By Bobby Perez – Deadski
In the past several years open world games have come a long way; from rough graphics and loading screens, to incredible environments with almost limitless possibilities. More and more next-gen games are going in this direction, like Metal Gear Solid V. Hideo Kojima has stated, that the game will be 300 times larger than “Ground Zeroes” and with that in mind, I wonder if bigger is better.
The open world games of this generation are really good, but not quite great, when you think about it. Many times I’ll get the same reaction or outcome from NPC’s with my in-game actions. If you’ve played open world games, you know what I’m talking about here, if not let me break it down for you. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption give you the option to run around shooting like a mad man. You start shooting, people run, cops show up and you try like hell, to run. That all makes sense, but when you’re just walking around doing your thing, what people will say or do is often repeated so many times throughout the game, that it gets repetitive and dull.
Developers making the transition to open world should pay attention to detail over large expanses. If you must go open world, I’d like to see more logical or interesting NPC reactions to my actions. If I’m walking around, dragging someone hogtied behind me, I’d expect more concern from people, than having them walk on by, business as usual. The same can be said of stealing a car in plain sight; I mean really, no one’s going to call the cops? Bystanders walking around having more dialog, also helps a lot. More voice acting from the people in the world would help make the game less repetitive. It would be nice to walk the same block twice and hear something new each time. Little things like this I think could improve open world games.
Another thing that needs to be fixed is exploration. If you’re gonna have an open world, you better make it fun to wander around. Oh the places you’ll see, the treasures you’ll find and the people you’ll meet! None of the previously mentioned means a damn thing, if you’re not having fun while exploring. Here’s a good example of a game I’ve played, Fallout New Vegas. In Fallout New Vegas, you start out with nothing on your map, and as you explore you find all sorts of places and things. Some help, some don’t, but you still want to keep looking for more, as the outcome is always different. Even if it means searching the entire map, it’s worth it to find that one bizarre item or person that you can tell your friends about. Enemies have a part too. In some areas, enemies are weaker than you and in other areas enemies can one-shot you without taking a scratch. All of that not only makes exploration fun, in my opinion, it also makes it rewarding.
So if game developers continue to make open world games without fixing the aforementioned issues, they will end up with bigger worlds and A LOT more of the same.
Leave a Reply