Favourite Box Art of 2012

The year is coming to a close and that means you can expect a ton of 'Favourite ___ of 2012' threads, like this one. With Bioshock Infinite's rather bland cover being announced, I thought it would be cool to look back and see what everybody's stand-out box art was from this year. Here are my picks in order of release:
 

Max Payne 3. The art for that game is ridiculously good, typical Rockstar at this point.

I would have said Borderlands 2's flip side cover art but then I realized just after I picked up the game that it's basically a complete rip off of Olly Moss' work.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/21/borderlands-2-borrows-star-wars-poster-art

Gravity Rush's is definitely a favorite. Actually, that's probably the only box art this year that really stood out to me.

Oh, and Persona 4 Golden's:

Xenoblade has my vote. Love the green grass against the blue sky and mech.

I know some people weren't into it, but I actually really like Far Cry 3's art.

@Bishna: You took my first choice, so I'll go with my second:

@FluxWaveZ: I thought that Kanji and Rise looked wierd in that.

The Darkness 2 by far. Darksiders 2 wasn't bad either.

The reversed Xenoblade Chronicles cover art in the US is absolutely fantastic.

No Halo 4 yet? Fuck this thread.

@Sticky_Pennies said:

The reversed Xenoblade Chronicles cover art in the US is absolutely fantastic.

It really is beautiful. Didn't play the game but I love it.

The Walking Dead's cover is cool.

@ArtisanBreads said:

Max Payne 3. The art for that game is ridiculously good, typical Rockstar at this point.

I would have said Borderlands 2's flip side cover art but then I realized just after I picked up the game that it's basically a complete rip off of Olly Moss' work.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/21/borderlands-2-borrows-star-wars-poster-art

Yeah I feel Rockstar's covers are always top notch.

I like the really simple stuff, keeping it classy ya know? The clutter of something like Persona 4 is a bit much for me.

The guy just looks so happy :D

I really like the style of Sleeping Dogs' cover:

@TaliciaDragonsong: I rather like the box art for The Darkness II as well. The cover art on Steam was pretty great.

@mracoon: I also really liked the box art for Syndicate and Borderlands 2, as you already pointed out.

oh ya Sleeping Dogs is where it is at. T. Stout is the artist. Love his style. Need to buy one of his posters but they are always sold out.

I'll go ahead and say hotline miami for games i actually played, but I do like Far Cry 3.

@Demoskinos: I love that game but that box art kinda sucks considering they have none of the actual main characters on it (a main villain sure but still)

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos: I love that game but that box art kinda sucks considering they have none of the actual main characters on it (a main villain sure but still)

What does it matter?

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos: I love that game but that box art kinda sucks considering they have none of the actual main characters on it (a main villain sure but still)

What does it matter?

I like it a lot because its simple and classy it doesn't have a whole lot of noise on it. Simple white background the title and a single character. I think on a lot of covers now days there is just way to much noise. I have the Limited Edition and it just has the title on a white background and I really like that. Sometimes minimilistic goes really far with me.

Ignoring the game for windows live and the ratings/branding labels:

Artorias is fucking awesome.

Also.

@BeachThunder said:

I really like the style of Sleeping Dogs' cover:

@Generiko said:

The guy just looks so happy :D

The Darkness 2 by far. Darksiders 2 wasn't bad either.

@Spoonman671: Huh, I actually just now noticed the head in the sand on that FC3 cover.

Fuck. I don't buy enough physical games to get a broad spectrum of box art...

@Demoskinos said:

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos: I love that game but that box art kinda sucks considering they have none of the actual main characters on it (a main villain sure but still)

What does it matter?

I like it a lot because its simple and classy it doesn't have a whole lot of noise on it. Simple white background the title and a single character. I think on a lot of covers now days there is just way to much noise. I have the Limited Edition and it just has the title on a white background and I really like that. Sometimes minimilistic goes really far with me.

oh sure the limited version sounds cool, the regular cover is just kinda... untrue advertising? advertising Lightning to be a large part of the game when she really isn't.

I really like the style of Sleeping Dogs' cover:

I still haven't played this one, but I really like the box art.

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos said:

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos: I love that game but that box art kinda sucks considering they have none of the actual main characters on it (a main villain sure but still)

What does it matter?

I like it a lot because its simple and classy it doesn't have a whole lot of noise on it. Simple white background the title and a single character. I think on a lot of covers now days there is just way to much noise. I have the Limited Edition and it just has the title on a white background and I really like that. Sometimes minimilistic goes really far with me.

oh sure the limited version sounds cool, the regular cover is just kinda... untrue advertising? advertising Lightning to be a large part of the game when she really isn't.

Don't be obtuse. She may not have a large role in it, but she's still present and an important character.

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos said:

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos: I love that game but that box art kinda sucks considering they have none of the actual main characters on it (a main villain sure but still)

What does it matter?

I like it a lot because its simple and classy it doesn't have a whole lot of noise on it. Simple white background the title and a single character. I think on a lot of covers now days there is just way to much noise. I have the Limited Edition and it just has the title on a white background and I really like that. Sometimes minimilistic goes really far with me.

oh sure the limited version sounds cool, the regular cover is just kinda... untrue advertising? advertising Lightning to be a large part of the game when she really isn't.

Don't be obtuse. She may not have a large role in it, but she's still present and an important character.

I guess, but that's like... putting Dojima on the Persona 4 box. He's an important character but there should be other characters that come first.

Also I think they were trying to fool people into thinking Lightning was going to be controllable since she was so popular, honestly, it's smart business.

@Animasta said:

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos said:

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos: I love that game but that box art kinda sucks considering they have none of the actual main characters on it (a main villain sure but still)

What does it matter?

I like it a lot because its simple and classy it doesn't have a whole lot of noise on it. Simple white background the title and a single character. I think on a lot of covers now days there is just way to much noise. I have the Limited Edition and it just has the title on a white background and I really like that. Sometimes minimilistic goes really far with me.

oh sure the limited version sounds cool, the regular cover is just kinda... untrue advertising? advertising Lightning to be a large part of the game when she really isn't.

Don't be obtuse. She may not have a large role in it, but she's still present and an important character.

I guess, but that's like... putting Dojima on the Persona 4 box. He's an important character but there should be other characters that come first.

Also I think they were trying to fool people into thinking Lightning was going to be controllable since she was so popular, honestly, it's smart business.

Technically, she is playable, both in the game's start and in some of the DLC. Also, Lightning's request for Noel to find Sarah is a driving force behind the storyline. This is not the same as putting Dojima on the cover of the P4 box.

Yep, really liked Sleeping Dogs style, although Syndicate is cool.

Also, do the guys have a box art of the year category? At the risk of adding another category, I think they kind of should.

I fucking love that Hotline Miami cover,

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos said:

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos: I love that game but that box art kinda sucks considering they have none of the actual main characters on it (a main villain sure but still)

What does it matter?

I like it a lot because its simple and classy it doesn't have a whole lot of noise on it. Simple white background the title and a single character. I think on a lot of covers now days there is just way to much noise. I have the Limited Edition and it just has the title on a white background and I really like that. Sometimes minimilistic goes really far with me.

oh sure the limited version sounds cool, the regular cover is just kinda... untrue advertising? advertising Lightning to be a large part of the game when she really isn't.

Don't be obtuse. She may not have a large role in it, but she's still present and an important character.

I guess, but that's like... putting Dojima on the Persona 4 box. He's an important character but there should be other characters that come first.

Also I think they were trying to fool people into thinking Lightning was going to be controllable since she was so popular, honestly, it's smart business.

Technically, she is playable, both in the game's start and in some of the DLC. Also, Lightning's request for Noel to find Sarah is a driving force behind the storyline. This is not the same as putting Dojima on the cover of the P4 box.

I still say it's intensely misleading, and honestly don't even think it looks that great (though that's mainly because of that dumb render of her, if it was just the silhouetted picture of her and caius fighting it would've been way better).

@Animasta: You're basically saying that it was misleading of Namco to do this for the Japanese We Love Katamari cover:

In which case, you are objectively wrong.

@Hailinel: katamari damacy's defining characteristic; being crazy

that cover; being crazy

not misleading at all!

At least the Sleeping Dogs box art is a departure from the ubiquitous "guy with a gun" style that has been plaguing us for years. However...Dogs is still my second favorite of the year next to Hotline Miami.

@Animasta said:

@Hailinel: katamari damacy's defining characteristic; being crazy

that cover; being crazy

not misleading at all!

No, the defining characteristic is a tiny, tiny prince rolling up giant balls of junk for a giant madman to turn into stars. That cover does not reflect that.

@Hailinel said:

The downside being that it throws my game shelf all out of whack because there's a noticeable bump now.

Oh, right. An answer. Gimme a sec.

@iShayman said:

I still haven't played this one, but I really like the box art.

Fuck, that's great.

I'm surprised nobody has said Assassin's Creed 3 yet, I thought it was on of the better covers of the year.

Borderlands 2. It's the second gun, so there are TWO FUCKIN GUNS. Man, such an awesome set of box art.

@iShayman said:

I still haven't played this one, but I really like the box art.

This is definitely my favorite :)

Yeah, a lot of good ones this year. Fez jumps to mind for me. The Walking Dead, i guess most specifically the upcoming disc version art:

Syndicate is nice and clean. Good game, good art.

Journey?

Loved the Steelbook case you got for pre-ordering Assassins Creed 3. Wish they had used this art work for the actual game.