imagry in video games

[Soviet Conscript]

ok, this is from what i said in a diffrent post but i think it deserves its own thing

"after all these years playing night slashers again i was really dissapointed. don't get me wrong it was a good game but i think i was really dissapointed with the lack of imagery. after being really impressed with the first level and even the second i think the game fell totally short in delivering the image of a "zombie-apocalypse". the hospital was a good start but after that the only level that came close to the theme again was the airplane/military base stage which was still mediocore at best (although the ghost helicopter was a nice touch). maybe i'm being overcritical but i can see a castle level in any game i want my zombie overrun city with the undead comeing out of sewers and blood splattered buses overturned in the street ending perhaps at the city museum where you battle the mummy (a better location then an unexplained appearence on an airplane anyways) or what about a battlefield where an embattled military force is holding out against the army of undead, a field crowded with derilect military vehicals and zombie soldiers. like i said don't get me wrong it was a fun game with a gore edgyness to it but i think they missed an oppertunity to set up some really good imagry in the levels"

i was just wondering what anyone else thinks or if anyone has any other examples of a game haveing excellent or for that matter lacking imagry. by imagry i don't mean graphics. for instance i think the metal slug games have good imagry. the stages looks just "feel right" and go with the theme of the game well. a none game example would be the comic series KAMANDI, i mean the story was not so great and the art wasn't exactly top of the line but the images of the ruined cities and the atmosphere of a post apocalypse came across well (at least from the 3 issues i read). like i said before maybe i'm just rambling here but does anyone have any thoughts or examples?

[evil_genius]

So you're talking about the art right?

I think SNK and Capcom games ahve my favorite art. The backgrounds in the King of Fighters games is really cool.

[Soviet Conscript]

well...no not really, although art is part of it. i suppose imagry is a mix of art style, Scenery, stage design and maybe graphics combined to create an atmosphere. i'll try to define what i think it is

imagry is the combination of art/scenery/level design and to a lesser extent grahics to create an atmosphere that complements the main theme of a game (or to a lesser extent a level)

for example i pointed out metal slug as a good example. i would say in broad general terms the theme of metal slug is war or militerism/military. in the first stag of MS 3 your on a beach. now this could just be a beach with enemies to fight but what makes the great imagry is not just a beach but wrecked missles in the background as well as derelect ships and the end boss is not just a giant crab but a giant crab with a fort on his back...elements that compliment the theme of the overall game.

i'll go back to night stalkers. the theme is
zombie-apocalypse and the first stage with its abandoned modern day hospital in ruins lead by an insane doctor who does horrible experiments and created a frankenstein goes exceptionaly well with the games overall theme thus the imagry of stage one is excellent in my opinion. but look at other stages such as the castle or the mayan temple place. i could find these settings in a d&d if i wanted, they didn't stand out to me. although they make sense i don't think it compliments the main theme. not that there arn't any castles but perhaps if the castle was an abandonded tourest site with signs and what not...or instead of the pyramid thing it was the abandoned Luxor pyramid/casino in Las Vegas. i'm not saying its a bad game i'm just pointing out the imagry was lacking thus to a large part neutralizeing the uniqness and appeal of the theme to me. i just wanted one abandoned city level, lol.

[diskoboy]

I think I getcha....

Games like Half-Life 1 and 2, Rez, and Jet Grind Radio.... Where the ambience makes the game. For example... When you play half-life 2, you run through a totally destroyed world, people are opressed, the world is drab, propoganda posters everywhere, friends are few and far between. The whole time you're playing, you feel, not like Gordon Freeman, but it is actually YOU who is being hunted down and chased through city after city.

Same with Jet Grind/Set Radio. The art direction in this game, IMO, will never be topped. The designers made the levels a colorful, futruristic, urban landscape (not to mention one of the perfectly fitting soundtracks ever) which helps draw the player into the game. Otherwise, JGR would've been your typical Tony Hawk ripoff.

Rez - well that's self-explanitory!

Another example I could probably use would be the Xbox version of Ninja Gaiden. It has a 'Samauri-era Japan' feel that the NES games just didn't, if you know what I mean.


Is that what you meant?

[Soviet Conscript]

yes for the most part, for example you mentioned half life 2(a game i still need to play and from your description i think i may find it pretty intresting) so the theme of half life 2 is invasion or alien invasion....now the whole game could of taken place in a forest or the mountains and still been a excellent game (in theory) but think of the imagry that would of been missed like the devestated city you talked about. it adds so much atmosphere to the game and compliments and excentuates the games main theme.

and i ment Night Slashers...always wanna call it Night Stalkers. good concept and theme just poorly executed imagry and atmosphere (with a few exceptions) in my opinion.

Resident Evil is also a good example that comes to mind the imagry and amtmosphere it in turn created was amazeing

[pragmatic insanester]

the early resident evils (i already ranted about 4's atrophy as it went along), the silent hills, dino crisis 1 and 2, fear effect, project eden (hell, i wish the gameplay could match what i find to be one of the best cyberpunk atmospheres), deus ex, and a couple more i am too lazy to dive into my memory to confirm

[2Dskillz]

The silent hill series definitely shines in this respect.

Also I think that alot could be said for the Ecco series, especially Tides of Time(think thats right).