Have anyone of you played Nocturne? It's one of the best games I've played, not only for being survival horror, but it's the closest I've come to immersing in a 30's noir
atmosphere. Its 3d engine was way ahead of its time (1999!), which meant that it demanded high specs, but made the experience possible. If you ask me, Nocturne aged very well even up to now.
I have plans to make some random freeware game on a when-it's-done basis, so I've questioned this "artistic value" in games for months. I see that it tends to boil down to a matter of choosing form or function, or both. Atmosphere/experience can be a cooperation of both sides; getting into the game would require just the right interface/controls, the right visuals, and the proper contexts for both to appear in.
I'm even looking at how artistic fighting games can be esthetically, without having to strobe some ridiculous screen-sized hitsparks from a menial punch. Then there's cases like Tekken/Virtua Fighter/Dead or Alive, which I find balancing depth and craziness--dedicating oneself to a character plus nuances of game engine is almost like studying a martial art (50+ moves per char on avg), but it's also fun as hell to bounce opponents in the air with combos. Plotwise, they tend to be typical martial arts movies, but Tekken is a serious offender with sheer randomness.
These days I'm in it for the gameplay, whether it's fun AND will keep me playing it for days on end. Modern games still manage to accomplish (or seek to...) a distinct visual and gameplay experience from the mainstream though; a lot of what I'd love to get my hands on, like Shadow of the Colossus, Alex Wake, Child of Eden, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, (latter two are future releases) hopefully give more ideas of what to look out for. My 2 cents.
