Let me start off by saying that I''ve been playing games since the original NES era. You know, back when games were more about the enjoyment you got from it than how realistic it looked? Now don't get me wrong, I have a ton of respect for the hard work and effort devs like Rockstar, Crytek, and others put into creating realistic game worlds this gen, but at the end of the day what determines how much time I'll sink into a game is how much fun i have while playing. So whether it's a deep and engrossing epic like "Mass Effect" 1 and 2, or a shamelessly violent and morality-void romp through the purely entertaining worlds of "Saints Row 2" and "Just Cause 2" the goal is the same; to have a fun. I think some game developers are pushing so much for photo-realsim that we're missing out on what gaming is supposed to be doing, playing to your imagination and creating worlds that couldn't exist in real life. There's def a great experience to be had from playing games like "GTA4," "Red Dead Redemption," "LA Noire" (which I'm really looking forward to), and the "Far Cry" series (excluding the last gen console installments). But what is to keep people coming back to cities like New York, LA, and realistic jungle and island settings when - at least as far as cities are concerned - we could experience the same sights and sounds in everyday life. in short, where's the imagination? Contrast those settings to the somewhat futuristic, or at least outlandish, design of some of "Saints Row 2's" architecture. An underground cave as a tourist spot, underground mall (although the idea was better than the execution tbh), multiple side islands including an Alcatraz like prison with "fight club" in the center and the other housing a nuclear power plant, and last but not least a sky scraper that would make the Burj Khalifa in Dubai blush. Or take "Just cause 2's" incredibly large and, at times comically ethnically confused, world for instance. There are so many things to destroy that it took me upwards of 15 hours just to build up the will to fly to the 2nd major island. And I only did that because I wanted to say that I had visited every island. There's so much to explore and destroy that it's almost daunting trying to figure out what region to go to next. What's not to enjoy about hijacking a military helicopter and fying out to sea to destroy an island military base or oil rig, straffing left and right while dodging incoming missiles and counter-helicopter attacks? Or flying above the clouds and parachuting onto a floating nightclub which is suspended a mile above ground and which inexplicably resembles some kind of airship/yatch/blimp hybrid to cause havoc only to hop into an already parked plane and jettison off using the nightclub's runway? Although it's mostly senseless, it sure is fun. And from what I remember, that's everything that gaming is supposed to be about. Maybe the draw behind ultra-realistic, real world environments in gaming just doesn't appeal very much to me. I wouldn't deny the critical acclaim that many of these games receive. I simply wish they would put more imagination into the world's and characters that they create. Because at this point many of the most rewarding experiences I've had this gen haven't been from the big name modern fps and realistic open world games, but instead from the game devs who took a hit with the critics in an attempt to give players nothing but pure and unadultured fun...