It depends on what exactly you are looking for in terms of art. I will break up my recommendations into two general categories, games driven by a compelling story vs. games driven by art direction. I will try not to include games that have atrocious gameplay.
Story driven:
The MGS series (particularly 2 if you are looking for a highly politically charged avant-garde style storytelling, and 3 if you are looking for more traditional commentary about the industrial-military complex and patriotism)
FF VII and FFIX (I think these are the two best representations of unique story and gameplay from the FF series)
Xenogears (an extremely ambitious RPG whose script I have reread by itself because it is so compelling)
Xenosaga series (self-indulgently story driven, but for those who are patient enough with it, it is at the same level as classic literature)
Silent Hill 2 (the best representative of the "horror" genre of video games. A very open-ended story that invites interpretation and leaves the player both compelled by what is going on around him and absolutely frightened at the same time).
Final Fantasy Tactics (extremely motivated by the history of the Catholic Church and European history, this is arguably the best story ever in a game)
Artistically driven:
Okami (great representative of stylized Japanese culture in physical form)
Everyday Shooter (a great downloadable PSN game that is equivalent to a psychedelic experience)
flOw (simply beautiful and elegant in its simplicity, also on the PSN)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (a great embodiment of "old-school" gaming that draws great strength from its gothic atmospheres)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (extremely innovative gameplay wise and absolutely gorgeous in every other way. Very compelling representation of Eastern culture, particularly architecture).
Gears of War (it may not have the best script ever, but it has beautiful and cohesive art direction).
I can think of more, but that is a very good list I have given you. Out of all of those if you are truly looking to research games as art, I recommend MGS2, Silent Hill 2, Final Fantasy VII, Xenosaga I-III, Okami, and Everyday Shooter.
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
