Lack of "Cartoony" graphics

[SpoonyBard]

Puppeteer looks really cool too.

I don't mind realistic looking games, and I don't mind cartoony/colorful games. Sure, those cartoony games are fairly absent from modern ("AAA", or whatever) titles. But there was an absolute ton of them for the PS2/GC/DC.



All that being said, I want the Katamari team to do all the art/level design for the next Call of Duty game. Just to see what it would be like.

[Key-Glyph]

I agree with the general sentiment of this thread, but I'm having trouble pinpointing where my personal distinctions among "cartoony," "realistic," and "stylized" are.

Obviously Sonic the Hedgehog is cartoony. But I tend to think of a game like Final Fantasy X as "realistic" even while recognizing that the characters are highly stylized in anime aesthetic, because they "seem real." I don't know how else to put it. And yet I think of a game like Mass Effect as being "realistic" and not highly stylized, despite the fact that it has all manner of aliens of varying plausibility milling about, because the humans look pretty photo-realistic. Not saying that these categorizations are right -- I'm just detailing my gut reactions.

Does this just come down to the atmosphere of a particular game? Because Final Fantasy games definitely have a magical feel, whereas Mass Effect is supposed to be realistic science fiction. Maybe that influences some sort of interpretational bias. Or does it hinge more on how photo-realistic the human characters involved are? Or does the anime aesthetic itself command a sense of realism in my mind, despite actually being "cartoony?"

And somewhere in all of that is the Uncanny Valley point of no return. I wonder what the actual variables are that allow some games to secure an overall suspension of belief, and others to fail spectacularly.

This may or may not have been anywhere on topic.

[RCBH928]

Even with cartoonish games now days , they just do not feel the same. When you look at Braid , World of Goo , or Wind Waker even though they are cartoons they just do not give you the feel of something like Earth Worm Jim , Mickey's Castle of illusion , or even Mario 64 (as a 3D example) . Something feels missing , maybe the newer games seem so serious while the older ones were more comic. The overall tone of games like Limbo and Lost Winds is just different even though they are considered "cartoonish" . I think the the sound effects like "Boings" , jumpy tunes , and crazy characters like the scientist with a monkey on his head. I think the idea of levels and non-speaking (or hardly speaking) characters add to the comic tone instead of having a continuos story line and 3D models talking to you.


While Rayman Legends and Rayman Origins is on the right path , I think the super sharp amazing graphics is just too much to take it in as a "cartoonish" game. Its too good looking... Any one else think that the HD and all the texture and the depth is taking away the "comic" feel out of it. Compare Rayman's graphics to something more simpler like Fez , Meat Boy, Minecraft, and Plants vs Zombies . I think its one of those moments where "Its not that can we do it, but should we do it?" For the first I think better graphics might not serve the best purpose of a game.

@Menegrothx

You bring a very good point and I understand what you mean I just can't define it either. I would like to see the more "in between" games with stuff like Killer 7 , Oddworld , Quake. Its hard to define while Quake is supposed to be non-cartoonish I still wouldn't take it seriously like Mass Effect for example . I mean even Doom is not so serious .

@Pulsar_t

TIL there is something called ARMA . What is it? is it a game or an army training simulation?

@Key-Glyph

I think we both agree that using cartoons/drawings does not separate realistic from cartoonish games, but its hard to define.

@Muhanad

I too would like to see more colors other than grey and the serious tone . This is a reason why I favor Halo over COD series . I am also tired of DARK .

[Pulsar_t]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARMA:_Armed_Assault

It became known among non-simmers because a popular zombie mod required it.