games you consider to be art

[Hamish Durie]

games that trancend the average that aspire to be something more then the usual the games that really raise the bar for all games from the indie hits to the AAAs
please leave a reason why and "because i think its neat" is not an answer

 

[Sharalon]

All games are art, just like all paintings and all movies. They might not be good, but it's still art.

 

[nukethewhales]

American McGee's Alice.
Because it is an amazing combination of technology and imagination, pushing FAR beyond what would have been considered normal at the time. And because it put a very dark twist on something that was a colorful and fun story as a child.

 

[nukethewhales]

Good topic by the way.

 

[Trogdor1138]

All games are art, just like all paintings and all movies. They might not be good, but it's still art.

This sums it up nicely. The medium as a whole is art, singling out games seems disrespectful to me, same as films etc.

 

[Hypertion]

All of them.

No.

OT: i would have to say Psyhonauts could be considered art. Damm game was psycho-tic.

Could also say that JRPGs could be considered art but only because some of them are so convoluted that they can be compared with Picasso

 

[spartandude]

Bioshock, and maybe shadow of the collusus, or Hogs Of War

 

[Proteus214]

As has been stated already, I do think that all games are artistic, but not all of them are made as a collective "work of art." A few games that I do consider to be such:
Killer 7
Shadow of the Colossus
Braid
Eversion
All of them are designed around the experience of playing the game, not a story, or competitive play, but the summary experience of the single player. It's not always something exciting or even that pleasant, but something a bit more abstract; an ordeal through interaction.

 

[Euhan01]

Limbo and Braid are two ovious contenders.

 

[Wuggy]

Well, I guess all games are technically art, as are all movies.

But if I had to a pick specific game, then: Heavy Rain.

 

[Jonluw]

I've given up on defining art. I now consider everything ever to be art or at least to have the potential to be art.
Every dump I take? Art! Sure, I hardly show it to anyone else, and the tableau lasts for a very short time, but someone out there would be willing to call it art if I showed it to them, and therefore I consider it art.

OT: All videogames.

 

[farq1414]

prince of persia: sands of time

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Wooo, list time! Well, when I hear 'games are art', I immediate think of the more 'alternative' games, even though a game like Half-Life could easily be considered art as well. But yeah...

There's Rez.
Developers said they used Kandinsky as a source of inspiration. Personally, I'd say they based it more on old vector-based games and the original Tron movie. But then again, I don't care what they used as their inspiration, the result is awesome. The synesthesia between gameplay and music, the freaky graphics that like like someone forgot to slap on the textures, the uniquely brought story... Yeah, I'd consider this art.

And then there's Okami.
A game that plays like a living painting and is filled to the brim with Japanese mythology, Shinto stuff and all. The concept of the Celestial Brush was just amazing.

Echochrome is a pretty obvious one as well.
The gentle piano music, the influences of Escher, the sophistication in the puzzles... Yeah, maybe it's trying to hard, but there you go.

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne or Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call.
Maybe a bit less 'on the nose', but I've always seen this game as a form of pure art. The stoic and incredibly distinctive character design, the deep reasoning behind the storylines, the atmospheric clair-obscure graphics and the turbulent Shoji Meguro soundtrack. This was the sort of game that took me to another world unlike anything classical fantasy or sci-fi could deliver - something occult and out of this world.

Everything Team ICO did (ICO, Shadow of the Colossus) and will do (The Last Guardian).
It's beautiful, it's touching, it's unique. This development team takes their time to deliver something that can't quite be compared to any other game. And I love them for it.

 

[BaconPunch]

Half life 2 and Portal 1 and Bioshock 1 and chances are I would probably say Mass Effect if I had played one of them.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

All of them?
if not all, then certainly some of the ones posted here i'd agree with but also i'd put forward Flower aswell.

 

[not_you]

Every game is art in it's own sense...

Like how in Just Cause 2 causing wanton destruction is art, through the fireballs and broken rubble...

How the story is running the entire sense of Metro 2033 (Granted this was originally a novel)

And how the ridiculous colour button mashing excellence that is Guitar Hero/Rockband/DJ Hero....


All games have SOME sense of art, but as it was mentioned before, most pieces of art are better than others....

Eg. How the "Art" or FF XIII differs from the "Art" of Far Cry 2...
One makes beauty through story and effects... While the other makes beauty through realistic approaches...

 

[Redweaver]

Saying "everything is art" is a cop out. It's acceptable to have an opinion on what you like better and nameing one game while not naming another doesn't invalidate the left out game.

So, please, just answer the question or don't post at all.

OT. Flower. Just beautiful visual asthetics and a well-crafted, fitting soundtrack.

 

[Halceon]

Going by the first post and not the topic title - AI War. It's a gripping narrative of struggle and facing one's own atrocities delivered almost solely through gameplay.

 

[A Username Not In Use]

Thats a question that can't be answered as art cannot be defined. I personaly fell that games themselves are an artistic medium in the same way film is. Just like film there are examples that are so bad you wonder whether the people who made it drank, smoke, snorted or injected the substance that made them think it was a good idea, the easy to make cash generator that will go on to be viewed as a product of its time but still have a following years after it came out, and the games that almost everyone, even some people who haven't played it, will agree are far superior to everything else.

 

[OceanRunner]

Okami: Not merely the art style, but also it's involving characters and environments.
GTA:VC: A perfect representation of 80's gang life.
Shenmue: Beautiful locales, music and a ton of emotive characters.