Cliches we love in sandbox games

Never a surprise, always welcome

Words: Justin Towell, GamesRadar_MattCundy, David Houghton on December 13, 2012

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Person5 - December 13, 2012 2:15 p.m.

My only main problem with desperate situations that you can ignore indefinately is sometimes you CAN'T. I can't count all the times I''m playing a sandbox game when I have that really important thing to do, so I go do something else, then I get a game over because I ignored the really important thing, even though there was no timer present. Its actually kind of funny that you have a picture of Arkham City for that point, as that is the most recent example of this happening to me, I got a game over because I didn't go exactly where the Joker wanted me to.
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deceasedxo - December 13, 2012 1:16 p.m.

Haha all true, all great.
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JarkayColt - December 13, 2012 7:22 a.m.

Oh my god, I never really thought about it before, but yes! Every one of these sorts of games is never complete without the Really Tall Thing(Tm)! Especially when you can see it perpetually, reaching into the sky, but can't actually get there until later in the game (like in inFamous for example). I can't remember which buildings they were exactly, but my cousin used to have an obsession with continuously climbing, and jumping off of, the largest structures in Spider-Man 2. Used to drive me nuts; I get how it's fun the first time but...come on!
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jack-hentschell - December 13, 2012 2:16 p.m.

My favorite thing in Spider-Man 2 was taking a goon to the top of the Empire State Building and then jumping off of it with the goon and using the piledriver on the goon on the way down. Good times.
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Edogp - December 13, 2012 4:19 p.m.

HAHA yes! that was one of my favorite things to do also. I also loved throwing them off buildings.
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crazor89 - December 13, 2012 7:07 a.m.

The think I love most about sandbox games is the freedom to mess around in the world. I've spent countless hours simply causing havoc in Liberty City! Screw the story I just want to blow things up with a rocket launcher :)
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shawksta - December 13, 2012 6:51 a.m.

Ah Sandbox games, you will always give us some joy, one cliche or another. " the digital simulation of a man or woman whose sole purpose in life is to give you missions." Hah
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XanderGC - December 13, 2012 6:45 a.m.

I would have to say messing with game physics is the most fun I have in open world games. Which reminds me of this video I made oh so many years ago for Oblivion > http://tinyurl.com/b4nwa76 *crosses fingers for link*
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J-Fid - December 13, 2012 6:28 a.m.

When I was playing White 2, I figured that there would be a roadblock in front of White Forest, although, I was not expecting the dancing men. I was like, really Gamefreak, but I could not hold back from laughing at the absolute lack of creativity. It was like they ran out of ideas and just decided to admit it. It was funny though.
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jackthemenace - December 13, 2012 9:51 a.m.

Yep, the roadblocks in B/W2 were positively inspired. Like, the one blocking entrance to Icirrus from Route 9- the one where the bloke was like "Yeah, we're just trying to see how many people can fit on this bridge at once before it collapses" It'd seriously take someone with insane issues to hate Pokemon after that. Every single thing on this list is something I think I've encountered at least once, and every single thing I love. And unlike the shooter cliche article from a couple of days go, these ones I actually DO love, rather than just begrudgingly put up with. And NONE of those more so than easter eggs- especially ones I manage to discover on my own, without having to consult the internet first. Those are always the best.
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J-Fid - December 13, 2012 12:21 p.m.

Easter Eggs. Like the girl in Humilau City in BW2 who says her dress is comfy and easy to wear. I was so happy to see that!
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bamit11 - December 13, 2012 5:19 a.m.

Unkillable NPCs piss me off, like in Skyrim when you can't just kill everyone in a city and be about your business, because that ONE guy keeps getting back up and attacking you. They should at least make them flee.
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jackthemenace - December 13, 2012 9:53 a.m.

Admittedly, that did cross my mind at first, but I got over it and realised how fun they are anyway. The only time I've ever RAELLY had a problem with it was in Megaton in Fallout 3, where I decided to kill a couple of random npcs and every other character in the city seemed to be invincible, and after a few minutes of going through doors and houses followed by an extremely angry mob of demigods, I realised all my autosaves had been overwritten and my last save was from, like, 8 hours before hand. never did do something like that (without saving first) again.
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