Help me find the video game of my dreams!

March 8, 2016 11:53 AM

I don't know if what I want exists or not. What I really want in my life is a video game where you can just go around and destroy stuff (preferably creatively) with no consequences, meaning no police, no military, no possibility of dying, nothing. Open world is a must. Does this exist? PS3, Xbox 360 or PC.
posted by altopower to Media & Arts (35 answers total)

I haven't played it, but might Goat Simulator fit the bill?
posted by Skybly at 11:56 AM on March 8, 2016 [10 favorites]

This is possible in Minecraft, but I get the sense that's not what you're after. Do games with lots of destruction and "God mode" or unlimited health cheats qualify? Mercenaries 2 includes a ton of destruction -- you can basically blow up anything -- and is one of my go-to games for destruction.
posted by craven_morhead at 11:56 AM on March 8, 2016

I think you might be looking for Just Cause.
posted by pazazygeek at 11:56 AM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Seconding Goat Simulator. My husband has gotten hours and hours of enjoyment out of it.
posted by telophase at 11:58 AM on March 8, 2016

Fallout 3 or New Vegas might fit the bill. Many varied weapons. You don't have to do the missions.
posted by supercres at 12:06 PM on March 8, 2016

Goat Simulator is closer to what you asked for -- Just Cause does have opponents and the possibility of death (even though it is a very minimal setback). Both are a lot of silly physics mayhem!
posted by Alterscape at 12:15 PM on March 8, 2016

Katamari Damacy!
posted by greenland at 12:25 PM on March 8, 2016 [9 favorites]

Oh, on review, thirding Goat Simulator, if the weirdness is ok with you.
posted by craven_morhead at 12:27 PM on March 8, 2016

Not sure about dying, but you can get rid of cops in Grand Theft Auto, if you disable the Wanted level using the appropriate cheats.
posted by sparklemotion at 12:30 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Fallout 3 or New Vegas might fit the bill. Many varied weapons. You don't have to do the missions.

Nah. Too many random encounters that can kill a low-level player surprisingly easily (Deathclaws) and honestly, not that much destruction in terms of blowing up buildings/structures/environment.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:34 PM on March 8, 2016

It doesn't start that way, but after a while playing Saints Row 3 or 4 you become an indestructible juggernaut and yeah, sure, cops (or demons) show up and want you to stop wrecking shit but they just bring MOAR CARS TO ASPLODE! You could probably just download a high-level save to futz with from somewhere on the intarwebz.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:39 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Just Cause 2 or Red Faction: Guerilla are great for running around destroying things, and both most likely have mods / trainers to make you invincible and keep wanted levels to a minimum.
posted by Monster_Zero at 12:46 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Borderlands is a great candidate! It is a lot of fun, with mindless killing and destruction, via a wide variety of weapons, and there are basically unlimited respawns.
posted by eas98 at 1:00 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also backing Saints 3 and Just Cause 2. In the first, after a mission, you can even call Burt Reynolds to call off the cops. Plus, there's the Mayhem sub-missions - you actually have to be creative to create as much destruction as possible.

You might find something like that within Gerry's Mod.
posted by lmfsilva at 1:01 PM on March 8, 2016

Nthing Just Cause 2 (Just Cause 3 runs on current-gen consoles only). Of the games like this that I've played, it feels like the most expansive, most open-world game. The consequences aren't zero, but they're pretty minimal most of the time (and didn't generally affect my enjoyment of the game).

Haven't tried Goat Simulator; sounds interesting.
posted by Betelgeuse at 1:02 PM on March 8, 2016

If you like car mayhem, the most frustrating part of Burnout Paradise is dealing with EA's game registration system.
posted by gnomeloaf at 1:29 PM on March 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

Red Faction Guerilla, turn the difficulty right down, get smashin'. It's amazing.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:30 PM on March 8, 2016

Even on easy there will be a few enemies around, so you might want a mod. Haven't tried it so can't personally recommend it.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:35 PM on March 8, 2016

Response by poster: I've sort of been playing Just Cause 2 and have not been loving it as much as expected because I suck at controlling non-auto-center cameras. And it was sort of the impetus to ask this because if it weren't for the camera and the consequences of destruction, it would be exactly what I want. Giant open world ripe for the annihilation.

I don't know much about Goat Simulator but will look into it.
posted by altopower at 1:36 PM on March 8, 2016

rf:g video
posted by Sebmojo at 1:46 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is what Saints Row 4 is designed as.

At some point not too far in they go hey we know you want to just jump around like Superman blowing up things using anything you want from a a Dubstep Gun, a tentacle bat & Rocket Launchers as well as tanks. Most of the quests are basically destroy all the things because reasons, trying to not give any plot away here as the plot itself is surreal, but you start as President of the United States & then aliens.

I've only played it on the PC using only keyboard controls, I hate complicated controls & I had no problems with it.
posted by wwax at 2:38 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

a Dubstep Gun, a tentacle bat

please describe what these are because I really suddenly want to play this game
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 2:40 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

(and need to decide how fast I need to buy it)
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 2:41 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

OMG yes here to second Katamari Damacy or I Love Katamari or any of the games in that universe. Peaceful but with the thrill of I JUST GOT SO BIG I ROLLED UP YOUR WHOLE GODDAMN TOWN.
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:46 PM on March 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

The Dubstep gun is a gun that basically drops the beat & when it does the soundwaves from the gun cause anything in it's path to vibrates violently or bounce or dance if human. There are also pretty lights.

The tentacle bat is a take on the giant dildo on a stick bat they also have & call "The Penetrator" that you can beat people to death with like a giant rubbery baseball bat.

Buy the game you will not regret it.
posted by wwax at 2:57 PM on March 8, 2016 [5 favorites]

Saints Row 4 is legit amazing, yes buy it.
posted by Sebmojo at 8:15 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Came here to say Goat Simulator, glad to see its the first thing that came up. You play a goat. You destroy everything. You cannot be stopped.

That's it, that's the game.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:56 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

I recommend checking out Lord Karnage's (Mark Bussler's) Classic Game Room game reviews on YT, since you're describing the type of game that he enjoys playing on Xbox 360 and PS3. Try Prototype, Just Cause 2, Far Cry 2, Red Faction Guerrilla, and the EDF series.
posted by plokent at 9:47 PM on March 8, 2016

War of the Monsters (PS2, available via PSN), especially one player on versus mode if you don't want the AI hassling you.

It's a free-roam B-movie monster beat-em-up featuring generic retro baddies like a robot, a dinosaur, and a giant ape. Each stage takes place in a large, detailed, lifelike city (spoofs of Tokyo, San Francisco, Washington DC, etc.) with dozens of custom-animated destructible objects. You can pick up and throw cars, smash trains, flatten warehouses, collapse skyscrapers, etc. And each stage has a special trigger for a unique disaster, like an earthquake, volcano, or tsunami.

Another similar PSN classic: Vigilante 8. It's a vehicular combat game set in the 70s oil crunch, featuring locations across the Southwest like an oil refinery, an aircraft graveyard, and a casino city. Virtually everything in each stage is destructible, to spectacular effect.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:05 AM on March 9, 2016

I had the nagging impression I was missing a game. It's Battlefield Bad Company 2.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:22 AM on March 9, 2016

For what it's worth, I found Just Cause 2 very frustrating when I started playing it, because it felt like as soon as I started blowing things up, soldiers would come in and shoot at me. After playing it for a few hours, I had gotten the hang of it (and upgraded my character), and the destruction felt a lot more consequence-free. Not the 100% consequence-free game you're asking for, but maybe, like, 85% consequence-free.

So if you can't find the game you're looking for, it might be worth sticking with Just Cause 2 a little longer -- although, obviously, you will still have the camera issues you mention.

Also in the category of not-quite-what-you're-asking-for-but-maybe-as-close-as-you'll-get: Carmageddon. You basically drive around trying to smash into people and things. Because it's a racing game, there tend to be timelimits, so you only get short bursts of destruction, but it's fun while it lasts. The original has been ported to the iPad. I see there's now a sequel available on Steam and another sequel coming out for consoles. I haven't played the sequels so I can't testify to them first-hand.
posted by yankeefog at 3:34 AM on March 9, 2016

Minecraft in creative mode with monsters turned on while on other peoples servers (that would allow this)?
posted by TinWhistle at 6:19 AM on March 9, 2016

Response by poster: For what it's worth, I found Just Cause 2 very frustrating when I started playing it, because it felt like as soon as I started blowing things up, soldiers would come in and shoot at me. After playing it for a few hours, I had gotten the hang of it (and upgraded my character), and the destruction felt a lot more consequence-free. Not the 100% consequence-free game you're asking for, but maybe, like, 85% consequence-free.

This seems to be a common experience...my husband and I started playing it at the same time and he stuck with it and seemed to really get the hang of it fairly quickly. However, I am essentially a 37-year-old video game novice, so I got discouraged before I gave it much of a chance. I'll give it another go, I think.

I'll give Goat Simulator a try too even though it doesn't seem to be as "epic" as I'm looking for.
posted by altopower at 6:29 AM on March 9, 2016

The Prototype series might be right up your alley. Your own power curve gets pretty ridiculous pretty fast so you get to a point in the game where you can just ignore the consequences pretty quickly.
posted by deadwater at 7:22 AM on March 9, 2016

Oh, speaking of destructive animal games, there's also Catlateral Damage. It's not really open world - it's got a bunch of different levels - but it ticks all your other boxes. You play a cat trying to destroy as much of your owners' house as possible. There are no enemies, just a time limit, and you're trying to knock over as much shit as possible before it runs out.
posted by Itaxpica at 7:37 AM on March 9, 2016