The Top 7... prettiest games of 2008

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Pick your jaw up off the floor and bask in their rainbow-colored glow

“First Person Shooter” is the guiltiest genre when it comes to browning everything to a dull crisp. That’s why the palette-slathered Daily City grabbed our eyes by the balls and never let go, as it was an FPS actually pleasing to stare at. Gone were the dingy buildings of CoD: W@W and the war-torn alternate world of Resistance 2, and in their place were walls drenched in exaggerated colors:

The colors, children, the colors. Such vibrancy comes at a cost though; the world is as lifeless as it as varied. Aside from a few birds on the rooftops and planes flying miles overhead, there’s nothing happening, so it all seems bizarrely empty despite the rainbow-colored environment.

We still salute the effort to gussy up the FPS genre though. Playing through the admittedly short story mode was a breath of rejuvenating fresh air in a scene normally littered with smoking cars and bloodthirsty monsters. Assuming EA gets to pump out a sequel (please, we’d love to do more with this world), we’ll probably see a jump in populace and overall interactivity. Or, if the DLC is any indication, we’ll see a whole lot less city and a crapton of abstract Escher paintings come to life:

Keeping with the “visually striking yet supremely lifeless world” vibe, WipEout HD’s time trial track blasts you down a psychedelic kaleidoscope sure to send some unlucky gamer into a seizure so riotous you won’t be able to tell if he’s dancing to the game’s infectious beats or, you know, actually about to pass out. The track speeds up with each lap and constantly rotates through a series of colors freak-out colors you really, really ought to see firsthand. Do so below, then buy the damn thing on PSN.

Brett Elston
Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.