As the title dictates, my question I propose “Is 2015 the year of the Sandbox game?” We only have to look at the sheer amount of these games that have been released since January this year. When looking at some of the biggest releases this year we can see a good handful of games then are going to be consuming a large part of our free time.
Some of the titles we will be looking at are; The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Batman: Arkham Knight, Mad Max, Assassins Creed: Syndicate, Just Cause 3, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Fallout 4. That is a list of epic proportions, if someone was to play these games back to back without aiming for 100% in every game it would still take the best part of a few months to work your way through that list. If you have not encountered any of these titles yet and are somewhat interested then we shall try our best to break down and explain what each of these games has to offer our readers.
The games are all part of the Sandbox genre, for those who are not entirely aware of what a sandbox game is here is a brief explanation. Sandbox is the name given to a large open world game where a player is then given free rein to explore and discover what the area entails. Previous sandbox games include games such as the Grand Theft Auto or Far Cry series. These games have owed their success to being set in a sandbox environment; many developers have now decided to turn their hand to this genre to see if their games suit the style. Below we list some of the biggest sandbox games released already this year and a couple that have still to make their way to our consoles.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
I reviewed this game for the site, though I did not manage to complete the game before my review went live. I did manage to played over 20 hours before reviewing the game and found the amount of detail and design that had been implemented into the gameplay was staggering to the point of almost being overwhelmed.
Reprise (or step into for the first time) the role of the legendary Geralt of Rivia, and explore the lands of Novigrad, Velen, Skellige and more. Hunt down monsters, humans and everything in-between while searching for your long missing ward Ciri. Take the time to romance or have a fling while you ponder what one of your many side missions to tackle, take the time to seek out the new weapons and armour and keep Geralt at the top of his game.
The Witcher 3 is a modern fantasy classic that was highly anticipated and yet still shocked so many people at its sheer size and story. With some of the scenery and story in the game you can easily be side tracked at any given moment. Explore the world on horseback and fast travel once you have discovered new locations.
Not only has the game got over 100 hours of game play, the developers released 16 free DLC add-ons and are soon to release 2 premium DLC adding an extra 30+ gameplay hours between them.
The Witcher 3 is for those who love story and do not mind being side tracked every few minutes by a strange icon on your map.
Batman: Arkham Knight
(Chris Peebles recounts)
Batman Arkham Knight isn’t just the conclusion to the Rocksteady Batman games, it’s their culmination of everything they’ve learned from the previous game set in their largest open world yet. The amount of Gadgets at your disposal just makes every encounter interesting and different. Not to mention traversing the environment with the Batmobile or gliding around is fun, efficient and both have unique experiences tied with them.
If you wanted an open world superhero game, Arkham Knight is the best example of this, as you really do feel like Batman fighting crime on the streets of Gotham, even after the main story has concluded and you’re just flying around finishing side-quests. People may say the Batmobile was overused, and they’re right to a degree, but it’s a great addition to the game and means that the largest map in the Arkham Series is easy to get around.
It also helps that the city looks the part, with tall skyscrapers, military outposts and even buildings under construction. Two giant blimps add to that Batman feel, and sometimes you just have to take a pause at one of the many high points of the map and look over Gotham. It’s truly a great feat, and it’ll be interesting to see what Rocksteady do next, even if they decide not to return to Batman’s Universe.
Mad Max
Mad Max was a very interesting game for me to play. I had never seen any of the films and only had what fleeting footage had caught my eye to gauge what the premise of the game would be. Fans of games like Borderlands or RAGE might feel more at home with this post-apocalyptic setting of a world without oceans, seeing what humanity would be reduced to.
The setting of the game works extremely well with the driving mechanics; the map is a huge open size and yet offers a range of landscapes to explore. The terrain could not be covered on foot which makes the player use the vehicle to get around the map; this introduces interesting car combat mechanics. Car combat is made easier with the addition of car customisation of weapons, armour and other add on features to make your Magnum Opus your dream car.
Mad Max is an outsider that proved it was more than able to stand up against other titles on this list. The stunning landscape design with a haunting soundtrack and a devastating weather system make a great combination to draw in a player to the games overall story. Though its true strength lies in the side quests and upgrading of your car, so if you are not really interested in putting hours of gameplay into getting the best car then Mad Max might not be for you.
Assassins Creed: Syndicate
The Assassins Creed franchise has been a steady runner every year since 2009’s Assassin Creed 2. The game franchise still seems to be selling well and proves it still has a demand in today’s audience market. The simple concept of free running mixed is now integrated with gadget such as a grappling hook in Syndicate. It is the simple additions and tweaks to every new game that keeps bringing players back.
Victorian London is the new setting in this most recent game and has player’s controllers 2 assassins this time; we control siblings Jacob and Evie Frye. These two assassins also seem to be the leaders of some kind of street gang which look to bring vigilante justice to the crime ridden streets of London during the industrial revolution.
The Assassins Creed formula changes up every so often, the low point in the series (for me) would have to be Assassins Creed 3 set during the American Revolution. The game felt very 1 dimensional and the characters were not developed in an interesting way, the whole felt rather lacklustre. Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag took (in my mind) the growing need for a decent Pirate themed game and pulled it off expertly. The characters likeable and the vastness of the open world is easy to explore with your ship that you upgrade throughout the game.
Assassins Creed: Unity was the first proper title for the current gaming console generation and was not met with the praise that Ubisoft might have expected. The game was riddled with bugs and glitches to the point where YouTube and Twitter were full of people complaining about the game. The game was rather pretty and brought in a sneak/stealth system which might have made more sense being introduced at the beginning of a game series based on assassination.
Assassins Creed: Syndicate (at the time of writing) is the most recent release on this list and has been met with both great and not so great reviews online. All we know is this franchise still seems to have the legs and the development team to carry forward into the future.
Just Cause 3
The latest instalment of the Just Cause series is set to be the biggest to date. This has to be expected though as the game prides itself on massive open worlds and crazy action packed game play. This time valiant hero and freedom fighter extraordinaire Rico Rodriguez returns to his home island to overthrow a nasty and evil dictator known as General Di Ravello.
The Just Cause formula has not had to change much in its iterations, give a player a massive open world and the means to navigate it while causing mayhem and destruction. It is an extremely simple formula which has had people hooked since the early days of its first incarnation back in 2006. With the games map supposedly over 400 square miles it will be very interesting to see how big and open this world can be, is there a point where it is too much?
Just Cause 3 will see a return the parachute and grappling hook from previous games, while also introducing the wing suit to allow swift manoeuvres across large open skylines. The array of weapons you have to use in this game is just utterly outstanding, if this were a game like “Farming Simulator” or “Goat Simulator” it would be known simply as “Open World Destruction Simulator”.
The game has had massive support on STEAM and fans even created their own mods to allow players to play online together. The multiplayer mod is still ridiculously popular on PC and looks to be a popular selling point if brought to the consoles with Just Cause 3.
Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain
(by Kevin McDowall)
Metal Gear Solid 5 is the latest game to come from the legendary director Hideo Kojima and was published by Konami. Powered by the incredible FOX engine, MGS5 is set as a sequel to the earlier released Ground Zeroes and a prequel to the original Metal Gear game, though it swamps any and every title that came before it in sheer size and available gameplay.
Set nine years after the events in Ground Zeroes, Big Boss (now given the designation ‘Venom’ Snake) leads his brand new mercenary group the Diamond Dogs into battle against an intelligent and ever evolving Cipher. The vast game could take over 100 hours to explore and including Kojima’s flair for ridiculous Easter eggs there is always something to do, whether you are sending sheep into the stratosphere with a balloon or calling down a gunship full of troopers on your unsuspecting foes. Once you have dipped your toes into the story you can then head to the newly released multiplayer mode for many more hours of sharpening your skills against the deadliest foe of all: Man.
Voice and motion capture was provided by 24 actor Kiefer Sutherland to bring the illustrious Solid Snake to life like never before as you travel through the ever changing landscape of the Afghanistan Desert in his quest for vengeance against the man who killed his friends and destroyed his former military outpost. Meet characters who will shock and awe you throughout the Metal Gear franchise as you see them like never before and get lost in a world where state of the art technology is at your fingertips and the very weather could be your ally or your greatest enemy.
Fallout 4
(By Devin Pitts-Rogers)
It’s been quite a whirlwind year for Fallout 4. It was only half a year ago that production was widely speculated. Given the nature of larger and flashier reveals, Bethesda played this round with its cards close to the chest. The game isn’t out yet, but with under a month left until the game’s release it makes sense to go on about the latest sandbox romp from this studio.
Fallout 4 seeks to continue the trend of keeping sandbox RPG fans inside as the weather changes again. The game seems to return gamers to a world of radiation poisoning, mutated beasts, and of course, V.A.T.S. which I think is a pretty big selling point of the franchise. Things cannot remain too stagnant, however, and Bethesda has added some new features to make your trip through the wasteland of Boston, Massachusetts.
Crafting. Fallout 3 and New Vegas both featured worlds filled with scrap, most of which could be used as part of existing weapons or as ammo for guns that fired literal garbage. This time around, every item picked up in-world can be broken down into its base components which can then be used to craft weapons this time around.
Settlements Fallout 4 gives the player the ability to create their own base. After making this, players can even fortify their own settlements and even attract vendors.
Dogmeat cannot die. The worlds of Fallout 3 and New Vegas were a blast to roam through, but it could still feel a tad lonely without a companion. With a companion, however the game also felt a bit like an escort mission at times. Players like me might want to try and save every life possible, and teammates that experience perma-death make this process a bit more difficult. Dogmeat filled a special place in our hearts and parties (as did his puppies if the players selected the Puppies! Perk).
This has been small recap of some of 2015’s biggest open world games. Did we miss any big games, or do you not agree with our list? Please let us know in the comments below, or let us know on our Facebook page (XBLGamerhub) or our Twitter feed (@XBLgamerhub).
I would like to thank Chris Peebles, Devin Pitts-Rogers and Kevin McDowall for their help putting this article together.
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