Games that could be art - a list for Ebert

[Surf314]

So I was thinking what with the recent hooplah around Ebert (again) for his desire to crap on games and an excellent rebuttal that said basically you shouldn't comment on something you know nothing about it would be fun to put together a list of games that could be art and ask Ebert to play them. If nothing else this would be a good list for anyone interested to make sure they've played all of these games. I'll keep the set list here in the OP. Post your lists and challenge any others you think should be left off.

Short Version:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=...ZSlE&hl=en

[Surf314]

My suggestions for now:

The Passage
Braid
The Path

[Greatbacon]

My suggestions for now:

The Passage
Braid
The Path

I dunno, I've always had a beef with The Passage, because as far as actual gaming goes, it's not fun.  It's boring and could achieve whatever it was trying to achieve by just recording two playthroughs and sticking them in a .gif.

Shadow of the Colossus thought, would be a great addition to the list.

[CaffeinePowered]

Final Fantasy VI - 40 to 60 hours in length, fantasy/steam-punk, a group of rebels fights a tyrannical empire bent on resurrecting magic and repeating a mistake 2000 years prior that almost destroyed the world. Characters are phenomenally designed, and well thought out, even the smallest characters having a rich back story for players to uncover. The story is built up very well to the final confrontation which a sociopath cast from a similar mold as DC's Joker.

Fallout 1 & 2 - 20 - 40 hours each, need not be played in order to be enjoyed, retro-sci-fi & post apocalyptic, journey through post-nuclear war California and view it through the vision of the future people had in the 1950s. This game is all about the impact of the player on the world around him and the harsh realities of nuclear war, dark humor aside, I believe it presents an accurate picture of how people would act in a post nuclear war world

Okami - 10 - 20 hours, an artful adventure game where the player takes control of a Japanese diety to confront and ancient evil. Okami is more about its artistic design than its story, the entire game is rendered to look like an oriental painting come to life. Unfortunately it was Clover's first and last game before capcom dissolved the studio.

LoZ Windwaker 20 - 60 hours - Fantasy - Cast in the same adventure game dye as Okami, Windwaker is a bold departure from previous Zelda games, its stunning visuals bring to life a world flooded by the gods to seal away a demon. The characters are extremely expressive and the graphic novel like design continues to look stunning despite the games age.

Portal - 3 - 5 hours - Sci-fi/Drama - Valve has always been known for being able to tell a good story without breaking a players immersion, not once in this short "puzzle" game is a player stopped to give a tutorial, or the 4th wall broken by telling them what buttons to press (aside from a few very small pop-ups displaying key mappings). The player takes control of a nameless participant, who is a lab-rat for the aperture science corporation. Strangely though, the facility is empty and the only interaction the player has is with an increasingly neurotic AI. Superbly paced and riddled with dark humor, if you play anything on this list, play this one.

Half-Life 2 - 6 - 10 hours - Sci-Fi Dystopia - Also by Valve, players need not have played the original to enjoy this one, we are thrust into a dystopian world ruled by an oppressive alien force that has taken control of earth. Tid bits of story are given to the player through other character's dialog and posters/newspaper clippings they can find along the way. Its also well paced, does not break immersion, and builds up very well to the final confrontation with the "appointed" ruler of earth.

Team Fortress 2 - Infinity Hours - As a multiplayer game, there is no begining or end, but I think this deserves a mention because of the artistic style, and because never before has a company attempted to add a back story or characters to a multiplayer game in the way valve has done. Prior iterations of this game, classes only had different models so players could distinguish what they were fighting, but valve goes above and beyond this, creating characters to fill those models. We know their personalities, their likes and dislikes, and their history.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - 10 - 15 hours - An adventure/horror game, Sanity's requiem deserves mention due to how it interacts with the player, as the character takes damage, they lose sanity, as this gets worse and worse off it goes beyond warping the visuals in the game. It will "mute" the television, you will get a disk read error, it will pretend to crash, or even erase your memory card.

The Mother Series (All 3 games, especially Mother 3) 20 - 40 hours per game - Any can be enjoyed on their own, but it is highly recommended that at least Mother 2 be played before 3. Itoi weaves a complex web examining the loss of innocence, the role of family, consumerism, environmentalism, and the corruption of greed, all the while wrapping it in a sugary "child like" game. Don't let the simplistic visuals fool you, for players that want to dig deeper there is a treasure trove of hidden meaning and social commentary.



How long do you want me to make this list?

[Surf314]

Let's go with definitive list but we should add labels like approximate length and type of game (not genre as we know it but something that a non-gamer would understand). First person with good labels and they become standard.

Edit: added what I think the 3 categories should be in OP.

[Surf314]

[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=4520.msg148042#msg148042 date=1271855870]
My suggestions for now:

The Passage
Braid
The Path

I dunno, I've always had a beef with The Passage, because as far as actual gaming goes, it's not fun.  It's boring and could achieve whatever it was trying to achieve by just recording two playthroughs and sticking them in a .gif.

Shadow of the Colossus thought, would be a great addition to the list.
[/quote]

TBH The Passage made me a bit misty eyed. I think it's because it hit me exactly the way it should. I knew nothing about it, I was trying to figure out what the point was and then bam it just hit me all at once.

[KarthXLR]

Majora's Mask
Okami

[Surf314]

I'm going to add Psychonauts

[CaffeinePowered]

Oh hai, I updated my post

[Surf314]

How about the first prince of persia? Not the original but the first game in the current series before he went all emo.

[KorJax]

This is in serious need of Shadow of the Collosus and Ico. Though I never played the latter.

[Surf314]

Finished the spreadsheet so far. Let me know if anything needs to be added.

[JoKeRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR]

i like this: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/NickHalme...as_Art.php

starcraft

[beep beep diglett]

moerdn warfar 2!!!!5 hours
the best spec ops game EVER you get nuked like 6 times and you shoot some civilians! alright! contorversy hooray!

[Dtrain323i]

Rogert Ebert can eat a penis.......


oh wait, he can't. HE DOESN'T HAVE A LOWER JAW.

[Professor Funbucks]

Rogert Ebert can eat a penis.......


oh wait, he can't. HE DOESN'T HAVE A LOWER JAW.

lmao

[Surf314]

i like this: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/NickHalme...as_Art.php

starcraft

I wrote him the e-mail and one of my points was that the player is the final creator and therefore forms a unique bond with the game as if he had a part in making it, which he kind of does.

[Mission Difficult]

Just get him to play MGS4.

[CaffeinePowered]

Just get him to play MGS4.

I see what you did there

[If-I-Die-Its-Lag]

Audiosurf.

I love the background scenery.