#3 Most Artistic Game

In my number three spot we find a game that has a bit of age on it. Originally released for the Dreamcast (which I still believe was a very good console). Jet Grind Radio was released in June 2000 by Sega and developer Smilebit.

Jet Grind Radio brought a fun cell shaded adventure with light hearted punk undertones. A game devoted to the idea of using graffiti to defeat not only rival gangs but an oppressive government. With a colorful (literally) cast of characters perfect music pairings and an almost arcade fell Jet Grind Radio for me was an incredibly enjoyable experience.

We see in Jet Grind Radio a great portrayal of Japanese popular culture(J-pop. The outlandish wardrobes of the character made even more stylized by the bold color choices truly reflects the J-pop feel that the games' artistic style is drawn from. One main ass est of the game is the world design. Due to Jet Grind Radio's sandbox play style the environment needed to be not only incredibly interactive (from a game design perspective) but it needed to be more then a pretty backdrop. Given the games cell shaded style this was going to be a daunting task for developer Smilebit, but that pulled it off seamlessly. Buildings and cars seemed to be made from layers of cardboard drawn into the game with certain exaggerated details and brilliant colors. The layout of actual buildings were kept simple yet effective to make navigating them easy, a great help in game play especially when you graffiti artist was confronted with tank brigades invading the streets.

Overall Jet Grind Radio was a fun, light hearted experience that brought the vision of J-pop culture to a video game in design that was simple, effective, and stylized in a way to enhance the feel and experience of the game.