Borderlands (remember this?) changing art style to cel-shaded?

[Queasy]

Destructoid has the rumor details about Borderlands moving away from the gritty/realistic look of this sci-fi/Mad Max type open-world game to a slightly cell-shaded look.

If you scroll down to the third comment, you'll see a scan of what is supposed to be in-game screenshots. The new art style definitely makes the characters 'pop out' more on the screens than they did originally.

 

[R Nilla]

Ew, what's with the emaciated look of those characters?

 

[Queasy]

well, it is a post-apocalyptic wasteland. 😉

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: Queasy
well, it is a post-apocalyptic wasteland. 😉

I wonder if we can expect to see some gameplay features where bones will crack and limbs will be dislocated and dismembered while playing... Those characters look really fragile. 😛

"You meleed too hard. Your right arm has fallen from it's socket"

 

[mmntech]

Cell shading can look really good if done right. Games such as Okami, Wind Waker, The Simpsons Game, and Afro Samurai did a good job of it. I honestly don't like the semi-cell shaded style though that tries to blend realism with animation, such as in Prince of Persia. That looks like that's what they're trying to do here. I find that style feels forced more often than not.

 

[Queasy]

Apparently, Borderlands is saying that the game is not cell-shaded. They have changed the direction of the art though and it definitely looks comic-bookish.

PC Gamer's Cover (via Destructoid) shows a (non-emaciated) character on their cover that GearBox is claiming as in-game.

 

[JoPh]

sucks.

 

[Dumac]

I think it looks better this way. The characters stand out more.

The old screenshots looked so bland and boring...

But what matters much more than any of this nonsense is if they can get the gameplay down 😛

This is the game that boasted tons of different kinds of guns, right? With prefixes and suffixes, a la Diablo.