The BiA:EiB cover is really good!
I don't know if you can get away with it nowadays, but at least back then the photo of a soldier on the cover of Operation Flashpoint was very good as well.
He doesn't scream. He looks kinda friendly, but still cold and determined.
Makes me think the gameplay is methodic and tactical and the atmosphere is mostly cold-hearted but not frantic.
E.g. I could imagine the guy in the pic taking aim and shooting someone down with two shots only to move on without further thinking about his victim in any terms other than a neutralized obstacle. I could not imagine the guy shooting someone in anger or just blind-fireing somewhere.
What I can imagine the guy on the cover doing is what I think is done in the game. That's why I think this game has to be methodic and tactical with little to no emotion (whether that's how the game is or not. We are just talking about the covers here).
Here is another good one with real people on it:
Has a certain reenactment flair to it. Doesn't make me think the game is methodical and cold like the box-art of OFP, but it also doesn't make me think the game is about all-out-action. It shows a scene that is often overlooked in other ww2 games (soldiers just travelling over the battlefield) and it seems to me like the game is made
by people who are genuinely interested in ww2
for people who are interested in ww2.
It's incredibly easy to slip into b-title territory with photos of real people though.
Shockingly, almost the same pic as the first one (for almost the same game) but with a different soldier is worse already:
Too angry! Makes me think that either the gameplay is more frantic than in OFP or the atmosphere is more patriotic/emotional.
I can imagine the guy taking an unaimed twitch shot at some enemy (in a movie it would look as if he was throwing the bullet at him from the rifle
) because he is angry. I, however, can not imagine him completely blind-fireing somewhere.
Makes me think the atmosphere in the game is more emotional and the gameplay is a little more frenetic.
While the overall presentation is better, imo, the models in this pic are worse:
It does convey a sense of companionship, but it's overdone with everyone so cramped together. It is also an action shot. Makes me think the game's atmosphere is about action and war-movie feeling and the gameplay is team-oriented but fast.
There are yet worse examples:
The guy on the right shows too much rage! Rage + aiming a gun (in a worst case scenario WITH photoshopped muzzleflash!) conveys that the game is hectic and that it is about movie-like atmosphere.
The guy on the front looks to me like he gives an honest effort to look war-torn, but it still looks like hammy acting to me so I think of the game it's as fake as the guy on the front. I.e. the atmosphere is similar to an action-war-movie and the gameplay is fast.
Interestingly those are all very realistic and tactical games for their respective genre. I didn't pick the odds ones out that were "Serious Sam goes ww2" style and took their covers here.
I hope the thoughts posted in this thread can help you pick a better box-art this time around.
I have to agree with Susi on the cover of the first game:
It look so cheap that i wouldnt had bought it, if i hadn't know whats inside it.
It just screamed generic ww2 budget title.
