Stuart Campbell launches the Campaign To Keep Realism Out Of Video Games.

Take a look out of the window. See that? That's reality, that is. Absolutely shedloads of the stuff. The graphics are totally lifelike, the sound is just like actually being there, the sense of 3D is entirely convincing, and the behaviour of the Non-Player Characters is, for the most part, reasonably believeable. There's one other major plus, too - the whole thing's completely free. No admission charges, no subscriptions, no pay-per-view. You can go and wander around in it anytime you like and no-one'll ask you for a red cent (as long as you avoid scrumpy pubs, anyway).

So why, you might wonder, would anyone want to fork out the best part of 50 quid a time to experience something that's not quite as good, and doesn't even have the benefit of being out in the fresh air? And yet, that's exactly the selling point offered by more and more video games, such as the keenly-awaited (the UK version is out at the end of May) racing game Gran Turismo. Billing itself as "The Real Driving Simulator" and lavishly praised by clueless reviewers as "the ultimate in realism", the fact that such claims are obviously raving-mad bollocks of the highest order (try crashing a real Aston Martin DB7 into a TVR Cerbera 500 head-on at a closing speed of almost 400mph and see if you just come to an abrupt halt then drive off again undamaged) is actually rather less incongruous than the bizarre notion that such a thing might be a good and praiseworthy idea in the first place.

After all, if what you value above all is "realism", it's still pretty hard to beat reality. If you want the ultimate in realistic driving experiences, why not, for example, go for a drive in a car? (If you can't drive, you can get a few lessons for the price of a game, and if you want the racing thrills, you can go zooming around Brands Hatch at the wheel of a proper racing car for a few hours for a not dissimilar amount.)

Not that this is to devalue Gran Turismo itself - it's an exceptionally accomplished game (it's very much like a prettier Ridge Racer, in fact), with a frankly staggering replay facility that's just like watching touring-car racing on Grandstand (except slightly less boring). But the reason it's so good is because it fails to be realistic, because it knows when to sacrifice veracity for fun. One of the fundamental reasons videogames exist is as an alternative to reality, for when reality is too dull/frightening/cold/much trouble/whatever. To ask a game to be "realistic" is a bit like paying to watch Manchester United and expecting them to lumber around like your flabby, hungover mates in the Sunday League, because that's how "real" people do it. After all, why would you want to pay someone to do something you can do better yourself?

SKULL MONKEYS

(Playstation, Dreamworks, £40)

At last, a winner for Spielberg's Dreamworks studio. Skull Monkeys is a gloriously off-the-wall platformer, looking and playing like a much less intellectual version of Abe's Oddysee. It's about as 2D and unsophisticated as platform games ever get nowadays, but crammed to the throat with personality-dripping clay-model graphics (watch out for the baddies who vomit their own skeletons out of their bodies at you), a fantastic Disney/Sergio Leone soundtrack of toe-tapping songs (just try to stop yourself jigging around the room to the menu-screen music), a shotgun spread of genuinely funny moments (the lengthy between-levels sequences are like watching a good Wallace and Gromit movie) and gameplay as smooth and love-at-first-tasty as a Thornton's whipped fudge frappe bar. If videogames were prison-escape movies, Abe's Oddysee would be The Shawshank Redemption, Skull Monkeys would be Con Air, and round these parts, recommendations don't come much higher. Gorgeous.

BUSHIDO BLADE

(Playstation, someone, £35)

Another would-be realist, Bushido Blade is that rare creature, a beat-'em-up with a new idea. The twist is that the fighters don't have energy bars - one good hit and it's all over. You can also be injured - take a bad one on the ankle and you're reduced to kneeling and crouching attacks for the entire rest of the game - and you have to fight with honour (stab someone in the back and you'll be effectively disqualified). All this is well and good, but in practice it makes the game arbitrary and confusing. Want to make something of it?

GEX - ENTER THE GECKO

(Playstation, BMG, £45)

Despite the depressing protestations of many Playstation owners that N64 games are too kiddy and childish for their liking, the search for a PS clone of Super Mario 64 goes on unabated. The most successful so far should be this well thought-out little number, starring a suave lizard (voiced beautifully, but entirely unconvincingly, by Leslie "Well hello" Philips) taking a slightly too post-modern trip through the ages of television and film. Specially good bits include Gex donning Elmer Fudd's pink rabbit suit for the Looney Tunes level, and stomping over a tiny Tokyo to do battle with Godzilla, but - while it's still no Mario - the game's standards are high throughout, with only some seriously iffy camerawork spoiling the party.

ACTUA ICE HOCKEY

(Playstation, Gremlin, £40)