Games that could really happen.

[toythatkills]

I was getting ready to start Alan Wake the other day and so I had a flick through the manual and it sounded quite interesting. A guy gets writers block, heads out to some remote woods and then, oh, ghosts or spirits or some ****. Yawn. Here we go again.

Film and TV don't have this problem, there are plenty of thrillers and action movies that are intense and action-packed without having to remove themselves so far from reality. Why can't I think of many games that do the same?

So, are there any story-based games that don't have such obvious elements of fantasy like monsters or mutants or spirits or zombies or magic or just anything really. Are there any unique gaming IPs that you can play and just think "this could be real?"

Heavy Rain is the one that obviously comes to mind, but even that turns a bit stupid with the

->Open Spoiler<-

FBI guy's glasses.

I'm sure there's plenty of real life war-based games that fit the bill, but is there anything else that does it with a bit more imagination?

[ItsThere]

Gran Turismo?

Only kidding.

Cooking Mama, Gardening Mama, The Sims. I know they aren't exactly what you mean. No real story to speak of.

The only thing I could think of was that Earthquake game (forgot the name) and the JPN train sims. Is there a story to them?

[Brad]

This could really happen!

[Charlie]

The Half-Life series immediately comes to mind. That might seem a strange suggestion considering the entire game revolves around the central idea you've opened a portal in spacetime that multidimensional extraterrestrials have used to flood through but it's handled in such a mature and factual way I've thought maybe it could happen.

Even the science behind it - quantum physics, entanglement, dark energy - it's all based on real-life peculiarities. Ask a quantum theorist about entanglement and they'll tell you it does things that defy relativity, pick their brain over things like waveform collapse or duality and chances are they'll hint to the possibility of parallel universes and hidden dimensions.

[toythatkills]

Half Life only seems to fit if you accept that in an infinite number of universes an infinite number of things could happen, which would then make every game possible, it's not really in the spirit of the thread

In this universe in 2010, Half Life ain't gonna happen.

[Charlie]

lol Fair enough.

[ItsThere]

Some of the Splinter Cell games could really happen I think.

Maybe not Metal Gear Solid right now but in the future I don't see why not.

[toythatkills]

Maybe not Metal Gear Solid right now but in the future I don't see why not.

I seem to recall suits of bees, and mind reading, and other such things...

A lot of MGS works.

But then a lot of a lot of games works, are there any that are completely grounded in reality?

[wakka]

Shenmue and Yakuza. Although not really.

Games can't be too close to real life or they'd be boring.

[noobish hat]

Broken Sword 1, as far as I can remember. I thought the whole series was entirely based in reality, but

->Open Spoiler<-

the ending of Broken Sword 2, which I just finished for the first time recently, put a bit of a hole in that theory

.

[toythatkills]

Games can't be too close to real life or they'd be boring.

You say that, but this is why I mentioned films. There are thousands of action movies that are close to real life that are still completely exhilarating. Why have game designers never managed to replicate this? Is it that they can't?

Heavy Rain, again, being the only example I can really think of isn't a boring game, and it's close to real life.

[hudson]

Jet Set Willy may have/could of happened.

Rich bloke has mad party. After the party, the missus/mum kicks off and says he ain't putting his feet up until the place is tidy. Still high off an hallucinogenic drug, William's afternoon of tidying turns into a psychedelic adventure.

[Charlie]

Ahh, Jet Set Willy.

I've fond memories of playing that with my brother on our Amstrad CPC 464. We never did manage to get that bloody boat to sail, tried everything we could think of including leaving Willy sat on it for 24 hours hoping maybe it left port at a set time but to no avail. Brilliant game.

[BearBoy]

Grand Theft Auto? Doesn't exactly mirror my life but I guess there are people who immerse themselves in a life of gang related crime.

[Charlie]

Mirror's Edge?