The art of Ikaruga 斑鳩

Whilst I obviously think the most important trait of a good game is beautiful game-play, having great visuals is a very close second. 

In fact, I am not ashamed to admit that I am a huge graphics whore, who will often dismiss otherwise playable games due to sub-par art direction. Even though I have chosen to live as an avid gamer, life is still too short to be playing games that aren't awesome in every way.

But it's not just the art of the actual game that can be beautiful. A game's conceptual art can also be just as striking. The Steam version of «Ikaruga» - a Japanese classic which I have written about earlier - is an excellent example of this.

PS: For recommendations of awesome Japanese PC-games, please follow my Steam Curator page.