Summary
The PS3 generation is when the open-world genre truly came into its own. The HD era brought with it a lot more computing power to make vaster experiences a thing. One great example isGrand Theft Auto 5which used to be a series of sandbox games.
Grand Theft Auto 5is more than that with plenty of scenery to explore beyond the city.Fallout 3is another great open-world game with even more freedom such as how players build their character and the story they can create through dialogue trees. Those are the big ones, but there are certainly some more forgotten open-world and sandbox games from the early PS3 days that are worth examining.
83D Dot Game Heroes
Metacritic Score: 77
3D Dot Game Heroespays homage to the originalThe Legend of Zeldaif it were remade with 3D sprites. One of the cool things about this adventure was being able to craft an original avatar from building blocks or there were prepared sets too. Another hilarious thing is that the player’s sword, when fully charged up, will be massive and can swipe through almost an entire screen full of enemies.
The adventure itself should feel familiar with overworld portions leading players into dungeons. It’s almost a miracle Nintendo didn’t come after Atlus for publishing this game in the West although it is a parody and there is that classic parody law.
This series truly didn’t hit peak popularity until the third entry but the DNA was almost there withFar Cry 2. It was set in a giant open world where players could run or drive around and cause chaos to their heart’s content. It had plenty of guns and other tools that players could use for their bombastic needs too.
The one downside to the experience was the constant upkeep of health. Malaria was a huge plot point that was ravaging the land in the game, and players had to constantly take medicine to bring it down which often felt a bit too much to handle.
6The Godfather 2
Metacritic Score: 67
It’s almost hard to believe that there was a game based onThe Godfatherlong after it hit theaters let alone a sequel. Both games loosely follow the events of the films and books while trying to carve a name for themselves and fill in the gaps. It’s a classicGrand Theft Autocloneof the era wherein players took on a variety of missions from killing sprees to escort missions to chases.
The Godfatherseries had a direct rival at this time too,Mafia, which was also a period game about the glory days of gangsters.The Godfather 2in particular is not a badGrand Theft Autoclone as it had all the right tools to make it engaging as an open-sandbox game, but it also didn’t elevate the genre.
5James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
Metacritic Score: 60
BeforeAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, there was another attempt to cash in on this global money-making movie giant viaJames Cameron’s Avatar: The Game. This was an early HD era game that had open-world segments but many of the zones were locked away from players. It’s kind of like how Liberty City was divided into territories inGrand Theft Auto 3.
Players got various familiar and foreign weapons to stop the evil soldiers of the movie’s plot as it tied both directly and indirectly to the events. For a movie tie-in game at this time, it received okay reviews thanks to Ubisoft putting in the hard work but it’s certainly not a game that needs to be returned to anytime soon.
In the summer of 2009, two superhero games were competing with each other mere weeks apart. Sony had the exclusiveinFamouswhich gave players electrical powers in an open-world city.Prototypewas also set in an open-city environment but the character in this game, Alex, had more body horror powers. He could turn his limbs into blades or bulbous objects that could smash things.
Players could also assume the body of any NPC on the street to absorb their health or to use their body as a disguise. While it was not the better of the two review-wise, Prototype did have more flexibility when it came to powers and thus gave players more freedom overall. To note, both this game and its sequel got a PS4 remaster.
3Red Faction: Guerrilla
Metacritic Score: 85
TheRed Factionseries made a big splash on the PS2 and other related systems at the time for one thing: destructible environments. Players could blast through walls and make their own doorways although there were some limits.Red Faction: Guerrillawas the third entry and it was the ultimate promise made true.
Everything in this game could explode or be knocked down including whole buildings. It was the ultimate chaos simulator it thankfully gota PS4 remastereventually although it unfortunately did not lead to any more sequels.
Metacritic Score: 72
The Saboteur
Not all wars are fought on the open battlefield. Download The Saboteur to visit 1940s Nazi-occupied Paris, as you play tough Irish racecar mechanic Sean Devlin. Working with the French Resistance, Sean is out for revenge against ruthless Nazi Colonel Kurt Dierker, who executed Sean’s best friend.This open-world action thriller takes you through the seedy streets of Paris as you seek to undermine the German authority and lead a rebellion. Fight across rooftops and through dangerous alleys, and operate a wide variety of vehicles as you navigate your terrain. You can even climb the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame Cathedral for a sniping mission.Use stealth and disguise to strike at the heart of the Nazi war machine by disabling trains, destroying bridges, and blowing up enemy facilities. As you work to remove the oppressive forces from parts of the city, the drab black-and-white palette gives way to bright colors, signifying that you’ve inspired the townspeople. The more you incite the people, the more they’ll aid you by intervening in fights or providing a quick getaway from pursuing Germans. The Saboteur presents a fresh take on World War II and features dramatic cinematic element
Of the many forgottenGrand Theft Autoclones of this first HD era,The Saboteurwas one of the more ambitious ones. It was set in the city of Paris duringWorld War 2when the Nazis took it over. This blanketed the once vibrant city into a cool black-and-white aesthetic as if to say Paris’ magic was gone.
Players, as a member of the resistance, could overthrow Nazi strongholds to bring color back to the city through any means necessary. It was kind of like bringing nature back to the world in bothFlowerandOkamialbeit in a bloodier manner with plenty of guns, bombs, and cars.
The Simpsons Gamewas kind of like a spiritual successor to one of the most popular games based on the cartoon,The Simpsons: Hit & Run. This game was not tied into any of the season’s major plots but it certainly referenced a lot. It was a fan’s ultimate dream and it had the entire cast return to do their voices too.
The game was a mix of genres that mostly boiled down to platforming and action segments although there were plenty of offshoots like one involving RPG mechanics. While funny, the gameplay may have been a bit too ambitious because the reviews were not stellar. For consoles, this was the last game based on the cartoon.
