Favorite games with the worst art?

ebagg · Mar 2007

We artsy fartsy folks here do love to nitpick about art in games we play. Nothing wrong with that, we spend so much time making art we expect great art in the games we enjoy. And while art standards in games have risen in recent years, there's still a few fugly ones getting through, and a few fugly ones from yester year that we love to play. So what games do you love, also have some really bad art assets?

McIlroy · Mar 2007

Right now im playing Galactic Civilizations 2 with the Dark Avatar expansion . The game is very fun in a lot of ways not perfect mind you but a lot of fun. If you like 4x space strategy games this is probebly one of the best ones ever made. The art however is pretty bad . The 3D space map( planets and asteroids ..etc) and the ships look alright. The character art is really bad . Like bad characters made in poser ..not even good poser characters bad ones .

Then they have cut scenes that are awful they would have been better off just hiring a good concept artist to make illustrations representing what is happening in the awful cut scenes . It's a niche game im sure they had a small budget they probebly did the best they could . I'd love to see what that game would have looked like if the command and conquer 3 team had done it .

Here is an example of one of the races

Malekyth · Mar 2007

I'm being lazy for not linking any art from it ... but Warlords Battlecry 2 sucked many hours away from my life, without looking very good. Y'know, it didn't really look bad, just ... budget. It's hard to explain the difference in real terms, but anyone who played it probably knows what I mean. Most models and more animations seemed to have been made too quickly by recent art school grads. A lot of art was reused between versions 1 and 2, not a dead giveaway but a pretty fair one. The game did make me wince for its aesthetic "make do's" but goddamn if it wasn't a total blast to play.

Emil Mujanovic · Mar 2007

McIlroy, my old housemate bought the game and I would watch while he'd play sometimes (even played a few rounds myself) and I know exactly what you mean. Decent game though for its genre.

-caseyjones

Uly · Mar 2007

Armed & Dangerous! Crazy brits.

Screenshots of Horror: (HANDMAKER!!1)

Another awesome screenshot.

Joshua Stubbles · Mar 2007

Myth II: Soulblighter

aesir · Mar 2007

myth II looked awesome (and was awesome) for its time.

armed and dangerous takes the cake for me. Uly found one of the best screens in the game.

hawken · Mar 2007

I used to play this game when I was a kid, we would play 4 player for whole days at a time. Truly one of the most addictive games I've ever seen, however and I know this is retro territory, the graphics were barely there at all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_(video_game)

Slayerjerman · Mar 2007

Morrowind characters. The rest of that game was awesome.

Uly · Mar 2007

Anyone who has a soul will check out this video as well.

CHEX QUEST:
Intro CG Movie

When I was 8 years old or so, my Mum and Dad took me to Washington state. While there, my parents bought me a box of Chex cereal. (I chose it myself because I saw it came with a game.) I was so excited when we got back to Canada, and when I finally got to play it, I knew it was worth it. I was laughing my ass off that long ago, and it only got better with age.

RazorBladder · Mar 2007

[ QUOTE ]
Morrowind characters. The rest of that game was awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

Funny how things haven't changed

I really enjoyed playing everquest2... That undeniably has the most inconsistant art ever. Some jaw-dropping, fantastic looking environments and monsters... LOTS of ugly, shite environments and characters

McIlroy · Mar 2007

Tribes 2 was one of the funnest games ive ever played and even at the time I thought the graphics looked like crap .

PfhorRunner · Mar 2007

[ QUOTE ]

my Mum and Dad took me to Washington state. While there, my parents bought me a box of Chex cereal. (I chose it myself because I saw it came with a game.) I was so excited when we got back to Canada, and when I finally got to play it, I knew it was worth it. I was laughing my ass off that long ago, and it only got better with age.

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, this game is the shit. I was so into this game!

CheapAlert · Mar 2007

System Shock 2 is a great example of a crap-looking (yes even at the time when 1 or 2 year old titles like Unreal and Extreme Assault beat it) great game.

for 1999 being the year it was released in it looked like unattractive flat flat hodgepodgery all over. Its audio, gameplay and depth made up for that, however

Uly · Mar 2007

Favourite game ever. Funny reading post-mortems on that game. Apparantly they had some prehistoric motion capture setup, and it really shows in game. But how dare you diss those graphics. Look at these models!

Chock full of polygons and texture maps!

swampbug · Mar 2007

The low poly nature of SS2 actually made it more creepy for me.

Ryno · Mar 2007

Team Fortress Classic. The characters were pretty damn ugly, even for when it was released, but the gameplay was funfunfun.

EarthQuake · Mar 2007

GTA games, great fun but horrible art

Cthogua · Mar 2007

This is an interesting one cause I think at the time it was fairly advanced. Alone in the Dark 1, circa 1992...it had pretty decent pixel-painted backgrounds with like first generation 3D poly characters. I don't even think they had texture maps...just vertex colors. I'm pretty sure it was also the first "survival horror" game. HP Lovecraft based story and creatures had me sold from the moment I started playing it. I believe there is a scare in it that the first resident evil game totally ripped off too. At one point you're in a hallway lined with windows to the outside and a dog-creature jumps in through the window and comes after you...damn near shit my 13 year old pants. Those were the scariest 20 polygons EVER.

Vitor · Mar 2007

Omikron: The Nomad Soul. I loved it, reviews don't seem so, and the art was terrible.´

swampbug · Mar 2007

Nomad Soul ARt ROCKS THE COCK !!.. are you kidding me.

Turoid · Mar 2007

I liked turok a lot... but look at that wall texture :P :

cholden · Mar 2007

lol says me

http://www.answers.com/topic/executioners-1

hawken · Mar 2007

[ QUOTE ]
I liked turok a lot... but look at that wall texture :P :

[/ QUOTE ]

Turok!

Yes. Fog land. Fun game though, at the time (when we didn't know any better)

Justin Meisse · Mar 2007

[ QUOTE ]
lol says me

http://www.answers.com/topic/executioners-1

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, the first game my mom wouldn't let me get.

coldwolf · Mar 2007

More than a decade later and I STILL haven't seen blood as realistic as what was in Turok2:

(Little off topic here since that was a GREAT game with great art. I think. Ok the environment textures were repulsive but the particle effects and weapons blew me away.)

indian_boy · Mar 2007

1)Abe's Exodus...
i didn't like the graphics cuz they were the same like Abe's Oddsey... practically no improvement from the already not-so-good graphics. but it was fun to play.. i especially liked using my prayers to control my farts lol...
2) 7 Sins...
lol!!

Eric Chadwick · Mar 2007

Combat!

FightingChance · Mar 2007

While this is definitely no one's favorite game, or even a good game at all, Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller must have the worst published CG intro ever made.

Behold! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8-dipscKg4

Eric Chadwick · Mar 2007

Wow, that was awesome!

Reminds me of the Gallerie Abominate.

CheapAlert · Mar 2007

OH MAN that neck chop in the intro is so awesome.

Justin Meisse · Mar 2007

Gentlemen! I present to you: the Darkseed 2 intro!

Uly · Mar 2007

lol @ Darkseed. Good times. In its heydey it wasn't bad though! : ( This intro had *gorgeous* graphics when it was released. I get goosebumps remembering the fine nights and candlelight dinners I shared with this game.

Syndicate Wars Intro

Edited: I devoted a very large portion of my childhood years to this game. I loved it so very much... As with most old games, the graphics don't hold up that well though. The style was still perfect though. Perfect combination of Blade Runner and GITS.

Mongrelman · Mar 2007

That Darkseed video.....I just don't have the words....

I was thinking Syndicate Wars myself (love the game), but at the time I think the graphics were pretty good. Though as Uly said, not so much now hehe.

I wish a bloody remake would be done

I thought Operation Flashpoint was great. Then I reinstalled it last year and was pretty shocked at the graphics(?) I was confronted with. Still a great game, but time has not been kind to it's looks at all.

Mark Dygert · Mar 2007

I'm surprised this one hasn't popped up already.
XCom

And I can't forget Bioforge

To be fair both those games looked good when they first came out.

Joao Sapiro · Mar 2007

i cant believe no one mentioned this...

Justin Meisse · Mar 2007

wow, Syndicate Wars looks pretty cool, wish I got to play it

Does anyone have any ZPC cutscene videos? <looking at CheapAlert>

Mongrelman · Mar 2007

Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, that was a great game, but the graphics...er...well there is room for improvement. Lots of great stuff in the game, like choosing your contracts and sometimes being able to betray your employers for a better deal. Hmm, maybe I shouldn't say that with so much glee now that I'm looking for a job.

Would be interesting to see Castle of the Winds made with the latest technology

(Oblivion?).

rooster · Mar 2007

incubation! ok at the time it was good graphics.. but all the dudes were made of boxes..

this image might not work..

snemmy · Mar 2007

the original Resident Evil.
and the remake has some of my fave game art ever. so it gets both extremes

though in terms of bad art, RE: Survivor gets that medal. 4 zombies on screen and the game starts to lag with rapid gunfire. AND it has worse dialog than 'the master of unlocking'. still, i love the game in a masochistic way. it looks like they made the whole thing in half a month, kinda like a proof of concept for RE4.

also: Goldeneye.. omg.. i cant believe i used to be able to snipe people that were only a pixel tall in the distance. and the faces are horrid looking, even back then they were bad looking. and the slow motion rolling out of the way animation of the enemies.. lol

Michael Knubben · Mar 2007

Heroes of Might and Magic 1!
I was making fun of my friends for playing it, as it looked terrible outdated, but once i joined in (hotseat!) i was addicted.

Bronco · Mar 2007

Incubation,oh the time spent on that,I still have (and listen to) the soundtrack CD and extra Rap music that came in a buddle with that game.

I agree about Heroes of Might and magic,though the same could be said about the whole series,I loved number 1 ,so addictive.

And another addictive stratergy which acturally isn't all that old but is still one of my favorite games of all time is "Jagged Allience 2".....one of the first "freeform" games I played i think.

Heres a pic

and some more pics
http://www.jaggedalliance2.com/screenshots/index2.html

John

gavku · Mar 2007

adventure for the 2600..

Ged · Mar 2007

syndicate wars rocked! hey Ive still got it under my bed actually! I played it again a little while ago, that intro is amazing and the game is still great fun to play.

Its like: oh no a cop is causing trouble...well Ill just throw these nukes at him blow up half the city and run for my hover car. Soooo much cooler than GTA.

MoP · Mar 2007

[ QUOTE ]
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries

[/ QUOTE ]
Awesome game. The first Mechwarrior was also really good, even with horrible flatshaded + dithered triangles... Really nice roleplaying elements, easy to get into and keep going.

I also have to agree with Mighty Pea on HoMaM 1 (not to mention 2), deceptively fun and addictive game with fairly cheap and un-stylish graphics.

Gmanx · Mar 2007

Wow, Bioforge. That had a pretty good intro, I'll have to dig it out. The combat system was awesome.. Better than a lot of beat-em-ups of the day. Didn't Mechwarrior 2 have an intro by ILM? I've got it somewhere...

Cthogua · Mar 2007

Yeah Bioforge was great, but I think that XCom 1 is one of the best games ever made. I loaded it on my machine recently and started playing and I gots sucked right back in....the guys don't even have faces but your like, "NOOOOOO Captain Josh died!!"

Gmanx · Mar 2007

Mechwarrior 2 intro. I remember this being jaw-dropping stuff back in the day...

Mongrelman · Mar 2007

I think it was Digital Domain that did some shots for MW2.

And I agree about XCOM, that game was just so great. I think the later games lost some of the essence that made the first great. Hmm, a BF2 style (but slower paces)mod/game for XCOM could be interesting...

Crusader No Remorse, loved that game. Rolling through a door into a room, taking out two guys and a security camera in a couple of seconds. At the time the graphics were quite nice. Again, a game that NEEDS a remake.

JKMakowka · Mar 2007

Gothic 1,2 (and I guess 3)... really fun games, and the enviroment looks great too. BUT.. the characters, especially the main one who you see all the time is so badly done & animated it makes my eyes drop tears of blood

(Yay, James Bond reference completly out of context

)

RyRyB · Mar 2007

Amen to Jagged Alliance 2. God I loved that game. I had way too much fun with the character creation mini-game. Come to think of it, I still have the strategy guide sitting in my room.

Anyways, suprised no one has mentioned Civ 1!

Favorite games with the worst art?

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