for Outland, it was so immediately striking and the visual cues were familiar to me right away.

Awesome post! I have some art and industrial design friends I'll have to share this with! Thanks a ton for sharing. It's stuff like this that I don't expect that makes me love GAFers.

 

[Firefox]

Nothing compares to XENOSAGA.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

A lot of these games have good art assets... but very spotty artistic direction. Some of them are pretty damn inconsistent.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

What's this game name?

Edit: Beaten. El Shaddai.

 

[Lulubop]

Darkstalkers series.

 

[Snuggles]

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

fuckin' spooky

 

[Acrylic7]

Killzone 2-3

nope

 

[NBtoaster]

nope

Except for the GREEN levels, the art direction is just as good as KZ2.

 

[InsaneLuchador]

Mirror's Edge, where realism meets color.

My favorite modern cityscape in any medium. Too bad I just didn't dig the game.

 

[KingK]

Another one I haven't seen mentioned yet is God of War 3.

 

[PowerK]

Rage.

 

[Strike]

Heavenly Sword. It's a shame that Ninja Theory has more talented artists than actual programmers.

 

[Air]

The first few posts pretty much nailed it.

I'd throw in jet grind radio as well. I also think mass effect does too.

 

[Peasant Princess-King]

Op needs to re-edit his post with some Curse of Monkey Island!

 

[KingK]

Heavenly Sword really was a gorgeous looking game. I actually quite liked the game overall. It wasn't particularly amazing, but I enjoyed playing it and actually played through it two or three times. I'm surprised how much Gaf seems to hate Ninja Theory.

 

[alazz]

Guild Wars series, and the concept art is so good

RAGE has nice art and environmental design. Subway City is pretty nice, and that whole zone has nice art. When you were actually treated to high-rise textures the game was breathtaking.

 

[Zhaanie]

One of my personal favourites, FFXII.

 

[Kahoona]

Glancing through this thread, I didn't see Rayman: Origins.

 

[benzy]

Blue Dragon

Even if you're not a fan of Toriyama's character designs, the environments and claymation art style in this game were beautiful.

 

[SpaceBridge]

One of my personal favourites, FFXII.

I wish this looked good on an HDTV, but it doesnt. Maybe FFX HD sales well, maybe Square will consider doing an HD port.

 

[Ratrat]

I would buy a Guild Wars artbook.

 

[Zhaanie]

I wish this looked good on an HDTV, but it doesnt. Maybe FFX HD sales well, maybe Square will consider doing an HD port.

Yeah, that's why I played it on my 15-year-old CRT TV instead. :<

FFXII International HD is a dream of mine.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

C'mon, guys. No Chrono Cross mention isn't even funny.

 

[Zekes!]

Anyone who mentions Zelda Skyward Sword should be shot. Absolute terrible graphics.

lol

Wind Waker
Skyward Sword
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

 

[MickeyKnox]

 

[Alienups]

Team Fortress 2

Pretty and functional

 

[JerzeyDevil]

Final Fantasy VIII's art direction is my overall favorite for the whole series

although a remake of FFVI using an Amano designed steampunk/NeoVictorian style would likely top it.

My favorite Final Fantasy, and I'm not ashamed to say it. Those environments played a very large part in that. It's also the biggest reason I'm hyped for Versus XIII, since they both have the look of our own world in them. Makes it easier to relate to what's happening in front of me, GF amnesia and all.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

Skies of Arcadia

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Silent Hill series, but specifically Silent Hill 3.

The otherworld design is incredible. It feels very aggressive compared to SH2's mostly subdued style of horror. The monster designs are great as well, excluding SH4 for the most part.

 

[TheOddOne]

Prince of Persia (2008) comes to mind. The artwork itself is also beautiful.

Check youtube for in-game worlds.

 

[dose]

Vib Ribbon

 

[Bo130]

Gotta love those clouds!

 

[jump_button]

DS full of games

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light

Solatorobo

 

[nasos_333]

Well it was a slideshow.

Will only list them for now, searching pics for all those games would take a whole day

Final Fantasy 7-8-9-10
Witcher 2
Fable 1-2-3-Journey
Bastion
Alan Wake
MAss Effect 1
Dust Elysian Tale
Kings Quest 1-2-3 remakes - 5-6
Space Quest
Gabriel Knight
Quest for Glory
Whispered World
Unritten Tales
Heroes 3,5,6
Lands of Lore 1-2
Gears 1-2-3
Halo Reach
Zelda OOT - MM - WW - SS
Monkey Island
Ni no Kuni
Rayman Origins
ICO
God of War 3
Heavenly Sword
Skyrim
Outland
Viva Pinata
Kameo
Bravely Default
Legend of Mana
Valkyrie Profile
Legend of Dragoon

That is just on top of my head

 

[Magicpaint]

You're right, but try these anyway.


Tons more here.

Gorgeous grabs!

 

[Shion]

I'm not sure about Skyward Sword, it had great character designs, but the environments where very generic and boring.

 

[Black Lawn Finale]

Meh... The game looked good but in terms of direction, it felt bland like Two Worlds did. It reminded me a lot of Two Worlds actually.

 

[BGBW]

Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES. While already being a great looking NES game, the whole subtle stage/theater design of the world is still pretty cool.

That's mostly only true for the first world.

Katamari Damacy Series

GameBoy Camera

Somehow managed to basically bring any old art style into one package well.

 

[Jira]

Guild Wars 1

More here

Guild Wars 2

Some concept art:

If you look at the image below, you'll see that ANet ACTUALLY nails their concept art when transitioning to an actual model, damn near 1:1 replication. Not only that they USE their concept art in the game as set pieces and to drive the narrative.

Check this link for more

 

[TaroYamada]

Rez

Cosmic Smash

Shenmue

Jet Grind Radio

 

[Maleficence]

One of my personal favourites, FFXII.

Best art in probably any jRPG.

Still didn't finish it though.

 

[Solo]

The fact that it took 179 posts before a screenshot of The Witcher 2 was posted is a fucking embarassment.

 

[The Atticus]

I want to rub Outland all over me.
Yeah, that's right.

 

[PhantomOfTheKnight]

Sonic UNLEASHED:

Sly Cooper series (most notably Sly 4):

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Art direction is not just art style. It also involves how the game uses architecture to set an emotional tone, how lighting is used to convey information, camera angles for cutscenes and how space is used to set scope (how small spaces can make you paranoid or claustrophobic, while vistas and skyboxes feel epic and grand in stature), how character clothing conveys a certain style or national background, etc.

There are a lot of people in this thread who are basically posting games strictly because they are pretty. Some games are both pretty and have great art direction, others are ugly but have good art direction, others are pretty but have poor art direction.

Deadly Premonition is an example of a game that doesn't really look that great but that has great art direction. The way things are laid out in the town, the sense of scale, the way all the normal level designs "invert" when you are in the combat scenarios, the biome conveys that sort of mysterious cold foggy great ancient redwood Washington/BC feel, things like the coffee, the flies and beard that follow York around if he's dirty, the day/night cycle. But yeah, it looks like a PS2 game, kind of. But that's okay.

Bully and Mafia II both have great art direction in the way they deal with the passage of time. Zelda and Metroid both have very striking use of biomes and architecture and strongly themed areas to convey certain moods. Assassin's Creed 1 was hideous to me at least in part due to the scorching, bleaching lighting setup, but that did a good job of conveying what I expect the Middle East looks like. Mirror's Edge used really stark, clean environments to set up the theme that the world was safe, secure, and prosperous--by ruled by a panopticon surveillance and censorship regime.

Psychonauts, I thought had strong art design. The Milkman Conspiracy level's dimension bending, the Meat Circus level's clash of realities, the overall design and environment of the summer camp in general, the Fever Dream Neon Mexican Luchadore level. Great choices.

You should probably post this in the hater thread too

 

[SOME-MIST]

you missed my post on page 1 although I didn't provide a pic since I listed quite a few games ;[