5) Ghoulies also had a distinctive art style. How well do you think it holds up today?
EB: Fantastically well. I'm still impressed when I see it running in HD.
SM: I think it looks just as good now as it first did. Actually it looks even better, as it's in HD. If you look at any older games that have stylised visuals, they tend to age better than those that strive for realism.
GP: Not bad at all I'd say, I loved the style back then and still enjoy it now. I think games that go down a generic realistic route soon look outdated as the current generation of games outperform them and are easily comparable. There are some very distinctive games even older than Ghoulies that I think still look beautiful today due to their unique style.
KC: Ghoulies was the first game for which we used pre-baked light maps for the environments; this, combined with the fantastic texture work of our artists, gave every room a really rich and vibrant appearance with great contrast between the light and shadows. The characters in Ghoulies used a nice lighting effect that was similar to the trendy "toon" shading of the era, but far more subtle, and this definitely helped the game to stay looking fresh where others have dated. Personally I think it looks terrific in HD after all this time.
JT: Considering its age, it still holds up really well. The comic look has proven its worth and when booting it up on a 360 it has nothing to be ashamed of. You can really see that the detail lavished on the environments and the characters has paid dividends. We had a great team of artists who threw in all sorts of niceties, from fully modelled chess sets in the play room to various Easter Eggs that I won't go and spoil.
6) Which standout features or moments do you think will most impress new players? |
