Sega’s MadWorld gets BBFC rating – no cuts required

I’m a bit annoyed that you can’t get demos for the Wii. I’m not convinced this is the sort of game I could buy “blind”.

That’s the US release date btw, morriss.

Hmm. Not too sure it is, Blerk my old friend. I’ll just check.

I don’t understand why this is so hyped.

Well thats a lie, I do, but I don’t think ot deserves to be hyped.

Platinum games have been overrated for a long time. As in, when they weren’t platinum games.

This is like the only Wii hardcore title.

More predicatble bullshit art direction from Platinum games.

Well, March 31st is a Tuesday so it’s not likely to be the European release date purely because of that. My usual sources have March 27th, which sounds suspiciously like a ‘filler’ date. But I might be wrong on that, I’ve no idea if there’s an official PAL date or not.

What the hell, Pud? What on Earth is “predictable” about the art direction here? I note that we’re not exactly buried in super-stylised black n’ white n’ red brawlers.

It was predictable coming from them.

It’s like all we can do for an art direction in games now is make it Cel Shaded in some manner. I understand this is different if you mention specifics, but it’s in the same vein as Okami and Viewtiful Joe, with the Sumi-e ink style.

For heck sake, when Killzone 2 was black white and red (orange) at E3 2007 it was a negative thing. I loved the E3 2007 look of Killzone 2 much more. But it’s like putting a cel shaded filter over a game, suddenly justifies whatever decisions are made.

So it’s a case of sour grapes then?

How so?

There are so many different variations on cel shading you can’t really lump them all in under one “meh, seen it all before” banner – it’s not like realistic graphics.

And it’s not even predictable from Platinum – their other two games are totally different, style-wise. This is their only super-stylised output in their first batch of games.

See thats precisely the ignorance that I expect.

It’s becuase people don’t notice subtleties in art design, YES there is that much variation in a realistic design.

hel;l when I first understood the definition of art direction, it was when I player Driv3r. Texture work on faces, animation decisions, mixed with art design decisions.

THERE IS, that kind of variance, and yes if you can lump togthr realistic, then I can totally lump togther cel shading. Atleast I recognise the difference in Cel Shading, even if I don’t accept that it’s an impressive art direction.

@ No_PUDding: why does this have to be a case of ‘ignorance’? I disagree with your statement that this is predictable art-direction and indeed I disagree with you opting to lump all cell-shading into the same box when indeed you point out that you can spot tiny nuances in ‘realistic’ graphics.

Personally I’m pretty excited about this game, I love the art-direction. From stills it really impresses me how much it appears like a print Manga story. Then when I see it in motion I’m amazed at how well it still conveys depth despite the limited pallette.

So basically what you’re saying Pud is “I don’t like cel-shading, therefore it’s shit and boring”. All the art direction things you talk about in your last post can be equally applied to cel-shaded games.

Note also that I never said I disliked realistic graphics.

I like your no nonsense style of arguing Pud.
First you prove that people who lump styles together are ignorant.
Then you use this to prove that you are not ignorant for lumping things together.

Like totally and stuff!

Great work Tonka, you should probabaly be a detective.

I know you never said you disliked realistic graphics, but you DID generalise about them.

I didn’t lump cel shading togther, but I do dislike it, becuase it’s an unecessary course of action, to grab attention.

I don’t dislike the aesthetic that’s produced at all, in-fact I love it, it looks like a comic book, but I’d much prefer see a developer create a striking art direction within other boundaries of it. Like not cel shaded.

It’s ike it’s the only option out there to be praised for an art direction.

Does that clarify what I mean, I don’t dislike the look of the game, I dislike the intention of it.

Well, it certainly clarifies your original comment. It doesn’t make your point about the art direction in Mad World being ‘predictable’ any more valid, though – your personal preferences are essentially clouding your judgement.

I’m not saying this to wind you up but you make no sense to me. But you made a valiant effort to explain yourself and for that I’m grateful.

Blerk, my whole reasoning behind using the word ‘predictable’ was due to games like Okami, Viewtiful Joe. It’s the same Sumi-e ink style, that is predictable from this team.

I never said I disliked it, and my judgements aren’t based on subjective personal preferences.

I dislike the intention with which it was chosen by the developer. It’s not like there is anything more to convey with it, it’s literally a cheap way to grab attention.

Maybe I am expecting too much from an action title, to have some depth, becuase Okami certainly didn’t.

It’s okay Tonka, I usually pay attention to people like Blerk who are willing to hear me out on my ‘rant’ anyway.

You’ve got to take the target platform in mind when you consider their choice of styling, though. A more-realistic style on the Wii would probably have looked pretty bad, whereas the way they’ve done it actually looks really impressive. Okami was probably the most graphically-impressive game on the PS2 to my eyes, and it was certainly nothing to do with polygons or textures.

And Okami was awesome, you nutter!

I am not even gonna go into Okami…. My head will be bitten off.

But yeah, thats a justification that crossed my mind, Cel Shaded may look better on the Wii. But for me, (as if you ahven’t heard this a milion times) Shadow of the Colossus was the most impressive game on the PS2.

And with the Wii’s extra power, you’d think they could create something in the same vein, without the framerate issues.

I am just tired of seeing only cel shaded games being recognised for their art direction. I think that’s the point. And if I interpretted what Tonka said correctly, sour grapes, is exactly it. Hell Monster Hunter 3 has ASTOUNDING art direction, from the screens.

I just don’t know why it’s not noticed.

Because it’s Monster Hunter and nobody in the West gives a crap about Monster Hunter, probably.

I don’t think you’d get many arguments about Shadow, tbh – it wouldn’t be far behind Okami graphics-wise in my book, and it’s a far, far superior world and atmosphere. Superb game.

Well, I am not saying cel shading isn’t pretty. And thats the point of an art direction, right? To make it pretty.

But I certainly wish developers would take more risks with more exciting art directions. And by that I mean really play with the technical side of it.

Stop trying to imitate on-paper art or realism, and start making impressive indivduals, unique in presenttation to 3D computer generic image.

That’s certainly what I feel Shadow of the Colossus did. even ICO did… One section had animated specular maps, and I could have sworn PS2 was incapable of that.

Yeah… the trouble is, 99% of your audience aren’t going to know or care what an ‘animated specular map’ is. They just want it to look good. Is there even any point putting vast amounts of effort into stuff like that when only a tiny percentage of players are even going to notice?

I have always thought MadWorld looked shit. And it has nothing to do with the visuals. To me the gameplay looks like something I wouldn’t enjoy 2 minutes of.

Brawler with gimmicky death traps.

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZz

Well ideally the reviewers notice it and inform readers, and if not, it goes towards an overall superb art direction, they will notice that.

They just won’t notice it individually.

I know what you’re saying too. But that is exactly what I dislike, ‘lets do cel-shaded becuase it will be noticed by even the most stupid memebers of our potential audience’.

All the people who bought Shadow of the Colossus noticed how good it looked. And it didn’t have to be cel-shaded.

I was just thinking… the discussion here (on the whole) is so much more reasoned and intelligent in the daytime. It took me about a second to work out why that was.

Because I’m here, obviously.

Blerk™: Poster of the year 2008

I do try.

Two award winning posters in one thread you see…

Three award winning… Three

/Mutual admiration society