Size of computer game lands

April 3, 2006 5:26 PM

What's bigger, Oblivion or San Andreas?

Once you take into account scaling etc, which has the larger map area? My boyfriend claims that Oblivion is 16 sq miles, but I can't find an equivelent figure for SA.

Also, what other single-player (not MMORPGs) games are of equal or larger size?

posted by Lotto to computers & internet (15 comments total)

Daggerfall (the second Elder Scrolls game) was huge, though it wasn't as handcrafted as Morrowind or Oblivion.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 5:48 PM on April 3, 2006

I'm pretty sure San Andreas is bigger, but less dense... there's three major areas of interest, separated by quite a lot of not very much. And it takes a good ten minutes of high speed driving to cross the map...120mph plus. i'd guess it's, hmm, probably six miles on a side.

Oblivion is 'only' four miles on a side, but is very densely populated... things are often spaced just enough to be separate icons on the map.

I'd guess Oblivion has more content, but SA is physically bigger.
posted by Malor at 6:09 PM on April 3, 2006

I would guess that SA is probably bigger. Oblivion is freaking enormous, but it probably seems bigger then it really is because travel takes so long by foot in game. SA probably seems a bit smaller because of how fast you can travel around in it because of cars, planes, helicopters etc.

If you want to know which one is more packed full of awesome however, Oblivion FTW.
posted by Hexidecimal at 6:28 PM on April 3, 2006

Square milage is a pretty poor metric for determing the "size" of a game world. I mean, you're pretty much done once you start looking at Galactic Civilzations or other games which represent the known universe.

The measure I prefer is unique hours of gameplay. For instance, a race game with a career mode might be entertaining for dozens of hours ... but you're going to be seeing the same tracks over and over.

Oblivion, on the other hand, provides a vast environment to explore with an incredible amount of depth. I've been playing 50 hours so far and I've barely scratched the surface. With Morrowind (the predecessor), I played nearly 200 hours and there were still enormous sections of the map I'd never even visited.

Another measure: the hint books for both games outline all the quests available. The main quest (i.e. "the game") is about 50 pages and is intended to be completed in roughly 50 hours. The rest of the hint book (another 300-400 pages) is dedicated to optional quests. Eighty percent of the game is just bonus stuff that the developers are hoping you'll stumble onto (they do provide hints). That kind of depth is what makes the Elder Scroll games "big."

For what it's worth, I bought GTA and Vice City when they were released for Xbox. I was impressed by all the hype about it's "open ended gameplay." Boy was I disappointed, since I'd already played Morrowind and experienced real open-ended gameplay. You can get out of the car? Big deal. The city has no depth. Most of the buildings you can't access. Big chunks of stuff are off limits and there doesn't seem to be anything there just waiting to be discovered (i.e. you'll be directed to everything interesting on a mission).

/rant
posted by zanni at 6:51 PM on April 3, 2006

Well, not to ruin the plot or anything, but the plane of Oblivion itself is infinite in size, so technically Oblivion.

FWIW, comparing the two maps included in the game boxes, it looks to me like Oblivion is bigger anyway. But obviously neither are really to scale.
posted by Hildago at 7:54 PM on April 3, 2006

Also, with the 16 square miles thing, if that's a measurement of the length of the sides, understand that much of the map in Oblivion is hilly, and GTA San Andreas is somewhat more flat. I dunno, just talking out of my ass here.
posted by Hildago at 7:57 PM on April 3, 2006

Every time I read something about Oblivion, a little chunk of my willpower breaks off and I get closer to considering a 360.
posted by danb at 8:10 PM on April 3, 2006

What a great question! I'd say Oblivion is bigger, in that is has a denser and richer story and interconnected elements.
posted by Nelson at 8:29 PM on April 3, 2006

I don't know, but then again I am not currently addicted to SA.

The 16 square miles figure is correct though.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 8:51 PM on April 3, 2006

“The map is 6 by 6 kilometers or 36 million square meters.” —John Whyte of Rockstar North on San Andreas
posted by hilker at 9:57 PM on April 3, 2006

That's 3.7 miles, so Oblivion is a little bigger. Cool.

Danb.... if you have a PC that can hack it, it's a lot better there. Mouse control is much easier to target with, and there's going to be a BUTTLOAD of mods. It looks like Microsoft is going to be charging for the 360 mods... they're already charging 200pts ($2.50) for horse armor. I kid you not.

The same mod is $2 on the PC (or will be, in a week or so), but there will be freeware mods that do the same thing, more or less.
posted by Malor at 11:37 PM on April 3, 2006

There are a buttload of mods for the PC right now. I know people already running over 25 mods that tweak various features (leveling, user interface, enemy equipment, numbers instead of sliders for facial features, etc. etc.).

In any case, Daggerfall > Oblivion >= San Andreas > Morrowind.
posted by Ryvar at 12:35 AM on April 4, 2006

danb: Do it. I got a 360 just for Oblivion. On the other hand, if you don't have an HD TV and you haven't already played Morrowind, just get an Xbox and play that. Oblivion is graphically muhc nicer and they've made some great interface and gameplay tweaks but so far I still prefer Morrowind.

malor: Targeting may be better, but playing on a PC feels too much like work. I'd rather kick back on a comfy couch with a wireless controller and a big screen TV.
posted by zanni at 3:44 AM on April 4, 2006

Plus, Oblivion has dungeons that add to its footprint. There isn't as many of those "areas within an area" in GTA.

I need to get back on the main Oblivion plot line. I've been wandering around dungeon diving and getting my Mage Guild rank up. Some poor dude has been waiting at an inn for me for like three weeks!

I'm playing the 360 version on a 42" LCD HD. I didn't even know the horse armor mod was out!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:51 AM on April 4, 2006

Lords of Midnight managed to fit a huge map ("64,000 Locations!"! into 48K.
posted by meehawl at 5:11 AM on April 4, 2006