Nothing quite compares to the endless worlds of sandbox gaming. Whether you’re stranded on a tropical island, parachuting over bustling cities or burning rubber in deserted wastelands, open world gaming offers players the chance to go anywhere and do anything they want, letting creativity and destructive prowess run wild.
With more and more open world games making an appearance each year its fast becoming one of the biggest and most popular gaming genres, making it increasingly difficult to pick just ten as the very best. However, it’s been done and here is what I believe to be the top ten open world video games to lose yourself in….
10. Saints Row: The Third
Saints Row went all out insane for its third instalment, leaving the Grand theft auto-esque gameplay behind, standing alone to deliver brilliant stupidity alongside explosive action in the most unconventional ways possible.
Saints Row: The Third takes you to the fictional city of Steelport. It is here where you can wreak incalculable amounts of damage, alone or with friends, taking out rival thugs throughout the city. None of it makes sense, is actually rather mad, and doesn’t take itself seriously at all and that’s what is so great about it. It’s a credit to the creators at Volition for leaving nothing on the drawing board when developing this game.
Packed full to the brim, Saints Row: The Third is a magical concoction of lewd hilarity and nonstop fun!
9. Just Cause 2
Have you ever wanted to attach a truck to a helicopter and use it as a wrecking ball to take down a radio tower? Well you can do this and so much more, all within the confines of Just cause 2.
The games entire premise is to cause destruction, and Avalanche Studios allows you to do it in the most creative ways possible whilst offering the most diverse playground to do it all in. From its snowy peaks, to its desert stretches, within its dense jungles and blue oceans the landscape is forever changing offering endless opportunities whilst keeping the game interesting and the action refreshing.
The story may be weak and the missions repetitive but it allows you to approach everything in the most absurd way you can, making the experience different for each player. Its ultimately all about the fun.
A game where destruction and creativity truly go hand in hand.
8.Borderlands 2
After its unexpected success it came as no surprise to anyone that Gearbox stuck close to what worked so well the first time around. Blending four player FPS gaming with open world RPG so effortlessly, this sequel offered us another chance to go shooting and looting our way across the wacky world of Pandora, for Borderlands 2.
The game never gets old, managing to improve on its predecessor in almost every aspect. Playing as an intrepid vault hunter we make our way across an ever changing landscape - from the Frozen Shelf to the Utopia of Opportunity, meeting bandits, monsters and some hilarious characters along the way. All the while listening to the games villain, Handsome Jack, berate us and regale us in the most entertaining ways possible. By playing it ‘safe’ Borderlands 2 delivers a fantastic narrative, as well as a seemingly endless amount of weapons. Every time I thought I had the best weapon possible, an even bigger better one came along that I just HAD to have.
Shoot, Loot, Repeat.
7. Batman: Arkham City
Batman doesn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to video games, let’s be honest. That was of course until 2009 when Rocksteady released Batman: Arkham Asylum ditching the grey tights to take on the much darker side of the caped crusader.
Where the first game introduced us to its excellent combat system and gritty story, Arkham City expanded on that by taking us out of the asylum and onto the streets of Gotham to fight amongst the criminally insane, and face some of Batman’s biggest rivals.
The Joker’s heinous games are only part of what Batman: Arkham City has to offer. The game is filled to the brim with excellent voice acting, stunning visuals, and awesome game mechanics. Solving riddles, and hunting collectibles becomes addictive and swopping over the city with grapple hook in hand is enough to keep you content for hours.
It’s dark, gritty and totally badass!!
6. Fallout 3
The moment we ascended from the claustrophobic confides of Vault 101 is not one that is easily forgotten. The sun blinded us as the door rolled back, opening out onto a vast post nuclear wasteland, nothing but rubble and debris filling the absent Washington DC skyline. With Fallout 3, Bethesda created a world so visually stunning, capturing the atmosphere of a city in ruins and the desperation of the people who remained. The game also nailed at giving the series an entirely new identity, delivering RPG and FPS gaming alongside one another.
A triumph in almost every aspect Fallout 3 combines excellent writing, stunning graphics, satisfying combat, engrossing gameplay and interesting characters into hundreds of hours of missions and exploration, with tons of replay value.
Immersive, terrifying and beautiful, Fallout 3 is an experience like no other.