The Art of Eve [ハードカバー]

The Art of EVE is one of the more beautifully constructed book. It's a hardcover book with a translucent dust jacket and the letters "EVE" are cut out. It's housed inside a thick gray plastic slipcase that looks like dark brushed aluminum. The pages are all non-glossy matte black. Even the page edges are black.

EVE is a MMORPG video game set in a science fiction space setting. Players pilot customizable ships through a universe comprising over 7500 star systems.

This book contains the concept art for the game. There are plenty of amazingly intricate spaceship designs, be it sketches, highly polished illustrations or 3D renders without texture. The artists mention in the captions they are inspired by Star Wars, but their designs are unique and certainly bear no resemblance to that franchise. Most of the designs are printed large enough to see all the plates and parts of the spaceships.

There are plenty of captions talking about the making of the game and design ideas.

Also included at the character designs for the races, namely Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, Minmatar and Jove. About two pages each with fully coloured illustrations and pencil sketches. The few in-game screenshots are shown just to explain the interface design concepts behind. These includes the game icons. Right at the end are some cool photos of their art studio.

This book is for those who are into space, spaceships, planetary art and solar explosions. It's definitely a book well worth the money.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

I can't believe I'm going to be the first one to review this product. It surprises me some "EVE Online" fan hasn't already hopped on this yet.

Yes, that's right; I'm not an "EVE Online" fan. I tried two trial subscriptions and it just didn't do anything for me. I found the interface clunky and not intuitive at all and the setting felt very, very lonely. It's supposed to be an MMO, right? Where is everyone? I guess looking at ships that act as a player's avatar as opposed to something more... bipedal might contribute to this.

But, this isn't supposed to be a review of the game. It's supposed to be a review of "The Art of EVE." I wanted to preface my review by making it clear I'm not some fanboy fawning over anything and everything that has to do with the object of my affections. I have some serious problems with the game and its fundamental gameplay. That said, it's a very pretty game. One might even use the word `gorgeous.'

That is why I purchased this book. Well, that and I'm a sucker for art books in general, video game art books in particular (I'm looking at you "World of Warcraft" and "Guild Wars" art books...).

I was a bit worried about the $50 price tag but upon securing it's release from my local comic book shop (yes, I didn't buy it from Amazon) I see that the price is well worth it.

The book comes protected in a nice metallic grey plastic sleeve featuring its name in bold black letters. The book cover itself, covered in an off white semi-see-through thin papery/plastic-like dust jacket featuring the title of the book again in black lettering (except that the word "EVE" is cutout to reveal the book underneath), features a cloudy ethereal scene of dirty blues and grays punctuated by a single light source refracted behind the clouds to illuminate it all. The title of the book is again repeated on the cover in clear glossy text that is all but invisible unless held at a particular angle.

The book is divided into five sections and inside you'll find everything from developer interviews and insights into their process to early concept sketches, completed paintings and models, and looks into the artistic direction they're going to take the game in the future.

There's isn't a single thing I could think of adding to make this book better. I may have removed the pages dedicated to tile art (only two) and some interface screenshots but that's simply personal taste and fans may really like that stuff. I would have filled those pages with more beautiful ship designs, which are already abundant, but it is interesting to see the variety of icons present within the game - something most people, fans or otherwise, would probably overlook.

Let's quickly talk about the ships if we could. They are simply remarkable. All the work put into making each of the game's four factions visually unique from one another is plain to see on the page and that's where it should be. I think any fan of sci-fi ship design would find little if anything to complain about when it comes to the buffet of choices offered in this volume.

The Titans in particular are breathtaking. The one featured on pages 94 and 95 is my favorite. I'd say it was Amarr if I had to guess.

Part Five of the book has me most excited about the game itself. I'm a fan of first-person shooters and I'd like to hope "EVE Online" is moving in a direction that may offer something to me: Ground combat. Having fleshed out space the developers are looking to flesh out the character scale game. Both on space stations and planet side (a game I'm fond of BTW - "Planetside"). If "EVE Online" wants to be a fully function universe (not just a setting) this is a realm of gameplay it should enthusiastically embrace. I think "Battlefield 2142" (and even the aforementioned "Planetside") gives the developers of "EVE Online" some good examples of where sci-fi ground combat can go. This section of the book shows us concept designs of ground- and planet-based vehicles as well as building interiors where it's clear characters are supposed to interact.

So, I think I've made it clear that I'm very happy with this book and I cannot stress enough it's not just for fans of the game. If you like sci-fi art, or just plain `ole good art in general, this is a solid buy.

Leave it open on your coffee table sometime and see who gets attracted to it. It's beautiful and anyone will a pair of functioning eyes will want to check it out.

My husband asked for this book for Christmas, and I'm very happy that I bought it for him. He really enjoys playing EVE, and he really seemed to enjoy this book. I'm not a gamer, but even I thought the pictures were cool.