Maybe what you mean " art direction " and spectacular " visual direction " which is tend to make the game more beautiful even if it's limited with graphic power house and visual effect. But art direction and visual direction combine with graphic powerhouse can even make the games far more spectacular let say The last of Us, Halo 4, Zelda Ocarina of time, Uncharted 2, Gears of War, Shenmue, Final Fantasy series, God of War 3.
graphic is just a tool of expresion from a game designer, it all depend on the creativity of the artist and game designer but the tool is also very important, if the artist is creative but limited with graphic power house then it's difficult for the artist create a beautiful games, and if the artist have a great tools but lack some creativity the tools can be useless.
