Games as Art? I Think So. (Part 1)

The question of whether or not games constitute art has been around since gaming made the leap from being simplistic, 2 dimensional shooters to being complex, colorful, and often story driven adventures. Perhaps it has been around longer. However, this question is relevant now more than ever because of how incredibly creative gaming has become and how developers are constantly striving to push the envelope to create a triple A title. While games of old may or may not be considered art, games of today most certainly can. So many games coming out today go above and beyond the art direction of some of today's biggest films. There are some exceptions of course, films like Pans Labyrinth, The Dark Knight, and 300 really do go the extra mile to create a look and feel that match the creativity in big budget games like Final Fantasy and Mass Effect. Join me as I take a look back at gaming in the past decade in an attempt to answer this question.

1996: We all know about the big names like "Super Mario Bros" and "Space Invaders" so I wont waste much time talking about them. They were big accomplishments and opened up worlds of possibilities for the industry. But in the year 1996, when Mario made his first jump from 2D to 3D in "Super Mario 64" I got my first glimpse of the artistic possibilities. The game was a beautiful take on a classic game play formula that really demonstrated the kinds of detail that could be presented on screen. In addition to great visual presentation, the game also included an amazing and memorable soundtrack that would be remembered more than a decade later.

In addition to Super Mario's 3D debut, new 3D games began to emerge and demonstrate new presentation techniques such as pre-rendered environments. One in particular would be the original Resident Evil for the playstation 1 which demonstrated great visuals (for the time) and some of the earliest (yet worst) voice acting in gaming. The game laid the ground work for one of the most cinematic and terrifying franchises in the industry to date.


1998 - 1999: As games continued to gain momentum and become bigger and bolder, we began to see more immersive games. Games that focused more and more on creating a detailed, cinematic atmosphere. Resident Evil 2 expanded on what made the first game so good and improved on it by createing amazing looking cutscenes and heart pounding, scripted, event sequences. Metal Gear Solid took this to the next level by portraying an incredibly complex narrative that rivaled about 99% of most films being released. In addition to incredible concept art and smooth looking graphics, the game featured memorable characters in incredible situations. Games like Dino Crisis borrowed from these formulas to create similar experiences and create a feeling among players that simply couldn't be done in the movies or books. These games were some of the first games I would truly consider art but definitely not the last. Check back later for Part 2 of my 3 part looks into gaming as an art form in which I will take a look at some of the games released from 2000 - 2005.

-Nick