Graphical Fidelity vs Visual Style

[manasecret]

Originally Posted by Xantar

Well here's a thought experiment: I'm sure that if Infinity Ward had the technical ability to do so, they would have made Modern Warfare 2 completely photorealistic in every way so that the game looks just like it would appear to you if you were a soldier running around shooting people. Would that game have visual style?

It's an interesting question and one I'm grappling with. My answer is yes, because in reality, there is a choice of what goes into that scene, and what the weather is like at that moment which changes the color palette, and so on.

Put another way, would such a scene not created in a video game, but filmed _not_ have a visual style? There are plenty of movies to choose from like this, I guess one example being Hurt Locker, though I haven't seen it.