So, Uncharted eh?!
Bet you didn’t think you’d see this one talked about as a
candidate for an arty farty game eh?! Eh?!
Well mister doubtful Nancy, I’ve got a surprise for you!!
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| The graphics in this game are so good, they make me want to eat my own face. |
Verdict = JUST A GAME
Oh who am I kidding, Uncharted isn’t art!! Although it does
lead me nicely on to today’s main point…
How do you even go about classifying something as being art?
Is everything that is painted on a canvas with a paintbrush art? Is a
photograph of a landscape or a painting of a shed art? Well, I guess the short
answer is yes. They may not be progressive or challenging or any other
pretentious words you could care to mention, but by and large if you can mount
it on a wall in a frame it can be considered as art. So photography and
paintings are easy …
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| Seriously face, get in my mouth. |
What about films? Movies get off quite lightly on this ‘Art’
matter too. Nowadays if a film contains exactly zero explosions, it’s art.
Oh, and no guns either.
Swords are fine though.
If a producer wants to get their film considered as art they
need only either: provide a slightly vague plot that leaves the majority of its
meaning up to the viewer’s imagination, or; slap on a weird visual filter. Do
one or both of these and Hey Presto, an arty film! You need only ask 300, A
Scanner Darkly or The Artist if you’re in any doubt as to what I mean.
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| This scene is set in London. That's in England. |
For videogames however, there is seemingly a higher standard
required for an IP to be considered worthy of the art accolade… and I think I
know why. The first hurdle for anything in the gaming world to overcome is that
of maturity. Games, even now in these enlightened times, are all too often tarred
with the ‘childish’ brush. Your average middle-aged person still seems to hold
the belief that games are immature trite, time killers that appeal only to
those with a loose grip on reality or a fascination with violence. And whilst
at least one of those criticisms is usually true, the games themselves have
progressed well beyond being mere plinky-plonky lights and sounds.
In order for a game to be looked at as art, I have decided
(using my well-adjusted worldly wisdom and generally keen social observations);
it must first stop being looked at as a game.
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| Drake leaves the gas on... |
The art game must be enjoyable obviously, or else one would
get bored before reaching its culmination, so it must still have good gameplay…
But it must be more than that. It must be visually enticing and thought
provoking, sure. It must sound and feel right too... and leave you needing more
once you’re finished… But an art game does not need to excel at all of these
individual aspects, so long as the ingredients blend together well. They tend
to be brief, short and sweet. Questions must go unanswered and provide talking
points for years to come.
So, bearing all this in mind, why isn’t Uncharted art?
Uncharted is beautiful and epic. It sounds great, it’s funny
and well-acted, it’s sad, it’s intriguing, rich and vibrant. It even has
unanswered questions… Uncharted 3 for example, one word: Spiders… Wha’Da-F*$k? But
it’s like a massive spicy cheeseburger on a bed of fries with a side helping of
ice-cream and chocolate sauce… it’s junk food. Shallow, crowd pleasing, one
size fits all junk food.
By god is it tasty though.
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| Oh Drake, you are so witty and charming. So, damned charming and witty and charming. |
Give me a choice between the slimmer’s minimalistic indie
art ryvita or a double helping of full-fat uncharted milk-shake and I’ll choose
to suck on that delicious mug of Drake every time…
Hmm…
But seriously, there is something about games like LIMBO and Journey and
The Unfinished Swan that is hard to explain. I guess they are complete. And in
an age of DLC and sequel mania that is no small statement. Uncharted is great,
but you know and I know that there is more to come. I’ll still be playing this
series when they release ‘Uncharted 17: Barrel Scraping In Space’ because its
brilliant. But whilst it raises the bar of adventure games (yes I’m talking to
you Lara Croft), it does little to the raise the bar of gaming as a whole.
P.S. Buy Uncharted.
P.P.S. I should really be getting on with my work right now...
