Nowadays, the title trotted out most frequently to make the case that video games are art is BioShock Infinite. That's a game, people say, which tackles big subjects in a deliberately provocative way. Still, for all its indictment of violence, it's still a first-person shooter that very much indulges in such violence, and that feels more like a constraint on the part of it being a triple-A title rather than a deliberate bit of cognitive dissonance. Much better was the previous go-to example of video games as art: the work of Fumito Ueda, lead designer and director first of Ico and then Shadow Of The Colossus (there's apparently a third in that loose trilogy forthcoming, but it's been in development for years without much movement). Firstly: all very stylistically daring, beautiful games. In a time when BioShock is about as far from realism as its possible to get, Shadow Of The Colossus is almost impressionistic. The game does have a purpose hunting down and figuring out how to destroy a succession of bosses but most game play time is spent riding your horse through the desert, admiring the landscapes. Like playing a Constable painting.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
