Question of the Day, May 2, 2010

[solidstatemind]

I think the parameters are a tad ill-defined.
'Arty' as in 'Arthouse'? meaning aesthetic and overall presentation?
or 'Arty' as in 'pretty'? meaning the most visually attractive?

If I had to guess, I'd say it's the former, in which I think Portal is perhaps out of place in the poll: yes, it had a great game mechanic, and the story and graphics certainly not only worked but fit well with the other elements very nicely, but Portal never really struck me as being unique, or as having a particularly prominent overarching aesthetic; once you got past the newness of the gameplay mechanic being pretty different than virtually every other first-person game ever, the look and the feel didn't depart too much from Half-Life.

Flower and Flow, and Mechanarium, along with even the Oddworld universe are a few games which strike me as being good examples of 'arty' as I imagine was intended in the poll. As to a game which I particularly like the art design and execution, Bioshock 1&2 both had pretty stunning Art Deco themes on a level of detail I've never really seen before...

But, yeah, it'd be helpful to clearly state what the question is referring to, else we could have a large number of arguments where people are actually talking about two different things.

... well, unless that's the whole point in the first place...

 

[kentallard]

Shadow of the Colossus or ICO how are these not on the list

I asked myself the same question. "Shadow of the Colossus" is my pick for most arty game.

 

[Solidplasma]

This is, essentially asking us something of which the answers will vary about as much as the answers would vary if you asked us what the meaning of life was (and ignored everyone that said 42). In other words, I agree with solidstaemind, Yahtzee and Shamus: Art is what you perceive it to be. That said, I don't think enough people have tried World of Goo. That's still my favorite game of all time; it was beautiful in every way (music, art, story etc.) from start to finish, and it had all the elements of a good game. I guess it just didn't get on the right platforms for the majority of people to play it. Seriously, guys, it has PC, Linux and Mac Builds too. Anyway, this is just going to get people to list their favorite games, IMO.

 

[Decateron]

I would say that a flash game called The Company of Myself [http://armorgames.com/play/4918/the-company-of-myself] would be a good representation of what an "arty" game is to me. It is defined in it's simplicity and has a deep, overlying message.

 

[xXAsherahXx]

Silent Hill 2 does an absolutely amazing job of exploring the human psyche and what drives it to the brink. It has wonderfully thought up instruments of horror, and really knows how to make you paranoid. All of that coupled with an innovative storyline make it a game I would recommend to anybody that wants to play an artsy game.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Braid. If it's not confusing as hell then it isn't art.

 

[Jim From Accounting]

Probably Flower.
It's just so relaxing; I love it.

agreed

 

[Shadowsole]

Okami

 

[Skyesby]

Okami and Shadow of the Colossus. That is all.

 

[Yokai]

I'd say Portal, although the Fallout series is a worthy candidate as well.

Shadow of the Colossus or ICO how are these not on the list

I asked myself the same question. "Shadow of the Colossus" is my pick for most arty game.

Educated guess: Shamus Young is mainly a PC gamer, according to his blog. Therefore it's not all that surprising that he hasn't played console-exclusive games, excellent though they may be.

 

[Stormz]

Shadow of the Colossus is my favorite artsy game of all time.

 

[Rogue 9]

In the spirit of Shamus' question, if I had a friend that was undecided about games as art, I'd show them a little flash gem I found recently on Kongregate, Little Wheel. Short, sweet, makes you think a little bit, and very, very well designed artistically. After that, maybe I'd move on to one of the full length games mentioned above, probably The Longest Journey, or Shadow of the Colossus as others have said.

 

[Georgie_Leech]

Silent Hill 2. There's more symbolism and meaning in there than most of the the literature suppossed to be analyzed in classes.

 

[OaKleIgHy]

I think Machinarium looks quiet artsy

 

[chvor]

Okami. Everything about that game was beautiful, not just the art style.

QFT

How could you miss it?!

 

[Glamorgan]

Honestly, in my opinion, Braid was severely overrated. Don't get me wrong; some of the puzzles made me think quite hard, and was a lot of fun while it lasted, but it was no where near the perfect scores it had been getting. Before anyone asks, yes, I got all the puzzle pieces, without the help of a guide, and completed the epilogue. After finishing it, it checked to see if there was anything else, and was severely disappointed to find that all that was left were some stars, which would show a slightly different ending. I honestly had much more fun with Portal, and Flower, both of which I consider brilliant, an art form, and I can easily justify buying.

 

[JEBWrench]

I've got to go with the flOw.

 

[vanarbulaxer]

Bah, none of those on the list. I think those games all have artistic merits but in terms of "arty" games (as in trying to create something different and emotional than regular games) I'd have to go with either ICO or The Void.

Okami also beats all on the list but even then I still wouldn't consider it "arty". It's drenched in an artistic aesthetic style but, while being a great game, was fun and light-hearted not "arty".

Also this does not impinge on how good the game is, I think The Void is bloody fantastic but it is fundamentally broken and disturbed as a game in many places.

 

[OrdinaryGuy]

Where's Okami? Psychonauts? Shadow of the Colossus? Ico?

They are all "arty" games in my opinion. Okami is probably my favorite game of all time.

 

[pianoman]

Shadow of the Colossus is an excellent example. The combination of the subtext of your actions, plus the actual playability of the game (and even its relative difficulty) all make it a beautiful, cinematic, and still fun game. I wish it would come to the PSN store, because I traded in my PS2...