Box Art Reviews: Swine, Equine and Fish
This week's box art features various animals. See which covers make the cut and which ones should go swimming with the fishes (sorry).
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"Party Pigs Farmyard Games" (Wii)
What the Box Tells Us: A group of pigs wearing track uniforms charges forward. They seem to be on a farm.
Cons: Talk about bad timing. Is that dirt kicking up into the air or an airborne virus? Also, it touts the number of games: seven.
Pros: The anthropomorphic pigs seem to giving us the middle finger. Perhaps they're rebelling against our fear of the Swine flu.
Love It or Leave It: Love it.
"My Horse and Me: Riding for Gold" (Wii, DS)
What the Box Tells Us: A girl hugs her horse. A gold cup floats in the air and the bottom illustrates what you can do in the game: groom, train and ride.
Pros: I don't think I've seen a horse game with someone actually hugging a horse before.
Cons: I'm all for that, but it looks very uncomfortable for both parties involved.
Love It or Leave It: Leave it.
"Imagine: Music Fest" (DS)
What the Box Tells Us: A young girl holding a sparkly, sticker-covered clipboard and wearing a plastic headset smiles as she shows off her backstage pass; it proclaims she's the band manager. Meanwhile, an all-girl band plays in the background.
Pros: The name "Music Fest" isn't that clear as to what the game is about but a word bubble says, "Create a band. Run the concert!" That helps. And a game that encourages girls to go into management? Neat.
Cons: No one holds up their pass like that unless they're in Wayne's World.
Love It or Leave It: Love it.
"Fantasy Aquarium World" (Wii)
What the Box Tells Us: There's one shark and one fish submerged in water. It says, "Use your Wii to create a virtual fish tank!"
Pros: Sharks are cool. Always good to have one of those on the cover of undersea games.
Cons: But just one shark and one fish? What kind of "fantasy aquarium" is this? When I dream, I dream big -- blue whales and such.
Love It or Leave It: Leave it.
"Velvet Assassin" (Xbox 360, PC)
What the Box Tells Us: A dark, shadowy figure holding a gun stands with back towards us amidst... more darkness.
Pros: The white text and outline on a black background emphasizes the title and the figure who is presumably said "Velvet Assassin."
Cons: However, the black obscures everything else. It's also be nice to see her face versus her behind. But maybe that's just me.
Love It or Leave It: Leave it.