Best sandbox video games?
May 28, 2009 2:34 PM   Subscribe

I'm trying to make a list of the best open-ended, non-linear sandbox video games of all time. Any suggestions?
posted by micahmertes to Media & Arts (23 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sim Earth
posted by Meatbomb at 2:51 PM on May 28, 2009


Mercenaries
Total War Series
Elder Scrolls Series
Deus Ex
Spider-Man 2
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
posted by EatTheWeek at 2:59 PM on May 28, 2009


Infamous (PS3)
Sim City 2000 (PC, various ports)
Sim Tower (PC, japanese DS and GBA ports)
Grand Theft Auto 3 (PC, PS2, Xbox, etc)
Shenmue (Dreamcast, Kind of sandboxy, less so than GTA)
Yakuza (PS2, more sandboxy than Shenmue, still less than GTA)
Grand Theft Auto 1 (The original on PC, Playstation)
That is just a quick off-the-cuff list, I can probably think of more later.
posted by TimeDoctor at 3:04 PM on May 28, 2009


Fallout 3, and I believe the other Fallouts as well, although I didn't play them.
posted by KilgoreTrout at 3:07 PM on May 28, 2009


Eve Online, unusual for being a sandbox MMO
posted by Nelson at 3:18 PM on May 28, 2009


On the commodore Amiga:
Mercenary
Hunter

...happy days.
posted by Artw at 3:22 PM on May 28, 2009


From the 8-bit times...

Ultima IV (big world, go all over the place improving your virtues)

Paradroid (be a robot and explore a spaceship causing mischief)

Alter Ego (life simulator, very primitive psychotherapy version of The Sims)

7 Cities of Gold (before Civilization it let you explore a big New World and set your own goals)
posted by Kirklander at 3:31 PM on May 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


The list would be huge, but when I think of those that I would vote as best it winds up cut down to quite a small list. I may be missing the odd thing.

GTA: San Andreas/IV - those two above all the others for me.
Fallout 3
Elder Scrolls: Morrowind - I reckon was way better than Oblivion, which failed to shine through it's flaws.
Beyond Good and Evil - well, perhaps only semi-sandbox, but was relatively open a lot of the time.
Bully/Canis Canem Edit - something about the art style/music/plot line style, harking back to old high school movies (I guess) made it bizarrely pleasing to play.

Some people might reckon STALKER as well, though I didn't make it very far through before getting frustrated with it. I always wonder whether with some mods it could be as much fun as I'd hoped.
posted by opsin at 3:33 PM on May 28, 2009


Consider counting MMORPGs as "sand box games," especially ones that allow non-combat roles, like crafting, commercial activity and such.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:33 PM on May 28, 2009


Another (very early) 8-bit one was Alternate Reality : The City - a first-person 3D RPG that was completely open-ended. May not count as everyone's definition of a sandbox, as you couldn't do anything you wanted to anything at all - but close to it.
And suggested here as one of the best, since you'll find that anyone who "got" the concept and spent any amount of time in the game will now be a complete evangelist for it. Like me.
posted by Chunder at 3:47 PM on May 28, 2009


The Harvest Moon series comes to mind: virtual farming with a dating sim element. Same with the Rune Factory spinoff.
posted by jal0021 at 4:04 PM on May 28, 2009


Oh!

Shadowrun for the Genesis. NOT the SNES version.
posted by EatTheWeek at 4:05 PM on May 28, 2009


Some people might reckon STALKER

With the fencing, and inability to jump, I found that game very restricted - contrary to the advance hype.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:10 PM on May 28, 2009


So many answers, yet not one mention of:

Civilization (any PC version)
Railroad Tycoon (at least 1, though 2 & 3 are decent)
Pirates! (particularly the older version was a pioneer of the sandbox genre)

Those are your 3 classic titles right there.
posted by hiteleven at 4:20 PM on May 28, 2009


7 Cities of Gold (before Civilization it let you explore a big New World and set your own goals)

8 bit 7 Cities of Gold was amazing. So was Alternate Reality
posted by MesoFilter at 4:44 PM on May 28, 2009


Operation Flashpoint and its sequel, Armed Assault. While the campaigns are fairly linear, the easy-to-use included mission editor, the huge area, and the vast amount of fanmade addons make it the most "sandbox" military shooter I can think of.
posted by pravit at 5:43 PM on May 28, 2009


I don't think Deus Ex fits the bill.

Escape Velocity is a classic, however.
posted by ludwig_van at 10:00 PM on May 28, 2009


Some older classics by what I understand your criteria to be.

Single player:
Nethack (and other examples of the Rogue descendants e.g. Diablo)
Fallout (and its line)
Pirates
Ultima (and its line)
Star Control 2
Will Wright's career after Raid on Bungeling Bay
Planescape Torment
Civilization
Grand Theft Auto (whichever the first fully 3d one was)
Baldur's Gate II


Online/multi play:
I know less about this line but there are some extremely classic MUDs that fit your description. Someone else mentioned MMORPGs and I'd agree with that.

Mule

Commentary:
Essentially, this questions seems to ask about great games along the simulation game and traditional MUD lineage up through the present.
posted by rudyfink at 10:40 PM on May 28, 2009


Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic. It featured a NLP system (SpookyTalk I believe they called it) so you could talk to the robots in English and they would do their best to respond appropriately. Basically, you ran around the giant spaceship talking to robots (and a giant vacuum cleaner/bilge system) and monkeying with different parts of the ship. Awesome game!
posted by zachlipton at 11:12 PM on May 28, 2009


19 comments and no mention of Elite? Somewhere in witchspace, Commander Jameson is crying at the controls of his Cobra Mk III.
posted by permafrost at 5:09 AM on May 29, 2009


Animal Crossing
posted by roll truck roll at 8:51 AM on May 29, 2009 [1 favorite]


Jagged Alliance 2 probably counts as well. It's a turn-based squad-level strategy game where you have the objective of storming the capital city of a small 3rd world country and assassinating the dictator. You start in a small town on the border, and how you go about liberating cities, recruiting mercenaries, and stocking up on weaponry is up to you.
posted by pravit at 7:18 AM on May 31, 2009


Just realised that nobody - not even myself - has mentioned the "X Universe" series of games... which is odd, since I'm currently completely hopelessly lost and addicted in X3: Reunion. It's basically a big space sim - there is an option plotline to follow, but you can just "live" in the universe and do pretty much anything. As the product strapline says, "Trade, Fight, Build, Think" - totally awesome and immersive, with constant surprises...
posted by Chunder at 4:41 AM on June 20, 2009


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