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D Eye brought a change in artistic direction to my attention. I’m not sure how I missed this, but Borderlands has apparently been converted into a cel-shaded adventure. He pointed out that while he doesn’t dislike cel-shading, he isn’t convinced that Borderlands will benefit from it. Particularly, he’s upset with certain game critics citing the new art style as the sole reason this game is now worthy of mention in their blog or magazine. More thoughts and embedded video after the break.

While I like the original artistic style shown off earlier this year, I don’t dislike the new direction. The trailer still seems pretty badass despite the distinct animation style:

Further, Borderlands is being developed in part by 2K Games which is sister companies with Rockstar. 2K doesn’t usually make crappy games so I’m prone to give their developers a little bit of leeway. The developer Gearbox appears to be doing most of the heavy lifting anyway, and their titles include the Brothers in Arms titles which aren’t exactly shabby. Despite developer talent or track records, I still ask the question…Does artistic style really matter?

I emphatically say ‘yes’.

I disagree with whomever D Eye was referencing as I was interested in this title from the get go. I don’t think the shift in direction is solely responsible for making this game “worthy” of praise. I think that a good game is a good game, and that judgment should be reserved for some serious hands-on time.

However, I do believe that art direction matters, and that we seldom see a title of any caliber that doesn’t have a purpose built artistic direction. In my mind I’m not sure if cel-shading would work for the Gears series, or for titles like Metal Gear Solid. Likewise, I don’t expect to see a 2D sprite-based Gears anytime soon.

So yes, artistic style matters. The good news for gamers is that artistic styles are usually locked into place and thoroughly plodded out long before any game play footage is shown off.

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Borderlands was featured in '07 and it is just coming out?  I remember seeing that cover years ago, but assumed that they pulled the plug on the project.

So I tried & failed miserably to find the article that toted the new visual style as a reason to pay attention to this game.  But the bigger issue that I had with the review was that the guy said that the game looked ho-hum before 2K revamped the visuals & that now made it worth watching.  The original style looked as good as Mass Effect to me.  The thing that got me about the remark was that it seemed like the guy didn't even listen to what the story to the game was about, he based his judgement solely on the look of the game.  I understand the game maker deciding to revamp art styles, but to say that now makes a game more appealing while not taking into account anything else?  That sir will have the Bull S#%$ flag thrown on the play.