Your Favorite "Sandbox" Game.

[Ferbian]

The definition of a sandbox game is one that allows you to freely roam the world designed in the game, and not necessarily follow one specific quest line in order to complete the game (Like Call of Duty for example, just to name one). Basically a game that allows you to do whatever you please, and to get an all-round gaming experience in many various storylines and adventures.

To the definition of a sandbox there's a whole lot of various types. Some more classified as action games (The Fable franchise, while definitely allowing you to go adventuring and do what you want), where as others specifically classified as sandbox games as well (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for example). All of these games which have quite a sales history, Bethesda being one of the companies wildly known for their sandbox games with the Elder Scrolls series. Or the biggest commercial success in specific branded sandbox games, being Grand Theft Auto.

I've personally enjoyed quite a long list of these sandbox games, from the entire Fable series, to a good handful of the Elder Scrolls games, Grand Theft Auto, hell you could even go as far as to consider World of Warcraft a sandbox game to some extend. However, if I was to choose one specific game it would have to be Fable 3. Not that it's specifically my favorite Fable game, but from a sandbox perspective, it does give one the most to work with, and definitely brings out a bigger joy and more fun to playing the game with all these options and various adventures.

So lets hear it, whats your favorite sandbox game?

 

[Viggo]

Bethesda rocks. I love the Elder Scrolls series and I'm jacked for Elder Scrolls: Skyrim to come out in November. Also, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas just blow me away. I could play those games ALL DAY. Overall though, I would go with Fallout 3. As the Lone Wanderer, you can literally stumble into Smith Casey's garage and rescue your father right after leaving Vault 101, essentially skipping the entire first act of the game. That's the mark of a true open-world gameplay experience. Fallout 3 baby!

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

Well yeah, sorry to be the same, but I'm gonna have to say Elder Scrolls too. They basically took an expy of Middle-Earth, chucked you in the centre of it as whatever you wanted to be, and said "run along lad." The concept is so simple yet brilliant. In my view Elder Scrolls does it best, largely because with the Tolkien-inspired world comes Tolkien-inspired levels of detail, from language to lore. The history of the world is interesting and good to know to help you understand the story more effectively.

I think the reason this works so well is because a large part of playing games are escapism and immersion. Sandbox naturally fulfills the requirement of taking you off to a different world, and it's the best way to experience that. If you're more of a heavy-plot-based kind of guy (I do like my games to come with strong stories) then maybe sandbox isn't for you. That said, a lot of sandbox games still have decent plots (Elder Scrolls again; also, inFamous is great at this.)

Honourable mentions to GTA. The storylines are often really bad (except IV, IV deconstructed GTA) but it's hellish fun.

 

[Dagger Dias]

"Dragon Age: Origins" is my favorite "sandbox" game because it is set up in a way that provides with nearly endless replay value and the option to complete the required quests in a number of different orders is a large part of that. Don't want to endure the Deep Roads of Orzammar? Save it for later. Can't wait to locate the werewolf Witherfang? Do it earlier. I really enjoy seeing this concept utilized in games no matter what the genre due to the part it plays in adding to replay value. More games should go this route.

 

[RudoReels]

Can we count TEW 2010 as a sandbox game even though it's text/menu-based? Haha