On Sandboxes

Alright, so this is my first blog post.  Hello everyone!  So what this blog is about is mainly a sort of discussion on video games, what makes them fun and their future as an art and entertainment medium.  I will do occasional reviews, either post posthumously on games you may not have played or heard of, or new games if I manage to get my hands on one and play it early enough that I can do a relevant review.  I know I'll probably get compared to Extra Credits in the discussion, so let's just get this out of the way: yes, this is similar to Extra Credits.  However while they approach the discussion from the development side, I want to approach from the player side.  And if you don't know what Extra Credits is, go check it out.  They're good folks who deserve your support.

Alright, on to today's topic.  Today I'm going to talk a little bit about sandboxes.  Why?  Because I've been playing a lot of sandbox type games recently.  So it's fresh on my mind and I've been thinking a bit about them.  I asked myself, what makes these types of games so much fun?  To answer this question, we're going to take a look at a couple sandbox type games and look at what they do well and what they don't do so well (keep in mind, these are just ones I have played and think make good examples.  On top of these, I can think of plenty of other sandbox games that would make good examples, had I played a significant amount of them).  And let me just state here: what I say in this discussion by no means reflects my opinion of the games as a whole.  We are just looking at the sandbox elements of each.

Lets start off with a series well known and loved, Assassin's Creed.  Assassin's Creed, as you probably know, follows a series of Assassin's throughout the course of history in their fight with their rival group the Templars.  Each game takes place in a different time period, but all have assassinating, hidden blades, sword fighting, loads of equipment, and lots and lots of free running.
What it does well:  Ok, let me start off by saying that the free running in the Assassin's Creed series is a blast, and is improved with each game.  Finding paths to jump, climb, and run along is smooth and fluid and overall just feels good.  Also on the list of enjoyable things is the sheer amount of things to do.  In my opinion, a good sandbox should not only give you a compelling main mission set, but an equally compelling set of side missions to do.  If you're going along in the game and it says "hey man, you gotta get this done!  It's the main story mission!" and you reply "yea, ok, I will after I do this other stuff first because I'm having way too much fun!" then the game is definitely doing something right.  Assassin's Creed does not fail on this front.  It provides plenty for the player to do, from assassination missions, to races, to collectibles, to hunting down pieces of "the truth" in later games, to climbing view points to reveal more of the city map.  And everything is organically put in place.  For example, you could be on your way to the main story mission, or even an assassination side quest, when you see a view point or even a collectible on the way.  You can just go off course from what you were doing and grab whatever it was you spotted, and it takes nothing away from the game. 
What it doesn't do well:  Ok, so I'm probably going to start getting tons of butthurt from angry AC fans at this point, so hear me out first.  One thing that I see wrong with the AC games is the lack of things to do outside of side and main missions.  The sandbox game is basically like a giant playground for you to use.  The AC games however, do not feel like that.  There are rules as to what you can and can't do.  You can't murder civilians, you can't recklessly murder guards unless you want the entire city guard on your tail, you can't run on rooftops where guards can see you, etc.  And I can understand why these rules are in place, they make sense in the context of the setting and such.  However, I am not discussing this, I'm discussing it's place in a sandbox.  If anything, these rules would fit better in an open world game rather than a sandbox (and yes there is a difference which I will discuss in a future blog post maybe).  Sometimes these rules also get in the way of some of the good factors.  For example, say you're running along a rooftop, free running along tight ropes and jumping across gaps and having a grand old time.  Then you get spotted by a guard on a roof and you don't get out of sight fast enough.  Now, this was not so much of a problem in AC 2 and on, but still it is obnoxious to have your entire flow of free running interrupted by a swarm of guards out for your blood.  However, more importantly these rules give a lack of anything really fun to do outside of missions and side quests.  Sure stabbing a guard and not getting caught or alerting the entire city guard just so you can kill them all with your awesome sword fighting skills is fun for a little while, but that gets old really fast.  The main reason why is there is no real reward for doing so.  All that happens is you get the satisfaction of killing the guy and getting away with it.  In fact, in AC 2 onward this is actually punished with the notoriety system.  So you can't even randomly bump off those annoying guards without having to then go and tear down wanted posters, pay off guards, or kill witnesses.  And while these mini activities are entertaining, they can get to be a chore if your notoriety gets out of hand.   As such, the games become mainly running around from side quest to side quest and mission to mission with no real engaging way to spend down time.  Sure there are the collectibles and the truth and hunting down treasure chests, but the economy is already rather broken so treasure doesn't feel terribly rewarding, and collectibles are so hard to find its almost more of a chore to hunt them down than enjoyable.

Now lets check out another game:  Dead Rising 2, or as I like to call it, Zombieland the game.  The idea behind Dead Rising 2 is that a zombie outbreak has occurred at a sort of casino luxury resort and you have been accused of causing it.  You have 3 days in which to clear your name, help out survivors, and keep getting medicine for your daughter to treat her zombie infection (don't worry, she's ok and hasn't turned, unless you don't get the meds).  And while you're doing this you get to tear through hordes and hordes of zombies with anything and everything you can find along the way.
What it does well: Let me just say, that Dead Rising 2 is insane.  Zombies are everywhere, and you can use anything and everything as a makeshift weapon.  Now how does this tie into the sandbox idea?  Well remember how I said that the AC series didn't really give you much to do outside the missions and side quests?  Dead Rising 2 does the opposite.  Pretty much everything moving on the screen most of the time is an enemy, and you're allowed to just go to town on them.  Additionally, it doesn't feel empty and meaningless to do so.  Every kill you get gives you some exp, or PP as they call it in the game.  As you gain more PP, you level up, upgrading your stats, letting you learn new moves and skills, and getting you new combo cards which let you build even more ridiculous weapons than the ones you just find.  You can have just as much fun, if not more so, bashing a zombie's face in with a purse you picked up in a department store as you would have doing an actual mission in the game.  Another great part of this game is how everything is smoothly integrated.  Side missions don't even have places to pick them up or begin them.  Essentially you get an alert on your phone that says "hey man there's some people you should help here" or "there's a dude going totally psycho over here, take care of him".  Then it gives you where it is on your map and you can go do it when you want to.  You just go and do it.  Doesn't even pull you out of gameplay to do so usually.  Personally I love it.  It's smooth, simple, and is a great system.  On top of that, the entirety of the casino/resort that you are in is absolutely ripe for exploration.  Just wandering around looking for new and more ridiculous ways of slaughtering the undead is fun and engaging, something that feels lacking in the AC series.  Personally, I would love to just wander around the entire place, exploring and grabbing random stuff to pummel the undead with as I went.  Which brings me to the bad parts of this game.
What it doesn't do well:  Remember how I said Dead Rising 2 was pretty much the opposite of the AC series in terms of outside of side quest and mission stuff to do?  Well it's pretty much the opposite of the AC series in terms of navigation as well.  You're character plods along at a snail's pace, walls of zombies make navigation tricky, and while you can improve your speed and ability to outmaneuver zombies, its still does not feel fluid or smooth like many other sandboxes out there.  Now the truly big problem with this is that everything, and I mean everything is on a timer.  You get  a main mission and a timer appears next to it, saying you have this much time to get it done.  Same with side quests and getting medicine for your daughter.  Now, while this is an interesting mechanic in relation to the whole game being on a timer with the military coming in 3 days, it just feels bad.  Everything you do is on a time limit.  You feel pressured to get everything done and you can't relax and just screw around freely.  Even if you've gotten all your side missions done and you have some time before your next main mission, you just can't relax because of that timer.  Niggling in the back of your mind is the knowledge that at some point soon you're going to have to rush back to pick up your next mission or else you'll automatically fail the game.  It takes away from that whole idea of the place being a crazy zombie filled playground by not letting you relax and enjoy it. 

Now, these are just two games.  In fact, I was going to do a bunch more games on this topic, but after seeing how long this was getting I decided to cut it off at 2 games.  Some of the others I was going to discuss were Saints Row 3, Just Cause 2, and Batman Arkham City.  Now here's something else I'm planning to do with this blog: I don't claim to be the absolute truth on any of this.  Rather I would like to help start discussion between all of you reading this.   So post in the comments what you think on the topic.  Post about a sandbox game that YOU like, or one of the ones I mentioned in this blog post.  Tell us what you think it does well and what it does not do well as  a sandbox.

And with that, I bid you farewell for now.  Gamer out.