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Forums - Gaming Discussion - The Arguments over the 'Colors' in Games

Reviewers talk about this. Gamers talk about this as well.

It's the talk over the 'colors' in Games.

The most common argument is of course that a game is too dull and has no color.

I was just watching the recent Insomniac's Full Moon Show: Resistance 2 Retrospective video and during one stage, the lead designer mentioned that he was proud of what Insomniac did back when Resistance Fall of Man launched and was known for it's gritty and brown graphics. It set the atmosphere. Ted Price then adds by saying that because the PS3 didn't have many launch titles, a lot of people were talking about Resistance FOM and a bunch of vocal internet users around the net complained that Resistance FOM was too brown and dull. Then you fast forward to Resistance 2 where they added a much more variety of color and environments from forests, susnset cities, etc and you get a new bunch of complainers. Now this time they DON'T want the colors in Resistance 2 and want dark and gritty graphics back in Resistance 3.

I know it's hard to please everyone when making a game but man at one time you get people complaining there's no color in one game and next you get complaints about having color in the next game. Like... Why?

Killzone 2 comes into mind. It got slammed by fans because it was too dull and no color. Now that Guerilla is adding Snowy environments, Jungles, etc I'm going to be seriously pissed off if after Killzone 3, people complain that KZ3 had too much color and want black and dark colors back in the game.

I personally think colors in games matter depending on what the game is. Can you imagine if Uncharted 2 was all dark and grey like Killzone 2? Do you still think Uncharted 2 would've still had set the new benchmark for Console Graphics?

I'd also like to mention Transformers War For Cybertron. I remember while reading IGN's review for this and their comment about TF WFC's graphics. "It was good but wish it had more color and a variety of environments." The entire game was set in Cybertron, a robotic planet with no such thing as wildlife and jungles, etc. TF fans would know that and yet people complain WFC had no color? Well what the hell did you expect? Beautiful Jungles with great lightning? Underwater sea levels? Lust Sandy Orange Deserts? If you knew that the entire game would revolve around Cybertron, would wouldn't have such expectations of 'colors' in WFC as much as you would for Uncharted 2 for example.

BioShock. All I know is that BioShock is very critically acclaimed review wise and at the time I did not read reviews of BioShock. Now I don't know if this happened or not but I don't think a reviewer slammed BioShock for not having a variety of color in the game. The dark and green color palette in BioShock set the atmosphere really well for the Underwater city Rapture. There really wasn't a variety of color in BioShock at all. But I don't think people cared.

Just recently, Limbo was released. Pure black and white. What if it was a game full of color? Would Limbo still have that uniqueness of it's atmosphere and the overall game?

I just don't think people should critisize a game because it's got no color or in rarer cases like Resistance 2, because it has color.

 

So what's your POV on the argument of color in games?



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yea some people are just plain stupid 

they dont understand games artistic direction. Dont they know Game Devolopers are hiring full on Artists for there games?? they dont randoming colour the environment, they do it to match the mood of the current situation, or set the scene or atmosphere of the location or event.

Would you play a Horror game in board daylight in daisy covers green fields , NOOOOO

you want creepy dark isolated caves or cramp empty buildings. 

game reviewers are running out of things to brag the competition to protect there beloved franchise. game reviewers now are so bias and are fanboys or either an console or a game. Like i have read reviews from COD fanboy who said the game took heavy inperation from MW2 despite nothing like the game expect its a modern shooter and it was done around 7 month after MW2 release, so did they make on-line in that time just to rip off cod mw2. 

 

game reviewers need to change there acts 



Of Course That's Just My Opinion, I Could Be Wrong

How about designers don't deliberately go for 'gritty' or 'colourful' but instead employ art direction that fits the gameplay and game atmosphere? So as long as players can see where they need to go / what objects' functions are, and the environments serve the gameplay style, that's the art that should be used.

The example I'm thinking of here is Metroid Prime. Neither dark nor colourful, nor do those descriptions make sense. The design served how the game was intended to be played, and the world looked and felt 'right' for that reason. Not technically impressive compared to HD consoles but I think it looks better than the majority of HD games because of the art direction.



I prefer those "brown and grey" graphics over the likes of mario galaxy. It propably has something to do with my taste of games though. :D



yeah colors are suppose to support the atmosphere of a game, and reinforce it's tone, that's why there were littler amount of colors in killzone 2 and a wide range of colors in uncharted 2, 

I mean watch aliens, how many colors do you see?

most gamers and industry professionals don't have the brains to realize this. 



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I will agree with Soleron, but my example is somewhat more primeval:

The original Legend of Zelda is a game limited by its tech but united in its art direction. It was a drab world with splashes of color, fitting under no label, and worked because it was easy to see what everything was supposed to be.



mchaza said:

yea some people are just plain stupid 

they dont understand games artistic direction. Dont they know Game Devolopers are hiring full on Artists for there games?? they dont randoming colour the environment, they do it to match the mood of the current situation, or set the scene or atmosphere of the location or event.

Would you play a Horror game in board daylight in daisy covers green fields , NOOOOO

you want creepy dark isolated caves or cramp empty buildings. 

game reviewers are running out of things to brag the competition to protect there beloved franchise. game reviewers now are so bias and are fanboys or either an console or a game. Like i have read reviews from COD fanboy who said the game took heavy inperation from MW2 despite nothing like the game expect its a modern shooter and it was done around 7 month after MW2 release, so did they make on-line in that time just to rip off cod mw2. 

 

game reviewers need to change there acts 


exactly this



if it fits I'm more than happy to play a game full of gray and/or brown (WWII shooter or Gears)



The problem isn't one game.... but when 10 games at the same time are released and are all grey and brown...



 

Face the future.. Gamecenter ID: nikkom_nl (oh no he didn't!!) 

NiKKoM said:

The problem isn't one game.... but when 10 games at the same time are released and are all grey and brown...


This times 100.