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Checking out the new trailers for Square-Enix’s PS3 epics Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII initiates a trademark Final Fantasy impeccable - enlightening, revealing, enticing and confounding any red-blooded gamer in one fell swoop. Bear in mind that these titles are still a ways off; FF XIII has only shown smidgeons of gameplay footage and is scheduled for release in late 2008. FF Versus XIII only has CG-animated cut-scenes to its credit and understandably hasn’t been given an official date. However, the fate of the franchise and the two pillars supporting the massive Fabula Nova Crystallis project are, make no mistake about it, drop-fucking-dead gorgeous in an age where looking gorgeous is about as passé as making an FPS.
In this third and final analytic construct on games that serve as examples of fine art in their acoustic, visual, and narrative formats, a total of six games are highlighted. This list presents select legendary franchises that gave birth to a new wave for games to follow while still retaining their arty identity. Others stand out for their sheer level of dementia and emotional context, while some initiated a new world (or two), one character and dialogue piece at a time. So here they are: the end-result of a nearly one month of writing and a short, rather, incomplete, yet insightful register of art in gaming.
Apparently, being objective or subjective with a hint of partiality can get you into trouble in journalism. For those of you who have just caught onto the story, you may be aware that Jeff Gerstmann, the Editorial Director of Gamespot, was recently fired. Reason? Eidos Interactive, after spending tons of cash to advertise Kane and Lynch: Dead Men on Gamespot, pulled away from the site after Gerstmann’s “negative” 6.0 review for the game. As soon as the site let go of Gerstmann (unavailable for comment thanks to the ever so kind NDA), the forums were flooded with thousands of comments protesting against the termination, and reportedly 400 individuals have canceled their subscriptions with Gamespot. The rumors circulating in the community indicate that staff and editors should “pay more attention” to “AAA titles”, which could mean anything from great games need more loving, supposedly great games need much more loving, or extremely horrid games need a marriage, commitment, a nigh-indestructible dog-chain for their analysts/reviewers, and a death-for-betrayal agreement™.
As if the whole high scores for hefty bucks issue hadn’t gone out of control already, now we get this. Granted, Kane and Lynch may not be that bad, but did Eidos seriously think that pumping enough money publicizing it would supplement its quality? For that matter, will paying off game sites to tell gamers “how it really is” guarantee amazing revenue? Interestingly, Gerstmann came under similar criticism for his 8.8 review of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - one wonders how Gamespot could have possibly countered a blasphemy as enormous as throwing mud into the face of Nintendo’s golden child, the proverbial titan of the Wii’s launch line-up.
For the record, very little to none of this has been confirmed by either source (even Eido’s reported that it’s none of their business what other companies do). But the coincidence seems far too damning to be anything more than bad luck for Jeff.
In the last part of this article, games that featured mostly a strong visual style were on the tops, and receiving most of the credit. This time around the list is more varied to include not only music, but story and narrative concepts as well. A few obvious favorites show up, along with some that the general public ignored, but which the history of gaming has yet to forget. So, without further ado, let’s continue analyzing those games that are seen as not only great fun, but fine art, achieving a distinct pinnacle that genteelly meanders in to the industry every now and then.
For those of us keeping track in trends in gaming, several aspects of our beloved classics have altered over the years. Graphics as we know them have moved away from being overly realistic, instead focusing on bringing the gamer into a make-believe world, and the music has taken causes and effects into equation to produce stellar, melancholic, haunting, and epic beats alike. No doubt over the past few years, fed by the influence of realism, socialism, nature, street culture, the abstract and the metaphysical, enamored by the requiems and discords of the world’s symphony, we’ve come to express our artistic tastes in the games we play. Designers have expressed in their games a multi-headed outlook on existence, nature, life, death and even religion. Due credit is warranted indeed, and while commercial success eludes most, some of these titles have carved branching roads for both the industry and their fans to follow for years to come.
This is dedicated to all those games out there who brought forth a unique, out-of-this-world experience, refined and appreciated by learned scions and casual onlookers alike - those games featuring a distinct artistic flair in their visual style, their audio composition and even the arrangement of events throughout the playtime - and how they left many a gamer in stunned disbelief as other titles stood up for their 1000th revision of the same basic rule-sets since Quake. The following are those games that defy the notion that games can’t be ‘art’.
Ah, the life of a medical student. Nothing beats spending ten years of your life doing nothing but studying and cramming, performing dissections on human cadavers, being berated and put down by your instructors/colleagues/nurses/patients and having no time in your life for yourself. Trauma Center: Under the Knife is an experiment by Nintendo and famed RPG maker Atlus to simulate the emotional drama and tribulations a doctor goes through, without the potentially life marring character changes accompanying the profession in real life. The result is a slickly produced, innovative piece of entertainment that takes full advantage of the DS’s touch-screen abilities while providing enough challenge, story and enjoyment without the real fear of killing your patient or inhaling too many inebriating disinfectants.
The softly singing winds painted in the skies bring a woeful tune of honor and ruin amongst a land of ancients; the citizenry dance in tribute to the guardian tree of their village, a goddess whose powers bestow life to all who touch her cherry blossoms; and the journey of one warrior redefines the hold that destiny has in the ever-rewinding game of fate. With the debate on whether games are truly art or not is still not over comes the release of Okami, a title where former Clover Studios (who brought us the Viewtiful Joe series) serves up not only an elegant mix of eclectic artwork and divine graphics that portray the illusion of an ancient Japanese tale playing itself out on a roll of tapestry, but an epic music score and a heaping helping of Japanese mythology and chunks of the Nippon culture. And on top of that, the game is wickedly fun, too.