The worst box art of 2007

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Take a look back at the 15 games that fuglied up store shelves the most this year

Designing a box for a game is tough. With one image, you need to stand out on the shelf, catch the eye of the casual consumerand convince them that your game is worth their money.Some games get it wrong; others get it so wrong that potential customers actually recoil in horror. We've all seen terrible old atrocities likeMega ManandAlex Kidd in Miracle World, but don't think for a second that awful cover art is a thing of the past, left behind by a more sophisticated games industry. To prove it, we've pulled together the 15 worst examplesfrom this year alone for you to gawk at.

Please bear in mind we're not passing judgment over the games themselves -just the boxes that hold them.

15. Fairy Godmother Tycoon (PC, released April 30)

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Designing a box for a game is tough. With one image, you need to stand out on the shelf, catch the eye of the casual consumerand convince them that your game is worth their money.Some games get it wrong; others get it so wrong that potential customers actually recoil in horror. We've all seen terrible old atrocities likeMega ManandAlex Kidd in Miracle World, but don't think for a second that awful cover art is a thing of the past, left behind by a more sophisticated games industry. To prove it, we've pulled together the 15 worst examplesfrom this year alone for you to gawk at.

Please bear in mind we're not passing judgment over the games themselves -just the boxes that hold them.

15. Fairy Godmother Tycoon (PC, released April 30)

Compositionally, there's nothing wrong with this Shrek 2-inspired box and its frog-lipped, cake-haired, cow-eyed matron -apart from the fact that it exists.

14. Etrian Odyssey (DS, released May 15)

Shh! These characters were posing, but then a loud noise startled them into hiding on the far side of the cover. Maybe if we're real quiet, they'llslowly creepback and help us figure out how to read their logo.

13. Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek (PC, released June 7)

Also known as "Nancy Drew: The Painting on the Side of the Van Owned by the Middle-Aged Man Who Wears a Turquoise Belt Buckleand Collects Dreamcatchers."

12. Petz: Catz 2 (PC/PS2/Wii/DS, released Nov. 15)

"O HAI U CATCHED US SECKSING LOL."

We honestly don't know what's worse - the fact that these kittens are clearly getting it on, or the way they're making eye contact with us the entire time.

11. Touch Detective 2 ½ (DS, released Oct. 9)

Um...

What.

Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.