Are there any games with significant political/social commentary?

At the moment I can't think of one, although I'm not saying there aren't any. The closest I can think of is Bioshock, but I never finished it and from what I did play, it didn't seem to be unique in its message. Like I said though, I didn't finish it.  
 
It's kind of disappointing, because I feel like games can't be regarded as a serious artistic medium until developers learn to integrate intelligent explorations into the experience. At the same time, it's promising to see the quality of storytelling take large strides with games like Mass Effect and Enslaved.

Noby Noby Boy is a brilliant commentary on the arduousness and frustrations of young adulthood, losing a father and regaining hope in life.  
I tell you I can not play that game without getting a tear in my eye.

AAA games are the summer blockbusters of the industry.  You are looking at the wrong games.

The Metal Gear Solid games. They're all essentially about throwing messages of morality through your face.

Pikmin, think about it.

" The Metal Gear Solid games. They're all essentially about throwing messages of morality through your face. "

" Noby Noby Boy is a brilliant commentary on the arduousness and frustrations of young adulthood, losing a father and regaining hope in life.  I tell you I can not play that game without getting a tear in my eye. "

" @Abyssfull said:

" The Metal Gear Solid games. They're all essentially about throwing messages of morality through your face. "

pfffahahahaahahahahahahahahaaha  "

Gaming is not an auteur medium. Movies, books, and the like can do things like jab at society or policy because it possible for a single person to be in creative control of the work. Even most indie games are such a colossal effort to create mechanically that any edge or bite to their design is dulled by the time they are completed. Holding the idea ahead of gameplay is suicide, so developers opt to work for gameplay (most of the time). 
 
My strongest off-the-dome examples would be Tropico, Metro 2033, the recent GTA games, and MGS4.

Assassin Creed brotherhood.

Stephen Colbert's future game that's due out in 2011 will have it.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.

Minesweeper. War on Terror. Think about it.

" AAA games are the summer blockbusters of the industry.  You are looking at the wrong games. "

" @Purple_Proletarius:  The thing that prevents me from coming up with some examples is your use of "significant," since that could wiggle in either direction.  Games tend to live or die based on popularity and gameplay, too, so you may have some games that go a little too far in the commentary direction and wind up alienating people, cutting into their potential audience and making them less well known.  Some are even reviled for being too preachy, especially if they don't have the gameplay to back it up. "

Games can't exactly report on what is happening in the world in a meaningful way, so no.
 
But really the answer is: Comix Zone.

" The Metal Gear Solid games. They're all essentially about throwing messages of morality through your face. "

"Stephen Colbert's future game that's due out in 2011 will have it. "

" @Abyssfull said:

" The Metal Gear Solid games. They're all essentially about throwing messages of morality through your face. "

It's from those games that I learned not to trust nano-machines. Or vampires.  "

The best political/social commentary in video games can probably be found on the radio staions in the GTA games. 
 
As a whole I's say that the GTA series has the best stab at it, but it's not something that games have done well.

Bioshock, Metal Gear and Ace Combat. They're all anti-something-or-another.

" @Jimbo said:

" AAA games are the summer blockbusters of the industry.  You are looking at the wrong games. "

Which are the right ones?"

" AAA games are the summer blockbusters of the industry.  You are looking at the wrong games. "

•  BioShock
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Metal Gear Solid franchise (Behind all the wackiness of the plot, the game provides a preachy anti-nuke message)
• Modern Warfare 2 (It provides political commentary, in the most nonsensical form one can imagine in a military themed shooter)
• Fallout 3

This seems close to the games as art discussion that gets thrown about allot. It really depends how you want to look at the situation. Most games are conduits for wish fulfilment, in and of themselves giving a commentary on the sections of society that play them. However this is an indirect way of looking at them and they weren't designed with a social or political statement in mind.
 
There are some notable exceptions to the rule if you look for them.  For instance the interesting focus the "would you kindly" aspect of Bioshock placed on our tendency as players to blindly follow the instructions that we are given within the structure of a game. Metal Gear Solid lays on the rather heavy handed and over laboured anti war message but it is still there as a political statement, I guess. There are some interesting ideas littered around the industry they are just well hidden.
  
Really other than the typically preachy attempts at simple morality commentary made by some Japanese mainstream games you would be best served by diving into the indie development scene.   
 
On the other hand there is the point that \Games are better served by inserting their political and social commentary subtly within the game and making it less obvious. Unlike Films that occupy a relatively short amount of time and can be clear and direct within the short time given, games are worlds. Crafting a world with a particular message in mind could easily break the whole experience. The best example of Games with a social message wound into the world itself would be second world war shooters.  
 
Often touted as being historically accurate second world war shooters have far more in common with the propaganda of the time than any actual accurate and un bias look at the people involved in the world. Its easy and easy for us to accept. All Nazi's were automatically evil thus shooting hundreds of them is a completely guiltless experience. Its a two dimensional world that simply does not reflect reality. Come to think of it even games like modern warfare are based around modern day propaganda ideals. Terrorists are all bad with evil intentions thus its ok to shoot them.  
 
Actually I take it all back. Most AAA games are incredibly successful at commenting on one extremely important aspect of Politics and Society. 
 
Humans are incredibly good at dehumanising other humans in order to aleviate any sensation of guilt they feel at killing other humans.  
 
Also Zombies are the perfect Metaphor for the way we perceive "Enemies" .  
 
In conclusion....    Er Zombies are the ultimate game device and Zombie games win?!?!?!

" @Purple_Proletarius:  Well I would argue that it may well have been, but because I don't know what you think is significant it's hard to say very much beyond that. "

MGS 1 (War be bad)
Bioshock (Science for the sake of science...among others)
Shadow of the Colossus (personal need and greed)
 
there are more I'm sure...I just don't want to think at said moment. You won't find scathing satire in games yet like you will in movies or books, the medium is still to young

I disapprove of this thread.

" I disapprove of this thread. "

Dead Rising has a few subtle jabs at the obesity epidemic in America as well as American consumerism but it's nothing you can't find in Dawn of the Dead.

Bioshock?

I mean seriously. Everything is a commentary on something. Games have been commenting on society since their inception. Just because it's not spelled out as blatantly as in a game like Metal Gear Solid, where that game literally, fucking literally preaches to you about the badness of war, doesn't mean it's not there.
 
Donkey Kong is a commentary on Communism.
 
 Think about it.

I'm surprised that Beyond Good and Evil hasn't come up. 

"@GhostlyEnigma: I'm going to disagree with all of those if we're going to use my definition of significant. But I'm curious to hear what you feel Fallout invokes."

• BioShock: Stem cell research
• Fallout 3 (And the entire series in general): Resource and energy consumption.
• Grand Theft Auto IV: Soulless capitalism
• Metal Gear Solid franchise: WAR IZ BAD!!!!
• Modern Warfare 2: PATRIOTISM IZ BAD!!!!

Donkey Kong Country.
See the Kongs represent anarchy, and the Kremlings represent establishment, and Rambi... well he's just a rhino

One of the problems with this idea (aside from the fact that most major games are very high-budget, risk-averse projects), is that the few games that do attempt to convey deeper messages do so in a way that's largely irrelevant to the actual gameplay.

Bioshock doesn't actually play like a Randian parable, it plays like System Shock. Metal Gear Solid may be anti-war, pro- "choose life and live" in its themes, but it sure doesn't penalize you much for snapping fifty fuckin' necks.

What will be really interesting is when more designers come up with a way to express the "message" of their games through the rules of the gameplay itself. That's the unique artistic potential that video games represent - the ability to convey a message through rules and consequences. And, to allow you to have an experience of your own, within those rules, at the same time.

What's really weird is that Missile Command pretty much did this 30 years ago, and was also a totally awesome game.

If you look hard enough, you can see messages in everything. Same with video games. Look at Modern Warfare 2. Yeah, most of the story is completely bonkers, but the story of General Shepard could be taken as a parable for the idea that 9-11 was staged by the US government. Not saying it was intended that way, but that's how some people took it. 
 
So, yes. Every game.

No

-Bioshock franchise
-Fallout franchise
-GTA franchise
-Assassin's Creed franchise
-Red Dead Redemption
-Beyond Good & Evil
-countless adventure games such as Beneath a Steel Sky, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
-DEFCON
-Braid
-Bully
-Red Faction franchise
-management/political simulators
-Dead Rising franchise

Civilization pretty much forces all this stuff, doesn't it? That depending on the government and even thw wonders you build, you get different buffs with particular social values maybe tied to them.

" Donkey Kong Country. See the Kongs represent anarchy, and the Kremlings represent establishment, and Rambi... well he's just a rhino "

Despite the fact I didn't really think the game was that great, Beyond Good and Evil would probably be the best answer. It very explicitly fits this theme; an evil government spewing political propaganda and an underground rebel group aiming to expose the truth. In fact, given the current situation with Wikileaks, this game seems sort of pertinent.

Check out some indie games;  http://db.tigsource.com/ 
You might be interested in:  

• Everyday The Same Dream
• One Chance
• Braid
• flower (I suppose it could be interpreted in a way that provides social commentary)