So I downloaded the trailer of Half Life 2 yesterday. For the most part I was impressed. It's cleary way ahead of its time in terms of physics and what you can do in a game. The graphics were quite stunning as well.

However, I also think this game opens up a small can of worms. Because it strives to be as real as possible, I think it's even more obvious now that there are areas where it's not "real" at all. This is because you get used to seeing thing react a certain way, like reality. There are certain improv things you can do, like using a radiator for a shield, but there will come a time in the game where you won't be able to do something you think up and then the illusion will be ruined.

Older games don't have this problem. When you've got crappy graphics a lot of it is based on story and suspension of disbelief. But when you make things as real as possible it's very easy to break that suspension just by making something not as real as it could be.

I have the same problem w/ movies. I could watch, say, Fantasia and be enjoyed, even though it's a cartoon w/ no basis in reality. But when I watched the newest Matrix, I kept seeing the CGI human figures and it pulled me out of the movie. I just couldn't believe those were "real" humans because, well, they looked fake.

And I think that's going to be the issue moving forward with some games. The more real you get, the more you notice little things that aren't quite real enough. These things tend to bother me. Perhaps that's why I like those crazy wacky Japanese games, because they're so based in non-reality that you forget all of that and just do what you're suppsed to, have fun.