You see, even with games like HL2, even with it’s gameplay and all it’s twists and turns, you still start at one point, and work through to another point and finish the game. Compare that with something like Elite, where your whole game can take multiple turnings. Sure, the graphics were terrible, but it was so absorbing you didn’t care. And the replay factor is huge - how many times do you start Football Manager again and again?

There are games that allow a degree of freedom (things like World of Warcraft and Entropia Universe), but even then, they pale in comparison to an old game called Ultima Online, where you could work your way up to King/Queen, or run a pub, or spend your days killing monsters. However, it could be tricky to replicate that in a single player experience.

There are plenty of gorgeous looking (better than the original Toy Story in terms of graphics) games out there with brilliant game play. Wrong wrong wrong.