The Assassin's Creed series has always had expansive environments, and for the most part, it has worked extremely well. But the next game in the series, which has the codename Rift, won't have an open world. And while that might come as a disappointment to many gamers, that creative choice could be for the best.
Some players think the Assassin's Creed franchise, along with many other series, would work better as level-based games. Between a Rockstar game that doesn't quite meet the developer's usual standard and several dystopian wasteland-based games, bigger doesn't always mean better.
Assassin's Creed (2007)
Camycamera has a major problem with the Assassin's Creed series being open world. As the playable characters in the games are parkour experts, it makes running along ledges and rooftops of villages so much fun, but the Redditor thinks it should be on a much smaller scale. The user thinks the series should follow in Hitman's footsteps, explaining, "Focused, but detailed levels where you can Assassinate your target however you please, the game and the level just provide you with various tools to do so."
While "Assassin" might be in the name of the popular video game, that isn't the be-all and end-all of Assassin's Creed, and there are so many other elements to it that make it great. The Hitman series has a great formula, but just because both main characters are assassins doesn't mean the formula would be implemented into the free-running game.
L.A. Noire (2011)
L.A. Noire is one of the most detailed open worlds ever in a video game, but it isn't very immersive. The developer went to great lengths to design a 1940s-accurate Los Angeles, including its building interiors. Unfortunately, there's hardly any interaction and the world is almost completely empty, and Maelstrom52 thinks that the game is a wasted effort.
The Redditor makes a great point, "Considering that most of the game involved text-based gameplay in an assorted mixture of interior locales, it seems silly that they felt the need to build massive area to explore." However, L.A. Noire totally deserves a sequel, and given that technology has developed so much in the 10 years since the original's release, a follow-up has tons of potential.
The Godfather II (2009)
The Godfather II is an interesting game, as it isn't an adaptation of 1974's The Godfather Part II, but instead tells an original story about a player-created gangster climbing the mobster ladder in several of the movie's locations. But despite having three different cities (Havana, Miami, and New York) to explore, Pantsfish thinks there was a significant decrease in quality from the first game, which is one of the best open-world PS2 games.
The Redditor notes, "The 'open-world' spanned across three cities, but each one was the size of a postage stamp, the sum total of which was SMALLER than the one city in the first Godfather game. As it only took a few minutes to get from one side of the map to the other, EA, the developer could have spent more time creating better levels and more detailed smaller areas than pointless open worlds.
Mad Max (2015)
While tie-in video games to movies tend to have a bad reputation, as very little effort is put into them and they're simply used to market the movie, Mad Max is on a completely different level. Mad Max isn't an ordinary tie-in game, and it actually tells a completely new story, different from Fury Road. It was well-reviewed and had some of the best driving mechanics of any other game at the time. It was also an open world, as players could freely roam around the desolate dystopian desert.
But Hyrumwhite is critical of the open-world choice, noting "It's a great world, they got the vibe down perfectly, but the open world is kinda boring." The Redditor continues by arguing that it would have been better with hallway-like levels. That's another unpopular opinion, as the few who have played the game can't speak highly enough of the free-roaming.
Burnout Paradise (2008)
The chaos of an open world is what makes Burnout Paradise so great, and it's one of the best PlayStation racing games ever. But Endulos reckons that all racing games shouldn't be open world, specifically citing the Burnout series. The Redditor notes "I couldn't play Burnout Paradise because of it." But as the series was on an upwards trajectory and Burnout Revenge had taken closed circuit races as far as it could, an open world was the natural next step.
On paper, an open-world Burnout game doesn't make much sense, as the series isn't about exploration, but going as fast as possible, the unrivaled sense of speed, and causing the biggest car crashes ever. When players are racing at 150 miles per hour with traffic and street becoming all but a blur, it isn't all that easy to soak in the detailed environment. But surprisingly, Paradise City is one of the most exciting open worlds in a racing game, and the Redditor is by far in the minority.
Rise Of The Tomb Raider (2015)
While older Tomb Raider games were impressive for their huge explorable levels that were generally giant puzzles, the 2015 game allows players to freely roam around the mountaintops of Siberia. Drakengard argues, "The open-world aspects are just filled with content to grind. I'd much rather it have levels like the old games with secrets to find and puzzles to solve within mostly open levels."
In the open world of Rise of the Tomb Raider, the only thing players can really do is hunt and perform other tasks that simply build their stats, which is also known as "grinding." It's exhausting and boring at the same time, but other Redditors think the opposite and that the game has one of the best open worlds ever.
RAGE (2011)
RAGE is an open-world first-person shooter, which is set in a dystopian future and actually has a similar aesthetic to Mad Max. Maelstrom52 argues that while the game looks beautiful, "the main missions take place in separate areas that have to be loaded separately, and could just have easily been areas that you accessed from one of the hubs, or just selected from a travel list." The map in the game isn't even viewable, and all players have to go off is the minimap in the corner of the display.
RAGE's vapid open world comes as a surprise, as the game was developed by Bethesda, who also created the dense open worlds of the beloved The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series. And, ironically, RAGE is the name given to the engine that Rockstar builds its gold standard open-world games on, as its full name is the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine.
Mafia III (2016)
The Mafia series is one of countless Grand Theft Auto copycats, as it sees players controlling criminals in open worlds causing chaos. Mafia takes place in the fictional Lost Heaven and Mafia II is in the fictional Empire Bay, but Mafia III is set in the real-life New Orleans.
But Onisquirrel thinks the game would have played out better with a level format, arguing, "That game had a really cool story lined up, and that hollow open-world kind of wrecks the flow of the game." With it being set in New Orleans, the 2016 release should be colorful, vibrant, and exciting, but that's far from how it felt in Mafia III. Funnily enough, Tony Hawk's Underground 2 better portrays New Orleans.
Tom Clancy's The Division (2016)
Tom Clancy games, which tend to be espionage and stealth-oriented, have always worked best as level-based video games as opposed to open worlds. However, The Division attempted to do something different, as the game takes place in a dystopian Manhattan after a virus outbreak, and it's the player's role to uncover the source of the virus.
Despite the fresh idea, Myersephone reckons it should have stuck with the tried and true formula. The Redditor argues that the game isn't remotely immersive and notes, "All the civilians ever do is complain about how bad everything is and sometimes ask you for consumables. And the dogs poop sometimes. Immersion, wow!" In fairness, there's no reason to properly roam around unless players are 100% completionists, as there isn't any variety in the street blocks and it all looks the same.
Agents Of Mayhem (2017)
With a title like Agents of Mayhem, players wouldn't expect the game to be anything but an open-world sandbox. Like games such as The Mercenaries and Saints Row, this game sounds like a playground of destruction. Agents of Mayhem has a unique theme and original animation, as it's based on morning cartoons and superhero movies, but it failed to take advantage of the fascinating world-building and characters.
Talon40001 puts it best, noting, "A bizarre game where the characters are fun to play, but they don't give you anything fun to do." Though the idea lends itself to a huge sandbox game, the 2017 release would actually have been much better if it was more focused and had structured levels.