Thursday, July 28, 2011

Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (Dead Island edition)

It doesn't take much for a zombie game to catch my attention. Really, all it has to do is include zombies--and lots of them.

OK, good box art often helps, too. After all, it kind of puts me in the mood to mow down zombies, you know?

Speaking of good, filled-with-zombies box art, I'd definitely use those words to describe the covers that have been created for Techland's Dead Island (trailers here), an open-world, survival-horror game that will be released for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on Sept. 6 in North America and Sept. 9 in Europe. (I'm guessing the Japanese version will be released in September, too, although I can't say that with certainty at the moment.)

As far as I'm aware, for instance, this piece of art will appear on all regular versions (i.e., in all territories) of Dead Island:


The following illustration, on the other hand, will grace the cover of a limited edition that will be released in Europe:


Honestly, I'd call the latter piece of box art the better of the two if it weren't a bit too close in execution to the covers that appeared on European releases of Resident Evil 4. Since that's not the case, though, I'm going to declare the stormy standard version the winner of this edition of "Which Box Art is Better?"

That's just my opinion, though. What's yours?

Pre-order: PC version, PS3 version and Xbox 360 version

10 comments:

Balloonfighter said...

The second one of course.

dale_dale said...

I have to go with the US version...the JPN version is too close to the RE4 box art.

Alistair Aitcheson said...

Tbh I prefer the standard one. I feel like the EU one's been done before and seems too familiar. I like the raging wind, tilted angle, and gutsy pose on the standard one.

StickHead said...

I agree with Alistair - I usually prefer a more minimalistic approach, but the first is very evocative. It stops just short of over egged.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Thanks for your input, Balloonfighter! Why do you so prefer the second one, if you don't mind me asking?

Bryan Ochalla said...

Actually, dale_dale, the second one is an LE that will be released in Europe (or is it only in the UK?). The Japanese cover will be the same as the first image.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hey there, Alistair! I agree -- the standard edition art could have been boring in the wrong hands, but as it is it's actually really nice. I, too, quite like the slanted angle and the windswept environment.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ah, we're all agreeing now. Good! Anyway, StickHead, yes, the first option is quite evocative, isn't it? Also, I love the phrase "over-egged." :)

Viewtiful_Justin said...

I'm gonna go with the second one.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ah, interesting! Why is that, Justin? Also, I'm guessing you've never seen the Euro RE 4 covers?