Okami is a game you’ll either get to hate, or get to love. But for everyone, the first two or three hours of the game are spent in a neutral state of confusion. Questions like “What’s going on?” or “What the hell am I supposed to do in combat?” will pass through one’s head, as none of this is really clearly explained at the start of the game. But if you put a few hours into the game, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this amazing gem.

There’s so much to be done in this game – so many things you’ll never notice until your second or third or fourth playthrough of the game – that you’ll never feel bored. Quite the opposite, first-time players may feel  a bit overwhelmed. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, there hasn’t been a game that really made me, at least, feel overwhelmed, since Ocarina of Time, and it’s a beautiful feeling when playing a video game. It seems like you can do everything and go everywhere. But for some people, this may seem a bit daunting. So much to do and no idea where to start? Some people may not want to muster up the effort to explore everything before them. (continue reading…)

There’s no need to argue at length over whether or not games are art. It’s just like any other form of media.

No. Games are not art. Some are artful and transcend into a form of art in their own kind. As a whole, they are not.

In that same line: Movies are not art, music is not art, writing is not art, sculpture work is not art, and canvas work (aka art) is not art.

Art is a culmination of thoughts and intentions that are formed in some way physical, material, mental, or supernatural that the audience then recognizes and receives and perceives to be beautiful. This perception is based on recognizing the intentions and finding that they have succeeded, which indicates that art is subjective, of course. In very rare cases, intention is reversed due to a mistake on the artist’s part and by chance invents something new, in the way that new devices are often created.

For games, artfulness arises from completeness and wholeness. It is not the story that is the centerpiece (this is the first mistake for most). Video games are games, and in this regard they must be fun to be artful. They must offer full forms of gameplay that blend and uniquely exploit its own designs and complements its other parts, such as sound and story, which must then, in turn, complement the gameplay, effectively compiling a whole entity and not a set of pieces. Graphics do not need to be “artsy”, but they do need to complement the gameplay so as to fit to the game’s design. Likewise, the story has no need to “compel” the player to the point of tears or convince him of political standpoints. The story must, again, compliment the set of elements in order make the game complete.

• One example of art by intention is Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. In this case even the packaging is set up uniquely: there is so much to it, the game needs to be sold in two parts in order to deliver it effectively. The game offered a unique and interesting implementation of speed-based gameplay that blends with the fresh platforming on every level, sound design that plays to the theme and aesthetic of each stage while capturing the feel of the character of Sonic, a story that was quick and effective to offer just enough to drive the player and link the stages, and graphics that were as sharp and as fast the characters they portrayed. The game represents full-form art that has yet to be replicated today, that still has fans clamoring for more, and still elevates Sonic to a high, popular status despite his floundering as a character today.

• An example of art without intention (or by mistake) is Street Fighter II. The game was a pinnacle of fighting games, but what makes it artful is the glitch that allowed players to cancel out of attacks and into others, effectively creating combos for the first time, and essentially creating the fighting genre as we know it today. This–in addition to the excellent gameplay, unique fighters, memorable sound design, and fresh graphics–drove this game to the top of tournaments and reinvigorated arcades.

These are opinions, of course, and are relative to myself; I cannot claim them as absolute fact. If you disagree, then certainly post what you believe to be artful. Let me just first say that Okami does not immediately qualify as art. It is an imitation of an art form and an imitation of another game. By this design, it is not automatically excluded, but it lacks the other necessary components to drive it fully forward into the realm of art. Even so, It’s still an excellent game well worth playing.

Post your thoughts.