Okami: effortless beauty
Although organised gaming leagues have had some success in promoting video games as a professional sport, attempts to portray them as a major new art form have fared less well. Sympathetic observers see games as a cross between the two.
However, while there are no games that can make any serious claim to literary art, there are many titles for which the music and visual design surpass mere utility or simulation, becoming something far more interesting.
Even with the next generation of consoles coming into full bloom, it’s doubtful that any game released this year will have quite the effortless beauty of this month’s Okami.
"As an attempt to create real art within a game’s artwork, Okami is part of an exclusive, select few."
There will certainly be many that are technically more impressive - perhaps even those that will render realistic vistas of equal splendour.
But as an attempt to create real art within a game’s artwork, Okami is part of an exclusive, select few.
Shadow of the Colossus
So uninspired is the majority of art in video games that the art deco halls of the forthcoming Bioshock’s underwater city or the colour saturated look of Shadow Of The Colossus seem even more conspicuous.
Instead, the majority of games seem content to remain forever ripping off the set designs of Star Wars and Alien, or at best adding in a few Roman columns and maybe a couple of Norman style castles to their backdrops.
6th March 2007
