You can’t judge a game by its cover. You can, however, judge a game cover by its cover.
With the growing importance of digital sales and preorders, what’s actually on the front of a game box is in many ways becoming less important than it once was, since it’s not the main thing driving sales, even for casual buyers.
They’re still useful though, and for some still an important part of the experience of owning a game. Some collectors even go so far as to make their own box art, so intent are they on making sure everything about their favourite game is just right.
With the current generation of consoles drawing to a close, then, now’s as good a time as any to look back on what were some of the best examples of box art to grace the 360, PS3 and Wii.
The list I’ve made below is just to get us started. If you see something I’ve missed, drop it in the comments below and I’ll see about including it!
Oh, and before we get started, a note: you’ll notice some of these are from regional variants of games, like the Japanese versions of Uncharted 2 and Crackdown (known as Riot Act there). You’ll also notice that Japanese publishers are generally way better at box art.
Last-Gen Heroes is Kotaku’s look back at the seventh generation of console gaming. In the weeks leading up to the launch of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, we’ll be celebrating the Heroes — and the Zeroes — of the last eight years of console video gaming.
Comments
26 responses to “The Best Box Art Of This Generation”
Fuck yeah Overkill.
Preferred Resistance: Fall of Man’s cover art over any of the sequels’. That is, before it hit “essential gaming”. 😛
God of War III’s was delightfully close and personal. I’m surprised Grand Theft Auto doesn’t make the cut in any way, their art and cover styles are usually pretty well received.
SSSPPPPAAAAYYYSSSSHHHHHH MAAAAUUURRRREEEENNNNN!!!!!
The Japanese covers for yakuza (particularly 3( were pretty special as well.
I always thought Marsden from Red Dead looked way better in game than on the front cover.
He looks a bit bogan on the cover, and cool-grizzled in the game
The place holder cover a lot of websites had which had a similar picture of Marsden, but with a hat, was far better.
You play as Lupin the 3rd in Riot Act?
Hey, why aren’t all of these covers showing a grizzled, unshaven military soldier walking towards me, looking slightly down and not showing trigger restraint?
Anything classified as ‘one guy holding a firearm’ should not be on this list.
The Red Dead and Halo: Reach covers are both pretty generic.
Red Dead is the concept art for the characters, similar to the GTA series.
Halo: Reach is about the theme of the game with a team of Spartans working and being close to each other and defending their home while the Covenant, or rather the “storm”, is brewing up behind them to indicate the coming threat of doom. Not only that, but they’re all clearly showing trigger restraint.
I didn’t know Bruce Willis was in the Japanese version of Uncharted…
The artwork is slowly getting more bland and generic as time goes on. There’s nothing really that I can remember from the last gen that really leaps out and grabs my attention…other than Arkham City GOTY edition obviously
This thread on NeoGAF might be to your liking.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=442713
I’m liking that from the little I’ve just seen. Cheers 🙂
No problem, I keep telling myself that one day I’ll convert all my game covers… one day… well maybe when ink is free….
that’s what work is for 😉
Shame they never used this Bioshock Infinite one
http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18k0jpghi2u3ujpg/ku-bigpic.jpg
Easily the best one
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BlWGcgo74Ps/UBk7mXzo4RI/AAAAAAAAISk/HvQixsVSJb0/s1600/Batman+arkham+city+GOTY+edition+cover.jpg
Man that cover makes want to play Bioshock!
I kinda dug the box art for ‘Sleeping Dogs’.
Ni No Kuni made this list?
Surprised that Dead Space didn’t make the cut
The cover of the Dark Souls prepare to die edition is definitely top tier in my book
Most covers for RPG games are generally nice and lush or simplistic – Final Fantasy and Tales games come to mind. I’ve always liked those.
Where’s Catherine?
Not only is it pretty box-art but it had a different woman on either the 360 or PS3 versions, representing the choices of girlfriends in the block-pushing adultery simulator.
Uncharted 2 and Assassin’s Creed 3 had some pretty nice boxart IMO
The Sleeping Dogs box art by Tyler Stout suited the game perfectly.
FUCK I knew I’d forget something.