Swaeft

Greetings all, and happy December!

As the year approaches its close, the Lensation will return for two posts! For those who haven't read this before, the Lensation is my own commentary on the Picture of the Week (POTW) and Game Picture of the Week (GPOTW) competitions that run weekly here on TWC. Aside from the core gameplay, I usually very much enjoy admiring the graphics and artistry of games as well, hence my love for the POTWs and the inspiration to create this blog for whenever I'm free. Speaking of which...it's the December holidays, and I last blogged about the POTWs in...April! Damn. Anyway, let's get to it.

Normally I do a commentary of the POTWs from one week ago, but since there's been such a big time gap between the last post and this, I thought I'd try something new. This time I'll be focusing on submissions I personally admired, which did not win, and pointing out why they are great (not why they deserve to win - an important distinction!). The images here are scaled down in size, for the full sized image you can click on the words "submission" in the writeup below, each submission has been hyperlinked to the submissions page. Let's begin with the Picture of the Week - screenshots from Total War games only.

POTWs

First up, I enjoyed this submission from Sammael in POTW 581. I thought it brilliantly showcased the raw power of...whatever that dinosaur thing is (sorry, not familiar with the warhammer series ). Those dwarves don't seem to stand a chance, as the one flying away to the left can attest to. The image looks sharp and has the nitty gritty bits of dirt here and there to complete the 'in combat' feel. A great shot! Secondly, from POTW 583 I was struck by King Athelstan's submission. A very gloomy and haunting image of a corpse left uncared for on the ground whilst the inexorable march of soldiers occurs right beside it. The soldiers, armored to various extents, seem tired and hunched over. A gripping portrayal of the horrors of war. Lastly, from POTW 579 I liked Icarus Smicarus' submission. The flames in the picture are what really makes this shot great - they seem very well placed and gives off this image of the soldier having no fear, gritting his teeth and striding forward towards the danger, hammer in hand. His brethren falls to the ground on his left, but that will not stop him. Great pic!

You guys didn't think I'd leave out my favourite GPOTWs did you? On to the GPOTWs, where pictures from games other than total war are submitted.

GPOTWs

First, from GPOTW 138, I admired Carmen Sylva's submission for its uniformity and movie poster-like style. Those of you who have played Skyrim and fiddle around with spawning commands will know to get the NPCs to fight each other in a line is a tough thing to do. Whilst this might now have been the intention of the screenshot artist, credit must be given to the uniformity of the scene created, which is a pretty rare thing to get in Skyrim! The bandits and the...goblins? have their own battle lines and only Carmen can tell us who won! From GPOTW 141 I enjoyed Derc's submission for its cinematic grandeur. The torrential rain and our hooded character makes for a mysterious shot, coupled with the lighting and the contrast of colors, makes this shot a cool one...as do the more haunting words above the restaurant... And finally from GPOTW 141 as well, King Athelstan's submission caught my eye. The GPOTWs aren't always about whose games can be turned to the highest graphic settings, though that is usually a major factor. In this case, the style and color of the image are visually striking and appealing, and one can certainly imagine our hero flying up and over the explosion towards the enemy who has felled his fellow soldiers. May he succeed!

And that is all! Part two will come shortly before the New Year...if I remember to do it If you're out there and have some game screenshots lying around, do share them in the competitions if you wish, it's not all about winning! Here's the link: click me!

Cheers,
Swaeft