Box Art Battle: Modern Warfare 3 vs. Battlefield 3

08 Nov 2011 at 16:57:05 by John Robertson

Literally everything else about Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 has been given the 'versus' treatment, so why not the box art too? I know it's silly, but so is much of the other crap that has been produced regarding these two games and the ridiculous 'war' that fans and publishers have created between them.

Consider this my satire on those kinds of miserable articles.

So, which has the better box art, and is therefore the better game? In all honestly, it's not even a close race but lets indulge a little anyway. For the sake of keeping things fair, I've used the 360 covers for both games and have stuck to the 'standard' copies - no limited/hardened editions allowed.

*Hint: Click images below for the full size box art.

Anyone that has ever worked in advertising/promotions knows that brighter colours stand out on the shelve much more readily than dark colours. As a species our eyes are naturally drawn to bright whites, yellows and reds than they are deep blacks, blues and browns. 

From this perspective, Modern Warfare 3 has the battle won with ease. I guarantee that when you walk into a video game store displaying the two titles side-by-side it'll be MW3 that catches your eye. 

On a personal level also, I'm more attracted to the MW3 art. The black on white contrast is nicely trimmed by the green lettering and the guy in the picture looks like he's got a bit of personality to him (read: he's wearing a scarf/snood thing).

The Battlefield 3 guy, on the other hand, looks like any old generic soldier. Don't get me wrong, he looks like a tough fella' but he looks somewhat plain. Then there's the red/orange strobe effect on the BF3 box... what is that supposed to be? It's silly.

Overall the BF3 box is too busy and confused. I imagine the multitude of vehicles on the cover is supposed to communicate those playable in the game and communicate a sense of depth and variety - but it fails to create any sense of cohesion or brand identity (especially after the tasty covers for the Bad Company games). The MW3 box triumphs through its minimalist approach. 

That's it. That's an in-depth as this goes. Considering the quality of some of these BF3 vs. MW3 articles doing the rounds on the web, I think our box art battle can hold its head high with pride. In fact, maybe we'll make this a regular thing.

Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

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