Visual Art Styles in Games

Photorealism

Photorealism is an art-style that is becoming more commonly used in the video game industry as time
progresses, this is a visual that is so realistic that you could believe it was just filmed or photographed from real life. The detail into every section is incredible and makes games look like Hollywood Blockbusters. This visual style is becoming more and more accessible now with the likes of the Cry Engine being on the market, allowing people to create stunning visuals such as games like Crysis 3 and the Call of Duty franchise. The aim of Photorealism is to immerse you into the point in which you wouldn't be able to tell if it was reality or not.

Cel-Shading

Cel-Shading is a very unique and quirky style of art, one which has many people on either side of the fence, you will either really enjoy the bright vibrant styles it has, or you will completely hate the cartoony graphics it
gives. Cel-shaded games look like 2D images which have been molded and rendered in a 3D environment. Many mainstream games have used this style, most notably, the Boarderlands series which is incredibly popular, another game which uses this style incredibly well is the hidden gem from Sega in Sonic's shadow, Jet Set Radio Future, both games were recieved very well graphically. The Legend of Zelda has dug its claws into the cel-shading market, with the releases of The WindWaker and Skyward Sword however these games weren't received as well as other titles in the series, and are often considered the worst games from the franchise, I personally really enjoy the cel-shaded art style they have and The WindWaker and Skyward Sword are two of my most favourite Zelda titles.

Abstract

When you see an Abstract art style in this date you can pretty much expect to be playing an indie-title, it is a
style that has become a niche in that market and it isn't often the big boys will play around too much because this style is very personal, if not always the art styles of an abstract game are created by one or two people and are often on a 2D side-scrolling bases, the likes of LIMBO, Super Meat Boy and Castle Crashers. It is a very retro art style and is how games used to be played back in the day on the SNES, however it is still a popular market to date and an abstract indie game can still be as beautiful as a full-motion photorealistic game. Abstract games allow you to break the mold of reality, you will see really out there graphics such as pieces of meat that can run about and climb. Similar to exaggerated, but far more outlandish.

Exaggerated

Exaggerated art styles are anything that is above and beyond what is "normal". You see a young girl in a
game with eyes the size of melons? It's exaggerated. Most cartoon based games such as Super Mario and other brands such as Anime-style games will use this art-style. It is most popular in Japan but is becoming ever more popular in the west. Games such as Pokemon, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot will also use this visual style. You wouldn't really find a little purple dragon with huge eyes that can talk in a game like Call of Duty so it's important that you keep the exaggerated characters in the exaggerated worlds.