Top 6 Video Games With (Artistic) Style

I’ve argued that video games can be art, (I wrote a 15 page paper for a college course on the matter) and have alluded to this belief on this site as well (if not strongly stated it, see the Junkies page). In spite of my advocacy of the medium, I’m realistic enough to recognize that while games have enormous potential, and have already showcased some incredible tapping of that potential, we still have a long way to go before the medium starts attracting and producing true “artistic schools,” and “masters” akin to the DaVinci’s, Botticellis, Warhols and Picasso’s. In the meantime though, I’d like to offer the games I think have shown, especially not  recently, the potential of the medium and what it can do with proper production and cost, even without the technological capabilities of our current console generation.

6. Yoshi’s Island (1995)

I’m sure some are saying “anything but Yoshi’s Island,” but bear with me. Yoshi’s Island came out on the SNES and was the semi-sequel to Super Mario World. Semi-sequel because 1. it was actually a prequel and 2. because the game only had “Super-Mario World 2” put in front of it to boost sales for the campy vision of the Yoshi led game. If people had been worried about how the chunky plumber with the new yellow cape would fare in the 90’s era of ‘tude against Sega’s mascot, a game with crayon colored backgrounds, flowers, jumping stars,and a baby on the dinosaur’s back had to need the help.

The game eschewed the open map style world for a story book level presentation with each of 8 Yoshis taking Baby Mario across one of the eight parts of a different World. What the game lacks in the kind of technological and epic depth other games would manage years later, it makes up for with its unique style that transcends the simplistic gameplay (you have only so many moves at your disposal), to the aesthetics (the entire game looks like a children crayon drawing), to the story itself (you’re carrying a baby). It was challenging, no doubt about that, but it still managed to make itself a wonderful union of all its elements so that it became something more than just the sum of its parts, and you loved it for that.

If only they hadn’t made that baby’s cry so damned annoying- then again, it was motivation to get the stupid kid back on Yoshi.

5. Okami (2006)

There are going to be two games on this list that are fairly recent, but both are on the previous (currently withering) generation of consoles. For now, just try and argue that I included Okami on this list. I shouldn’t even need to make a case for it.

Okay, I will though. The game begins with its moral and message at its heart and core: that everyone is an artist in their own way when they live a good life (read: not being an evil tyrant or general dick), and that a person should live in honest and earnest justification and defense of that art through perseverance and faith.

Whoa, heavy, huh? Well, the story carries that weight on the gorgeous wolf’s shoulders admirably. As Okami-Amaterasu incarnate, you travel the world of Japanese mythical denizens and save the world from the aforementioned dickery that is trying to stifle the art and beauty of the world. If the people living in the world have their own forms of art (cooking, carpentry, fishing, running, etc), as a goddess of creation the very world itself is your art. As such, your powers in the game are represented by a celestial brush that can freeze the action at the press of a button to make the world turn to a caligraphy page and allow you to paint in moves and manipulate the world to fight and solve puzzles.

Add to this that the entire game is cel-shaded uniquely to look like a moving and living Japanese watercolor paintin, and even run through a filter so it looks like its genuinely being played on a paper scroll (if you played the PS2 version anyway, this filter was strangely removed from the Wii version).

4. Comix Zone (1995)

Finally, the Genesis gets some love. This game  had to go higher on the list than Okami. Just like Okami, Comix Zone took its premise: a hero brought into the land of comics, and let that give the game a unique design and appearance. The game advanced across and down panels of comic book pages, your moves and arsenal depended on the comic panel setting, and the story was just plain awesome.

3. Secret of Mana (1993)

Yeah, I’m reaching back to the SNES again, because this game took the basic structure of an adventure game, a la Zelda, and increased its depth in a non-superficial way. Aside from the gameplay, though, the enemies were unique, the world managed a cute charm and threatening foreboding and danger that was incredibly unique and only one recent game can claim to come close to matching  (Eternal Sonata, a must play RPG also).

The game’s story was an emotional journey, and, much like FF VII after it, and while it didn’t kill off a main character halfway through (SPOILER ALERT [ed. note: seriously, if they haven't played it by now, they don't need the warning]), it did tug at the heartstrings by having the main character sacrifice himself for the world in the end. A truly sad moment that showed players that not all stories were just about saving a princess (this game had a spunky one), but that the medium could convey a story with  weight and tragedy to it. It could be argued that this is when video games started growing up even.

2. Final Fantasy VII (1997)

Although artistic video games certainly did come before this one (as the prior entries show). Final Fantasy VII took each individual element of RPG games: story, battles, gameplay, player interaction and choice, and played with it in ways that definitively went beyond just “cool” and stood firmly in the realm of artistry. Looking back there are all sorts of things that the game did, even the little things, that put the player within a grand canvas of an art piece.

The depth of story is incredible; that just playing through the mainline story you could leave so many intricacies unexplored but still leave with a robust tale is enough, but that the side stories and extra yarns reinforce and enrich the story all the more is a feat not often seen. The world was awash with the wonderment of creativity, scope and beauty.

Then there were the little things regarding character development and reinforcing the art of the story. Cloud’s conflict was that he was, somehow, under Sephiroth’s control. When you approached Aeris in the City of the Ancients, the game locked you onto the platform.An invisible wall? Yes, but Cloud is also just as helpless to leave. Then you plant your feet before Aeris and you can no longer leave that spot. Just as Cloud, the character, cannot leave and do anything but advance towards killing Aeris you also are locked into that until Cloud overcomes it only to watch Sephiroth murder her. It’s a small thing like that, and there are tons of them throughout the game, that really used the basic rules of the medium, to merge player and character in the experience and emotion of the story and conflict.

Let’s also remember that until then, the standard motif for RPG’s were fantasy landscapes that felt like something out of the middle ages lore, where airships and flying machines were surprises that didn’t entirely fit context of the world (but hey, they were fantasies). Final Fantasy VII took us to a setting right out of a yuppie’s cyber-punk drenched nightmare.

Then also, there’s the bold move of killing a main party character almost halfway through the game (although, hints were there, did you find her Ultimate Weapon before she was killed?). Tears were shed, the early days of the internet found many pages of rumors and speculations of how to bring her back to life. That you couldn’t, was the saddest but ultimately most poignant centerpiece of the tapestry.

1. Shadow of the Colossus (2005)

There’s no way this game isn’t getting top spot when I’m in control of the list. Team ICO’s second major offering on the PS2 was an astonishing feat in so many (surprising) ways that it’s no wonder everyone’s abuzz for their new game (yay, Griffin!).

Firstly, the game is enormous. Set in a desolate, forbidden land that clearly once was awash with life and beauty, is now stumbling in decay. Apart from the sparse tree, odd lizard, and the colossi, you and your horse are the only truly living creatures in the expansive landscape. The game communicates this sense of solitude by leaving the long journeys to the colossi, your sole adversaries in the game, unscored and silent. Indeed, when we think of heroes and legends, it’s the action we think of, this game showed us that a hero’s path isn’t all epic action and tense moments: there’s solitude, sadness, struggle and arduous questing that requires patience and dedication.

Then again, there’s the question of the hero. Yes, the game’s scope when the battles with the colossi are reached, is epic. The creatures, only 16 for an entire game, are grand enough that the game feels overstuffed from them, even with the expansive empty lands between each battle. While the game’s style clearly agrees that something epic is taking place, it doesn’t necessarily say that the person perpetrating the acts and deeds is a hero.

The game has sparse dialogue, a quick opening shows the deal with a disembodied voice to kill the colossi to resurrect a sleeping maiden. After that, no more is said except for the description/clues of your target between battles. You’re left to wonder and construct your own ideas of what happened in this land to leave that disembodied in that temple alone, what left the colossi there and to what end, and most of all, if you pay attention: you’re meant to ask why you’re actually killing the colossi.

Yes, there’s the maiden to consider, but at what cost are you saving her? Most of the colossi you fight are peaceful, only attacking when attacked. Some don’t even put up any kind of a real fight. The music is your clue, that you’re killing innocent creatures for your own, ultimately selfish aims. Your character slowly warps and becomes darker because of it. What’s most impressive about this game, in addition to the scope, in addition to what it says through its direction and pacing about the heroic/epic struggle, is its twist on an old formula that catches you off guard. In Super Mario Bros. you were on a long quest to save the princess and killed 8 Koopa Kings on your way towards doing so. So many games since have followed that same formula, whether with a princess or some other goal: pursue your goal, kills the monsters on the way, attain it. But Colossus made the goal something you may not deserve, or that may not be right to have (everyone has their time, it’s the more courageous thing to accept it); it made the creatures you’re killing on the quest innocent rather than malevolent; it made you question the voice that you trust blindly that tells you to just follow the “logical path” in blind pursuit of your goal. In the end, the story drops that moral on you tragically and spectacularly; you’ll lose your breath at least a few times in the game’s final hour. It’s the crowning achievement in the realm of games that achieve artistic aims, and it’s absolutely a must-play-before-you-die title.

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The Best and Worst Video Game Supporting Cast Members Ever:

In the end a hero stands alone… but before he stands alone, he’s usually (except in some rare cases) surrounded up to the neck by supporting cast. Of the various kinds of supporters a hero can have, there are some hits and some misses. Was the hero’s main squeeze lovable or a whiny wench you wanted to strangle? I’ve picked some of the more common types of supporting cast in video games and made a handy “both sides of the coin” breakdown of how things tend to work out.

Horses

It’s a pretty standard motif: The hero riding to the rescue of his damsel and possibly the world, charging bravely and majestically on his trusty steed. The horse is a pretty important thing for a legendary hero because the horse has to be just as legendarily brave as the hero. Think about it: You’re a knight, you’ve got a sword, a shield, and some armor. Your horse has… its legs. It’s bigger than you are so it’s an easier target too. Horses in real life get scared when a gunshot is fired in their vicinity, pop and balloon and your average horse is off to the horizon before you can even call its name. Therefore, having a horse willing to ride you into battle is a big deal, but which game really nailed the horse and which horse left me calling a cab service?

Worst: Epona – Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

This was a surprise when I played TP because Epona was such an awesome horse back in the N64 days. The fact is that in this iteration Epona rides entirely too clunkily (she feels altogether slow and heavy, more like a tank than a horse) and is quickly made moot in the game’s adventure (I can’t remember using Epona after getting the ability to travel as a wolf until the very last battle). Poor Epona, she should have stayed on the ranch for this outing and they should have just compensated by making wolf-Link more Okami like and faster.

Best: Agro – Shadow of the Colossus

Here’s a horse that handles like poetry in motion. Not only does Agro look good, but he’s able to steer himself across narrow passes with good skill, and using him in battles against colossi is a definite aid that is welcome in the heat of battle. Agro’s bravery in the game, following you as far and closely as he possibly could no matter how fierce the colossus, is unmatched. No matter the colossus, Agro comes sprinting at the sound of your call, and after defeating a colossus, when you’re magically brought back to the temple, he arrives promptly to pick you up and bring you to your next challenge. So deep is Agro’s devotion that he selflessly chucks you from his saddle to save your life before he falls from a crumbling bridge and is lost. In a game full of emotion, the horse got his fair share of the heartstring pulls when he fell so nobly.

Leading Ladies/Love Interests

A staple of the standard Hero/Adventure formula, a leading man needs a leading lady. and that lady has to have some dimension in terms of personality, not be a cliche damsel in distress (Peach needs an update), and also be lovable so that you actively want to see your hero score with them (whether or not they actually do). That said, designing a good supporting lady can be more of a challenge than it is to design a good leading man and why we see so many buxom cliches all the time.

Worst: Meryl Silverburgh – Metal Gear Solid 4

I could have gone with a pic of her from the recent, and gorgeously rendered, MGS4, but I think the caption on this picture says it all. This is an example of taking the strong female a little too far. Meryl takes cliche “daddy issues” and whiny extreme, and I just found her altogether annoying throughout the game. By the end of the game, when she’s choosing to (SPOILER) complain to Johnny Sasaki about how she wants to be married while they’re in a gunfight for their lives, I just couldn’t stand her. If it couldn’t get worse, we had to watch her get married in a wedding dress that only showed off a pair of shoulders better suited for a gorilla than a woman.

Best: Elena Fischer – Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Here’s a female character people should get behind. Let’s be mature and face it: Elena has none of the amenities that other video game hoochies do: There’s no Itagaki inspired DD breasts, or scant clothing. Elena is, while pretty, normal and just a step above “plain.” She’s dressed the way a woman actually would be in a jungle treasure hunt and keeps up fairly well with veteran adventurer Nathan Drake when the situation calls for some shooting and some acrobatics. While also being admirable and helpful, she’s a very well dimensioned character and at the end when the big kiss finally comes, you want to see her and Nathan hook it up because of how much you’ve come to admire and even love her, not just because it would “fit.”

Villain’s Right Hand

The Villain is always essential, we all remember Sephiroth as he stalked off in the flames, and we’ll all remember Bowser for being as classic as they come. In modern games, where stories are well nigh able to be epic, a villain’s menace is often intensified by those he has around him.

Worst: Bowser Jr – Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Bowser Jr. first started as Young Bowser in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island to counter the baby Mario you were trying to get home. The oddity no one seemed to notice, is that this young bowser (always known as Bowser Jr. as if jr. denotes youth) went from being the young version of the classic villain, to the son of Bowser in recent iterations. I had always assumed Bowser wanted to kidnap the princess to, y’know, “make an heir,” but apparently he already has one, which means there’s a Bowserette somewhere that he’s two-timing, or Bowser’s species reproduces asexually. Either way, Bowser Jr. is both annoying and pointless in the Mario Universe.

Best: Naomi – Metal Gear Solid 4

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Naomi played the double cross so well in MGS4, and made her actions in helping to take down the Patriots so heroic that you have to love her by the end of this. Even if Otacon cries more in this game than Tobey Maguire did in Spider Man 3 (Otacon: 4, Tobey : 3), when he cries at his final communication with Naomi, you have to feel for the guy because he’s lost more than just the woman he christened the helicopter cockpit with. Naomi also gets points for not knowing how to button her shirts past her navel and having a religious opposition to wearing bras.

Aide

The aide is a special position, you offer information and tips to the hero, but you don’t actually join in the action. An aide is defined largely by dialogue and has to not only be helpful, but know how to take the backseat and have a lovable personality when he/it is called on to join the discussion.

Worst: Navi – The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

I know there’s a lot of Navi hate these days, but as far as getting the whole “aide” position wrong, Navi’s constant interruptions, even towards the end of your quest, to tell you how to execute a spin attack just pushed me over the edge. People complain mostly about the “Hey!” and “Listen!” sound bite, in all honesty, those were bearable. What was unbearable was knowing that what would inevitably follow and throw you off your rhythm was some pointless info you already had under your belt twenty hours ago. Thanks Navi, let me tell you how you can go take a flying fuck at the moon.

Best: Issun – Okami

You’ve gotta love it when a game presents a character with personality and depth. From the reasons for his running away and finding Okami, to the beautiful twist and irony that is his failure at the end and ultimate success, Issun’s story in Okami is at once easy to identify with and be inspired by. More than his overall story arc, Issun has a personality and sense of humor all his own that only makes the already vibrant world of Okami all the more beautiful and unique (Issun’s obsession with breasts is a thing unrivaled in video games methinks).

RPG Mages

Inevitably, except in some more modern cases where every character has universal potential, the “main” character is the one with the sword (Cloud, Squall, Tidus, etc.) and the Mage is a supporting role. While a position that can be studied for, the Mage of the group is starts off pigeonholed into the role from having low physical stats, if not also having high magic to boot. A mage has to have a personality that fits with a person willing to isolate themselves and study mystical arts: they have to have a certain knowledgeable gloom and wisdom to them, a meditative and pensive demeanor. They also have to be insightful and caring to an extent because of their knowledge of the intricacies of the spirit. Making a character who is so collected and pristine lovable and interesting is a challenge that hasn’t always been met admirably.

Worst: Rinoa – Final Fantasy VIII

Okay, so I’ve never really been sure about this, and again, maybe someone can debate this one: I always got the impression that, before getting thrown in with Squall and his crew, Rinoa had been doing what she had to so she could get in with the SeeD people and hire mercenaries at discounted rates that her resistance could afford. To my understanding, the way she did this was by being a SLUT. Yep, to what I understood, she couldn’t get to Cid in Balamb, so she polished Seifer’s knob. When that got her to Seifer, it seemed as if Cid, lecherous old fart that he was, cheated on Edea, his wife, and got with Rinoa taking sloppy seconds from Seifer (don’t worry, Cid and Edea were on a break). I won’t even bother to list Rinoa’s other dumbfuck moves throughout the game, but they’re consistent and numerous. When it came time to “save” her towards the end of the game, I really just wanted to let ho-bag get shot into space, but the game wouldn’t let me.

Best: Lulu – Final Fantasy X

Lulu’s got it all in just about everyway possible. Not only was she blessed with the most ginormous rack seen in a Final Fantasy game to date (Maybe there’s someone out there who can prove whether Tifa’s was/is bigger, but Lulu wore a low cut dress/bustier, which nets her the judge’s call), Lulu was also incredibly wise and helpful with her knowledge. She had just the right level of ice and wisdom to her that made you really admire her and wait, expectantly, for the ice to thaw. When the ice did thaw and you found out the whole story to her, she revealed herself in sum total as an altogether deep and wonderful character you at once pitied and loved.

Heavy Hitter/Brawler

This is a tough one to sum up in a single term (tough guy doesn’t even quite hit the nail properly), but it’s that character that is the heavy hitter who’s slower and not as agile, and lacks any skill with magic. He’s a brick wall, take hits and gives them out like he means them. Of course, making another “Strong Silent” type is a cliche tendency, but making a strong man with a story is essential. Sometimes the strong and silent type can work, other times the gentle giant, and, on rare occasions, the virulent and rage infused brawler can work, it’s all a matter of the character being effective as a tool and as a person in the narrative.

Worst: Amarant – Final Fantasy IX

What did I say about cliches? They took the basic formula and just made the dude a bandit. The whole game, every time he appeared, I had to ask myself: Why is he here? I don’t want him here, he doesn’t have any reason to be here and barely seems like he wants to be. Even that stupid Quina thing had more of a reason than he did.

Best: Barret – Final Fantasy VII; Auron – Final Fantasy X

So this is the first tie in the course of this list. Why? Because both me
n have great stories behind them. Barret’s story in Final Fantasy VII not only elevated him well above “just another environmentalist” but made him so lovable and sympathetic that you had to want to see him get back to Marlene in the end of the story. His sense of responsibility and nobility really puts him on a good standing among others in this line. In all honesty though, Auron puts down anyone easily, so easily, in fact, that I gave Barret the tie just because I felt like it was that much of a given that Auron would win this category.

Auron’s devotion to principle, friendship and purity make him a legendary hero in the events that take place before FFX even begins. His journey with Jecht and Braska to defeat Sin was enough to already make him heroic, that he went back after the shit hit the fan to take on Yunalesca by himself would have done it, but then he did it. You find out that Auron had enough of all the right stuff to actually resurrect himself and continue on a journey that he didn’t feel was done yet and start one even bigger than the one he’d already lived. He saved Yuna, travelled in time, came back with Tidus, and saved Spira again. If you didn’t at least get some kind of shiver from watching Auron’s farewell at the end of the game, then you’re obviously an idiot because you weren’t able to fully understand the testicular fortitude of the man.