Games are fast becoming not just entertainment mediums, but also art mediums as well, blending musical scores, beautiful and vibrant environments, and sometimes extremely detailed characters all together to create not just a fantastic gaming experience, but also a beautiful one.
Here are my top 7 most beautiful games of all time:

7: The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Stylized, beautiful textures, and our first foray into next generation ground with our familiar friend make this one a shoe in. The enemies were fantastic, and the hero’s even more iconic this time around, I loved the premise.

6: Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time
Beautiful cut-scenes, vast and varied environments, and a great story, combined with the depth and detail of characters, make this one my number 6.

5: Kingdom Hearts
Sure, another Enix game, but seriously, these fellows know how to make some attractive character models, even if a bit cartoony. The opening cut-scene, and the other scenes spread throughout don’t take away from the game, but really accent the story, heightening your emotional attachment to the beautifully rendered characters.

4: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
A massive world, with landscapes baring from desolate wastelands, to lush forests, all the way to snow capped peaks. An epic soundtrack that really gives gravity to your task, an amazing lighting engine, and the character model textures are so beautiful when intended to be, and grisly when required.

3: Kingdom Hearts 2
Yes, I know I already gave Kingdom Hearts my number 5, but really, they went above and beyond with the sequel, making the game something you care about by aging the characters in a realistic way, making Sora’s task of finding Riku and Kairi seem like it really has been taking time to complete.
Amazing voice acting, a story with emotional depth, and polarized environments make this game number 3.

2: Mass Effect
Detailed and beautiful Characters, amazing voice acting, a gigantic and extremely diverse galaxy to explore. Almost a purely cinematic experience, a beautiful ambiance, and oozing with that gooey feeling of destiny pertaining to the task at hand make this one number 2.

1: Final Fantasy X
Yes, I know, three Square Enix games in one list, but honestly, you have to hand it to them, they know beauty.
A beautiful score, amazing characters that are attractive albeit androgynous, and not only that, but the story itself is one of tragedy and love, all the makings of a classic in my book. The first Final Fantasy game to feature Real Time facial expressions, they utilized the new technology extremely well even when they were just getting used to it.
Combining the story, character models, lush levels, the musical score, make this one my number one, even if it may not be yours, it has to be somewhere on your top 7!
There they are, my seven most beautiful games of all time, you have to admit that any game if done correctly has the potential to not only entertain but to awe the player with it’s beauty as well.

December 1, 2009 11:30 AM | by
