As I was playing Saints Row The Third earlier, I was roaming around, unarmed, looking for collectibles. I walked down a little alley, with no notoriety, towards some sort of factory, and suddenly was taking fire from police. I found it odd, because nothing had been mentioned about restricted areas in the game, and, though I've gotten used to taking fire from rival gang members unprovoked, this was the first time the police had taken the initiative on such an occasion.
Earlier this week in Burnout Paradise, I was chasing one of the cars that you need to take down to own, and then it suddenly disappeared, and when I reached the spot where it had vanished, I was prompted to purchase the Big Surf Island DLC to continue down that road.
The Grand Theft Auto and Infamous series have a tendency to have more bridges closed than open at the start, restricting you to a single island until you've progressed to a certain point in the main story.
World of Warcraft and other MMOs have a tendency to let you go where you please, but if you step into the wrong territory at too low of a level, or without the right equipment, you will very quickly perish, often in a single, unavoidable hit.
These are some of the problems that plague persistent world, "sandbox", and open world games. There are many more, and with the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto V releasing in just a week, I felt it was an appropriate topic to cover.
A few more examples of issues that commonly stain the otherwise enjoyable experiences are invisible walls, keeping you trapped within a smaller space than it appears the world should be; pop-in and pop-out of textures, models, and NPCs; the unclimbable mountain ridge around whatever city/state you're in; an overall lack of diversity among the "randomly generated" population, and, more often among the primary and supporting cast(though Saints Row does a pretty good job of avoiding this pitfall).
This is primarily an issue due to marketing departments, and developer interviews, where they tout an area 3 times as large as the previous title, or "unprecedented freedoms". However, this is usually a reference to the end game, and I'm often disappointed when I load up one of these games for the first time, looking to explore and wreak havoc on the unsuspecting townsfolk. Confined to a small area, and required to complete a series of missions before I can even freely roam my small piece of turf, I often spend more time frustrated with the lack of freedom, and cursing the marketing and developers for completely misleading the public.
The other problem with this is that the true open-world games, where you can do anything from the start, often feel unrefined, and listless, with no story, little structure, and an even smaller population, with an even less relevant cast. Minecraft is a prime example of a game that falls into this latter category.
I think that it's time for the developers to realize that the two ideas are not mutually exclusive, and that you can have a great game, with a great story in an open world, while not being so hand-holdy and restrictive of the players out of the gate.
A truly open game that still maintains a worthwhile narrative, that compels you to play through it of your own volition would be truly revolutionary, and memorable for years to come. I'll still keep playing the ones currently available, while hoping for a much needed change in dynamics. Until that day comes, though, I'll be looking for developers to solve the current issues of creating more diversity among the cast and population, and making the confines of the world less obvious.
-Mike "Tsaikotyk" Kelly
Earlier this week in Burnout Paradise, I was chasing one of the cars that you need to take down to own, and then it suddenly disappeared, and when I reached the spot where it had vanished, I was prompted to purchase the Big Surf Island DLC to continue down that road.
The Grand Theft Auto and Infamous series have a tendency to have more bridges closed than open at the start, restricting you to a single island until you've progressed to a certain point in the main story.
World of Warcraft and other MMOs have a tendency to let you go where you please, but if you step into the wrong territory at too low of a level, or without the right equipment, you will very quickly perish, often in a single, unavoidable hit.
These are some of the problems that plague persistent world, "sandbox", and open world games. There are many more, and with the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto V releasing in just a week, I felt it was an appropriate topic to cover.
A few more examples of issues that commonly stain the otherwise enjoyable experiences are invisible walls, keeping you trapped within a smaller space than it appears the world should be; pop-in and pop-out of textures, models, and NPCs; the unclimbable mountain ridge around whatever city/state you're in; an overall lack of diversity among the "randomly generated" population, and, more often among the primary and supporting cast(though Saints Row does a pretty good job of avoiding this pitfall).
This is primarily an issue due to marketing departments, and developer interviews, where they tout an area 3 times as large as the previous title, or "unprecedented freedoms". However, this is usually a reference to the end game, and I'm often disappointed when I load up one of these games for the first time, looking to explore and wreak havoc on the unsuspecting townsfolk. Confined to a small area, and required to complete a series of missions before I can even freely roam my small piece of turf, I often spend more time frustrated with the lack of freedom, and cursing the marketing and developers for completely misleading the public.
The other problem with this is that the true open-world games, where you can do anything from the start, often feel unrefined, and listless, with no story, little structure, and an even smaller population, with an even less relevant cast. Minecraft is a prime example of a game that falls into this latter category.
I think that it's time for the developers to realize that the two ideas are not mutually exclusive, and that you can have a great game, with a great story in an open world, while not being so hand-holdy and restrictive of the players out of the gate.
A truly open game that still maintains a worthwhile narrative, that compels you to play through it of your own volition would be truly revolutionary, and memorable for years to come. I'll still keep playing the ones currently available, while hoping for a much needed change in dynamics. Until that day comes, though, I'll be looking for developers to solve the current issues of creating more diversity among the cast and population, and making the confines of the world less obvious.
-Mike "Tsaikotyk" Kelly
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