Real Talk by: StephO (Stephanie Owens)

Box art reviews for titles released between January and March of 2013- God of War: Ascension, Dead Space 3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Tomb Raider, and Bioshock Infinite.

God of War: Ascension- Although showing Kratos imprisoned is appropriate, the amount of blurring, fading, and blowing out, and de-saturation used on the image is disappointing.  And are we to focus on Kratos’ face and think of his suffering, or look at the not-so-dynamic background and think of the action? More decisiveness is all that is needed to make this box artwork better.

Dead Space 3– The box art conveys the protagonist and main setting well, but fails to express the ‘survival horror’ part of this third-person shooter game. And much like the God of War: Ascension artwork, it suffers from too much desaturation and over exposure. I understand that is a stylized approach, but that doesn’t mean the style is appropriate for this game. Some dark shadowing coming from one of the corners would have given this box artwork more of a ‘horror’ feel without distorting the rest of the image too much.

Tomb Raider- Apparently desaturation is a trend this season. Laura Croft’s non action pose contrasts nicely with the action packed adventure within, and further emphasizes Lara Croft’s redesign for this Tomb Raider reboot, but it is a little disappointing to see her (apparently) failing at the survival aspect of the game. Couldn’t she have at least looked ready to fight or inquisitive? The crashing waves (and crashed ship) in the background are a nice touch though.

Bioshock Infinite– No complaints of desaturation here! This Bioshock infinite cover is ablaze with color, as well as actual flames. Booker appears to have just finished a fight, and looks ready for more. A better glimpse of the air city would have been nice, but at least the clouds are heavily featured and we get a tease with the zeppelin in the upper left corner.Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance– Raiden is jumping towards the camera through something he sliced in half, sparks flying, wind blowing, optical implant glowing! This awesome box artwork fully conveys the game’s action and focus, and is the winner of the Winter 2013 Box Art Report Card!

Past box art report cards:  Fall/Holiday 2012, Spring 2012, Summer 2012, Winter 2011