From a pure design standpoint: LeChuck's Revenge
Considering the technical limitations: Curse of Monkey Island
I voted for MI2.
If LucasArts is working on a LeChuck's Revenge Special Edition, then I hope by god that they reuse the original Purcell character designs and don't come up with wacky over-the-top caricatures.
I will always hold an appreciation for 8-bit 320x200 graphics in a special way. Saying that, I can't decide which looks better; SMI or MI2. SMI had Deluxe Paint "shopped" 256 colour palette extensions to the original 16-colour graphics, but MI2 had hand-painted graphics. As such they have very different looks despite being both in 8-bit 320x200. I think I shall have to say SMI because the locked-palette Deluxe Paint-ified 256 colour graphics give a very atmospheric effect to the gameplay. Something MI2 didn't manage to grasp with it's vibrant varying colours. But both still look gorgeous.
Curse of Monkey Island for sure. Except for the low resolution its still absolutely beautiful and looks better than many adventures released today.
Thats one of the advantages of 2D-graphics in my opinion. Even after many years it still looks good. Just play DoTT and you will find yourself liking the graphics of a game which was originally released on floppy disks. I find it funny that nobody selected MI4.
CoMI for me, Escape had some nice looking renders around but the whole thing felt too clean and plastic. As mentioned MI1 and 2 are just classics in their own right but I'd love to see how they'd look redrawn in MI3's style.
Nostaligia is nice and all but when it comes to reality drawn backgrounds with sprites versus draw/ painted, rendered back grounds with fluid -drawn characters and a whole new and bold sense of atmosphere I go with curse of monkey island over the two first games which are in fact flat im comparrison. If M-I 4 had more lustrious and imaginative locations I feel that the graphics could have been better seen. Blood island in Mi-4 could be interesting for example . Although curse definitely wins over EMI.
I like the first two games, and both styles are well enough, but that's just it for me, as you said its technicially choronically stated which is better looking, and I can't see past that. Each to there own,. I'm kind of a grouch , aren't I? STEVE worked on MI-2 , well I respect it almost definitely more now , although I still say that given the technology he could have made MI-3 look better than it is as well as the first two games.
It's an amazing accomplishment as a game, it has so many richly varied environments, and yet the art direction is so cohesive that they all look like they belong in the same game, this is no small feat with game development.
I'd give a runner-up mentions to Escape from Monkey Island and Secret of Monkey Island though, as they really did try to provide some variety, and overall it was quite cohesive, there wasn't really anything that looked out of place in either, but for all their gusto, they still weren't as varied as Lechuck's Revenge when it came to richly detailed and vividly different locales.
One problem with art direction is that it can often be weak, this can lead to either A) having a lot of scenes in a game and a bunch of them looking like they don't fit with the rest, or keeping a degree of sameyness between all the scenes so that they fit. The latter is what I personally felt CoMI suffered from, as I can't really remember any truly distinct locations in CoMI, barring maybe the Voodoo Lady's house.
If you go back and play through Lechuck's Revenge though, over the three islands and the other locations, there was a surprising amount of variety there for a game of the era, and there wasn't one thing one could look at and think "That looks out of place in this game." So that's why I think MI 2 looks the best, it's an exemplary show of good art direction, even if it isn't the most high-res.
I have no trouble with understanding why. it looks great. the characters mostly look better than in CoMI, and the backgrounds are brilliant. CoMI is - as noted by vagrantwulf a bit samey.
I agree with that, behind MI 2, EMI is definitely one of my favourites. It says something about a game when one's only two complaints about it are A) the main character's hair (sorry!), and it didn't feel piratey enough.
Guybrush even looked more like a pirate, losing both the lanky looks and the terribly beady eyes, that made me very happy. And I loved his coat!
And every location in EMI really did have this distinct feel to it, you knew when you'd really moved from one area to the next, because it all had this same overarching theme, but the locations were quite, quite different.
I feel I don't praise EMI enough and it does deserve it. In fact, I probably frequently come over as the sort whom is only capable of loving the first two, s'not true though, EMI I liked every bit as much as SoMI, so I often don't understand the negativity towards it.
And if we're talking art direction alone, I do think that EMI even pips in quite a bit above SoMI, though I have a hard time feeling that's a fair statement because SoMI had a number of tech-based restrictions on it, but it's how I feel about the matter, at least.
CoMI was the SCUMM engine at its absolute peak. The first two just don't compare and Escape was using the first generation GrimE engine, putting it on the lower scale of 3D games.
I find all games to be pretty good looking, even Tales. Not sure why that wasn't on the list, maybe because we've not seen all the parts yet? Not that I would vote for it.
Anyway, the one that stands out for me, even by today's standard, is Monkey Island 2. The sheer amount of detail in its arts despite the low resolution and number of colors (I'm even more impressed by the Amiga version - it's hard to see the difference between the 256 colored PC version and the 32 colored Amiga version. That's quite an achievement). This is computer arts at its finest. Probably one of the best looking games of all time, imo, if you can see past the resolution.
I find all games to be pretty good looking, even Tales. Not sure why that wasn't on the list, maybe because we've not seen all the parts yet? Not that I would vote for it.
This topic looks like it was created before the first Chapter of Tales was released. I assume they didn't include it because they didn't know what it would be like. (You can only tell so much from trailers.)
Comments
Considering the technical limitations: Curse of Monkey Island
I voted for MI2.
If LucasArts is working on a LeChuck's Revenge Special Edition, then I hope by god that they reuse the original Purcell character designs and don't come up with wacky over-the-top caricatures.
qft
For me it captured the spirit of MI in a modern looking game. I do agree with serweet that the original two are iconic
All the games look great, though.
Thats one of the advantages of 2D-graphics in my opinion. Even after many years it still looks good. Just play DoTT and you will find yourself liking the graphics of a game which was originally released on floppy disks. I find it funny that nobody selected MI4.
MI3 has incredible background graphics, but I don't like the character graphics all that much.
Technically, of course CMI is better.
It's an amazing accomplishment as a game, it has so many richly varied environments, and yet the art direction is so cohesive that they all look like they belong in the same game, this is no small feat with game development.
I'd give a runner-up mentions to Escape from Monkey Island and Secret of Monkey Island though, as they really did try to provide some variety, and overall it was quite cohesive, there wasn't really anything that looked out of place in either, but for all their gusto, they still weren't as varied as Lechuck's Revenge when it came to richly detailed and vividly different locales.
One problem with art direction is that it can often be weak, this can lead to either A) having a lot of scenes in a game and a bunch of them looking like they don't fit with the rest, or
If you go back and play through Lechuck's Revenge though, over the three islands and the other locations, there was a surprising amount of variety there for a game of the era, and there wasn't one thing one could look at and think "That looks out of place in this game." So that's why I think MI 2 looks the best, it's an exemplary show of good art direction, even if it isn't the most high-res.
Guybrush even looked more like a pirate, losing both the lanky looks and the terribly beady eyes, that made me very happy. And I loved his coat!
And every location in EMI really did have this distinct feel to it, you knew when you'd really moved from one area to the next, because it all had this same overarching theme, but the locations were quite, quite different.
I feel I don't praise EMI enough and it does deserve it. In fact, I probably frequently come over as the sort whom is only capable of loving the first two, s'not true though, EMI I liked every bit as much as SoMI, so I often don't understand the negativity towards it.
And if we're talking art direction alone, I do think that EMI even pips in quite a bit above SoMI, though I have a hard time feeling that's a fair statement because SoMI had a number of tech-based restrictions on it, but it's how I feel about the matter, at least.
You can still do things in 2D that can't be done in 3D, but nobody cares about that anymore which makes me love that style even more.
Part of a dying breed on that one.
Anyway, the one that stands out for me, even by today's standard, is Monkey Island 2. The sheer amount of detail in its arts despite the low resolution and number of colors (I'm even more impressed by the Amiga version - it's hard to see the difference between the 256 colored PC version and the 32 colored Amiga version. That's quite an achievement). This is computer arts at its finest. Probably one of the best looking games of all time, imo, if you can see past the resolution.
This topic looks like it was created before the first Chapter of Tales was released. I assume they didn't include it because they didn't know what it would be like. (You can only tell so much from trailers.)
Shame on me for not doing my research first...