60°

Dissecting Open-World Games

GTA, Assassin's Creed, inFamous, Batman, Skyrim. What makes them and what ruins them? An eGamer journalist picks apart some of the most popular Open-World games of the last few years...

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Tody_ZA4187d ago

Agree with you on Skyrim, Borderlands and Red Dead Redemption. Those games really did it get right

Despair6664187d ago

Surprised there was no mention of far cry 2 in the article.

Volcre4187d ago

Hmmm there are so many Open-World games that I didn't get the time to talk about. I tried to keep the column as short and readable as possible. Would have loved to go into more detail on some of them... particularly on how crap Assassin's Creed is :P

Volcre4187d ago

Definitely mentioned it in the article as a winner on several counts. The immerseion, the freedom to do as you please and feeling like you're a driving force in the game world :)

r214187d ago (Edited 4187d ago )

Painful amount? I dont know bout you but i found inFamous games to be more fun with Cole using his parkour skills and his powers to traverse across Empire City and New Marais. Why in good gaming would I want to use a bike when I could use electrical powers :L

s45gr324187d ago

Infamous really makes you part of the city. Traveling is speedy especially if you use the train.

Volcre4187d ago

Hmmm...the train only really skirts you around the edges :/. You do sometimes feel like part of the city but as a whole, the world doesn't feel very alive or dynamic. If you randomly just beat people or heal people, nothing really happens.

sorceror1714186d ago

I think the author was rather harder on inFamous than necessary. But either way, inFamous 2 was improved in every area he talked about, in many case greatly so.

Also, no love for Just Cause 2? In some ways it broke every rule he laid out - but it was still undeniably fun.

130°

Looking Back At 2008, An Unbelievably Incredible Year Of Video Game Releases

Huzaifa from eXputer: "2008 was home to the likes of Call of Duty: World at War, Dead Space, GTA 4, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, and many other hits, which is outright remarkable."

ChasterMies16h ago

Some of these low paid video game “news” writers weren’t born before 2007.

just_looken11h ago

Here here

Those that were around before 2000's i am sure are like me that think we entered a world of non readers or those that follow without question.

I can not wait to see fallout 3 a goty game even though it was about water with non content until you add the dlc/updates then you got the performance/crashing

CrimsonWing691d 3h ago

I don’t think anything can compare to 2023

lucasnooker1d 2h ago

1998 - the best year in gaming! Metal gear solid, crash bandicoot 3, medievil, half life, ocarina of time, thief, tenchu, resident evil 2, Spyro, tomb raider 3, oddworld abes exodus, banjo kazooie.

It was a different breed of a gaming era. You’ll never understand what it was like back then. The aura of gaming, it was different!

KyRo1d 2h ago (Edited 1d 2h ago )

I second this. Gaming was a lot more varied and fun than it is today. I'm 35 so getting on compared to some here but I got to see all the changes from NES up to now but I've never felt so disappointed in any generation than I have this current gen. I was expecting more from this generation rather than prettier versions of games that came before it. Game mechanics have become so refined that alot of games feel the same and has done for a while now.

Maybe it's time to have a break for a while. I love gaming but I don't feel I get much fun in the traditional sense out of it anymore.

CrimsonWing691d 2h ago (Edited 1d 2h ago )

Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Abe’s Exodus, and Ocarina of Time are the only things from that list that I liked.

Here’s the 2023 game releases that I personally liked… and big releases that I didn’t care for:

- Dead Space Remake
- Wo Long Dynatsy
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Diablo 4
- Fire Emblem Engage
- Hogwarts Legcay
- Street Fighter 6
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Like a Dragon: Ishin
- Octopath Traveler 2
- Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters
- Final Fanatsy XVI (actually ended up not liking this, but it was still a big deal release)
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Lies of P
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Starfield (Ended up hating this one, but big release)
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (I’m an old-school Zelda fan, but didn’t really enjoy this game)
- Alan Wake 2

I mean, honestly I’ve never seen a year of major IP releases like that, ever.

Profchaos23h ago(Edited 23h ago)

Isn't it just a generational thing realistically.

I've been gaming since way back and I some of my favourite games go as far back as the late 80s for me each generation has a year or two of game changing releases one after another before an inevitable dry spell.

I kind of agree gaming had a different feel games hit different because we didn't have the internet nothing got spoiled and you really had to put in the effort to beat a puzzle which could set entire groups of people looking for a solution. But most importantly games were experimental and not as cookie cutter as today even basics like controls were not universal today r2 is shoot l2 is ads garunteed you can't deviate from that in a shooter back then it could of been square, R1 or R1 and circle nothing was standard.

But as time moves on a new generation picks up their controller they are going to be interested in different things that PS1 demo disc with the t Rex blew our primitive 16 bit brains back on launch but to kids today it's laughable.
The new gen of kids coming into to hobby seem to value different things to us there seems to be a huge focus on online play, streamers, gaming personalities, and social experiences, convience of digital downloads. To me I value none of that but that's ok like my parents not liking the band's I would listen to its just the natural cycle.

Gameseeker_Frampt14h ago

Just about every year in the 7th generation was great and something we most likely won't experience again.

2009 for example had Assassin's Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, Killzone 2, Borderlands, Bayonetta, and Demon's Souls to name a few.

just_looken11h ago

It still amazes me we got over 7 rockstar games ps2/ps3 but 3 for the ps3/ps4/ps5

Dragon age 1-3 and mass effect 1-3 in 7ish years what a generation.

70°

I'm Replaying Skyrim (again), and So Should You

Replaying Skyrim after 13 years is a reminder of the progress made in western RPGs over the last decade, but also what's been lost.

anast20d ago

I tried, but it's a poorly made game that insults its customers.

lucian22920d ago

nah, only mods make it decent, and even then it's bad, and this is after i modded for at least 3 years

Nittdarko20d ago

Funnily enough, I'm about to play it for the first time in VR with 1000 mods to make the game playable, as is the Bethesda way

110°

The 7 Best Western RPGs: Immersive Adventures

RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.

SimpleSlave20d ago

"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!

How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera

And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden

DustMan20d ago

Loved Alpha Protocol in all it's glorious jank. Great game.

SimpleSlave20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.

Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.

Pity.