Open-world games or, more specifically, games where a player can roam mostly free around its expanses have been around since the 1980s. Historically associated with JRPGs and later appropriated by 3D action games where it met the mainstream with games like Driver for PlayStation and Grand Theft Auto III on PS2 et al.. The open-world action template dominated the gaming market just a decade ago though its popularity has waned since.
Like any popular game-style or design trend, the quality of games that let you roam free has varied wildly. Here are a few that got the open-world part right but then missed the mark elsewhere.
The Getaway
2002’s The Getaway was a hugely innovative title that probably should have commanded more respect in its day. Of all of its creative touches and ideas, its HUD-less, marker-less presentation stood out amongst its peers. This choice alone helped the game offer a level a of cinematic immersion not seen before, and rarely seen since.
When injured the player would, like in Resident Evil, limp and hunch. To heal, protagonist Mark Hammond would lean against a wall instead of walk into a floating, translucent heart. The game offered no conspicuous vehicular guidance – no arrows, no line on the road. The indicators of the game’s real-life vehicles showed the way, blinking more quickly when requiring a sharper turn.
Team Soho did their home city justice in rendering a stunningly detailed London. The Getaway‘s landmarks showed off some of London’s finest buildings and architecture. However, it’s the use of more mundane real-life building facades and shop fronts that elevates the condensed and relatively realistic map. In addition, Team Soho’s contrast of world-famous tourist-friendly areas and the more rundown streets of its less affluent boroughs fit the game’s tone perfectly.
Ultimately, The Getaway is largely forgotten for a few reasons. While its map and mechanics aimed for realism, some of its design was unpleasant to contend with. There was no in-game map so that indicator mechanic was all a player had. Subsequently, it was easy to get lost on longer treks or in the heat of the chase.
Additionally, those run-of-the-mill real-life cars that added so much to the immersion were horrible to drive. Hammond wasn’t much better on his feet with horrible walking and shooting controls crippling the experience.
Fallout 76
The first game on this list that was truly bad at launch, Fallout 76‘s vision of 2102 West Virginia has all of the style and some of the substance of your average Fallout map. While bigger isn’t always better, the map manages to keep a healthy content-per-square-yard ratio despite covering 310 square kilometres (120 sq. miles), four times the size of Fallout 4‘s slice of Boston.
Being the earliest setting of the series, decay and post-apocalyptic struggle haven’t destroyed quite as much of the old world. The choice of using a small-town setting, with portions relatively unscathed, lends it a somewhat unique feel.
West Virginian cultural nods and its real locations may not be as recognisable to non-Americans as the Washington or Vegas wastelands but the tri-centennial theme and ‘Murica-ness of the atmosphere slots right in the Fallout series.
The flawed concept of the game actually helps the intrigue of its map. With no NPCs to speak to at launch, canny devs had to find novel ways of telling stories and directing players with minimal instructive interaction. Their ingenuity wasn’t enough to save the game from feeling hollow and repetitive yet Fallout 76’s game-world still speaks to players more than in other games in the series.
But Fallout 76‘s biggest sins were its litany of technical issues, a theme we’ll encounter again.
Assassin’s Creed Unity
Unity had a rough launch – missing faces, absent textures, clipping issues, catastrophic geometry fails; to name just face issues that launch purchasers had to deal with. When it worked, it was easy to see a vibrant, detailed and ambitious Paris.
The setting itself is inherently interesting and due to the French Revolution’s place in history, most across the world will have some understanding of the period. And thanks to literature written at the time and films depicting the period, many will have an idea of what Paris should look like already in their head.
Assassin’s Creed Unity managed to nail it. A thought-provoking juxtaposition between the majesty of Paris’ grandest places and the absolute destitution of the rest. From the opening chapters at Versailles through the ravaged streets and dungeon-esque Bastille, the level of detail is consistently high.
The tight, labyrinthine streets weren’t just fronts either, Paris was filled with inconsequential buildings with interiors. Interiors that players could enter and exit at their leisure, giving the map extra depth and more intimate detail.
When the NPCs and madding crowds were eventually fixed, the streets of Paris had an atmosphere to match its visual feast. Players really did hear the people sing, singing the songs of angry men.
Paris’ collection of famous locations worth visiting was arguably a series peak. Like Fallout 76, it’s a large and dense area that offers plenty to do and see but also suffers from a lot the same problems. Missions and mechanics that had grown stale and bugs that crush what enjoyment was left.
Just Cause 3
Just Cause 2 was a high-water mark in open-world romp and rampage action. The games’ swift mobility, stunt-friendly engine and ridiculous lethality of its protagonist all offered something slightly different to its competitors. Just Cause 2‘s take on the genre became a surprise smash hit.
By the time Just Cause 3 was released, the genre and the industry as a whole had changed. Mature themes with serious issues to ponder were en vogue. The signature Just Cause mayhem, its one-note parody and Rico’s dry sense of humour weren’t going to cut it anymore.
Unfortunately, a more serious antagonist was about as much as devs Avalanche could muster.
Rico was still a mischievous CIA wargod who hums Ride of the Valkyries when on a particularly fine rampage. Sebastiono di Ravello’s supposedly merciless, cunning and brutal route to power in Medici would be shocking were you not deleting swathes of the map at a time.
But there was more to Just Cause 3‘s lukewarm reception than a failure to move on and a clash of tones. The game was plagued by technical issues. Load times were measured in minutes. Frame-rates were wild. Random crashes were common.
However, the island nation of Medici was undoubtedly spectacular. Its vibrant teal seas framed its pale gold beaches perfectly. Further inland, we had mysterious forests and the obligatory mountains. Medici’s natural beauty punctuated its sun-drenched yet lush isles with old-world Mezzogiorno-inspired villages and farms.
Avalanche got creative with infrastructure and the settlements. Just Cause 3′s open-world map contains some particularly picturesque hamlets, villages and towns seemingly built in rather than built on the soil and shore of the islands. And there was still plenty to blow up as you took it all in.
Honourable Mentions
Ubisoft chipped in with several that didn’t make the cut. Unsurprisingly so, considering their prolificacy in the collectible-filled field of open-world games. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Tom Telford’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. Far Cry Primal. Ultimately, none of these had the charm of missing faces or Revolutionary Paris. Primal‘s map also wasn’t as strong as any of the others in our shortlist and the game itself was arguably too good to feature.
Fable III was a contender. The final nail in the coffin of the series’ esteem, Fable III‘s looked nice and its map could morph dependent on player choices throughout their playtime. However, it was a poor exploratory experience compared to similar games of its day.
Fable II wasn’t quite mediocre enough nor was its world mind-blowing enough to make our list.
Anthem was definitely the type of game that this list was made for in terms of quality. A boring grind with minimal incentive to do anything bar the never-ending pursuit of better stuff with which to grind. The game’s environments were beautiful from distance, up close and in between. However, the world was a sterile diorama that only added to the game’s mountains of filler.
No Amazing Spider-Man 2?
The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘ was indeed a poor game and it did feature an authentic Marvel Manhattan to swing around. But its world suffered from the same issues as Anthem – an absence of interactivity and a lack of convincing life that bled all immersion from the game.
And though the game-world was geometrically sound and impressive in scale, the texture work was notably plain for its day. It wasn’t as pretty a sight as it should have been.
No Driv3r?
Driv3r was a broken mess. Rushed to market, it featured a lack of polish and stability that you need to witness if you haven’t done so before. The game tarnished the series’ name permanently. We’ve left it out because it took place in a few separate maps with different strengths and weakness.
None were particularly amazing though some were gorgeous. Some had interesting places to see or some were fun to drive through. Some even offered some fun in trying to break the game’s limited grasp of physics. But each was either boring, devoid of driving satisfaction or a bit ugly.
That was our list of amazing open-world maps in not-so-amazing open-world games and a few honourable mentions. Have we been unfair to any of the titles on this list? I was undecided on including Unity – it turned into a strong old-style Assassin’s Creed game and there are other superb maps in the series tied to wholly mediocre or plain bad titles.
