Best Art Direction 2009

[Daniel]

Keep your posts clean and to the point. If you would like your comments to appear in the magazine, please keep comments to under 100 words.

The Reader's Game of the Year special will appear in issue 198.

[AranchineD]

Brütal Legend

Every single bit of environment, every single bit of art in the game has been considered for how it could be most METAL, and as a result, almost all of it is a joy to see and play through.

[TAT]

Borderlands

Fallout 3 but cel-shaded

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

Wipeout HD Fury Expansion

[dalmatian]

Demon Souls

[adam_91vn]

Borderlands

Fallout 3 but cel-shaded


This.

[aubergine]

Brutal Legend

[RunningMild]

Brutal Legend

You just can't help but fall in love with the visuals.


Batman: Arkham Asylum

Incredibly detailed and amazingly stylish.

[Nic Xtreme]

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

[Cian]

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Going back to the style of the comic books instead of trying to recreate Nolan's movie was clearly the right decision. Arkham offered many subtle details that would make any fan giggle with excitement. It's a game made by people who obviously love the world of Gotham, and it showed through the games excellent environments.

[lex3191]

Batman Arkham Asylum

I am consistently floored by how well made this game is, how good it looks the world and characters have been so well realised. Sure it had great source material but i just loved how this game looked.

[Filthy Old Drunk]

Machinarium

[Mr.Mew]

Borderlands

It's like my most favorite level from XIII, but as an entire game.

[RunningMild]

Forgot to mention 'Splosion Man as a runner up.

EDIT: And Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman!

[StorminNorman]

BlazBlue

Arc System Works' follow-up to Guilty Gear featured even more lavish artwork than its predecessor. The jump to high-definition allowed for the artistic vision previously only seen in character portraits to make it straight into the game, and the result was like playing an anime.

[BB2K]

a boy and his blob

The art direction in this is simply amazing, it's pretty much the best looking game on Wii right now.

[Jay]

a boy and his blob

The art direction in this is simply amazing, it's pretty much the best looking game on Wii right now.

I love it too, but I reckon Super Mario Galaxy might have a few things to say about that.

[BB2K]

I love it too, but I reckon Super Mario Galaxy might have a few things to say about that.

I think what Super Mario Galaxy don't know can't hurt Super Mario Galaxy :p

[Natrak]

Brutal Legend
Far and away the best art direction this year. The quality of the art in Brutal Legend will keep this game looking fantastic for years to come much like previous generation titles such as Wind Waker, Ico/Shadow of the Colossus and God of War. The sense of scale, attention to detail and sheer amount of love and polish is consistently jaw dropping. Double Fine also struck a tremendous balance between parody of the subject matter and reverence.

[Xanafalgue]

Halo 3: ODST

[RunningMild]

BlazBlue

Arc System Works' follow-up to Guilty Gear featured even more lavish artwork than its predecessor. The jump to high-definition allowed for the artistic vision previously only seen in character portraits to make it straight into the game, and the result was like playing an anime.

So every fight took 20 hours? :p

[Lazlow]

The Saboteur

Stood out for is anachronistic dieselpunk aesthetic, with a great use of shifting colour palette as a key component of the game.

[Hyperblau]

Uncharted 2

[drzaius]

Beatles: Rock Band. It had me at the intro sequence.

[Jay]

The Beatles: Rock Band.

[StorminNorman]

So every fight took 20 hours? :p
olololololololol

They only take four hours in the good fighting anime!

[concrete donkey]

Borderlands

[RunningMild]

olololololololol

They only take four hours in the good fighting anime!

Or 5-10 minutes in Afro Samurai. :p

[Australian Ninja]

Assassin's Creed 2 (have not yet played Batman, so won't vote for it)

[Allick]

Borderlands

Great blend of cel shading with conventional 3D graphics. Great pallette of dull colours contrasted to colourful items and weapons has a great effect.

[Clockw0rk]

Brutal Legend
I don't know how many times I just stopped, looked at the scenery and said "that's so ****ing metal".

[erayser_168]

Batman AA perfect recreation of Arkham and just pausing the game to look at the comic book style image looks aweosme. Kinda makes me wish they allowed you to play in this cel shaded mode as well

[REQUIEM]

Batman AA : I loved its stylish looks.

[borgster101]

Muramasa the Demon Blade

Beautifully artistic 2D levels, almost like Japanese paintings leaping to life on your TV screen!

[RunningMild]

Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero?

Blending 2D and 3D is hard, but this game pulled it off.


Mega Man 9

Anyone who doesn't love the NES aesthetic is either a scrooge or a graphics whore. :p

[T Strife]

Trine

[dinnerordie17]

Brutal Legend

[Zan]

Blazblue

[BB2K]

Mega Man 9

Anyone who doesn't love the NES aesthetic is either a scrooge or a graphics whore. :p

Mr_M, that came out last year. Get with the times.

[RunningMild]

Mr_M, that came out last year. Get with the times.

Damn, I thought it was this year. Oh well, disregard all my Mega Man 9 votes then. :p

[Shaftoe]

Brütal Legend

Every single bit of environment, every single bit of art in the game has been considered for how it could be most METAL, and as a result, almost all of it is a joy to see and play through.

wot he said

[william h. cosby II]

Borderlands / Muramasa: Demon Blade

Two outstanding contenders: couldn't split 'em.

[Tom Campbell]

The most colourful and realistic game of the year.

[AyatollaofRocknRolla]

Borderlands

The cel-shading really brings the world alive.

[JC Henderson]

Borderlands- Not original but brought back great memories of Jet Set Radio

[Stevorooni]

Batman Arkham Asylum - During the odd moments when you weren't always wearing the bat goggles, the game looked gritty and real and was full of atmosphere

[bigbarry]

Batman: Arkham Asylum

The best part of batman was the first nightmare you get from scarecrow and if it wasn't for the art director it would’ve probably been crap

[xander_cade]

Very late inclusion.... but I believe the best was saved for last. Everything you want in the looks department for a biblical post apocalyptic adventure.

[lastitachionearth]

final fantasy dissidia

[jawsy]

Borderlands.

I loved the look of the game. Both simple and stylised (plus, I'm a sucka for that type of Fallout-esque setting).

[Gilder]

Uncharted 2

The environments are incredibly well realised, especially the temples. I found myself wandering around like a tourist at some points in the game.

[TimmyJ]

Brutal Legend.

*cue the devil horns*

[RunningMild]

Forgot to mention MadWorld. May not have been perfect in a gameplay sense, but the art direction was superb.

[NetherWind]

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Definitely feels like the comics have come alive and the fact that the devs had the sense to do that is worthy of praising DC Comics and in particular Batman comics.