Acknowledgements // The computer game as fictional form // The postmodern temptation Reading game-fictions // Fantastically real: reading Tomb Raider // Lara Croft: action hero Tomb Raider as quest narrative Beating the system // Gritty realism: reading Half-Life // Welcome to Black Mesa I am a camera // Replaying history: reading Close Combat // History in real-time Counterfactual gameplay // Managing the real: reading SimCity // The many worlds of SimCity SimCity limits // More than a game? // Realism is dead, long live realism The shape of things to come The computer game as fictional form revisited // Glossary of game-specific terms // Bibliography // Index