Defining Games

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

Hey Escapists,

I've been thinking about gaming as a medium. I'm curious to try some games that really illustrate what games are capable of. I want to try games that stand out, innovate, have great stories, and try new things in terms of gameplay.
In short, if you were arguing for games as art or a legitimate storytelling medium, what would you cite as an example to prove your point?

 

[skywolfblue]

There are a lot of games that fit that bill. Just to provide some examples:

art

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West: Vibrant Foliage, contrasting with the destroyed and rusted ruins of civilization. Both pretty, and sad at the time.

Bayonetta: Bird-monster angels, Two headed dragon with a large human face for a belly, witches with guns. The whole game is whacky, over-the-top style with a whole slew of really intriguing art designs.

legitimate storytelling medium

Assasin's Creed 2/Brotherhood/Revelations: "The Da Vinci Code" was an amazingly popular novel. AC has some of the same things, only done a thousand million times better. It's a compelling and interesting tale, with a very human protagonist.

Half Life 2: It doesn't have very much text, or all that much speech, but it's a perfect poster-child of telling a story through events and scenery in the game. From feeling the oppression as you watch striders walk down the streets of city 17, seeing all the beached ships showing how the combine have drained the levels of the oceans, to watching the citadel collapse into a superportal. It's a very interesting and compelling tale that is shown to you in a way that mere words don't do justice to.