I can have quite high expectations when it comes to games, and Sandbox titles are one of the genres which I find hardest to be satisfied with. While most of my favourite elements within them have been done before, I often find that most sandbox titles will contain some of the elements that I enjoy, yet fail to meet my expectations elsewhere. Perhaps this is simply a matter of developers allocating their priorities to one area over another, or maybe they just think that their games will feel complete without them.
Regardless, I have seen all of the elements for my perfect sandbox titles done well in one game or another, so I believe that one day I may finally see them put together in a game that I cannot fault – but perhaps it’s little more than a dream.Assassin’s Creed II and Red Dead Redemption have done well, both keeping me entertained from start to finish, but there’s always that feeling that my desire for the ultimate sandbox title will ultimately keep me waiting forever. So, to at least give an idea of what I’d really like to see – I present, my own personal sandbox heaven. Prepare for a long one, this is something I’ve had on my mind for a while…
The World
Most similar to: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Just Cause 2
Obviously, the world of a sandbox title is one of the most important features – a dull city makes for uninteresting sights and tedious travelling – and landmarks are important for getting a general feel of the area without having to consult the map every other minute. I do think a sky-scraper filled city is a good area for an open world, giving a game some height for good platforming and variety – but I also think it’s important that the game should have varied locations to keep things interesting. GTA: San Andreas did this well, having three city-type areas, mixed in with plenty of open wilderness to explore – while Just Cause 2 is a prime example of how breathtaking the more natural environments can be when done right.
The Character
Most similar to: Assassin’s Creed II
As much as I enjoy my own personal character (Crackdown 2), I do think that the lead character of a sandbox title should be a pre-defined protagonist, such as Ezio from Assassin’s Creed, John Marston from Red Dead Redemption. Why? Because a character that is integral to the plot means that their motives, personality and backstory are much deeper, and can be entwined with the story in a much more believable way. Although character creation is enjoyable, the character is then detached from the story, allowing the game to progress in much the same way regardless of your personal choice of character. However – as sandbox games often give you a feeling of “living” the life of the character, it’s nice to see a bit of customisation – such as clothing or armour choices, whilst keeping the character’s personality in tact.
The Plot
Most similar to: Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV
Going hand-in-hand with the character, the plot is another important aspect to me. Most sandbox games follow the ideal of exploring the world at your leisure, and then progressing the story as you take on the plot-based missions at your leisure. This is the best way to deal with storyline in these titles – so I don’t think it would need to change. However, I do think it’s important that although a good plot is important, there must be a feeling that you can do other things between missions – there’s nothing worse than a sandbox game that makes you feel as though every upcoming mission is urgent. I mean, give us time to explore and enjoy the world – allow some quiet times between our protagonist’s endeavours to relax. Ideally, a sandbox story should take place over at least a few weeks, if not more.
The Combat
Most similar to: Devil May Cry
Now, this is the area in which I personally find most sandbox titles lacking to my tastes. If you look into these titles, the vast majority are ranged combat-based titles – Grand Theft Auto, Just Cause 2, Red Dead Redemption, Crackdown. Sure, there’s a melee button in most of these games, but who wants to repeatedly see the same punch or combo over and over? Even Prototype, which tried to incorporate melee combat disappointed me – although it had the amazing concept of being able to shape shift body parts into swords or clubs, the gameplay itself felt sloppy and not fine-tuned. Assassin’s Creed managed to have nice-looking swordplay, but in the end offered little challenge when you realise that almost every enemy can be one-hit killed with a fairly simple counter. While gunplay like GTAIV and RDR‘s could hold their own in comparison to other third person shooters, I’ve never seen a sandbox title with combat that could come close to titles such as Devil May Cry, God of War, Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta. There’s no logical reasoning for this, many of these titles involve battles in wide open spaces with hoardes of enemies – so why not in the streets of an open world? Surprisingly, the Spider-man games are probably one of the better titles when it comes to melee combat in this genre, with a mix of combos and attacks, but that’s not saying much. This is probably my biggest wish for a sandbox title – to give me combat on par with Devil May Cry.
The Enemies
Most similar to: Prototype, Devil May Cry
Personally, I have no love for getting randomly shot at no matter where I run – so gun-weilding opponents aren’t my favourite. Whereas gun-based enemies are done well in some titles (i.e. RDR), other titles merely give the feeling that you’re constantly getting hailed by fairly annoying (and non-fatal) bullets, which wont stop until you mow each one down by pointing at them one by one and holding down the trigger. Now, I’m not saying it’s all bad, but when playing games like Crackdown I get absolutely no satisfaction from killing enemies whatsoever – it doesn’t feel like a challenge, and to be honest the AI is completely dull – as I watch each one of them stand still out in the open practically begging to be shot.
Obviously, as I stated that I’d like to see a more close-quarters based combat system, it would be important to have enemies to match. Now, this is one of the most important aspects, and again I think it would be best to take a page out of the book of games such as Devil May Cry and Bayonetta. The way this works is to roughly have a few different types of enemy.
The first is your basic cannon-fodder. These (a little like the Freaks in Crackdown), are relatively simple opponents that serve little threat and offer more in the way of combos, and stress relief. Generally, the main threat with this type of enemy is simply in number. These types of enemies aren’t the best, but when paired with stronger enemies will keep you on your toes.
The second are your threats. These are generally stronger, faster and smarted than your average enemy, but in fewer number. As these are able to kill you if you don’t act, they’re the type of enemy you’ll need to focus on, or run away from if you get low on health. Prototype had a few good enemies such as this, big beefy creatures that could seriously hurt you, and were also able to hunt you down as they were fast enough to chase you across the city.
Then we have bosses. These are generally huge creatures which you fight one-on-one. Although it could be cool to have one or two in the city itself, a better way of doing so would be to contain them in enclosed areas within buildings or underground. Good bosses often work well with the area in which they are fought, as enclosed spaces make them more of a threat and you won’t find yourself simply being able to keep your distance and pick them off with projectiles.
The Travelling
Most similar to: Prototype, Grand Theft Auto IV
Getting around the world is another important aspect, and there are many ways of doing so. Grand Theft Auto focuses on vehicles, Crackdown allows you to jump and run higher and faster as you grow, and Prototype and Spider-man allow you to scale walls at high speeds. Although it’s important to be able to move around quickly, having inhuman power like the Spider-man games can cause you to quickly lose scale of the world and it can lose depth. Prototype did a good job with this – allowing you to gradually become more fluid and agile, but still keeping the city feeling vast and realistic.
The Side Stuff:
Most similar to: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Red Dead Redemption
This is the last area I want to talk about, but to me it’s a biggie. Alongside the main plot and objectives of an open-world game, the world really needs to feel as though it’s alive and actually has stuff going on. Sure, Red Dead Redemption had shoot-outs and missions etc, but if you wander about the various towns you get a real sense that people are living rather than randomly walking around aimlessly – there are bars where you can buy a drink or play gambling games, you can spend your cash on weapons, items or property, and it really doesn’t feel as though there’s anything missing.
While games like Crackdown and Prototype feature full open cities, when you get to the detail it’s easy to realise that all the buildings are little more than lifeless blocks, and aside from the core gameplay the world has little to offer if you want to do something else. GTA: San Andreas offered the most side events that I’ve seen, with companies to take over, shops to browse, vehicles to unlock - enough to keep me entertained for hours without actually progressing in the story in any way. In GTAIV, however – I ended with a whole load of cash, yet Niko still lived the life of a pauper. If you’re going to let us make a lot of money – give us some ways to spend it!
So there you have it – all the aspects of my own personal sandbox heaven. Rockstar are particularly good at making such titles, with Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto being amongst my favourite titles. But really, I’d like to see some sort of Devil May Cry/sandbox hybrid – give me a demon hunter taking down devils in the streets, clearing out nests of monsters, taking on various missions whilst being hunted by dark creatures, taking an infested city and building up an empire out of the ruins, all whilst stopping some demonic conspiracy to end the world. That would be my sandbox heaven.
-Leon
