WET

A pair of clocks from the fantastic shoot em up, WET.

So in between shooting bad guys, jumping around in slow mo and slicing people with machetes, I managed to spot a few clocks in WET. Always wanted a sequel for this game. To date, we never got one.

Anyway, on with the clocks

Love a good 70s chic clock, right?

wet 2

Here we see our bad-ass protagonist Ruby, standing infront of the some groovy wallpaper and a delightfully 70s styled clock, shown of the time of 10.10 HCR applied too.

The outer cirlces are a little 2D but nice sharp hands. Nicely detailed for a background object

Then we’re back to the good ol’ standard wall clock.

wet 1

Cant make out the numerals but this clock also adheres to the HCR [happy clock rule].

Not as detailed as the 70s clock but a nicely designed piece of background

Hitman Blood Money

A plethora of various clocks from IO interactives Hitman – Blood Money

First up, it’s a standard wall clock. The happy clock face rule is in place at 1.50. Nice number detail too. Also, although a little blurry, it looks like a brand name may have been incorporated above the hands.

hitman blod money - 3

Next is this rather poor quality grandfather clock. Good casing detail with the window and pendulum shown underneith, but the face is really faded and looks to not use the correct numerals [as far as I can make out]

hitman blood money - 1

It has to be said, this wall clock is rather nicely done. This one is a mantle clock. Good design, and appears to show the correct numerals too, even if a little pixelated and faded.

Also notice the additional dials above the clock face, nice touch for an object that is supposed to be in the background and really studied.

hitman blood money - 2

Here is another grandfather clock, this time from the mental retreat level in Hitman Blood Money. The top of the clock looks a little boxed off with no real detail, but a good, rounded clock face, showing the correct numerals, and, again showing 1.50, using the happy clock face rule. Pendulum detail is also included.

hitman blood money - 4

So finally we have this clock above the door in the last stand from the game, which takes place in the white house. Not a lot of detail on this clock, but considering it’s size and placement, it is hardly surprising as it only appears as a small clock above doorways. It is repeated thorough the level as the standard wall clock used over the doorways.

hitman blood money5

Always found with Hitman games that the clock designs vary. Nice to see the detail go in, and not using the same clock template or style throughout the game

Red Faction (2001)

Game Clock #002 – Red Faction.

An unusual game clock. This particular clock is synched up to the digital clock in your Playstation 2, so actually shows the time of play correctly. It’s a little detail not a lot of people would have noticed.

Nice detail shown, the minute hand actually ticked. The edges are a bit sharp, but what do you expect from early Playstation 2 polygons?

Army of Two – The 40th Day

The very first game clock!

army of two 40th day

Game clock #001, Lifted from Army of Two – The 40th Day

It adheres to the ‘happy clock face’ rule showing 10.10. A great example of a 2D clock in a 3D game. Also includes the minute hand too. Good detail shown though for a clock sprite.

Maiden post of the game clock compendium!

THE GAME CLOCK COMPENDIUM

So, I know what you’re thinking, how did it all start with the game clock compendium?

About 5 and a bit years ago, I was watching an episode of Dave Gorman’s ‘Modern Life is Goodish’, and he was doing a segment about clocks. He was discussing the idea that clocks in advertising usually either show ‘ten past ten’ or ‘ten to ten’. Why is this relevant, I hear you ask?

The idea is that if the clock shows this time, it is like a smiling face, and looks happy, so, is smiling and advertising happiness on a subliminal level.

So, this got me thinking, ‘I wonder if the same can be said for clocks in video games’? So I started taking photos to see if this is the case. After a while, I started to stray away from this idea, and instead noticed that all clocks in games are very different from each other. I posted more and more clocks from games, until it got to the point where if I’m playing a game, I’m actually looking for them.

The game clock compendium was born. It’s mission, to catalogue as many clocks as possible in video games as possible.

This is where I have finally decided to share my findings. I hope you enjoy the ongoing collection!