Yeah, it's not as though this is a new complaint, and it's getting pretty old. Strangely enough, I can go to the store and find a whole bunch of games that utilize a vibrant color palette. So really this complaint always comes off to me more as "How come the games I like and play are so drab?".
I totally disagree. I do not want all my colours pushed to full saturation. It looks like visual vomit. I far prefer games that show some thought process in colour useage.
Just because not everything is pushed to full saturation does NOT mean there is not colour.
Not to mention that anyone who says that GTAIV doesn't have a lot of colour is off their rocker.
That was about a 1 minute search. Seriously, there is no lack of colour in games, it's just that not all games have fully saturated colour palettes (thank god for that).
I think he is just tired of games using similar color schemes. Maybe he should stick to Game boy advance or Nintendo WII, play some RTS games or replay games like Pacman, Space Invaders and Frogger to see how freaking stress full old school games could get. Mario games not stressful, maybe he is really good at them. I don't see how the Tony Hawk game could be considered depressing, unless you hate the game and play it that is.
Quake 3 had plenty of color too? Maybe old games don't count. Unreal 2004, beautiful color, unreal 2003 as well.
I wrote a long reply, but it was accidently erased. Simply put, games that use color and shape, and any other appealing aesthetic quality are much more fun and compelling for me (see TF2) than games were you can barely distinguish your teammate from an enemy, a nearby vehicle, or support pillar. See Unreal Tournament 3, and all the many that try to be like it. Fuck, who just shot me and where are they?
"If you don't like them, don't play them" I don't. So I agree with this article 100%. So many otherwise good games, and good franchises, are being washed away by the "realism for early profit" trend in modern games.
I agree that color is sorely missing, but I'd rather keep my mouth shut or else the same devs who think flat brown everything is cool will just reverse course and make the game give you a seizure with every single color on the palette.
For the record though, it's not color that's missing, but color highlights. Everything is desaturated, whereas touches of brighter color would give you a more vibrant world without making it painful to the eyes. As is games like UT3 and GTA4 have lots of very muted colors. And yes, that makes GTA4 seem like a really colorless game, especially with the overblown post processing thrown on that desaturates things even further. I prefer GTA2 visuals personally. :P
I miss original platformers (loves me some platformer goodness) this gen, and they've always been a gener of vibrant colors. bring them back and the colors will flow
He asks if any of his examples make you happy? of course they dont! that isnt the question he should be asking at all, the real question is "do these limited palettes and filters reflect the attitude and style of the game world and its gameplay?"
To which I reply a resounding yes! Skate has a grungy punk aethetic, gears is a game about a war torn world, gta is about a hard life on the streets. To compare these to mario is like comparing the colour scheme of the matrix to the colour scheme of toy story.
Video games have historically followed trends when it comes to visual identity. Count me in among those that are not fans of the current desaturated, drab look of games. IMO, the peak of beauty in games was in the era just before Doom III came out. At least now the use of normal mapping has been toned down a bit to look better. For a time, everything looked shrinkwrapped in plastic.
There's so much lack of color in these games lately that you could even appropriately use a 8-bit color palette for them and not look far off from it.
Q3A was a colorful game but a bit too much red and those skulls all over the place got tiring. But no one cared because OMG KENNETH SCOTT etc. However it's the first notable break into nice colors in 32-bit after years of paletted games. Looks like we're coming full circle...
I like when people make generalizations based on their narrow view of things and put it into a witty little internet rant.
Why the hell does he list GTA4 amongst his examples? Gears of War I understand but GTA4 had a great color pallette that changed depending on weather and time of day.
Replies
Just because not everything is pushed to full saturation does NOT mean there is not colour.
Not to mention that anyone who says that GTAIV doesn't have a lot of colour is off their rocker.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1286/697668150_3c93376cfc.jpg
http://gamebent.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/Eternal%20Sonata.jpg
http://hpd.de/files/viva%20pinata.jpeg
http://www.n-europe.com/games/mario128/46.jpg
That was about a 1 minute search. Seriously, there is no lack of colour in games, it's just that not all games have fully saturated colour palettes (thank god for that).
Quake 3 had plenty of color too? Maybe old games don't count. Unreal 2004, beautiful color, unreal 2003 as well.
Alex
"If you don't like them, don't play them" I don't. So I agree with this article 100%. So many otherwise good games, and good franchises, are being washed away by the "realism for early profit" trend in modern games.
For the record though, it's not color that's missing, but color highlights. Everything is desaturated, whereas touches of brighter color would give you a more vibrant world without making it painful to the eyes. As is games like UT3 and GTA4 have lots of very muted colors. And yes, that makes GTA4 seem like a really colorless game, especially with the overblown post processing thrown on that desaturates things even further. I prefer GTA2 visuals personally. :P
To which I reply a resounding yes! Skate has a grungy punk aethetic, gears is a game about a war torn world, gta is about a hard life on the streets. To compare these to mario is like comparing the colour scheme of the matrix to the colour scheme of toy story.
Q3A was a colorful game but a bit too much red and those skulls all over the place got tiring. But no one cared because OMG KENNETH SCOTT etc. However it's the first notable break into nice colors in 32-bit after years of paletted games. Looks like we're coming full circle...
Why the hell does he list GTA4 amongst his examples? Gears of War I understand but GTA4 had a great color pallette that changed depending on weather and time of day.
Holi : yes, I wait this game, I'm quite curious to know the game... Mirror's edge....