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Alternative Cover Art Compendium
There is a new trend in video game boxart to include an alternative cover on the opposite side of the cover insert, and it's a trend that I hope more publishers embrace. Having an alternative cover for a game gives designers the opportunity to make visually distinct, often abstract, and definitely more interesting covers that understandably wouldn't do a very good job selling the game on a store shelf. Below in our gallery you will find a huge collection of alternative cover art with a few favorites pulled out
Make sure to sound off below on your favorites, and whether you like the originals or the alternatives better.
Dishonored's box, as most covers do, highlights the main character. This is the dude you will be playing as. Isn't he cool? The alternative art highlights the gameplay more, and features the awesome tall-boys..
Both of All 4 One's covers feature a collection of the main characters, but the alternative cover let's Quark take over for the sake of a joke.
Gravity Rush has an awesome art-direction, and it is actually highlighted pretty well on the front cover. The alternative cover, however, is a picture of a Vita. It's as if it was included as more of a helpful cheat sheet rather than an attempt to make an interesting alternative cover!
Borderlands 2's original cover art plays with the concept established with the first game cover, but doubles it because it's a sequel, and that needs to happen. The alternative cover art makes the world of Pandora seem more oppressive, especially with Handsome Jack's silhouette looming over everything.
Resistance 3 already has a pretty cool cover, but the alternative cover gets rid of all the Move callouts and dumb text.
Ratchet and Clank's first outing on PlayStation 3 had a weird cover. Ratchet is looking out into the city of the future, face obscured, and Clank is looking at presumably not the city, but he is still pretty amazed. The alternative cover is a gorgeous render of the city the duo is staring down, and they loom over it shrouded in darkness like Batman.
There are many more in the gallery below, and we'll be sure to update this feature as new covers release.
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