Its Holi time, the festival of colours and of love. Most of our Indian readers will know what Holi is, for those who don’t, here is what Wikipedia has to say:
To celebrate Holi in our own iLL way, the iLLStaff come together to compile a list of games that makes them think about colours and games that make good use of colours. Its a colourful colourful world!
Sahil’s picks
Dota 2
Y’all might have already figured, Dota 2 is almost on every list I take part in, something as silly as this one too. Valve’s free-to-play MOBA is all about colours. The heroes are colourful, the heroines are colourful, the map is colourful. Yet, the most colourful element of the game is the particle effects of the abilities of the heroes. Watch Lina breathe out a massive fire breath to be then superseded by opposing Faceless Void, who summons his blue Chrono. Shadow Fiend then pops in to use his ulti, a burst of red and black energy. Everything comes together as a colourfully delightful sight, ah, so beautiful.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
On the outset, every Borderlands game qualifies for this, since principally the core art design of the renowned series is based on, well, colours. And bright solid colours, everywhere. From the characters like Handsome Jack to even bots like ClapTrap, from the weapons to the decals, there is enough colour everywhere to feed your eyes. The levels in The Pre-Sequel have overwhelming colour too. The “bluesy” planet, the large swathes of red-yellow lava, the weapon and items shops. When I think about Borderlands, I think about colours.
Bioshock: Infinite
Bioshock: Infinite might have had polar critic outcomes, but the game sure made excellent use of colours. Its utopian world based in the sky bought out exaggerated blues, while the renaissance industrial setting made neat use of more subtle browns and greys. Then obviously, you have the plasmids and its effects. Even the indoors, with its glorified corridors and artwork. Everything once again mashes up together to form a world worth living in, literally.
Tathagata’s Picks
Tetris
There is no other game in its league that is more fundamental in its core gameplay and its overall outlook than the classic masterpiece that changed the way we once gamed. Tetris rode on a simple game mechanic – match building blocks and complete a vertical line to complete the grid and buy yourself some more time to head for the next. The icing on the cake was the colourful grids that would fall from time to time, as you make decisions to join their edges. The end results were vividly colourful and in the era of 2D animation, a game changer in itself. Coupled by the famous Tetris theme, the game defined how to stand out as a puzzle game that is so good to look at.
Far Cry 4
Advanced Chemistry: Amita’s Mission
In Far Cry you make decisions, that not only decide the way the game ends but also how the game tries to please you in terms of gameplay and immersion. One of the greatest decisions I took in Far Cry 4 was to skip one of Sabal’s missions and choose to side with Amita when she asked me to enter a drug factory and come out clean with the Chemist. Little did I know that I would consume poisonous air of the chemicals being processed at the factory, get all dizzied up and shoot down thugs, blasting to Panjabi MC’s Jogi, as they would drop like blots of colours. The more enemies I shot down, the more colourful hallucinations they led me to see. And at a point in the mission, I was glued to just whatever happened on the television screen. There is no better pleasure than shooting down thugs with a grenade launcher, a flamethrower, your own AK, and watching the sheer hallucinations take over your mind, after all that is what Far Cry does best. When you beat Amita’s mission, feel free to enter yet another colourful trip in the sidequests that Yogi and Reggie lay down for you, or hit the Shangri La.
Transistor
You know that a game is going to go hardcore with stunning visuals and vivid colours when the protagonist herself is heralded as codename Red. Transistor is that game that juxtaposes ideas and situations, and shows the insides of a system through colours. Your path is full of lively colours, each action of yours spark off a band of multiple hues and stretches that theory into the game’s USP – the tactical screen. Red stops time, the theme music intensifies, as you mark your next moves on the tactical map, using colour combinations as your reference. This game is far beyond stunning visuals, as you dwell inside the game’s world even hours after you’ve exited the game. The colours will haunt you even in your dreams, such is Transistor.
The Unfinished Swan
The Unfinished Swan looks stunning on the new console, even though it was conceived on the Playstation 3. Such is the might of this indie title that raised many eyebrows due to its sheer immersion value. The Unfinished Swan, as the name suggests, is a dive into a child’s imagination powers, powered by one of his mother’s unfinished paintings. You go around shooting splatters of black dots to sketch out your way on a blank screen map. You create grids and boxes on a blueprint to make your way to the top of a tower, you kick a glowing colour ball in the darkness of the night to show you the way and dispel any creatures trying to lure near you. The game shows that sometimes you need an art sense to carve a story from out of nowhere. The game banked on a palette of colours till the credits curtain came down.
FEZ
While the internet still boils to this date when they hear the words Phil Fish or FEZ, there is nothing but sheer respect to the artistic value of his masterstroke – FEZ the original. Struck with two great ideas, platforming and 3D modelling, FEZ knew well how to strike fire with the blend of a third one – the beautiful colour scheme. FEZ truly looks like a page off my imaginative mind, insisting me to unwind from the daily chores, submerge in the bright, startling palette of indie aura. This game stretches my belief that videos game should be closer to my younger self than my older self. I clocked hours of FEZ simply because the world was mesmerisingly colourful.
Ajay’s Picks
Sunset Overdrive
This should be called Sensory Overload. Bright colours and fast paced action made this Xbox One exclusive suit well to the spirit of the Holi festival here. The bold artistic design makes is what this open world run and gun shooter stand out. The games style is driven by the game’s story “theme of freedom and self-expression”. This one is fun, light-hearted and throws as many colours on your screen as zombies.
Rayman Legends
This was one game where the art design made a simple game into what turned out to be our game of the year in 2013. The levels change the tone and the color of each environment feels fresh and energetic. This is a game which is equally fun to look at as it is to play. The game uses an improved Ubi Art Framework engine, the same engine was also used in Rayman: origins.
Prince of Persia (2008)
The use of Cel shading gave this underrated reboot a sense of mystic. For a city built in the middle of the desert the contrast provided as you clear the corruption of the land and it grows back to life is beautiful. From underground water wells to tall towers growing life as grass emerges you in a wonderful sense of growth and makes for a pleasing experience coupled with a very easy game, this will help you relax as you swing and jump across towers and fly through the world alike.
