Can Video Games be Art?

Can Video Games be Art?

This is a question asked by gamers everywhere. It is a question answered by none gamers as no way now go back to the basement. Let’s face it however, these people are pretty ignorant so let’s take a look into the argument with intelligence and logic.

 

I’ll start with that all so common argument, video games cannot be art because art has no purpose. A painting is simply there to be looked at while a video game is there to be played. True, however this definition of art seems rather restrictive and surely the purpose of art is to have no restrictions and to allow an artist to create their own vision without shackles. The definition of art in fact is as follows: The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

 

The first part talks of an application of human creative skill and imagination. I’ve never created a video game but it’s obvious that it takes skill and imagination to create. Video games are often compared the films, however I find this comparison to be unfair. I’m not going to try to argue one is harder to create than another, that’s not fair but both have unique challenges to overcome. A video game can look great, sound great and have an enthralling story but if the gameplay is poor then it isn’t a good video game. The interactive element is the key element in a video game and if a game plays badly then its good story and visuals are wasted and may as well have been a film. The opposite side to this argument is a film has to keep your attention without any interactivity, games can fall back on good gameplay to keep you interested. Name the most well-known video game franchise. I’d say Mario which has little to no story for the most part, it’s about the gameplay. A movie meanwhile has to be interesting on its own without player interaction.

 

Producing works for Beauty or emotional power. If you play games then it seems highly likely a game has impacted you emotionally at some point. When people mention art and games the one that springs to my mind is Shadow of the Colossus. That game made me think, it was artistic to me and it was an emotional experience. It made you question yourself every time you killed a Colossus and yet when you fight them you’re taken over by a wash of determination as the music builds up and you begin that feeling of an epic struggle. Seems pretty artistic to me.

 

I could keep mentioning the definition but earlier I mentioned art being un-restricted. What is artistic varies from person to person. Personally I found Shadow of the Colossus an emotional and impactful experience and many other games delivered on a similar scale. My favorite game ever made, Professor Layton and the Lost future not only had a beautiful visual style, it had extremely likeable and relatable characters with interesting arcs, it had a gameplay style of puzzles that challenged you on an intellectual level and a story that kept me hooked from beginning to end and almost bought a tear to my eye at the end. That to me cannot be described as anything other than art.

 

Art is in the eye in the eye of the beholder, if someone tried to convince me that Professor Layton and the Lost Future isn’t art by some dumb technicality I’d tell them they’re pretentious and idiotic. I went to a modern art gallery in London a couple of years ago, I nearly gnawed my arms off out of sheer boredom. At one point there was a grey canvas. A GREY CANVAS, and if I’d talked to a lot of the people in that place they’d say my video game isn’t art at all. Art is a different thing to each person so to answer the question that started all this, can video games be art? Yes they can, to claim they’re not is to claim you’re idea of art is the only one that is correct.

 

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Shadow of the Colossus - The Epitome of Epic

Shadow of the Colossus - The Epitome of Epic

There are a lot of games in the world. Some and good, some are bad, but a small number will really stick with you. Leave a lasting impact. This is one of them. Shadow of the Colossus is a masterpiece, one I would tell anyone to experience for themselves.

 

It seems strange at first how many sing the praises of this games story since at first glance it barley even has one. But the more you play the more begins to unravel. You start by taking a dead girl to a big tower where a voice in the sky called Dormin tells you he will bring the girl back to life if you take down the 16 colossi across the land. It seems pretty superficial, the typical save the damsel plot. Sure about three quarters of the way through you get a cut scene of some cloaked people on horseback riding towards the tower but so what?  But then you realise how much you don’t know that you’re left to piece together. Who is your character and how does he have this magic sword that can point you in the direction of Colossi. Where do you come from, how did you find this place?

 

Then you start wondering about the land you find yourself in. It is simply called the forbidden land and while it is vast, covered in different environments and contains what looks like the ruins of a great civilisation, the land is barren. All that resides here are a few lizards, birds, fish and the 16 colossus. The forbidden land is a beautiful setting, but simultaneously sad. You can feel it has a sad History but you’ll never know what it was. The eerie silence as you travel across the empty world, with only your horse by your side is a compelling experience by itself, not in many games can you say the traveling with no combat is a compelling event.

 

The details and secrets this place holds are astonishing. Every time you defeat a colossus you gain more grip for your grip meter. The more grip, the longer you can climb and hold onto things for. If you climb the starting tower you find a garden. Eat the apple and your grip will be reduced to the starting level. Why is this here only the creators know. It makes me thing about how they know things the players never will. The other way to increase your grip is to eat the tails of lizards but only the ones with white tails. Not that the game ever tells you this or even that lizards can lose their tails in the first place. Details like this that the game creators wanted you to figure out are what puts this game up another level.

 

Speaking of Sad this brings us to the Colossi themselves. They remain completely still until you show up. Even then a lot of them won’t attack you, some don’t even attack you at all. You first encounter these mighty beasts and you think to yourself about how on earth you can defeat them. Even the smaller ones who you would think aren’t as intimidating will attack far more aggressively and strike fear into you. You may see a flying colossus and wonder how you can possibly ground that thing. The final one takes things to a whole other level where you can choose to go left or right. Go left and it will kill you without giving you the chance to do anything.

 

The atmosphere of that final fight is magnificent. You have a tragic event beforehand. You have to climb upwards and you reach the top to be greeted by a heavy thunder storm. Then you see it, a giant creature in front of you. It confronts you with attacks far more powerful than anything you’ve witnessed before. Then you have to climb it, it goes on and on, you think you’ll never reach its head. You have to figure out how to get past the barriers on its arms. It feels like the end of a journey against a God like creature, far more powerful than you could ever hope to be.

 

This is just one Colossi. Each one is unique and awe inspiring. My personal favourite is the thirteenth, play the game and you’ll see why. The game even changes the music to mirror the emotions you feel as you take on a Colossus. These battles are truly epic … until you take them down. You then realise you’ve just killed this … thing, a peaceful creature that wasn’t causing harm to anything. You find them motionless, it’s like they’ve been asleep for hundreds if not thousands of years. They have become part of the landscape and you killed them for a girl whose identity you don’t even know. You then get to watch these magnificent creatures fall to the earth. Black tentacles then reach out of them and penetrate you, knocking you out. You wake up back in the starting tower.

 

As you progress through the Colossi, you character starts looking more and more damaged by whatever the back tentacles are. His skin starts to change to a more greyish colour, he looks weaker and weaker but will not give up on this girl.  I will not spoil the ending but after you kill the final colossus, the protagonist is barely recognisable. The ending, while very confusing kept me thinking for days afterwards.

 

Let’s talk gameplay. Tense, thrilling and exciting are the three words that come to mind. The Colossi are like giant, deadly puzzles. Overpowering these creatures with fighting skills is impossible, not just because they are so gigantic but because your character is clearly unskilled with a sword. When he swings the sword or even just carries it around it looks too heavy for him. He’s good with a bow but that’s not going to take down a Colossus. Even his horse seems too powerful for him. You don’t control the horse, you still control the character on the horse. You can command him but he won’t always respond. The grip meter adds an extra layer of tension as you try to stand on the beast to replenish your grip. It is truly compelling gameplay.

 

People have compared Shadow of the Colossus to art. Apparently art is something with no purpose. Shadow of the Colossus had a purpose. It is an incredible experience that will really stick with you. Maybe it’s not art, but it’s still fantastic and the best game I have ever played, one I’d recommend to all.