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BEST GRAPHICS (ARTISTIC)
Whoever said videogames aren’t art hasn’t probably played some of these games in this category. With each and every one of these titles creating mind-boggling artistic vistas in-game, there were numerous times that we just had to stop and admire all the artistic beauty that we were surrounded by, even as someone was baying for our blood nearby. Whether its an underwater city gone to ruin, or some of the most majestic places from Greek mythology, these games have redefined the medium of art and submerged us in the most beautiful places we could find ourselves in.
The Nominees
And the winner is…
There’s no doubt about it - entering Rapture for the first time, and witnessing the sheer conflict of ocean and technology with the entire metropolitan landscape undergoing a transformation into an endscape of hell, the number of influences and imagery linked to anarchy and artistic excellence by way of monoliths, statues, orchestras, music tracks and an altogether overwhelming predicament that impresses as much as suffocates a gamer with claustrophobia, is like waking up from one dream and finding yourself in another without knowing it. Everything is captured so succinctly: There are advertisements and flyers for funeral homes and dentists littering the halls as much as old 60’s style music droning to the listening ears of the invisible. Amidst this dazzling atmosphere comes the Little Sisters and the Big Daddies like a contrast between innocence and aggression, and a commentary on the effect of mankind’s excesses on its children, all rolled up in one disturbing, “Observation of The Mannerisms of Rapture’s Nature”-style, astonishing image of pity and duty.
It wasn’t so much that BioShock went out of its way to establish an artistic identity that was unique from anything the industry had seen in recent memory. More aptly, the team at 2K Games went on a perpetual rampage to implant the same into gaming’s memory as well as soul. The water effects handled exclusively by a single individual, the soft-hewn moss sprouting on water-infested cracks in the city’s hull (and on the diving suits of many of the foes), the creaking, dust-infested helicopter blades of the security drones, Ayn Rand’s ever-looming idealistic influence, the conflicting motivations and extremes of one man not even a master of his own humanity attempting to perform or deform justice for it… if BioShock didn’t have our award for Best Artistic Graphics of 2007 all sewn up, it would have at least forever invaded our collective subconscious with the terrifying lucid reality its graphics induced on our perceptions.
The Runners-Up:
God of War II
Like the original, David Jaffe, the designer, and his team had a goal: To not only bring out Greece and its mythos in as much riveting detail as humanly possible, but to spare not even the slightest expense in uniting the forces of nature and the cosmos on one plane in a highly breath-taking format. Everything about God of War II seems not so much like a better, bigger version of what was seen before but a gargantuan expansion in horizons that can only be described as “Grecian” in its proportions. Traversing on the ropes connected to two moon-sized horses, the other end tethered to the temple of the three Sisters of Fate; sizing up with Zeus and Olympus, an army of Titans at your back; scouring the world on the neck of Pegasus, littering the beautiful skies with a bountiful bloody rain of aerial combat; and oh-so much more Spartan-muscling mayhem set to a majestic narrative of exquisite ancient paintings only cements Kratos and his latest quest in our 1st runner-up position for the Best Artistic Graphics of 2007.
Odin Sphere
Cel-shaded graphics have always been choice medium for graphical style for several titles in the past and have netted quite a great title an award for artistic excellence (like Clover Studios’ Okami). Odin’s Sphere, developed by Atlus and Vanillaware, continued that prestiged montage of being a game that despite its 2D platforming trappings held on to solid character design and lustrous, detailed backgrounds and settings. The battles and monsters you come across, and the excellent anime-esque cutscenes gives you the impression of being participant to a grand escapade for the senses. The settings and story might be a bit off-beat but don’t let that stop you from partaking of this steady, modern day Alice in Wonderland-meets-Devil May Cry visual feast.
Reader’s Choice Award:
Powered by Gregarious (42)
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 am
Way To Go Guy !!! keep the good work up !
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Congrats guys for bringing out this cool website!.
The winners are as expected.heh.
January 7th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Good layout and nice name. Looks like another address gonna get added to my bookmarks
January 12th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
It took the web server 1.54 seconds of back-breaking labor to give birth to this page.
No computers were harmed in the making of this page, but a few hundred browsers may have been euthanised.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Nice results.Seems fair enough.
Cheers!!!
April 7th, 2008 at 7:35 am
WELL TOMB RAIDER AND OTHER GAMES LIKE LOST PLANET ,SOUL CALLIBUR, SILENT HUNTERS, FIFA, FLATOUT, RED LINE ETC…….SHOULD HAVE BEEN INDUCTED.