I think it’s a stretch to move Metal Gear Solid and Fallout into the art category. I’m not saying commercial products can’t be art, but those series were clearly designed to be commercial hits (or, in the case of Fallout, as much of a hit as a PC WRPG can be). When games have some sort of mainstream appeal, the reviews are then going to focus less on the artistic side and more on what makes the game good for the average consumer.
Metal Gear had the motif of animals, moments and characters that were clearly purely symbolic (The Boss’ death, where her shirt is opened to show her maternal, nurturing role, the changing colours of the flowers to show how war and violence taint all the beauty of the world, Ocelot’s cowboy obsession because he needs to connect to a past and an identity he was never really allowed to have), enough postmodernism to make Michel Foucault cream his pants, not to mention its copious allusions to religion, myth, and even pop culture. While it’s a marketed, sold game, the fact that Hideo Kojima has been intending, at least since Metal Gear Solid, to create a full-blown work of art is almost inarguable.
I’m not saying there shouldn’t be reviews for that purpose, as there are reviews when Gabriel Garcia Marquez, for instance, publishes a new book, as he’s a popular literary figure, but there should be an alternative to purely commercial reviews within the medium, the same way there is for books, movies, or just about any other form of art.
Also, cannot believe I forgot to mention Killer 7 as an artsy game.
I’m pretty sure Arac means Fallout 1 and 2, not 3. I’d consider 3 pop-art. Maybe.
I don’t know. 3 had a few shaky parts, especially it’s poorly executed ending, but I think it stands up approximately as well as the first does, in terms of writing, minus the nostalgia. Sometime, when I’m less horribly swamped by work (what’s that, 10 pages on animal brains, 15-20 on Bulgakov, and like 20 or more on 19th century French literature? Oh, and I have a test on molecular genetics and a presentation to give in Russian? In the next ten days? Fuck me.), I’ll defend the merits of Fallout 3.
You forgot Psychonauts. 
Do you really think Psychonauts is all that…deep? It’s really zany, I guess, but it kinda doesn’t say anything, as much as I played it.
It doesn’t have to be deep to be art. 
I haven’t actually played it, because I am a lame loser.
I’ve heard things about Beyond Good and Evil, but that’s as much as I know.
Well that and it’s getting a sequel sometime into the future.
http://playthisthing.com/twiggy-game
I found this to bring up many of the same points you have, only with board games.
This was a really, really well written article, as well as accurate. It was good, trust me.