Over the last decade, open-world games have become so ubiquitous that they almost seem passé, and new releases need to push themselves further than ever before to leave their mark. Otherwise, in 2035, they might find themselves featured in retrospective discussions about fantastic games forgotten by time and players. Let’s take a look at a few open-world titles that suffered that fate, out of no fault of their own.
Naturally, most releases cannot possibly remain relevant indefinitely, especially if they don’t form part of a franchise that churns out sequels eternally or reach a level of acclaim that cements their place in gaming lore. Like in most industries or walks of life, you need to be incredibly special to become a footnote in history, let alone a major player. These open-world games are brilliant and deserve to be talked about more.
Driver: San Francisco
One Of The Most Ridiculous But Brilliant Mechanics In The Open-World Genre
Remember the days when triple-A open-world games would swing for the fences with really absurd mechanics? I miss those days.
Driver: San Francisco lets you, basically, possess any driver. Set in the present-ish day, this open-world driving game throws in a supernatural twist and casts players as essentially a living ghost with the telepathic ability to jump from body to body. Everything builds upon this idea, with players being encouraged to use this mechanic creatively to complete missions or races. Ubisoft kind of revived this concept for Watch Dogs: Legion, but San Francisco‘s version provides a much more fun gameplay loop by focusing on vehicles rather than people. Just an all-around silly game that works shockingly well.
As will become a trend in this article, Driver: San Francisco cannot be purchased from digital storefronts due to licensing issues, meaning you need to track a physical copy to play this one. If you happen to come across the PS3 or Xbox 360 version, I really recommend picking it up. The game is backwards compatible with the Xbox One and Series X/S, too.
The Getaway
The Most Real Open-World Game Of The Early 2000s
Admittedly, this one is personal and fueled by my memories of playing The Getaway with my dad back in the early 2000s. That said, to say this pick is solely driven by nostalgia would be a disservice to Team Soho’s underrated PS2 masterpiece, which was the most immersive open-world game of its generation.
While GTA drops you in a sandbox and lets you go wild, The Getaway casts you in a crime drama and tells you to play the part properly. You drive carefully through a faithful recreation of London, keeping an eye on your turn signals and blinkers to make sure you stay within the confines of the law. With no HUD to undercut the realism, The Getaway sticks to its vision from beginning to end, and it succeeds at nearly everything.
The sequel, Black Monday, is overhated, but it really doesn’t come close to capturing the magic of the original. Still, if you really love The Getaway, don’t skip the sequel. You should just ignore Gangs of London, though.
The Godfather
2006 Was Oddly An Awesome Year For Movie Tie-In Crime Games
Yeah, I’m in the mood to talk about old-school open-world crime games that are hard-as-heck to find and play nowadays. In 2006, we bizarrely got video game adaptations of The Godfather and Scarface, both of which went down the open-world route. Even stranger, they are both pretty darn great, as long as you go in with realistic expectations. Scarface: The World Is Yours lets you indulge in your most violent impulses, and it’s absolutely worth playing if you want to release some steam and go wild. However, The Godfather is overall superior, along with just being one of the best crime games of all time, even rivaling Mafia.
Although not bringing too much new to the table, The Godfather delivers a polished and addictive romp that tells a great rags-to-riches narrative that rethreads the original film’s plot from the perspective of a new character. Despite taking its story very seriously, the game largely lets players do what they want in the world, and they can exert their power by indulging in a bit of murder and extortion. Even the combat system was quite fresh for the era, as players needed to manually direct their attacks.
Naturally, The Godfather is delisted now, but you can probably find a copy of the PS3 or Xbox 360 version in the wild.
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