The Top 5 Worst Video Game Box Art

Much like judging a book by its cover you’re probably going to have judged a videogame by its cover too. The artwork on the front of a game case is deigned to not only catch the attention of passers by but to also translate the style and genre of said game. Sometimes designed bang the nail right on the head (something we’ll look at in a following article) however there are also some cases where they miss the point entirely. Here are 5 of the worst examples of videogame box art that’ll have you running for the hills rather than running to the cashier desk.

5. Batman Arkham City: Game of the Year Edition (Multi Platform: 2012)

This one is quite simply a mess. Covered in unnecessary quotations and score ratings from a collection of companies just scream out smug. Even Batman looks disappointed to be within that throng of arrogance. The actual title of the game is probably the last thing you’ll notice as a consumer too, it’s seriously hard to think what made the marketing department think randomly placed fonts was an ideal way to sell the Batman to fans? A monotone mess that’s trying to hard to replicate Sin City and ultimately misses the point.

4. Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos (Multi Platform: 2010)

Making an original piece of artwork is tough when there’s thousands of games that may have already nabbed your idea however the evident plagiarism seen in Deadliest Catch just can’t be put down to artistic license. Does it seem familiar? Call of Duty 2 did it right with a cover that makes the viewer feel like the soldier is trying to tell them something important. Deadliest Catch just shoves a giant crab in your face in a kind of “Eat This” fashion. If you’re not a fan of seafood in your face it would probably be best to stick to Call of Duty.

3. Karnaaj Rally (Gameboy Advanced: 2002)

What the biscuit is going on here? An incredibly poorly photoshopped picture of what appears to be the lead singer of Muse with a blurry pink car in the background. Muse man doesn’t even look like he’s having fun, more like he’s being illegitimately probed or about to get mown down by the pink blur. It definitely gets the fact that it’s a racing game across what with all the checkered flags and the car but that blue haired freak is just scary. Whilst film studios were making Lord of The Rings there was a developing studio producing this monstrosity, what a joke.

2. Fuse (Multi-Platform: 2013)

This is actually a fairly recently box art catastrophe. This cover sees four soldiers pacing forwards, brandishing weapons, striking hero poses with something explosive going on in the background. That’s never been done before, oh wait. The evident color scheme of browns and greys has been poorly covered with an offensive orange background that actually clouds a lot of detail in the art. The worst part of all however is that all the characters seen on the front seem to have suffered full frontal lobotomies as they’re missing the top half of their heads. This would be fine if they weren’t the center of attention, but they are. The unimaginative font does nothing to rectify the situation either. Oddly enough Fuse hasn’t done particularly well in its first week of release either.

1. Any Fifa Game (Multi Platform: released yearly until the end of time)

Originally this was quite a good example of box art however it’s never ending rehashing has earned it the number one spot. Simply get the most popular footballer of the previous season, make him look happy (give him a cookie or something) then get him to run across a football pitch waving his hands. Marketing gold. Throw in a poorly rendered crowd or a fellow (less happy) footballer for good measure and voilà, you have yourself a Fifa cover. Unimaginative and lazy, not really what you’d expect from the best selling console football game but hey, it still sells.

What box arts do you think are the worst? Do you agree with all the titles that made the list? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!